Gillian Anderson as Nora in A Doll House.
Directions: In small groups, read Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House, Act II. Compose a blog response using evidence from the text. Focus on characterization. What do you notice about the interactions between Nora and Dr. Rank? Why does Nora get thrown off? What about Krogstad? They talk about "that." What are they referring to? How does that create a sense of suspense and foreshadowing? What is "the most wonderful thing?"
Act 2 of a Doll House centers around Nora’s panic over the situation with Krogstad. It is evident that she is distraught and anxious over the issue, questioning if her children would “forget their mother if she went away altogether.” This indicates that Nora was considering fleeing from home or running away from her problems. Her frustration builds as she, unsuccessfully, begs Torvald to save Krogstad’s job. On top of this, her interaction with Dr. Rank puts her in a situation in which she's never been in before. While she does not share the same love Dr. Rank expresses to her, a lot is revealed about her relationships through this interaction. She compares her marriage with Torvald to her relationship with her dad stating, “being with Torvald is a little like being with papa.” This alone indicates that her relationship with Torvald is clearly not a loving/normal husband-wife relationship. Soon after talking to Dr. Rank, Krogstad appears at her door and sends Nora into a frenzy. They discuss “that,” which alludes to the idea that both of them have considered committing suicide as a way to escape their problems. While Krogstad is relieved that she “hadn’t the courage” to do so, he still informs her that he will be giving Torvald a letter explaining in detail all about Nora’s secret. Nora manages to distract Torvald for the night, insisting they practice dancing, although Torvald does inform her he “can tell from (her) looks that there is a letter from him lying there.” At the end of the act, Nora remarks that she has “thirty-one hours to live,” or thirty one hours until Torvald reads the letter, foreshadowing the consequences Nora will face when Torvald finds out what she has done.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you used the quote about Nora's dad to explain her relationship with Torvald. He seems to have this power over her that she cannot escape, including the hypothetical power to end her life after he reads her letter. Nora's lack of control over her own life brings her pain and suffering which she can find no solution to.
DeleteAfter Krogstad discovered the forged contract and demands that she convince Torvald to keep him on the job, Nora considers the idea of borrowing money from Dr. Rank. Concerned that Torvald is going to find out about her lie, she urgently wants to repay Krogstad and move on. Ultimately, the relationship between Nora and Dr. Rank is portrayed as complicated and confused. For instance, her friend Christine warns her to stop talking to Dr. Rank, implying that he is likely in love with her. However, Nora continues to meet with Dr. Rank, who is becoming evermore ill. Their conversation is terribly morbid, for Dr. Rank openly discusses his own death. Before Nora was able to ask him to borrow money, Dr. Rank states that he loves her, exclaiming that “I was determined you should know it before I went away…[I] to have loved you as much as anyone else does.” In response, she says that “when I was at home, of course I loved papa best. But I always thought it tremendous fun if I could steal down into the maids' room.” Nora explains that the people you have the most fun are often not the ones you most love. Ultimately, Nora then becomes uncomfortable and does not wish to ask him for money anymore. As a result, Krogstad still manages leverage over Nora. Although she tries to convince Torvald to not fire him, Krogstad is let go. He is angry and argues that it is not about the money anymore. Therefore, I feel that this tension between Krogstad and Nora is going to lead to a greater dispute later in the play.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you emphasize the connection that we believed Nora and Dr. Rank had shared. It was almost quite expected that Dr. Rank would acquire such feelings for Nora because of the progression of their relationship. It seems that Nora's life is in a state of turmoil. She is fighting for the life she has known while also battling with the thought of the unknown.
DeleteIn Act one, the main conflict was about the money that Nora needed to pay back. This shifts in act two, as the problem becomes Torvald finding out about the incident. Along with her panicked attitude about Torvald finding out the truth, her relationship with Dr. Rank is very peculiar, as he admits that he has feelings for her. Although he believes that she has reciprocated these feelings, she explains that the things she enjoys the most, are not what she loves. Elaborating about her relationship with Torvald, she feels a different kind of connection to him, much like she did to her father. She states that although she enjoyed gossiping with the maids, she always loved her father more than anything. This is much like her relationship with Dr. Rank. She enjoys spending time with him but will always love Torvald. Along with Rank’s confession, Krogstad seems to be dangling his blackmail over Nora, threatening to expose her secrets. At first, she is begging Krogstad to not reveal this truth. As she continues to panic, she decides that self sacrifice is the best solution. When she refers to the “wonderful thing”, I think that she is talking Torvald finding out and what she is going to do after he does. At the end of Act 2, she continues to look at her watch, almost seeming to count down the time she has left.
