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24 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Themes: Marriage |
A Doll's House says that to be that a true marriage is a joining of equals. The play is about the dissolution of a marriage that doesn't meet these standards. Originally, they seem happy but over the play, the imbalance becomes more apparent.By the end, the marriage breaks apart due to a lack of understanding. When married they are incapable of realising who they are as individuals. |
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Themes: Women and Femininity |
Nora of A Doll's House has often been painted as one of modern drama's first feminist heroines. Over the play, she breaks away from the domination of Torvald. Ibsen, denied that he had written a feminist play and saw it as "humanist." but in this drama there is constant talk of women, their traditional roles, and the price they pay when they break with tradition. |
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Themes: Men and Masculinity |
The men of A Doll's House are in many ways just as trapped by traditional gender roles as the women. The men must be providers. They must bear the burden of supporting the entire household. They must be the kings of their castles. By the end of the play, these traditional ideas are truly put to the test. |
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Themes: The Home |
. Early on in the text, the home is seen as a place of comfort and shelter. The idea of home is with the idea of the happy family.Toward the play's conclusion,, the imbalance of power in the family becomes an issue. Now the happy home is shown as a façade that hid the gulf between the Helmers. |
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Themes: Respect and Reputation |
The men of A Doll's House are obsessed with their reputations. Some have good standing in their communities and will do anything to keep it, others have lost their good name and will do anything to get it back. Though the play is set in the living room of a private residence, the public eye is constantly peeking through the curtains. |
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Themes: Love |
The Helmers discover that true love never existed between them. Throughout the play we hear of and see many different forms of love: familial, maternal, paternal, and fraternal. Romantic love even blossoms for two of the secondary characters. However, for the main characters, the Helmers, true romantic love is elusive. |
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Themes: Lies and Deceit |
The essential tension running throughout A Doll's House comes from Nora's fear of a secret being discovered. Her absolute terror of this revelation leads her to tell lie after lie. When her web of lies finally tightens around her, her marriage proves too weak to bear the strain. |
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Themes: Money |
Early in A Doll's House, the characters spend a good deal of time talking about their finances. Some are on the upswing, with the promise of free-flowing cash in the future. Others are struggling to make ends meet. Either way, each character's financial status seems to be a defining feature. |
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Quotes: Marriage pt1 |
NORA: "How painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald […] to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether." (1.197) NORA: "Christine is […] is frightfully anxious to work under some clever man, so as to perfect herself—" (1.282) HELMER: "The child [Nora] shall have her way. MRS. LINDE: "We two need each other." |
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Quotes:Marriage pt2 |
HELMER: "Do you know, Nora, I have often wished that you might be threatened by some great danger, so that I might risk my life's blood, and everything, for your sake."
HELMER: "Nora—can I never be anything more than a stranger to you? […]"NORA: "Both you and I would have to be so changed that […] our life together would be a real wedlock." (3.375-3.380) |
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Quotes: Women and Femininity pt 1 |
HELMER: "That is like a woman!" NORA: "Tell me, is it really true that you did not love your husband? Why did you marry him?"MRS. LINDE: "My mother was alive then, and was bedridden and helpless, and I had to provide for my two younger brothers; so I did not think I was justified in refusing his offer." (1.136-1.137) MRS. LINDE: "I want to be a mother to someone, and your children need a mother." |
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Quotes: Women and Femininity pt 2 |
HELMER: "I shall not allow you to bring up the children; I dare not trust them to you." (3.242) NORA: "What do you consider my most sacred duties?"HELMER: "[…] your duties to your husband and your children."NORA: "I have other duties just as sacred. […] Duties to myself." (3.310-3.314) HELMER: "No man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves."NORA: "It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done." (3.345 3.346) |
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Quotes: Men and Masculinity pt 1 |
NORA: "How painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything!" (1.197) NORA: "Christine is […] is frightfully anxious to work under some clever man, so as to perfect herself." (1.282) Stage Directions: The NURSE comes in with the children. […]HELMER: "Come along, Mrs. Linde; the place will only be bearable for a mother now! (1.303-1.305) |
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Quotes: Men and Masculinity pt 2 |
