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A Doll's House and Other Plays

Henrik Ibsen

1879 · 19th Century · Drama · Norwegian

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Portrait of Henrik Ibsen. Source · Public domain

Summary

The title play, A Doll's House (1879), takes place over three days of Christmas in the comfortable Norwegian home of Torvald Helmer, a newly appointed bank manager, and his wife Nora, whom he treats as a charming pet, calling her his songbird and squirrel. Years earlier, when Torvald was gravely ill and doctors advised a year in Italy, Nora secretly borrowed the money from the lawyer Krogstad, forging her dying father's signature as guarantor. She has been paying the debt in secret from her housekeeping and copying work. Krogstad, now an employee at Torvald's bank and about to be dismissed, threatens to reveal the forgery unless Nora secures his job. Nora's widowed school friend Kristine Linde arrives seeking work, and the family friend Dr Rank, who is dying of a disease inherited from his father's dissipation, declares his love for Nora. Torvald fires Krogstad, who leaves a letter exposing her. Nora waits for what she calls 'the wonderful thing', the hope that Torvald will take the blame upon himself. Instead, on reading the letter, he rages that she has ruined him; when Krogstad, reconciled with Mrs Linde, returns the bond, Torvald instantly forgives her and resumes his patronising tenderness. Nora sees that their marriage has been a performance. In a celebrated final scene she tells him she has been his doll-wife as she was her father's doll-child, that her first duty is to herself, and she leaves, closing the door behind her. Modern collections pair it with other prose plays of the same period; editions differ, but they commonly include Ghosts (1881), in which Helene Alving, having kept up the public reputation of her debauched late husband, watches her son Osvald succumb to inherited disease and is left holding the morphine he has asked her to give him, and An Enemy of the People (1882), in which Dr Thomas Stockmann discovers that the spa baths on which his town's prosperity depends are contaminated, and is declared an enemy of the people when he insists on telling the truth. The plays share Ibsen's concern with secrets, inheritance and the cost of social respectability.

Plot or Argument

A Doll's House, Act 1
Nora returns from Christmas shopping; Torvald's playful condescension is established. Mrs Linde arrives, Nora confides the secret loan, and Krogstad reveals he knows of the forgery.
A Doll's House, Act 2
Nora tries to save Krogstad's job, practises the tarantella in desperation, and learns of Dr Rank's coming death and his love for her. Krogstad drops his letter in Torvald's locked mailbox.
A Doll's House, Act 3
After the party Torvald reads the letter and turns on Nora, then forgives her when the threat is withdrawn. Nora confronts him with the truth of their marriage and leaves.
Ghosts
Mrs Alving opens an orphanage in memory of her husband while confessing to Pastor Manders the truth of his dissolute life; her son Osvald, returned from Paris, reveals that he is ill and asks her to help him die if his disease takes his mind.
An Enemy of the People
Dr Stockmann's discovery that the town baths are polluted brings him into conflict with his brother the mayor, the press and the 'compact majority', who turn against him at a public meeting.

Characters

Nora Helmer, protagonist (A Doll's House)
Apparently frivolous wife who has secretly saved her husband's life and who finally leaves home to find herself.
Torvald Helmer, Nora's husband
Respectable bank manager whose love depends on Nora remaining a pretty dependent.
Nils Krogstad, lawyer and bank clerk
A man with a past forgery of his own who blackmails Nora to save his position.
Kristine Linde, Nora's old friend
Hard-working widow who reunites with Krogstad and lets the truth come out.
Dr Rank, family friend
A physician dying of a disease he attributes to his father's dissolute life; he loves Nora silently.
Helene Alving, protagonist (Ghosts)
Widow who concealed her husband's vices for decades and must face their consequences in her son.
Osvald Alving, Mrs Alving's son (Ghosts)
Young painter who learns he has an inherited, incurable disease.
Pastor Manders, clergyman (Ghosts)
Conventional moralist who once sent Mrs Alving back to her husband.
Dr Thomas Stockmann, protagonist (An Enemy of the People)
Spa physician who exposes contaminated water and is ostracised by his town.
Peter Stockmann, mayor, Thomas's brother
Civic leader who suppresses the report to protect the town's finances.

Lessons

A marriage can be a performance
Nora and Torvald play roles that suit social expectations rather than knowing each other. The play argues that equality and honesty, not protection and charm, are the basis of real partnership.
- What is 'the wonderful thing' Nora hopes for, and why does its failure end the marriage?
- Is Nora's leaving her children defensible?
- Does Torvald love Nora?
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Context

Ibsen wrote these plays in Italy and Germany during the debates over women's legal rights, marriage law and public morality that were active across Scandinavia and Europe. Married women in Norway gained independent control of their own earnings only in the late 1880s, which helps explain why Nora could not legally borrow without a guarantor. Ghosts drew on contemporary medical and hereditarian ideas about venereal disease and degeneration.

Composition

A Doll's House premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen in December 1879. For a German production Ibsen reluctantly wrote an alternative ending in which Nora stays for the children, a version he called a barbaric outrage. Ghosts (1881) was refused by Scandinavian theatres and first staged in Chicago in 1882 by a Danish-Norwegian company. An Enemy of the People (1882) was partly a response to the hostile reception of Ghosts.

