Imagery in "A Doll's House"

Animals

- Uses animal imagery to develop Nora's character throughout the play.

When Torvold hears Nora humming as she enters the house, he says "is that my little skylark twittering out there". Nora is in high spirits and humming cheerfully like a bird. Torvald calls his wife "my little skylark" or "squirrel" or other animal names throughout the play.

- Use a lot of bird imagery by calling many different bird names.

The names that Torvold call Nora are his feelings about Nora at that time. The animals are related to how Nora is acting or how she is portrayed.

Torvold refers Nora as a little squirrel.

Since squirrels hides and stores their food, Nora hides her macroons in the cabinet.

Christmas and New Year's 

- Nora and Torvold

The play is set during the holidays. Christmas and New Years are both associated with rebirth and renewal. For Nora and Torvold, it could be seen as a rebirth. Nora's actions wake her up to the pitiful state of her marriage. At the end, when Nora slams the door, she is in a way of reborn. Torvold realizes the lack of his existence. Both Nora and Torvold have been reborn by the end of the play/movie. 

- Krogstad and Mrs Linde

Krogstad and Mrs Linde are both reborn as well. They renewed their love affair as a chance of salvation. 

Christmas Tree

In the beginning of the first act, the tree appears and stays in the house throughout the play/movie. The christmas tree can be symbolic. It reminds us what season it is.

Themes: sacrificial role of women

NORA

• Nora borrows money from Krogstad for Trovald's treatment in Italy.
• She takes responsibility in repaying the money she borrowed from Krogstad.
• She sacrifices the security of having her own money in order to repay Krogstad.
• She goes through the harassment from Krostad (blackmail).
• She forges her farther's signature, but does this to help Trovald. The consequences of forging a signature was the last thing on her mind.
• She acts like a stereotypical women - leaving all business related things to one's husband.
• She does tricks and dances for Trovald to please him, although she knows she is capable of much more.
• She allows her father and Trovald to treat her like a doll although it wasn't her natural inclination, so she gives up her personal desires for those she loves.
• She gives up the comfort of security in being married so she can be true to herself.

MRS. LINDE

• Mrs. Linde is very poor and is alone in the world now that her brothers have left home.
• In Act 3, we find out that she left Krogstad to marry a wealthier man so she can support her mother and brothers.

Letter in A Doll's House

Turning points and climax of the play “A Doll’s House” takes place upon the writing and reading of the letters. It also comes out as a motif that reveals the truth of each character.

Krogstad's dismissal letter
Nora fails to stop Torvald sending Krogstad’s dismissal letter. This letter is one of the turning points of the story, leading to the first letter that reveals Nora’s Secret loan.

Dr. Rank's letter
Dr. Rank uses a letter to inform his death to Helmers. Dr. Rank shows his understanding of Torvald's unwillingness to accept reality. "Torvald is so fastidious, he cannot face up to anything ugly."

First letter written by Krogstad
This letter represents Nora’s forgery toward Torvald. It reveals Nora’s secret illegal loan.

- Nora continues to deny the letter, not accepting the truth of society. "He’s not leaving the letter. Of course he is. (opening the door further.) What is it? He’s standing there. Not going downstairs. He’s changing his mind. He’s – “(page 58) She still thinks that Krogstad will change his mind until he puts the letter inside the box.

- Mrs. Linde stops Krogstad to reclaim the letter. “Helmer must know the truth. The secret must come out. No more lies, tricks, they must understand each other". (page 68)

- Torvald reveals his shallow and selfish character to Nora after reading the letter. “They’ll think I knew what you were doing, that I was part of it.”(page 77) This quote shows than Torvald cared about his own reputation than Nora.

Second letter written by Krogstad
Krogstad returns Nora’s contract. This shows that Helmers are saved from the threat.

- Torvald changes his attitude as soon as he knew that he’s saved. “You loved me as all wives should love their husband.”(page 79) This shows Torvald’s shallow character that he only could forgive or care about his wife when he is in a safer position.

Sara

Staging

Music

There were music used in this play to build up tension. The music used is usually slow and dark, and it was used to make scenes more mysterious or scary.

Lighting

Throughout the whole play, the lighting is very soft, and the whole apartment seems dark.

Doors

The whole play is set in Helmer's apartment. There are not much moving in this play, and everything seems very statical. This is because most of the major events happened in the past, and in A Doll's House, the secrets of the past are being revealed little by little. Although the setting is in Helmer's apartment, the characters move from one room to another, which changes the mood of the scene. For example, when Mrs. Linde comes to visit, Torvald goes back in the Study, and Nora guides Mrs. Linde to a different room. This is as though every character is allocated a room, which they all feel comfortable being in. Nora somewhat divides the characters in different rooms, but she also changes the room or shuts the door when there is a change in mood, or change in her emotions.

