A Doll's House

by Henrik Ibsen

  KROGSTAD: I had good reason to say so.

  MRS LINDE: Well, I am like a shipwrecked woman clinging to some wreckage—no one to mourn for, no one to care for.

  KROGSTAD: It was your own choice.

  MRS LINDE: There was no other choice—then.

  KROGSTAD: Well, what now?

  MRS LINDE: Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people could join forces?

  KROGSTAD: What are you saying?

  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.

  KROGSTAD: I don’t trust that. It is nothing but a woman’s overstrained sense of generosity that prompts you to make such an offer of yourself.

  MRS LINDE: Have you ever noticed anything of the sort in me?

  KROGSTAD: Could you really do it? Tell me—do you know all about my past life?

  MRS LINDE: Yes.

  KROGSTAD: And do you know what they think of me here?

  MRS LINDE: You seemed to me to imply that with me you might have been quite another man.

  KROGSTAD: I am certain of it.

  MRS LINDE: Is it too late now?

  KROGSTAD: Christine, are you saying this deliberately? Yes, I am sure you are. I see it in your face. Have you really the courage, then—?

  MRS LINDE: I want to be a mother to someone, and your children need a mother. We two need each other. Nils, I have faith in your real character—I can dare anything together with you.

  KROGSTAD: [Grasps her hands.] Thanks, thanks, Christine! Now I shall find a way to clear myself in the eyes of the world. Ah, but I forgot—

  MRS LINDE: [Listening.] Hush! The Tarantella! Go, go!

  KROGSTAD: Why? What is it?

  MRS LINDE: Do you hear them up there? When that is over, we may expect them back.

  KROGSTAD: Yes, yes—I will go. But it is all no use. Of course you are not aware what steps I have taken in the matter of the Helmers.

  MRS LINDE: Yes, I know all about that.

  KROGSTAD: And in spite of that have you the courage to—?

  MRS LINDE: I understand very well to what lengths a man like you might be driven by despair.

  KROGSTAD: If I could only undo what I have done!

  MRS LINDE: You cannot. Your letter is lying in the letter-box now.

  KROGSTAD: Are you sure of that?

  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.

  KROGSTAD: But, tell me, wasn’t it for that very purpose that you asked me to meet you here?

  MRS LINDE: In my first moment of fright, it was. But twenty-four hours have elapsed since then, and in that time I have witnessed incredible things in this house. Helmer must know all about it. This unhappy secret must be disclosed; they must have a complete understanding between them, which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on.

  KROGSTAD: Very well, if you will take the responsibility. But there is one thing I can do in any case, and I shall do it at once.

  MRS LINDE: [Listening.] You must be quick and go! The dance is over; we are not safe a moment longer.

  KROGSTAD: I will wait for you below.

  MRS LINDE: Yes, do. You must see me back to my door …

  KROGSTAD: I have never had such an amazing piece of good fortune in my life! [Goes out through the outer door. The door between the room and the hall remains open.]

  MRS LINDE: [Tidying up the room and laying her hat and cloak ready.] What a difference! What a difference! Someone to work for and live for—a home to bring comfort into. That I will do, indeed. I wish they would be quick and come—[Listens.] Ah, there they are now. I must put on my things. [Takes up her hat and cloak. HELMER’S and NORA’S voices are heard outside; a key is turned, and HELMER brings NORA almost by force into the hall. She is in an Italian costume with a large black shawl around her; he is in evening dress, and a black domino which is flying open.]

  NORA: [Hanging back in the doorway, and struggling with him.] No, no, no!—don’t take me in. I want to go upstairs again; I don’t want to leave so early.

  HELMER: But, my dearest Nora—

  NORA: Please, Torvald dear—please, please—only an hour more.

  HELMER: Not a single minute, my sweet Nora. You know that was our agreement. Come along into the room; you are catching cold standing there. [He brings her gently into the room, in spite of her resistance.]

  MRS LINDE: Good evening.

