A Doll's House By Henrik Ibsen

Characters
1. Torvald
  1. Act 1
    1. 'wagging his finger at her'
      1. Acting like a relationship between father and daughter ( or baby)
      2. Rejecting
    2. 'little spendthrift' 'little squirrel' 'little skylark'
      1. small
        need to be protected
      2. irrelevant
    3. L1013
      1. cut the conversation
        doesn't like Krogstad
        doesn't want to hear anything about him
  2. Act 2
    1. 'Krogstad's dismissal'
      1. Bossy
      2. Taking control of things, feeling himself is on top of everyone
      3. He thinks he knows everything
      4. Don't know what the consequences will be
      5. Cares about how other people look at him
    2. L257
      1. didn't like Krogstad during school time
        pretend to be friend now
        because he is a bank manager now
  3. Act 3
    1. 'Horrible! No, no - it is impossible that it can be true.'
      1. Still doesn't believe the truth
      2. Convincing himself and denying the truth
    2. 'You have ruined all my life.'
      1. Anger
      2. Realisation
      3. Blaming
        Like a father
    3. 'Nora, shall you never think of me again?'
      1. Realize that he actually love her as wife not a dad to a daughter
    4. 'But some day, Nora-some day?'
      1. Trying to get the chance of meeting her again
2. Nora
  1. Act 1
    1. List of questions (L705-710)
      1. Like a big kid, curious of everything
        'little spendthrift' 'little squirrel' 'little skylark'
    2. 'I'm damned'
      1. trying to hide something
      2. strong language used
    3. short answered to Krogstad, or trying to drive him away
      1. feeling at a higher position
      2. scared to be exposed
    4. Monologue/Thought track (L950-957)
      1. Worried
    5. L1080-
      1. doen't want to be beside children after the conversation
        might influence children
  2. Act 2
    1. start with monologue
      1. want to get the thought (of the fact that Krogstad knows her secret) out of her mind
        Children might be take away
        scared that Krogstad will reveal her secret
        husband might exploded and dislike her
        may lead to divorce
    2. 'Torvald can't bear to see dressmaking going on'
      1. doesn't want to be seen as a working woman
    3. 'People form new ties' - Dr. Rank to Nora
      1. Informing Nora form new ties
      2. Easily to forgot the old relationships
    4. L582-583
      1. Can't run away now
        Want to stay with her children
    5. Telling Mrs. Linde everything
      1. trust her
      2. Panicking
      3. worried
  3. Act 3
    1. L169
      1. delaying Helmer to find the secret she hide
        by using any idea or reason she can use
    2. 'You must read your letter'
      1. Sudden change
        Didn't want him to know before, try as hard as she can to hide it
        She think she might change him
    3. 'Sit down here Torvald'
      1. Ordering someone
        Sudden change on personality
        Actual personality
        Someone who she usually obey, or in a lower status
        the sudden change makes the status different, Nora become higher as Helmer become lower ( be seen at the last part of the play, Helmer begging Nora to stay )
        First time
    4. 'You have never loved me. You have only thought it pleasant to be in love with me'
      1. She feel like herself is just a thing that Torvald can use to show off
        Using her appearance, make himself feel proud
3. Dr. Rank
  1. Act 1
    1. 'That is the sentiment that is turning Society into a sick-house'
      1. As if patients should die
        Weird, shouldn't be said by a doctor
    2. Close friend with Nora and Torvald
  2. Act 2
    1. 'I shall make use of as much of it as I can'
      1. Flirting with Nora
    2. L362-365
      1. Doesn't really want to go with what Nora want
      2. Somehow realize her situation
        He knows its not going to be in a good situation
    3. 'People form new ties'
      1. Telling Nora put down something when new things come
        Not always straight forward
  3. Act 3
    1. 'Let your wife go dressed just as she is in everyday life'
      1. He like the real Nora, unlike Torvald who only like her as a doll
    2. 'I shall be invisible'
      1. Death
      2. Trying to be positve
      3. Joking about death
4. Kragstad
  1. Act 1
    1. 'I am prepared to fight for my small post in the bank as if I were fighting for my life'
      1. Frightening Nora
      2. Got the weakness of Nora
        Trying to use her, and use the weakness to threaten her
    2. In the first act, Krogstad only went on for one scene
      1. Simple scene but bring out the problem that make all the rest of the play happened
        !!IMPORTANT ACT AND ROLE HERE!!
  2. Act 3
    1. 'Are the Helmers really at a dance tonight?'
      1. Planning on a revenge
      2. Scared to get see
      3. Not very good friends
    2. Meeting with Mrs. Linde
      1. Know each other
        What happened to them before?
        What is their relationship?
    3. Mrs. Linde calling his first name
      1. First time in the play
        Special relationship
  3. Act 2
    1. 'Only to see how you were, Mrs. Helmer'
      1. Lonely
    2. L575-585
      1. Want to threaten Helmer
      2. Got fired
        Nothing to be afraid of
      3. Wants her husband to know
        Nothing to be afraid of
      4. Want to take Nora away from her husband
    3. L627-629
      1. Jump into a lake
        Through the tone of the voice and action before and after, there is a high chance that he is not lying
5. Kristine Linde
  1. Act 1
    1. 'You are a child, Nora'
      1. Feeling herself is better than Nora
      2. Feeling herself had a better life
    2. L195-201
      1. Old friends
      2. Didn't meet each other for a period of time
  2. Act 2
    1. 'I see; you are going to keep up the character'
      1. not just do but has to become character
    2. L111-114
      1. Panic
    3. L120-123
      1. suggesting Nora should listen to her husband
        worrying Torvald
    4. 1st time Nora tells someone everything ( the secret )
      1. Nora trust her