ReplyDeleteRight off the bat, I noticed that the relationship between Nora and Dr. Rank was certainly one-sided. As Nora is desperate to keep her secret under the radar, she plays along with Dr. Rank, “Oh, you know very well I always have time for you.” The pressure to reverse Krogstad’s unemployment drives her actions and intimidates her moral ethics, as Nora continues flirting with him for sole intention of money, “It is something out of all reason; it means advice, and help, and a favour…”This puts everyone in a bad situation; Nora unintentionally teases him with false intimacy and Dr. Rank, very ill, ultimately confesses his love for her. Suddenly uncomfortable, Nora does not go through with her request and leaves to consult with Ms. Linde. In regards to Krogstad, the two characters share a discreet conversation about repaying the money and hint at several alternatives to solving the solution, “If you had it in your mind to run away from home… Or even something worse… How did you know I had thought of that?... I hadn’t had the courage.” I believe that they are referring to committing suicide to avoid paying the expenses. The “most wonderful thing,” that Nora sarcastically (?) refers to is the aftermath of when Torvald opens the letter from Krogstad. For the rest of the novel, this interaction creates foreshadowment and a flurry of curiosity as to how Nora will resolve the repercussions that conclude from her lack of payment, what Krogstad will have to face in future employment, and how Torvad will handle the news presented at him.
ReplyDeleteI like how you analyzed the relationship between Dr. Rank and Nora. I think it's important to pick up on the immediate one sided nature of the flirting between them, as Nora's intention was for money and Dr. Rank's was for his love of her. I like how you explained this and think you did a good job of pointing it out and analyzing it.
DeleteYou wrote a great blog developing just how frantic and under pressure Nora has become in Act II. I agree with you in that the "most wonderful thing" does leave the audience curious for what will happen in Act III. I would like to add that Nora may also have changed her mind about asking Dr. Rank, besides out of discomfort, because he was being genuine. For the entirety of the interactions between Nora and Torvald, she acts differently and unlike herself. This contrast to Dr. Rank's honesty might have also made her question what she's doing.
DeleteIn act II, the play begins to focus on the marriage between Nora and Torvald than the money Nora owes. Ibsen uses characters like Krogstad and Dr. Rank to emphasize Torvald’s weaknesses as a husband and as a person in general. Krogstad and Dr. Rank often treat Nora with more care and respect than Torvald does but Torvald fails to recognize his poor treatment as an issue. Nora compares her relationship with Torvald to her relationship to her dad saying, “home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was papa's doll-child; and here the children have been my dolls.” This idea of being nothing but a non-living, easy to control, doll that can bring pleasure to others but feel no emotion itself magnifies just how trapped and alone Nora sometimes feels. Throughout all her years, she has made almost no progress, still feeling like “papa’s doll-child”. Nora’s secret, once the “most wonderful thing” to her becomes the “most terrible thing” as it adds more strain to her marriage and well being. Nora doesn’t have an honest relationship with Torvald because of her secret, ironically causing her pain and stress she wanted to avoid in the first place. Nora isn’t so concerned about protecting or honoring Dr. Rank or Krogstad, making the relationships more honest and healthy. From her conversations and actions, I feel there is much more darkness within Nora that she is hiding. In the following act, I feel Ibsen will end the play with a tragedy. He has already shown the power of secrecy within relationships and how they can become ignition waiting to explode, hurting more people than expected.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you noticed Rank and Krogstad being used as plot devices to highlight Helmer's shortcomings as a husband. I agree that Nora's relationship with Rank is more healthy than her relationship with her husband. Although, I'm not sure if we can call Krogstad's relationship with her healthy, because he is trying to blackmail her and she is trying to pay him to keep him quiet.