Reception

Nora's door-slam became a symbol for the women's movement, although Ibsen later said he had been concerned with the cause of humanity rather than women's rights specifically. Ghosts was denounced as obscene in Britain, where William Archer translated and championed Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw defended him in The Quintessence of Ibsenism (1891).

Marriage Gender Women Identity Self Money Wealth Illness / Body Class / Society Justice Law Family

Comparisons

effi-briest
Both portray young wives confined by older, career-minded husbands and a secret from the past; Effi is crushed by social codes, while Nora walks out.
the-portrait-of-a-lady
Isabel Archer, like Nora, discovers that her marriage was an arrangement in which she was an ornament; James leaves her choice to return more ambiguous.
washington-square
Catherine Sloper's controlling father and her fortune-seeking suitor show a woman treated as property, a parallel to Nora's dependency on Torvald and her father.
death-of-a-salesman
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the-misanthrope-and-other-plays
Molière's Alceste and Ibsen's Dr Stockmann are both uncompromising truth-tellers isolated by a society that prefers smooth surfaces.

Quotes

Frequently cited

“I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was papa's doll-child”

"I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was papa's doll-child" — Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House and Other Plays, A Doll's House, Act 3, trans. William Archer.

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Frequently cited

“I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being, just as you are”

"I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being, just as you are" — Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House and Other Plays, A Doll's House, Act 3, trans. William Archer.

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Frequently cited

“Mother, give me the sun”

"Mother, give me the sun" — Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House and Other Plays, Ghosts, Act 3 (final scene), trans. William Archer.

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For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

Torvald's pet names for Nora in Act 1 of A Doll's House, songbird and squirrel, and the macaroons she hides from him. Track how often she plays the part he expects.
The tarantella Nora rehearses in Act 2 while Krogstad's letter waits in the locked mailbox. Ask what the frantic dance is doing for her.
Torvald's two reactions in Act 3: his rage on reading Krogstad's letter, and his instant forgiveness when the bond is returned. Nora's decision comes from the gap between them.
In Ghosts, the orphanage Mrs Alving builds in her husband's memory, and her confession to Pastor Manders about what her marriage really was.
In An Enemy of the People, the public meeting in Act 4, where Dr Stockmann turns from attacking the polluted baths to attacking the compact majority itself.

Key terms and names

The forged signature: Nora's secret in A Doll's House: to borrow money for Torvald's year in Italy, she signed her dying father's name as guarantor. She did it to save her husband's life, which is why she cannot see it as a crime.
The wonderful thing: Nora's private hope in A Doll's House that when the forgery comes out, Torvald will take the blame on himself. His failure to do so in Act 3 ends the marriage.
Dr Rank: The Helmers' family friend, a physician dying of a disease inherited from his father's dissipation. His declaration of love in Act 2 shows Nora that she cannot use him to escape her trouble.
Kristine Linde: Nora's widowed school friend, who married for money to support her family and now wants work. Her reunion with Krogstad in Act 3 is the play's other marriage, chosen with open eyes.
Ghosts: Mrs Alving's word in the second play for the dead ideas and old customs that still haunt the living, as well as for the inheritance her husband's vices have passed to her son Osvald.
Pastor Manders: The clergyman in Ghosts who, years before, sent the young Mrs Alving back to her dissolute husband out of duty. He cares deeply about appearances and refuses to insure the orphanage lest it seem to show distrust of Providence.
The compact majority: Dr Stockmann's phrase in An Enemy of the People for the respectable townspeople who turn on him to protect the profitable spa baths. He comes to believe the majority is never right.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension Why did Nora borrow money from Krogstad, and why did she keep the loan secret from Torvald?
Comprehension What does Torvald say to Nora when he first reads Krogstad's letter in Act 3, and what does he say after the second letter returns the bond?
Comprehension In Ghosts, what has Mrs Alving hidden about her late husband for so many years, and why did she hide it?
Interpretation Nora calls herself a doll-wife and a doll-child. Is Torvald alone responsible for this, or has Nora also chosen the part, for instance with the macaroons and the tarantella?
Interpretation Krogstad and Nora both committed forgery. Why does Torvald judge Krogstad so harshly, and what does that tell us about how he will judge Nora?
Interpretation Mrs Linde chooses to marry Krogstad while Nora chooses to leave Torvald. What does Mrs Linde have that the Helmer marriage lacks?
Interpretation Pastor Manders and Torvald Helmer are both men devoted to respectability. Compare what each one values most when a hidden sin comes to light.
Big Question Nora says her first duty is to herself; Torvald says it is to her husband and children. What would a marriage need to look like for neither of those statements to be the whole truth?