      2. Because Nora trust her, so she wish Kristine can give her some suggestion or idea of how she should deal with this situation
      3. teamwork (L710-713)
  3. Act 3
    1. Mrs. Linde called Krogstad's first name
      1. First in the play
        Special relationship
      2. They know each other
        What is their relationship?
    2. 'No, you have never properly understood me'....
      1. Argument happened before
        The relationship might already broke, but then why are they talking to each other now?
    3. Krogstad: 'Why did you write to me as you did at the time?'
      1. She left him by writing a letter
        By Krogstad, Kristine is a heartless woman
Theme
1. Secret
  1. Nora
    1. The letter that contains the fake of the signature of her dead father.
      1. ONLY ONE EXPOSED AT THE END
  2. Torvald
    1. What happened between him and Krogstad, why he hate him. Only thing is that they are not good friend now.
  3. Mrs. Linde
    1. The relationship between her and Krogstad
2. Arguement
  1. Nora and Krogstad
    1. Both act 1 and 2
      1. Because of the secret
  2. MAIN
    1. Nora and Helmer
      1. At the end of the play (act 3 )
      2. Because of the letter the Nora used to hide it with her life
  3. Krogstad and Mrs. Linde
    1. Old relationship
    2. Start of act 3
  4. Nora and Helmer
    1. Act 2 scene 2
    2. Because of Krogstad
3. Betrayal
  1. Nora to Torvald
    1. Secret hidden, doesn't want him to know the important thing
  2. Mrs. Linde to Nora
    1. The conversation between Mrs. Linde and Krogstad, the revenge
Structure
1. Act 1
  1. In Act 1, Ibsen first made every single character went out in at least one scene.
  2. Ibsen placed the different character in scenes, and then order it. The order wasn't random.
    1. Firstly, by showing the main characters, Ibsen out them in the first scene of the whole play. The relationship between Nora and Torvald seems perfectly at this moment.
    2. In the second scene, Ibsen organised Mrs. Linde to come in. At this moment of the play, they are just old friends that didn't meet each other for a long time, but no one knows that she would involved of helping Nora and Krogstad, both protagonist and antagonist.
    3. In the third scene, it was Dr Rank who went out for the first time. The first impression that Ibsen gave us of Dr. Rank is simply a honest and open person who was also Torvald and Nora's best friend.
    4. In the fourth scene, Ibsen started to state out the problem that protagonist was going to face. Therefore, the main person who brought the problem was introduce - Nils Krogstad, who was also the antagonist of the whole play. Tension started to build from this scene.
    5. In the fifth scene, Ibsen brought the audiences back to the 2 main characters, but this time the atmosphere was different from the first scene. This is because in this scene, Nora had to face Torvald with his secret that she didn't want to let him know.
2. Act 2
  1. In the first scene, Ibsen started a conversation of Nora with the nurse. The nurse wasn't a very important character, therefore Ibsen gave the audience only a brief impression of her. She was once Nora's nanny, and now she is the nanny of Nora's children.
  2. This act started with a monologue of Nora, showing how panic, stress and scared she is.
  3. In the second scene, Nora was trying her best to stop Helmer firing Krogstad. Ibsen placed this scene here because the mistake was made. Helmer fired Krogstad without knowing anything.
  4. In the third scene, Dr. Rank was out again. This time, he was out to warn Nora, 'people form new ties'. He was trying to warn Nora to also think of the old ties, which is Helmer at this point of the play. This scene was after the last scene because Nora just had a conversation with Helmer and she was just thinking about herself at the moment instead of thinking what Helmer wants and his way of dealing with things.
  5. In the fourth scene, it was a conversation between Krogstad and Nora again. In this scene, Krogstad came back to threaten Nora, in different ways. He used the reason of family to threaten her.
  6. In the fifth scene, it was the trust between Nora and Kristine. Nora told everything to Kristine and Kristine told her to delay him. This scene was after the last scene so that they can discuss the conversation from the last scene.
3. Act 3
  1. Ibsen start to end the characters' role scene by scene
    1. In the first scene, Ibsen tend to gave the audience a surprise. When 2 characters which didn't seems like there is any relationship in between met up and discussing the about the letter and Nora's secret. At this moment of the play, they seems to had a close relationship before. After this scene, Krogstad finished his role.
    2. In the second scene, Mrs. Linde had lied to Nora that she didn't met Krogstad, and hide their relationship. Also, Mrs. Linde's suggestion changed from delaying him to need to tell him everything. The sudden change was all after the conversation from the last scene. After this scene, Mrs. Linde finished her role. Her role in this scene is basically the advice to Nora.
    3. Then in the third scene, Dr. Rank came to their house again. In this scene, he showed some personal advise to Helmers. At the end of this scene, he used 'invisible' to represent his role is done and he might die.
    4. In the last two scenes, it was the argument between the Helmers. The letter was exposed. in this scen, Nora tend to have a higher status rather than Torvald. At the end of the scene, or the play, Nora left.
4. From the start of the play, the tension was at the lowest point, when everything were still normal as usual, nothing happened yet. Then as Krogstad come in, the tension begins to go up. In every scene after that, were mostly about how should Nora keep the secret. In the last scene of the story, the tension was at the highest point, which is the argument. The tension started to goes up fastly after Nora told Torvald to read the letter. At the very end, where Nora left Torvald, the tension falls down.

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A Doll's House By Henrik Ibsen

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	Created by Meng-Hsuan HSIEH about 6 years ago