DeleteIt is very important to pay attention to the character development in this play because the action occurs in long strings of conversation. The entirety of Act 2 occured in one unbreaking stretch of time as Nora bounced from conversations with Mrs. Linde to Dr. Rank to Krogstad to her husband. In this act, the artificial relationships established in the previous act grew more thin. There is a lot of tension in the air and it is clear everything will need to come to a head in Act 3. After, all Act 2 ended with Nora counting out: “Seven hours till midnight; and then four-and-twenty hours till the next midnight. Then the Tarantella will be over. Twenty-four and seven? Thirty-one hours to live.” Dr. Rank evolved as a character a lot in this act. While in the first act he served as a confident, sometimes humorous sidekick, here he can be found stripped to a bare weakened state. It is very uncomfortable as he lays out a secret love for Nora which is clearly not mutual based on her unflattering response “that was really horrid of you.” Another thing I wanted to mention is how Krogstad continues the strange persona he was shown to be in Act 1. He has a villainous attitude about him, his constant threats hold Nora’s livelihood in jeopardy. Yet, his demands are truly not so radical. In his own words, he just wants to keep his job to feed his family. It is interesting to see how he will fit into the climax of the play, if he will reveal all to Torvald and take Nora down with him.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about the evolution of Dr. Rank in the second act and his love confession to Nora. Although she did not feel the same way, their honesty stands out against the secrecy and lies that weave together Nora and Torvald's relationship. I also agree that Krogstad has a villainous attitude that seems to threaten Nora's well being that will come into play in the next act.
DeleteIn this act we get to learn more about Dr. Rank and Krogstad. The line that most stood out to me in this act is when Nora says "There are always some people one loves most, and other people who one would prefer as companions." She goes on to describe how when she was a child she loved her papa the most, but always enoyed spending time with the maids more because they were more fun and didn't "moralize everything." Nora loves Torvald most, but enjoys spending time with Dr. Rank. This is consistent with other things she says in this and previous chapter, such as how Torvald doesn't like hearing about other people she is close to but Dr. Rank does, and how Torvald sets a lot of rules for Nora, such as that she isn't supposed to eat macaroons. We also learn more about Krogstad, and it's suggested that both of them have considered suicide. However, I think the difference is that while Krogstad didn't end up commiting suicide, Nora will. She tells Christine that something wonderful is going to happen soon, and near the end of the act, thinks "Thirty-one hours to live." I think she is referring to death as the wonderful thing, which would make sense because I don't think she is very happy living with such a constraining atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteI liked that you centralized the first part of your post around one line in the play; the quote truly does demonstrate parallel to other parts and relationships in Nora's life. I also thought your insight regarding "that," and "the most wonderful thing," was sufficient analysis in terms of what will happen in the near future of the play.
DeleteJust as the ending of Act I implied, it is increasingly difficult in Act II for Nora to maintain her secrecy. With Krogstad using his leverage over Nora for the job at the Bank, Helmer’s refusal to listen to her, and Ms. Linde’s search for work, everything seems to be pulling Nora in different directions. She can barely keep up, and in turn she becomes increasingly more desperate. Her interactions with Dr. Rank prove as much. A longtime friend and member at the house, Dr. Rank pays the family a visit at one of these desperate moments. Just as Nora manipulates her words and intentions around Helmer, she adjusts herself upon the arrival of Dr. Rank. She needs the money for Krogstad, and since she can’t ask anymore of Torvald or find work, she looks to Dr. Rank. She’s flirtatious and on the brink of asking him for money, but Dr. Rank’s honesty stops her. His confession of love is truthful and genuine, something which Nora nor Helmer are like with each other. I think Dr. Rank’s pure intentions cause Nora to reflect on how dishonest she is towards him, and as a result backtracks. She refuses to finish her question, no matter how much Dr. Rank may ask.