  NORA: Christine!

  HELMER: You here, so late, Mrs Linde?

  MRS LINDE: Yes, you must excuse me; I was so anxious to see Nora in her dress.

  NORA: Have you been sitting here waiting for me?

  MRS LINDE: Yes, unfortunately I came too late, you had already gone upstairs; and I thought I couldn’t go away again without having seen you.

  HELMER: [Taking off NORA’S shawl.] Yes, take a good look at her. I think she is worth looking at. Isn’t she charming, Mrs Linde?

  MRS LINDE: Yes, indeed she is.

  HELMER: Doesn’t she look remarkably pretty? Everyone thought so at the dance. But she is terribly self-willed, this sweet little person. What are we to do with her? You will hardly believe that I had almost to bring her away by force.

  NORA: Torvald, you will repent not having let me stay, even if it were only for half an hour.

  HELMER: Listen to her, Mrs Linde! She had danced her Tarantella, and it had been a tremendous success, as it deserved—although possibly the performance was a trifle too realistic—a little more so, I mean, than was strictly compatible with the limitations of art. But never mind about that! The chief thing is, she had made a success—she had made a tremendous success. Do you think I was going to let her remain there after that, and spoil the effect? No, indeed! I took my charming little Capri maiden—my capricious little Capri maiden, I should say—on my arm; took one quick turn round the room; a curtsey on either side, and, as they say in novels, the beautiful apparition disappeared. An exit ought always to be effective, Mrs Linde; but that is what I cannot make Nora understand. Pooh! This room is hot. [Throws his domino on a chair, and opens the door of his room.] Hullo! It’s all dark in here. Oh, of course—excuse me—. [He goes in, and lights some candles.]

  NORA: [In a hurried and breathless whisper.] Well?

  MRS LINDE: [In a low voice.] I have had a talk with him.

  NORA: Yes, and—

  MRS LINDE: Nora, you must tell your husband all about it.

  NORA: [In an expressionless voice.] I knew it.

  MRS LINDE: You have nothing to be afraid of as far as Krogstad is concerned; but you must tell him.

  NORA: I won’t tell him.

  MRS LINDE: Then the letter will.

  NORA: Thank you, Christine. Now I know what I must do. Hush—!
/>
  HELMER: [Coming in again.] Well, Mrs Linde, have you admired her?

  MRS LINDE: Yes, and now I will say goodnight.

  HELMER: What, already? Is this yours, this knitting?

  MRS LINDE: [Taking it.] Yes, thank you, I had very nearly forgotten it.

  HELMER: So you knit?

  MRS LINDE: Of course.

  HELMER: Do you know, you ought to embroider.

  MRS LINDE: Really? Why?

  HELMER: Yes, it’s far more becoming. Let me show you. You hold the embroidery thus in your left hand, and use the needle with the right—like this—with a long, easy sweep. Do you see?

  MRS LINDE: Yes, perhaps—

  HELMER: But in the case of knitting—that can never be anything but ungraceful; look here—the arms close together, the knitting-needles going up and down—it has a sort of Chinese effect—. That was really excellent champagne they gave us.

  MRS LINDE: Well,—goodnight, Nora, and don’t be self-willed any more.

  HELMER: That’s right, Mrs Linde.

  MRS LINDE: Goodnight, Mr. Helmer.

  HELMER: [Accompanying her to the door.] Goodnight, goodnight. I hope you will get home all right. I should be very happy to—but you haven’t any great distance to go. Goodnight, goodnight. [She goes out; he shuts the door after her, and comes in again.] Ah!—at last we have got rid of her. She is a frightful bore, that woman.

  NORA: Aren’t you very tired, Torvald?

  HELMER: No, not in the least.

  NORA: Nor sleepy?

  HELMER: Not a bit. On the contrary, I feel extraordinarily lively. And you?—you really look both tired and sleepy.

  NORA: Yes, I am very tired. I want to go to sleep at once.