HELMER: "Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a deceitful mother. […] It seems most commonly to be the mother's influence." (1.471-1.473)
HELMER: "It is already known at the Bank that I mean to dismiss Krogstad. Is it to get about now that the new manager has changed his mind at his wife's bidding." (2.111) HELMER: "You're joking, my little Nora! You won't—you won't? Am I not your husband—?" (3.143) |
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Quotes: House and the Home pt 1 |
HELMER: "An atmosphere of lies infects and poisons the whole life of a home. Each breath the children take in such a house is full of the germs of evil." (1.469) NORA: "Certainly Torvald does understand how to make a house dainty and attractive."MRS. LINDE: "And so do you, it seems to me." (2.34-2.35) RANK: "I cannot imagine for a moment what would have become of me if I had never come into this house." (2.174) |
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Quotes: House and the Home pt 2 |
MRS. LINDE: "What a difference! Someone to work for and live for—a home to bring comfort into." (3.84) NORA: "You never can tell what mischief these men may contrive. We ought to be so well off, so snug and happy here in our peaceful home." (2.110) NORA: "Our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll-wife." (3.286) |
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Quotes: Respect and Reputation pt 1 |
NORA: "A barrister's profession is such an uncertain thing, especially if he won't undertake unsavoury cases; and naturally Torvald has never been willing to do that." (1.114) KROGSTAD: "My sons are growing up; for their sake I must try and win back as much respect as I can in the town... and now your husband is going to kick me downstairs again into the mud." (1.358) NORA: "Your squirrel would run about and do all her tricks if you would be nice, and do what she wants." (2.92) |
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Quotes: Respect and Reputation pt 2 |
HELMER: "Your father's reputation... was not above suspicion. Mine is." HELMER: "Do you suppose I am going to make myself ridiculous before my whole staff" (2.113) HELMER: "I hear [Krogstad] is a good worker, too. But I knew him when we were boys... He thinks it gives him the right to adopt a familiar tone with me." (2.117) MRS. LINDE: "Nils, I have faith in your real character—I can dare anything together with you." (3.58) HELMER: "The matter must be hushed up at any cost." (3.242) |
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Quotes: Love pt 1 |
NORA: "Tell me, is it really true that you did not love your husband? Why did you marry him?"MRS. LINDE: "My mother was alive then, and was bedridden and helpless, and I had to provide for my two younger brothers; so I did not think I was justified in refusing his offer." (1.136-1.137) NORA: "No, it's impossible! I did it for love's sake." (1.413) NORA: "You know how devotedly, how inexpressibly deeply Torvald loves me; he would never for a moment hesitate to give his life for me." (2.189) RANK: "You [Nora] can command me, body and soul." (2.202) |
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Quotes: Love pt 2 |
NORA: "Yes, a wonderful thing!—But it is so terrible, Christine; it mustn't happen, not for all the world." (2.322) MRS. LINDE: "Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better chance than each on their own." (3.44) HELMER: "Do you know, when I am out at a party with you like this, why I speak so little to you […] It is because I make believe to myself that we are secretly in love." (3.139) HELMER: "Now you have destroyed all my happiness. You have ruined all my future." (3.238) |
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Quotes: Lies and Deceit pt 1 |
HELMER: "Hasn't Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today? […]"NORA: "No, Torvald." (1.55-1.62) NORA: "It was necessary he should have no idea what a dangerous condition he was in. It was to me that the doctors came and said that his life was in danger." (1.193) HELMER: "My little songbird must never do that again. A songbird must have a clean beak to chirp with—no false notes!" (1.435) |
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Quotes: Lies and Deceit pt 2 |
HELMER: "A guilty man like that has to lie... even before his own wife and children… the children—that is the most terrible part of it all, Nora." (1.467) MRS. LINDE: "they must have a complete understanding between them, which is impossible with all this concealment" (3.78) HELMER: "What a horrible awakening! All these eight years—she who was my joy and pride—a hypocrite, a liar—worse, worse—a criminal!" (3.236) HELMER: "I must try and appease [Krogstad] some way or another. The matter must be hushed up at any cost." (3.242) |
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Quotes: Money pt 1 |
HELMER: "Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?" (1.11) HELMER: "There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt." (1.21) NORA: "You might give me money, Torvald. Then I will wrap it up in beautiful gilt paper and hang it on the Christmas Tree." (1.38-1.40) NORA: "Christine! It will be splendid to have heaps of money and not need to have any anxiety, won't it?" |
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Quotes: Money pt 2 |
KROGSTAD: "Or perhaps that you have some expedient for raising the money soon?NORA: "No expedient that I mean to make use of." (2.259-2.260) KROGSTAD: "How will you be able to prevent it? Am I to understand that you can pay the balance that is owing?" (2.257) MRS. LINDE: "You must not forget that I had a helpless mother and two little brothers. We couldn't wait for you, Nils; your prospects seemed hopeless then." (3.22) |
