The same room. The sofa table with chairs around it has been moved into the middle of the room. A lamp is burning on the table. The door to the hall is open. Dance music can be heard from the floor above.
MRS LINDE is sitting at the table, leafing distractedly through a book; she tries to read but seems unable to keep her thoughts gathered; a couple of times she listens anxiously, in the direction of the front door.
MRS LINDE [looks at her watch]: Still not here. And time really is running out. I just hope he hasn’t – [Listens again.] Ah, there he is. [Goes out into the hall and carefully opens the front door; quiet footsteps can be heard on the stairs; she whispers] Come in. There’s no one here.
KROGSTAD [in the doorway]: Mrs Linde, I found a note from you at home. What’s all this supposed to mean?
MRS LINDE: I have to talk to you.
KROGSTAD: Oh? And that has to take place here in this house?
MRS LINDE: It was impossible over at my place; my room doesn’t have its own entrance. Come in; we’re quite alone; the maid’s asleep, and the Helmers are at the ball upstairs.
KROGSTAD [entering the room]: Well, well. So the Helmers are dancing tonight? Really?
MRS LINDE: Yes, why not?
KROGSTAD: No, true enough.
MRS LINDE: Well, Krogstad, let’s talk.
KROGSTAD: Do the two of us have anything more to talk about?
MRS LINDE: We have a great deal to talk about.
KROGSTAD: I didn’t think we did.
MRS LINDE: No, because you’ve never understood me properly.
KROGSTAD: Was there more to understand, apart from what’s entirely commonplace in this world? A heartless woman gives a man his marching orders as soon as something more advantageous presents itself.
MRS LINDE: Do you think I’m so utterly heartless? And do you think I broke it off with a light heart?
KROGSTAD: Didn’t you?
MRS LINDE: Oh Krogstad, did you really think that?
KROGSTAD: If it wasn’t like that, why did you write to me as you did at the time?
MRS LINDE: I couldn’t do otherwise. When I had to break with you, it was also my duty to erase everything you felt for me.
KROGSTAD [clenches his fists]: So that was it. And this – this just for the sake of the money!
MRS LINDE: You mustn’t forget that I had a helpless mother and two little brothers. We couldn’t wait for you, Krogstad; your prospects were so far off back then.
KROGSTAD: That may be; but you had no right to reject me for somebody else.
MRS LINDE: Perhaps, I don’t know. I’ve often asked myself if I had the right.
KROGSTAD [more quietly]: When I lost you, it was as though all solid ground slid from under my feet. Look at me now; I’m a man shipwrecked on a broken vessel.
MRS LINDE: Rescue could be close.
KROGSTAD: It was close; but then you came along and got in the way.
MRS LINDE: Without knowing it, Krogstad. I only found out today that it’s you I’m taking over from at the Bank.
KROGSTAD: I believe you when I hear you say it. But now that you know, won’t you step aside?
MRS LINDE: No; because that wouldn’t benefit you in the least.
KROGSTAD: Oh, benefit, benefit – I’d do it even so.
MRS LINDE: I have learned to act sensibly. Life and hard, bitter necessity have taught me that.
KROGSTAD: And life has taught me not to believe in fine words.
MRS LINDE: Then life has taught you a very sensible thing. But actions, you must believe in those?
KROGSTAD: What do you mean?
MRS LINDE: You said you were like a man shipwrecked on a broken vessel.
KROGSTAD: I had good reason to say it, I think.
MRS LINDE: I too am sitting like a woman shipwrecked on a broken vessel. Nobody to grieve for, nobody to provide for.
KROGSTAD: It was your own choice.
MRS LINDE: There was no other choice, then.
KROGSTAD: Right, and so?
MRS LINDE: Krogstad, what if we two shipwrecked people were to reach across to each other –
KROGSTAD: What are you saying?
MRS LINDE: Two on one wreck are, after all, better off than if they each keep to their own.
KROGSTAD: Kristine!
MRS LINDE: Why do you think I came here to town?
KROGSTAD: Did you really give a thought to me?
MRS LINDE: I have to work if I’m to endure this life. Every waking day, as far back as I can remember, I’ve worked, and it’s been my greatest and only joy. But now I am entirely alone in the world, so dreadfully empty and abandoned. There’s no joy, after all, in working for oneself. Krogstad, provide me with someone and something to work for.
KROGSTAD: I can’t believe this. It’s nothing but overexcited female high-mindedness, driven to self-sacrifice.
MRS LINDE: Have you ever known me to be overexcitable?
KROGSTAD: You could really do this? Tell me – are you fully aware of my past?
MRS LINDE: Yes.
KROGSTAD: And do you know how I’m regarded here now?
MRS LINDE: A moment ago you seemed to think that with me you could have been another person.
KROGSTAD: I’m absolutely certain of it.
MRS LINDE: Couldn’t that still happen?
KROGSTAD: Kristine – you’re saying this in all seriousness, aren’t you! Yes, you are. I see it in your face. Do you really have the courage –?