  HELMER: There, you see it was quite right of me not to let you stay there any longer.

  NORA: Everything you do is quite right, Torvald.

  HELMER: [Kissing her on the forehead.] Now my little skylark is speaking reasonably. Did you notice what good spirits Rank was in this evening?

  NORA: Really? Was he? I didn’t speak to him at all.

  HELMER: And I very little, but I have not for a long time seen him in such good form. [Looks for a while at her and then goes nearer to her.] It is delightful to be at home by ourselves again, to be all alone with you—you fascinating, charming little darling!

  NORA: Don’t look at me like that, Torvald.

  HELMER: Why shouldn’t I look at my dearest treasure?—At all the beauty that is mine, all my very own?

  NORA: [Going to the other side of the table.] You mustn’t say things like that to me tonight.

  HELMER: [Following her.] You have still got the Tarantella in your blood, I see. And it makes you more captivating than ever. Listen—the guests are beginning to go now. [In a lower voice.] Nora—soon the whole house will be quiet.

  NORA: Yes, I hope so.

  HELMER: Yes, my own darling Nora. Do you know, when I am out at a party with you like this, why I speak so little to you, keep away from you, and only send a stolen glance in your direction now and then?—do you know why I do that? It is because I make believe to myself that we are secretly in love, and you are my secretly promised bride, and that no one suspects there is anything between us.

  NORA: Yes, yes—I know very well your thoughts are with me all the time.

  HELMER: And when we are leaving, and I am putting the shawl over your beautiful young shoulders—on your lovely neck—then I imagine that you are my young bride and that we have just come from the wedding, and I am bringing you for the first time into our home—to be alone with you for the first time—quite alone with my shy little darling! All this evening I have longed for nothing but you. When I watched the seductive figures of the Tarantella, my blood was on fire; I could endure it no longer, and that was why I brought you down so early—

  NORA: Go away, Torvald! You must let me go. I won’t—

  HELMER: What’s that? You’re joking, my little Nora! You won’t—you won’t? Am I not your husband—? [A knock is heard at the outer door.]

  NORA: [Starting.] Did you hear—?

  HELMER: [Going into the hall.] Who is it?

  RANK: [Outside.] It is I. May I come in for a moment?

  HELMER: [In a fretful whisper.] Oh, what does he want now? [Aloud.] Wait a minute! [Unlocks the door.] Come, that’s kind of you not to pass by our door.

  RANK: I thought I heard your voice, and felt as if I should like to look in. [With a swift glance round.] Ah, yes!—these dear familiar rooms. You are very happy and cosy in here, you two.

  HELMER: It seems to me that you looked after yourself pretty well upstairs too.

  RANK: Excellently. Why shouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t one enjoy everything in this world?—At any rate as much as one can, and as long as one can. The wine was capital—

  HELMER: Especially the champagne.

  RANK: So you noticed that too? It is almost incredible how much I managed to put away!

  NORA: Torvald drank a great deal of champagne tonight too.

  RANK: Did he?

  NORA: Yes, and he is always in such good spirits afterwards.

  RANK: Well, why should one not enjoy a merry evening after a well-spent day?

  HELMER: Well spent? I am afraid I can’t take credit for that.

  RANK: [Clapping him on the back.] But I can, you know!

  NORA: Doctor Rank, you must have been occupied with some scientific investigation today.

  RANK: Exactly.

  HELMER: Just listen!—little Nora talking about scientific investigations!

  NORA: And may I congratulate you on the result?

  RANK: Indeed you may.

  NORA: Was it favourable, then?

  RANK: The best possible, for both doctor and patient—certainty.

  NORA: [Quickly and searchingly.] Certainty?

  RANK: Absolute certainty. So wasn’t I entitled to make a merry evening of it after that?

  NORA: Yes, you certainly were, Doctor Rank.

  HELMER: I think so too, so long as you don’t have to pay for it in the morning.