• When Nora reveals Mrs. Linde about her secret, Nora takes Mrs. Linde to a different room.
• When Krogstad comes for the second time to talk to Nora, she takes him to the kitchen.
• When Torvald reads the letter about Nora's secret, he chases her. Nora runs to a different room, but he catches her and shuts the door.

When Torvald shuts the door, this may signify how Nora is trapped emotionally, and cannot escape. As soon as Torvald reads the second letter and calms down, Nora's feelings are released. They move to a different room and talk seriously about what they should do next.

The play ends with A door slams off. This may be significant because throughout the play, Nora is the one moving around the rooms. It might be a sign to the end of her doll-like life with Torvald, or it might represent the division between Torvald and Nora. This play ended with Nora leaving the apartment because there was a change in her emotion, so great that there was no room in the apartment which she could feel comfortable in (not comfortable in the doll's house) and had to leave and find a place which will suit her.

The play begins with Nora entering the apartment as well. She enters the door and leaves the same door at the end of the play. I am not sure if this is significant though.

By Nozomi

Nora

Who Nora is (Background):

Nora is Torvald's wife. She plays a very important role in the play as she is the one who leads to the development of the story. Eight years ago she borrowed money from Krogstad, so that she could save her husband's life and has kept this a secret from him. But keeping this secret is harder as Krogstad starts threatening her to expose her secret unless she convinces Torvald to keep Krogstad employed. As she fails to do this, Krogstad starts warning her even more, and telling her that he knows that she did a lot more than just borrow a lot of money and keep this a secret, but that she also forged her father's signature. This was a crime that he was once blamed for and hence it is a very sensitive topic, which makes Nora transform from a very jolly person to a very nervous person.

First impression of Nora:

When the audience first sees Nora, she gives of the impression of being very childish and naive. In the play this can be seen as she is always galloping, humming, speaks fast, smiles all the time, and plays a lot with her hands. She seems childish especially since she hides the macaroons from Torvald. She very much enjoys Torvald's company and hides his present away from him. In the play, Nora's motion is always overdone and swift. From the start she does not seem to mind the type of society where she is, as she called it, treated like a "doll".

As the play progresses:

As the play develops, Nora experiences a vast change in character. During the play Nora reveals more of her characteristics that push away the childish image of herself. She first does this by telling Mrs. Linde how she borrowed money and got involved with the business world. This shows how Nora is more than just a traditional housewife that takes no initiatives without her husbands permission. She saw that her husband was in trouble and so she helped him, which is seen as a normal thing to do today, but at the time it was not. This loan that she took for Torvald's health, shows how Nora is also an intelligent woman and brave woman. Taking a loan was probably not an easy thing to do, and as she also forged her father's signature it shows how perhaps she was desperate, but that she was also courageous. She however also seems to be a very ambitious woman as she keeps to her payments and has always been working hard to raise the money; "I was lucky: I got a lot of copying.... It was exhausting. But it was thrilling too, to be sitting there working, earning money. Almost like a man." (22)- Nora. She did things on her own and so it portrays how Nora is a very strong person looking after family.

Even though Nora reveals to the audience that she is much more than just the playing mother from the beginning of the play, through the events of the play she also learns a great deal about herself and about her marriage. When Torvald finally finds out about what Nora had done, Nora finally sees the person Torvald really is. She had expected him to understand what she had done, and taken the blame instead. But instead he just screams at Nora and tells her how disappointed he is in her, and how he no longer trusts her to take care of the children or to do anything else. As Torvald screams at her, she finally realizes how Torvald is not the man that she can see herself spending the rest of her life with, and in fact she does not see herself anymore doing the things that she had done her whole life. When Torvald gets the second letter from Krogstad, Nora just keeps getting disappointed by Torvald. All of a sudden now that he had gotten the documents that could save his life, he changed his attitude towards Nora and tells her how he forgives her. From this Nora sees how unrealistic her relationship with Torvald is, she mentions this when they are having a serious talk, how this was actually their first serious talk, which is rather shocking. This is further supported when Nora alludes to dolls. Nora mentions how she was just being played around with, and did not do things for herself, just like one does when playing with dolls. This is when Nora finally realizes how she is stronger than the person that she showed herself to be to Torvald and so reaches the decision to leave him and her life behind to build a new one of herself, where she is certain to be herself.