MRS LINDE: I need someone to be a mother to, and your children need a mother. The two of us need each other. Krogstad, I have faith in you, in what is fundamental in you; together with you, I would dare anything.
KROGSTAD [clasping her hands]: Thank you, thank you, Kristine – and now I’ll find a way to raise myself up in the eyes of others too. – Oh, but I forgot –
MRS LINDE [listening]: Ssh! The tarantella! Go, go!
KROGSTAD: Why? What is it?
MRS LINDE: You hear that dance up there? When it’s over, we can expect them.
KROGSTAD: Ah yes, I shall go. This is all futile anyway. You’ve no idea, of course, what steps I’ve taken against the Helmers.
MRS LINDE: Yes, Krogstad, I do know.
KROGSTAD: And you’d still have the courage to –?
MRS LINDE: I understand very well what desperation can drive a man like you to.
KROGSTAD: Oh, if I could undo what’s done!
MRS LINDE: You could; your letter’s still in the box.
KROGSTAD: Are you sure about that?
MRS LINDE: Quite sure; but –
KROGSTAD [looks searchingly at her]: So is that what this is about? You want to save your friend at any cost. Just say it straight. Is that it?
MRS LINDE: Krogstad, somebody who has sold themselves once for the sake of others, does not do it again.
KROGSTAD: I shall demand my letter back.
MRS LINDE: No, no.
KROGSTAD: But of course; I’ll stay here until Helmer comes down; I’ll tell him that he’s got to give me my letter back – that it’s just about my dismissal – that he’s not to read it –
MRS LINDE: No, Krogstad, you’re not to call your letter back.
KROGSTAD: But, tell me, wasn’t that really why you set up this meeting with me?
MRS LINDE: Yes, in the initial panic; but a whole day has passed now, and the things I’ve witnessed in that time, here in this house, have been unbelievable. Helmer must know everything; this disastrous secret must come to light; there needs to be absolute openness between them; it’s impossible to carry on with all these concealments and excuses.
KROGSTAD: Well; if you’ll take the risk –. But one thing I can do at least, and it’ll be done immediately –
MRS LINDE [listening]: Hurry up! Go, go! The dance is finished; we’re not safe a moment longer.
KROGSTAD: I’ll wait for you downstairs.
MRS LINDE: Yes, do. You must walk me to my door.
KROGSTAD: I’ve never been so unbelievably happy.
He goes out through the front door; the door between the room and the hall remains open.
MRS LINDE [tidies up a little and prepares her outdoor clothes]: What a turnaround! Yes, what a turnaround! People to work for – to live for; a home to bring comfort into. Right, there’s a task to be done –. I wish they’d come soon – [Listens.] Aha, there they are. Coat on. [Takes her hat and coat.]
The voices of HELMER and NORA are heard outside; a key is turned, and HELMER almost uses force to get NORA into the hall. She is dressed in her Italian costume with a large black shawl over her shoulders; he is in evening dress with an open black cloak43 on top.
NORA [still in the doorway, resisting him]: No, no, no; I don’t want to go in yet! I want to go up again. I don’t want to leave so early.
HELMER: But, my dearest Nora –
NORA: I’m asking, begging you, Torvald; I’m asking you in such earnest – just one more hour.
HELMER: Not a single minute, my sweet Nora. We agreed, you know that. Come on, now, into the living room; you’ll catch a chill standing here.
He guides her, despite her opposition, gently into the room.
MRS LINDE: Good evening.
NORA: Kristine!
HELMER: Oh, Mrs Linde, are you here so late?
MRS LINDE: Yes, I do apologize, but I so wanted to see Nora in her finery.
NORA: Have you been sitting here waiting for me?
MRS LINDE: Yes, unfortunately I didn’t get here on time; you were already upstairs; and then I thought I couldn’t go again without seeing you.
HELMER [taking NORA’s shawl off]: Well, take a good look at her. I do rather think she’s worth looking at. Isn’t she lovely, Mrs Linde?
MRS LINDE: Yes, I must say –
HELMER: Isn’t she remarkably lovely? That was the general consensus at the party too. But frightfully obstinate, she is – this sweet little thing. What shall we do about it? Can you believe, I almost had to use force to get her away.
NORA: Oh, Torvald, you’ll come to regret not letting me stay, if only for a half hour more.
HELMER: You hear that, Mrs Linde! She dances her tarantella – has a storming success – which was well deserved – although there was something a little over-natural about her rendition; I mean – a little more than was strictly speaking apposite to artistic requirements. But never mind! The main thing is – she had a success – she had a storming success. Should I have let her stay after that? Weaken the impact? No thank you; I took my lovely little Capri girl – capricious little Capri girl, I could say – by the arm; a swift tour round the room; bows on all sides, and then – as it says in romantic novels – the beautiful apparition vanishes. A finale ought always to be effective, Mrs Linde; but that is, it seems, quite impossible for me to get Nora to grasp. Phew, it’s hot here. [Throws his cloak on to a chair and opens the door to his room.] What? It’s dark in there. Oh yes, of course. Excuse me –
He goes inside and lights a couple of candles.
