Henrik Ibsen

“ HELMER.
Well, out with it!
NORA.
[speaking quickly] . You might give me money, Torvald. Only just as much as you can afford; and then one of these days I will buy something with it.
HELMER.
But, Nora—
NORA.
Oh, do! dear Torvald; please, please do! Then I will wrap it up in beautiful gilt paper and hang it on the Christmas Tree. Wouldn’t that be fun?
HELMER.
What are little people called that are always wasting money?
NORA.
Spendthrifts—I know. Let us do as you suggest, Torvald, and then I shall have time to think what I am most in want of. That is a very sensible plan, isn’t it? ”

“ HELMER.
But you are my wife, whatever becomes of you.
NORA.
Listen, Torvald. I have heard that when a wife deserts her husband’s house, as I am doing now, he is legally freed from all obligations towards her. In any case, I set you free from all your obligations. You are not to feel yourself bound in the slightest way, any more than I shall. There must be perfect freedom on both sides. ”

“ 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.
NORA.
[disengages herself, and says firmly and decidedly] . Now you must read your letters, Torvald.
HELMER.
No, no; not tonight. I want to be with you, my darling wife.
NORA.
With the thought of your friend’s death—
HELMER.
You are right, it has affected us both. Something ugly has come between us—the thought of the horrors of death. We must try and rid our minds of that. Until then—we will each go to our own room. ”

“ NORA.
No, you wouldn’t, would you, Torvald?
HELMER.
Many a man has been able to retrieve his character, if he has openly confessed his fault and taken his punishment.
NORA.
Punishment—?
HELMER.
But Krogstad did nothing of that sort; he got himself out of it by a cunning trick, and that is why he has gone under altogether.
NORA.
But do you think it would—?
HELMER.
Just think how a guilty man like that has to lie and play the hypocrite with every one, how he has to wear a mask in the presence of those near and dear to him, even before his own wife and children. ”

“ MRS LINDE.
Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better chance than each on their own.
KROGSTAD.
Christine I...
MRS LINDE.
What do you suppose brought me to town?
KROGSTAD.
Do you mean that you gave me a thought?
MRS LINDE.
I could not endure life without work. All my life, as long as I can remember, I have worked, and it has been my greatest and only pleasure. But now I am quite alone in the world—my life is so dreadfully empty and I feel so forsaken. There is not the least pleasure in working for one’s self. Nils, give me someone and something to work for. ”

“ HELMER.
You have loved me as a wife ought to love her husband. Only you had not sufficient knowledge to judge of the means you used. But do you suppose you are any the less dear to me, because you don’t understand how to act on your own responsibility? No, no; only lean on me; I will advise you and direct you. I should not be a man if this womanly helplessness did not just give you a double attractiveness in my eyes. You must not think anymore about the hard things I said in my first moment of consternation, when I thought everything was going to overwhelm me. I have forgiven you, Nora ”

“ MRS LINDE.
Still I think the sick are those who most need taking care of.
RANK.
[shrugging his shoulders] . Yes, there you are. That is the sentiment that is turning Society into a sick-house.
[NORA, who has been absorbed in her thoughts, breaks out into smothered laughter and claps her hands.]
RANK.
Why do you laugh at that? Have you any notion what Society really is?
NORA.
What do I care about tiresome Society? I am laughing at something quite different, something extremely amusing. Tell me, Doctor Rank, are all the people who are employed in the Bank dependent on Torvald now? ”

“ HELMER.
My dear Nora, it is his post that I have arranged Mrs Linde shall have.
NORA.
Yes, you have been awfully kind about that; but you could just as well dismiss some other clerk instead of Krogstad.
HELMER.
This is simply incredible obstinacy! Because you chose to give him a thoughtless promise that you would speak for him, I am expected to—
NORA.
That isn’t the reason, Torvald. It is for your own sake. This fellow writes in the most scurrilous newspapers; you have told me so yourself. He can do you an unspeakable amount of harm. ”