  RANK: Oh well, one can’t have anything in this life without paying for it.

  NORA: Doctor Rank—are you fond of fancy-dress balls?

  RANK: Yes, if there is a fine lot of pretty costumes.

  NORA: Tell me—what shall we two wear at the next?

  HELMER: Little featherbrain!—Are you thinking of the next already?

  RANK: We two? Yes, I can tell you. You shall go as a good fairy—

  HELMER: Yes, but what do you suggest as an appropriate costume for that?

  RANK: Let your wife go dressed just as she is in everyday life.

  HELMER: That was really very prettily turned. But can’t you tell us what you will be?

  RANK: Yes, my dear friend, I have quite made up my mind about that.

  HELMER: Well?

  RANK: At the next fancy-dress ball I shall be invisible.

  HELMER: That’s a good joke!

  RANK: There is a big black hat—have you never heard of hats that make you invisible? If you put one on, no one can see you.

  HELMER: [Suppressing a smile.] Yes, you are quite right.

  RANK: But I am clean forgetting what I came for. Helmer, give me a cigar—one of the dark Havanas.

  HELMER: With the greatest pleasure. [Offers him his case.]

  RANK: [Takes a cigar and cuts off the end.] Thanks.

  NORA: [Striking a match.] Let me give you a light.

  RANK: Thank you. [She holds the match for him to light his cigar.] And now goodbye!

  HELMER: Goodbye, goodbye, dear old man!

  NORA: Sleep well, Doctor Rank.

  RANK: Thank you for that wish.

  NORA: Wish me the same.

  RANK: You? Well, if you wa
nt me to sleep well! And thanks for the light. [He nods to them both and goes out.]

  HELMER: [In a subdued voice.] He has drunk more than he ought.

  NORA: [Absently.] Maybe. [HELMER takes a bunch of keys out of his pocket and goes into the hall.] Torvald! What are you going to do there?

  HELMER: Emptying the letter-box; it is quite full; there will be no room to put the newspaper in tomorrow morning.

  NORA: Are you going to work tonight?

  HELMER: You know quite well I’m not. What is this? Someone has been at the lock.

  NORA: At the lock—?

  HELMER: Yes, someone has. What can it mean? I should never have thought the maid—. Here is a broken hairpin. Nora, it is one of yours.

  NORA: [Quickly.] Then it must have been the children—

  HELMER: Then you must get them out of those ways. There, at last I have got it open. [Takes out the contents of the letter-box, and calls to the kitchen.] Helen!—Helen, put out the light over the front door. [Goes back into the room and shuts the door into the hall. He holds out his hand full of letters.] Look at that—look what a heap of them there are. [Turning them over.] What on earth is that?

  NORA: [At the window.] The letter—No! Torvald, no!

  HELMER: Two cards—of Rank’s.

  NORA: Of Doctor Rank’s?

  HELMER: [Looking at them.] Doctor Rank. They were on the top. He must have put them in when he went out.

  NORA: Is there anything written on them?

  HELMER: There is a black cross over the name. Look there—what an uncomfortable idea! It looks as if he were announcing his own death.

  NORA: It is just what he is doing.

  HELMER: What? Do you know anything about it? Has he said anything to you?

  NORA: Yes. He told me that when the cards came it would be his leave-taking from us. He means to shut himself up and die.

  HELMER: My poor old friend! Certainly I knew we should not have him very long with us. But so soon! And so he hides himself away like a wounded animal.

  NORA: If it has to happen, it is best it should be without a word—don’t you think so, Torvald?

  HELMER: [Walking up and down.] He had so grown into our lives. I can’t think of him as having gone out of them. He, with his sufferings and his loneliness, was like a cloudy background to our sunlit happiness. Well, perhaps it is best so. For him, anyway. [Standing still.] And perhaps for us too, Nora. We two are thrown quite upon each other now. [Puts his arms round her.] My darling wife, I don’t feel as if I could hold you tight enough. 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.