ReplyDeleteAgain I feel very tempted to compare this to Hedda Gabler as the play continues, a normal house shifted into such a position where it may easily become deadly. It’s very uncomfortable to watch this woman pose as one thing all the while knowing she’s another, seeing her shift from domesticity to thickly contemplative. Particularly, after some slight foreshadowing at the end of the last Act, the hints at the possibility of suicide. In a way this seems almost a potentially childish resort, being the “that” that Krogstad had referred to, and I would assume that how it would be interpreted by Torville. However, like in Hedda Gabler, I feel if this is the “that” that is being referred to that it won’t be quite as simple as sheer escapism, but an act of bravery to prove that a women has a greater choice in life than tending to a home. My theory would be there is some loophole in the contract between Nora and Krogstad that Nora’s looking to exploit for her children and Husband’s sake. Yet it all seems so complicated now, with Ranke expressing his position with Nora and Christine hinting at a possibly romantic past with Krogstad by the way she spoke of him and her influence over him. I’m interested to see how Nora continues with her current downward slate into insanity, as this seems the path she’s meant for after her confidence in Christine. I look forward to continuing.
ReplyDeleteThe whole act feels like Nora is nervous about her secret coming out. In the first scene she is worried about what might happen to her children if they didn’t have a mother.Then, the interaction between Nora and Dr. Rank feels very tense throughout their conversation because Dr. Rank hints that he expects something bad to happen soon. When it starts to turn about how his health is not very good, Nora is very relieved it is not about her own problem. However when he professes his love for Nora, this puts her in a situation she had never been in before and she has to tell him that Torvald is her love. When Krogstad comes in he has just been fired from the bank and he is threatening to expose Nora’s secret. He says that “The whole thing can be arranged amicably; there is no reason why anyone should know anything about it. It will remain a secret between us three” But Nora does not even want her husband to know that she borrowed the money because it was for her husband. The tension between them is causes the whole conversation to put Nora on edge. The one thing that stood out to me was right at the end when she is alone in the room and she stands there trying to compose herself. However the minute Torvald calls for her she almost changes and is suddenly super cheery again.
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out her ability to compose herself so quickly. She was completely crushed and worried when Krogstad threatened to expose her secret. Despite her worry, she was able to change her disposition for Torvald, enabling her to show that she was completely fine. I think this is really telling to Nora's personality because it reveals the extent of her strength and how she cares about her image and husband.
ReplyDeleteNora's relationship with men is a double-edged sword of truth, deceitfulness and the issues of relationships between emotions and the process for the sake of "how things ought to be" (in practice). Again, of connecting Tolstoy's Anna Karenina to A Doll House, there is the man (the lover) who is devoided to her emotionally in ways that her husband does not care to recognise and the husband, morally precise, tightly grasping on to the perception of others (devoid of self choice) and who is ultimately married out of convenience. In the case of Nora, there is her nervousness and her anxiety on her mind that about her husband finding out is afraid of his reaction (from her husband).
ReplyDeleteNora goes through many close mental breakdowns in this act, as well as many strategies to try and fix her problems. She starts with trying to convince her husband to rehire Krogstad. We get views into the heartless side of both Nora and Helmer in this conversation. When Helmer says that he fired Krogstad to hire Mrs. Linde, Nora responds “Yes, you have been awfully kind about that; but you could just as well dismiss some other clerk instead of Krogstad”. She really doesn’t care about other people, but now that Krogstad is threatening her, she needs someone else to get fired instead.
ReplyDeleteIn the same conversation, Helmer describes why he is actually firing Krogstad. He says “On the contrary, he thinks it gives him the right to adopt a familiar tone with me, and every minute it is “I say, Helmer, old fellow!” and that sort of thing. I assure you it is extremely painful to me. He would make my position in the bank intolerable”. Helmer is firing Krogstad because they used to be friends and now Krogstad always refers to him with his first name.
This heartlessness in Nora and Helmer is also brought to light when Nora is confronted by Krogstad. Nora begs him not to out her, telling him to “think of her little children”. Krogstad responds “Have you and your husband thought of mine?”. Krogstad has two sons and needs to keep his job. But neither of them think of that.
After her conversation with Helmer, we see Nora try to manipulate Doctor Rank, just like she does her husband, in order to get some money. She realises that Rank does not need manipulating, and loves her so wholeheartedly, he would do anything for her. She does not know how to take this, showing the audience she had never really had someone love her before.
There is also Nora’s thoughts of suicide. When Rank talks about death, he says that people do not remember the dead, and instead find replacements for their losses. She is not let down by this, but happy to hear it, saying “(looking at him anxiously). Do you believe that?” She wants to know if suicide will actually work for her. She also talks to her nurse, saying that, if she was gone, the nurse would be just as good to the children as she could be.