“ NORA.
I assure you, Torvald, that is not an easy question to answer. I really don’t know. The thing perplexes me altogether. I only know that you and I look at it in quite a different light. I am learning, too, that the law is quite another thing from what I supposed; but I find it impossible to convince myself that the law is right. According to it a woman has no right to spare her old dying father, or to save her husband’s life. I can’t believe that.
HELMER.
You talk like a child. You don’t understand the conditions of the world in which you live. ”

“ I did it for your sake, and this is how you repay me.
NORA.
Yes, that’s just it.
HELMER.
Now you have destroyed all my happiness. You have ruined all my future. It is horrible to think of! I am in the power of an unscrupulous man; he can do what he likes with me, ask anything he likes of me, give me any orders he pleases—I dare not refuse. And I must sink to such miserable depths because of a thoughtless woman! ”

“ MRS LINDE.
But, my dear Nora—who could the man be?
NORA.
Good gracious, can’t you understand? There was no old gentleman at all; it was only something that I used to sit here and imagine, when I couldn’t think of any way of procuring money. But it’s all the same now; the tiresome old person can stay where he is, as far as I am concerned; I don’t care about him or his will either, for I am free from care now. [Jumps up.] My goodness, it’s delightful to think of, Christine! Free from care! To be able to be free from care, quite free from care; to be able to play and romp with the children ”

“ NORA.
Oh, it’s you, Christine. There is no one else out there, is there? How good of you to come!
MRS LINDE.
I heard you were up asking for me.
NORA.
Yes, I was passing by. As a matter of fact, it is something you could help me with. Let us sit down here on the sofa. Look here. Tomorrow evening there is to be a fancy-dress ball at the Stenborgs’, who live above us; and Torvald wants me to go as a Neapolitan fisher-girl, and dance the Tarantella that I learned at Capri. ”

“ HELMER.
Come along, Mrs Linde; the place will only be bearable for a mother now!
[RANK, HELMER, and Mrs Linde go downstairs. The NURSE comes forward with the children; NORA shuts the hall door.]
NORA.
How fresh and well you look! Such red cheeks like apples and roses. [The children all talk at once while she speaks to them.] Have you had great fun? That’s splendid! What, you pulled both Emmy and Bob along on the sledge? —both at once?—that was good. You are a clever boy, Ivar. Let me take her for a little, Anne. My sweet little baby doll! ”

“ Nor you me. People don’t do such things, Mrs Helmer. Besides, what use would it be? I should have him completely in my power all the same.
NORA.
Afterwards? When I am no longer—
KROGSTAD.
Have you forgotten that it is I who have the keeping of your reputation? [NORA stands speechlessly looking at him.] Well, now, I have warned you. Do not do anything foolish. When Helmer has had my letter, I shall expect a message from him. And be sure you remember that it is your husband himself who has forced me into such ways as this again. I will never forgive him for that. Goodbye, Mrs Helmer. ”

“ HELMER.
I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora—bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves.
NORA.
It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done. ”

“ What, macaroons? I thought they were forbidden here.
NORA.
Yes, but these are some Christine gave me.
MRS LINDE.
What! I?—
NORA.
Oh, well, don’t be alarmed! You couldn’t know that Torvald had forbidden them. I must tell you that he is afraid they will spoil my teeth. But, bah!—once in a way—That’s so, isn’t it, Doctor Rank? By your leave! [Puts a macaroon into his mouth.] You must have one too, Christine. And I shall have one, just a little one—or at most two. [Walking about.] I am tremendously happy. There is just one thing in the world now that I should dearly love to do. ”

“ You have no idea what a true man’s heart is like, Nora. There is something so indescribably sweet and satisfying, to a man, in the knowledge that he has forgiven his wife—forgiven her freely, and with all his heart. ”

“ Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a deceitful mother.
NORA.
Why do you only say—mother?
HELMER.
It seems most commonly to be the mother’s influence, though naturally a bad father’s would have the same result. Every lawyer is familiar with the fact. This Krogstad, now, has been persistently poisoning his own children with lies and dissimulation; that is why I say he has lost all moral character. [Holds out his hands to her.] That is why my sweet little Nora must promise me not to plead his cause. ”

