Krogstad's Motivation Essay

For a lot of the play, creepy Krogstad seems to be a very big antagonist. He is the force that Nora, our protagonist, is constantly butting heads with. Krogstad shows his villainous traits by blackmailing Nora, threatening her, and trying to make her life a living hell. The motivation behind Krogstad’s vicious attacks is his fear that he’ll lose his job at the bank to Christine.
I looked at Krogstad as the villain due to the fact that it was revealed that Nora borrowed the money used to cure Torvald from Krogstad. Krogstad believed that his job was in danger and he tried to threaten Nora by holding the fact that she borrowed money from him over her head. Not only does that shadows over Nora’s head like a black cloud, Krogstad also threatens to expose Nora of forgery. Nora had forged her father’s signature to get the loan. All of this will be let …show more content…
Would Krogstad keep this dirty little secret between them or will he blab about it to Torvald? Would Nora manipulate Torvald into allowing Krogstad to keep his job or will she fall short? Those were questions that interested the reader throughout the story. This also enhances the play because Nora had been lying to Torvald, her husband, the entire time. This makes the antagonist of the story up for debate. During the time period of this play, it was seen as criminal for a wife to lie to her husband. Nora had led Torvald to believe that she got the money from her father but, in reality, she took the money from Krogstad by forging her signature. This is the same reason Torvald disliked Krogstad in the first place. Torvald then goes on to say that he can’t stand to be around people like that and that people like him corrupts the mind of his children. This is ironic since Nora is his wife and the mother of his children. The same tendencies that makes Torvald dislike Krogstad are the same tendencies that are in