Faith Connections

Ephesians 5:25-33 (Scripture)
Paul tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Nora's hope for the wonderful thing in Act 3 is precisely a hope that Torvald will give himself for her, and his refusal shows how far his love falls from that pattern.
Exodus 20:5 and Ezekiel 18:20 (Scripture)
The commandments speak of the iniquity of the fathers visited on the children, while Ezekiel insists the son shall not bear the guilt of the father. Ghosts dramatizes the first truth in Osvald's inherited illness and Dr Rank's, and leaves its characters longing for the second.
John 8:32 (Scripture)
Jesus promises that the truth will make his hearers free. All three plays turn on hidden truths: Nora's loan, Mrs Alving's marriage, and the poisoned baths, and each asks whether telling the truth frees people or simply exposes them.
C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (Great Conversation)
Lewis distinguishes Need-love from Gift-love and warns that natural affection can turn possessive when it seeks its own pleasure in the beloved. Torvald's delight in his songbird is affection of this kind, and Nora's final speech names the lack of a love that never gave.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: A marriage built on concealment and performance is not a true marriage. Nora hid her loan and played the doll; Torvald loved the doll and not the woman, as Act 3 proves when he condemns her for an act done to save his life and forgives her only when his reputation is safe. Since neither has known the other, Nora concludes she must leave to learn who she is, and that only a transformation in both of them could make their life together a real marriage. Ghosts and An Enemy of the People extend the argument: respectability that hides the truth, in a family or a town, eventually poisons those it claims to protect.

Rhetorical device: dramatic irony. Throughout Acts 1 and 2 of A Doll's House the audience knows of Nora's forgery while Torvald lectures her on Krogstad's moral corruption and the poison a deceitful parent brings into a home. Every speech in which he praises his own honesty becomes an unknowing judgment on the wife he claims to protect.

Debate: Resolved: Nora is right to leave her husband and children at the end of A Doll's House.

Memory Work

Mother, give me the sun
Ghosts, Act 3 (final scene), trans. William Archer. Osvald's plea at the close of Ghosts is only five words long, yet it gathers the play's imagery of light and darkness into one terrible request.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Torvald, Pastor Manders, and Mayor Peter Stockmann each place reputation above truth. Using one scene from each of the three plays, argue what Ibsen thinks respectability costs the people who live under it.

Comparison with Effi Briest: Fontane's Effi Briest and Ibsen's Nora are both young wives married to correct, ambitious men, and both are undone by a secret from the past. Compare how each husband responds when the secret is revealed, and argue which work presents the more devastating judgment on marriage governed by social honour.

Medical Lens

Three physicians or medical plots in one volume. Dr Rank attributes his fatal spinal disease to his father's youthful excesses, which most critics read as congenital syphilis (often discussed as tabes dorsalis or spinal tuberculosis; Ibsen does not name it). Ghosts is a landmark of medicine in drama: Osvald's disease, presented as the inheritance of his father's debauchery, is generally read as congenital syphilis leading to general paresis, reflecting 19th-century hereditarian ideas that blurred infection and 'degeneration'. His request that his mother give him a lethal dose of morphine powders makes the play a touchstone in euthanasia debates. An Enemy of the People dramatises a physician whistle-blower on contaminated water, written at the height of the bacteriological revolution and sanitation reform.

Syphilis Venereal Heredity Degeneration Tuberculosis Consumption Physicians Doctors Opium Laudanum Death Dying Medical Ethics Public Health Sanitation Madness Psychosis Fever Infection

A Doll's House, Act 1
Nora reveals that Torvald's life was saved by a year in Italy prescribed by doctors, paid for with the secret loan.
Physicians Doctors Fever Infection
A Doll's House, Act 2
Dr Rank speaks of the inherited disease destroying his spine and of the final examination he is making on himself.
Syphilis Venereal Heredity Degeneration Tuberculosis Consumption Death Dying
A Doll's House, Act 3
Rank leaves his visiting card marked with a black cross to announce his approaching death.
Death Dying Physicians Doctors
Ghosts, Act 2
Osvald recounts the Paris doctor's verdict that he was born with a worm-eaten constitution, and reveals he carries morphine powders.
Syphilis Venereal Heredity Degeneration Opium Laudanum
Ghosts, Act 3
Osvald's mental collapse at sunrise; his mother stands with the morphine he made her promise to give him.
Madness Psychosis Medical Ethics Death Dying
An Enemy of the People, Acts 1–4
Dr Stockmann's laboratory analysis of the spa water, suppression of his report, and the public meeting that brands him an enemy of the people.
Public Health Sanitation Physicians Doctors Medical Ethics

Creative Prompts

Essay
Compare Mrs Alving's dilemma with modern debates on medical aid in dying. What does the play add that an ethics case study cannot?
Dialogue
Write the conversation between Nora and Mrs Linde ten years after Nora leaves.
Classroom
Stage the final scene of A Doll's House twice, once with Ibsen's ending and once with the German alternate ending, and discuss what changes.
Fiction
Retell An Enemy of the People in a modern town whose economy depends on a factory polluting the water supply.

A Doll's House and Other Plays

Summary

Plot or Argument

Characters

Lessons

A marriage can be a performance

Respectability can conceal harm

Truth-telling has a cost

Context

Composition

Reception

Comparisons

Quotes

For Students

Reading Guide

Watch for

Key terms and names

Seminar Questions

Faith Connections

Logic and Rhetoric

Memory Work

Writing Prompts

Medical Lens

Creative Prompts

Further Reading