“ And did your husband never get to know from your father that the money had not come from him?
NORA.
No, never. Papa died just at that time. I had meant to let him into the secret and beg him never to reveal it. But he was so ill then—alas, there never was any need to tell him.
MRS LINDE.
And since then have you never told your secret to your husband?
NORA.
Good Heavens, no! How could you think so? A man who has such strong opinions about these things! And besides, how painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything! ”

“ NORA.
Yes, that was Doctor Rank, but he doesn’t come here professionally. He is our greatest friend, and comes in at least once every day. No, Torvald has not had an hour’s illness since then, and our children are strong and healthy and so am I. [Jumps up and claps her hands.] Christine! Christine! it’s good to be alive and happy!—But how horrid of me; I am talking of nothing but my own affairs. [Sits on a stool near her, and rests her arms on her knees.] You mustn’t be angry with me. Tell me, is it really true that you did not love your husband? Why did you marry him? ”

“ MRS LINDE.
So it has all had to come out of your own necessaries of life, poor Nora?
NORA.
Of course. Besides, I was the one responsible for it. Whenever Torvald has given me money for new dresses and such things, I have never spent more than half of it; I have always bought the simplest and cheapest things. Thank Heaven, any clothes look well on me, and so Torvald has never noticed it. But it was often very hard on me, Christine—because it is delightful to be really well dressed, isn’t it? ”

“ ACT II
[THE SAME SCENE.—THE Christmas Tree is in the corner by the piano, stripped of its ornaments and with burnt-down candle-ends on its dishevelled branches. NORA’S cloak and hat are lying on the sofa. She is alone in the room, walking about uneasily. She stops by the sofa and takes up her cloak.]
NORA.
[drops her cloak] . Someone is coming now! [Goes to the door and listens.] No—it is no one. Of course, no one will come today, Christmas Day—nor tomorrow either. But, perhaps— [opens the door and looks out] . No, nothing in the letterbox; it is quite empty. ”

“ To desert your home, your husband and your children! And you don’t consider what people will say!
NORA.
I cannot consider that at all. I only know that it is necessary for me.
HELMER.
It’s shocking. This is how you would neglect your most sacred duties.
NORA.
What do you consider my most sacred duties?
HELMER.
Do I need to tell you that? Are they not your duties to your husband and your children?
NORA.
I have other duties just as sacred.
HELMER.
That you have not. What duties could those be?
NORA.
Duties to myself.
HELMER.
Before all else, you are a wife and a mother.
NORA.
I don’t believe that any longer. ”

“ Your husband? What good luck!
NORA.
Yes, tremendous! 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, and I quite agree with him. You may imagine how pleased we are! He is to take up his work in the Bank at the New Year, and then he will have a big salary and lots of commissions. For the future we can live quite differently—we can do just as we like. I feel so relieved and so happy, Christine! It will be splendid to have heaps of money and not need to have any anxiety, won’t it? ”

“ NORA.
But, Christine, that is so frightfully tiring, and you look tired out now. You had far better go away to some watering-place.
MRS LINDE.
[walking to the window] . I have no father to give me money for a journey, Nora.
NORA.
[rising] . Oh, don’t be angry with me!
MRS LINDE.
[going up to her] . It is you that must not be angry with me, dear. The worst of a position like mine is that it makes one so bitter. No one to work for, and yet obliged to be always on the lookout for chances. One must live, and so one becomes selfish. ”

“ MRS LINDE.
Quite sure, but—
KROGSTAD.
[with a searching look at her] . Is that what it all means?—that you want to save your friend at any cost? Tell me frankly. Is that it?
MRS LINDE.
Nils, a woman who has once sold herself for another’s sake, doesn’t do it a second time.
KROGSTAD.
I will ask for my letter back.
MRS LINDE.
No, no.
KROGSTAD.
Yes, of course I will. I will wait here until Helmer comes; I will tell him he must give me my letter back—that it only concerns my dismissal—that he is not to read it—
MRS LINDE.
No, Nils, you must not recall your letter. ”