This development in character of Nora is very strong because even though Nora showed to possess very strong characteristics during the play, this all became a lot stronger at the end. She finally decided to bring herself away from the conventional laws of society, she even mentions that to Torvald after he asks her why she would leave her obligations.

Helmer: It's unbelievable. You abandon your most sacred obligations -

Nora: You know what they are, then, my sacred obligations?

Helmer: You need me to tell you? To your husband, your children.

Nora: I've other obligations, just as sacred.

(83)

Nora finally after her eight years of marriage steps away from her societal obligations, to discover herself.

Staging of Nora:

At the beginning of the play when Nora is introduced to the audience as a rather silly person, she tends to be very jumpy, talks fast, plays around a lot, is always smiling, plays with the children's toys, plays around with Torvald (for example she chases him and somewhat plays hide and seek). An important attribute is that whatever she feels can be read from her face expressions. This is especially obvious as towards the end she is not as jolly, she is rather serious and no longer smiling and laughing. She seems like a very different person, instead of laughing she fake laughs, and speaks very lightly and slow.

The music is very important during the play in portraying Nora's expressions as well. At the beginning the music is rather friendly, but towards the end it is much slower and there are more frequent use of low tone instruments, to emphasize the sadness and unsureness in Nora.

Important Quotes:

• "The person who save Torvald's life - it was me." (20) - Nora
• "I'm a human being, the same as you. Or at least that I'll try to be one." (83) - Nora
• "I'm going to find out - which one is right, society or me." (84) - Nora

Staging

The Use of Music
- Music is used during mood change and to build up tension
- Cheerful music at the beginning for Christmas spirit
- Mysterious/Fast music when Nora tells Mrs. Linde about her secret
- Fast and choppy music when Nora is dancing to build up tension and panic

Acting
- The volume of voice emphasizes characters of strength and dominance in the situation
- The speed of talking is used to emphasize emotion and tension.
- Torvald spoke very loudly throughout most of the play to show that he is in control
- Nora is quiet during the majority of the play because she is being controlled and she is not strong in character
- When Nora talks to herself she is whispering showing emphasizing her emotions of fear and uncertainty
- Nora talks very quickly when she is scared and paniced
- During the end of the play Nora is louder because she is in control and is speaking with more confidence and clarity
- Volume of voice is also used to build up tension and emotion

Lighting
- There is very little lighting
- This may create the setting to show that it takes place long time ago (the use of a lamp when Nora and Dr. Rank are talking)
- To emphasize emotions the filming concentrates on the character’s face -> during the play instead of zooming on the character’s face the lightly may concentrate on the character

by Mikku Yamashiro-Knudsen

Moral conflict

Moral Conflict

Sexism:

Sexism is a large conflict that encompasses the play. The conflict is revealed through the characters of Nora and Torvald; the issue is revealed mostly by the sexist remarks that are made by Torvald. One way that the author demonstrates sexism is by using animals to represent women. In the beginning of the play, Torvald constantly compares Nora to birds (skylark, songbird) which are fragile animals. By comparing Nora to birds, it shows how Torvald sees her has a delicate person who is only supposed to 'chirp' peacefully. This is a sexist comment since he expects his 'little bird' (Nora) to sing 'pretty songs' in order to please him. Another way the author portrays sexism is by highlighting the roles of husband and wife. Torvald makes a sexist remark when he explained the impact that mothers have on their children--he specifically says that "deceitful mothers poison their children" more than their fathers do, so basically insinuates that women rub off negative effect on others more than men do, which is a generalization. He also degrades women by making many of these generalizations about women and their roles as wives. After he finds out that he is free from Krogstad's threatening letter, he tells Nora that she only borrowed money from Krogstad because she has loved him as "all wives should love their husbands". Torvald makes it sound as if it is a duty to love someone instead of loving someone because they want to. He takes advantage of her position as a wife and uses it to his advantage.

Freedom:

Nora is treated like a doll who is controlled by Torvald until the end. Torvald dresses her to according to what he likes, he makes her entertain him by singing/dancing and performing, and basically directs her to do everything he wishes. Throughout the play, Nora does not get a say in any decision making as Torvald sets the rules for everything--he even forbids Nora from eating macaroons. Freedom is stripped away from Nora, and the only thing she constantly has in mind is to keep her husband happy. However, she finally comes to realization in the end that she deserves better and claims that she will "at least try to become like a human being" by leaving Torvald and deciding for herself. Despite her wishes, Torvald still manages to force restriction upon her by saying that she has "obligations as a wife and a mother" where they come first. But of course Nora has had enough and leaves Torvald, where she finally attains freedom.