At the end of the play, Nora counts the hours she has before Helmer finds out everything. “Seven hours till midnight; and then four-and-twenty hours till the next midnight. Then the Tarantella will be over. Twenty-four and seven? Thirty-one hours to live.”
In Act I Nora not only revealed her fixation on money but it’s secret, and in Act II, a fixation of death takes the spotlight and is escalated by her interactions with Krogstad and Dr. Rank. In the beginning of the Act, Nora brings up, to the maid, the hypothetical situation in which she would disappear, and stressfully asks if she thinks her children, “would forget their mother if she went away altogether?” Nora's nerves, her obvious anticipation of something chaotic and terrible in the very near future, reflects upon the audience
ReplyDeleteDr. Rank is going to die, and reveals his true feelings for Nora before he does so. Nora, who had satisfied from the unresolved flirting and tension between them for many years is disagreeable to this. When Nora flirts with Dr. Rank as if she’s flirting with death, but in all truthfulness, will never actually go through with it. Hers fears are also reaffirmed when Dr. Rank easily and confidently believe that his death will be a loss [Nora] would easily recover from [because] Those who are gone are soon forgotten,” and Nora, “(looking at him anxiously),” replies, “Do you believe that?” The tension continues to heightened collaterally with Nora’s stress about her secret being revealed. The audience desperately wants to uncover What reaction or reality could be so unbearable that Nora would think to end her life?
Krogstad is blackmailing Nora, and tries to show sympathy for her, ironically, because he is also the one causing Nora a great deal dread. They both lead miserable lies, Krogstad is without employment and Nora has a dishonest relationship with her husband and a secret that is about to explode right in front of her. Krogstad hints at “that” as a permanent escape from the sadness and despair is death. Nora then questions, “How did [he] know [she] had thought of that?” That, suicide, for reasons I’m not completely clear of, will not be named bluntly. In reality, these characters do not actually want to die, but can’t handle the responsibility, consequences, or the realness of the truth.
I feel like Nora makes her whole life revolve around the exposing of her secret, she even claims that she "Thirty-one hours to live,” in prediction that is when her husband will read Krogstad's letter. If Nora continues to try to avoid but at the same time obsess over the past, she will end up doing something desperate and irrational.
There is a shift in act two regarding the current conflict. The problem has now become Torvald discovering the truth. It is revealed that Dr. Rank has feelings for Nora. She rejects him abruptly, explaining that she doesn't reciprocate those feelings. He had believed that she was in fact in love with him as well. This is in comparison to her relationship with Torvald, who she views almost as a father. There is a similar feeling that she had with her father that she shares with Torvald. She will always love Torvald although she has feelings for Dr. Rank. I believe it is because of the feeling of comfortability that she shares with Torvald that prompts this feeling. In addition, after a period of being blackmailed she arrives at the realization of self- sacrifice. It appears to her that the unveiling of the truth may in fact be of aid. This whole act almost served as a ticking clock, counting down to the seconds she has of peace in her life. We are left questioning the future of Nora and Torvald.
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ReplyDeleteAct 2 gives us further insight into Nora’s situation with Krogstad and we begin to see her panic. At the beginning of the act she appears to worry what would happen if her children don’t have a mother. Nora also continues to beg Torvald to give Krogstad his job back to which he replies that “he would make [his] position in the bank intolerable.” Dr. Rank later comes in and adds more stress to Nora’s life. He confesses his love for her to which Nora responds negatively and refuses to accept anything from him. She is convinced Torvald is her only love and that “ he would never for a moment hesitate to give his life for [her].” Before this however, she compared her relationship with Torvald to her relationship with her father and exclaimed that “being with Torvald is a little like being with papa.” It is interesting how she sees her life with Torvald as the same as her life with her father. Nora grew up in a world where she moved straight from her father’s house to her husband’s house and has been raised like a child even through her adult life. Her husband treats her like a child and doesn’t seem to give her respect or freedom.
ReplyDeleteI also thought the scene with Dr. Rank and Nora was very interesting. I think that because Nora does not have a very serious or respectful relationship with her husband, she is shocked and confused by genuine emotion.
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