NORA [whispers hastily and breathlessly]: Well?
MRS LINDE [softly]: I’ve spoken to him.
MRS LINDE: Nora – you must tell your husband everything.
NORA [in a dull tone]: I knew it.
MRS LINDE: You have nothing to fear from Krogstad’s side; but you must talk.
NORA: I shan’t talk.
MRS LINDE: Then the letter will.
NORA: Thank you, Kristine; I know now what must be done. Shh –!
HELMER [coming back in]: Well, Mrs Linde, have you admired her?
MRS LINDE: Yes; and now I’ll say good night.
HELMER: Oh really, already? Is that yours, the knitting?
MRS LINDE [takes it]: Yes; thank you; I almost forgot it.
HELMER: So you knit, do you?
MRS LINDE: Yes.
HELMER: You know what – you should embroider instead.
MRS LINDE: Oh? Why?
HELMER: Well, because it’s much prettier. Look: you hold the embroidery like this, with the left hand, and then with the right you guide the needle – like this – out in a delicate, extended arc; isn’t that so –?
MRS LINDE: Yes, very possibly –
HELMER: Whereas knitting – that can never be anything but unlovely; look here: the cramped arms – the knitting needles that go up and down – it’s got something Chinese about it. – Ah, that really was a splendid champagne at dinner.
MRS LINDE: Well, good night, Nora, and don’t be obstinate any more now.
HELMER: Well said, Mrs Linde!
MRS LINDE: Good night, Mr Helmer.
HELMER [seeing her to the door]: Good night, good night; you’ll get home all right, I hope? I’d have liked to –44 but you haven’t got far to go, have you? Good night, good night.
She leaves; he closes the door behind her and comes back in.
HELMER: There; at last we’ve got her out of the door. She’s a frightful bore, that woman.
NORA: Aren’t you very tired, Torvald?
NORA: Or sleepy?
HELMER: Absolutely not; on the contrary, I feel tremendously exhilarated. But you? Yes, you certainly look both tired and sleepy.
NORA: Yes, I’m very tired. I want to sleep soon.
HELMER: You see! You see! It was absolutely right of me that we didn’t stay longer.
NORA: Oh, every single thing you do is right.
HELMER [kisses her on the forehead]: Now my skylark is talking as though it were a person. But did you notice how cheerful Rank was this evening?
NORA: Oh? Was he? I didn’t get to talk to him.
HELMER: I hardly did either; but I haven’t seen him in such good spirits for a long time. [Looks at her for a moment, then comes closer.] Mmm – it’s glorious to be home again; to have you to myself, alone. – Oh, you entrancingly lovely young woman!
NORA: Don’t look at me like that, Torvald!
HELMER: Shouldn’t I look at my most precious possession? At all the glory that is mine, mine alone, mine completely and utterly.
NORA [goes over to the other side of the table]: You’re not to talk like that to me tonight.
HELMER [follows her]: You’ve still got the tarantella in your blood, I note. And it makes you even more alluring. Listen! The guests are starting to leave now. [More quietly] Nora – soon the whole house will be quiet.
NORA: Yes, I hope so.
HELMER: Yes, isn’t that right, my own darling Nora? Oh, do you know – when I’m out in company with you – do you know why I talk to you so little, keep such a distance from you, just send you the occasional stolen glance – do you know why I do that? It’s because I’m imagining that you’re my secret love, my young secret fiancée, and that nobody has any idea there’s something between us.
NORA: Oh, yes, yes, yes; I do know that all your thoughts are with me.
HELMER: And then, when we’re about to leave and I put the shawl round your fine, youthful shoulders – round that miraculous curve of your neck – then I pretend to myself that you’re my young bride, that we’ve just come away from our wedding, that I’m leading you into my abode for the first time – that I’m alone with you for the first time – utterly alone with you – my young, trembling beauty! All this evening I’ve had no other desire but for you. As I watched you chasing and teasing in the tarantella – my blood fired up; I couldn’t hold out any longer; that’s why I took you back down with me so early –
NORA: Leave now, Torvald! You will leave me. I don’t want all this.
HELMER: What are you saying? I think you’re playing joker-bird with me now, my little Nora. Want, want? Aren’t I your husband –?
There is a knock on the front door.
NORA [gives a start]: Did you hear –?
HELMER [towards the hall]: Who is it?
RANK [outside]: It’s me. Might I come in for a moment?
HELMER [quietly, annoyed]: Oh, what does he want now? [Loud] Wait a second. [He goes and unlocks the door.] Well, how nice of you not to go past our door.45
RANK: I thought I heard your voice, so I wanted to look in. [Lets his gaze travel fleetingly around] Ah me, these dear, familiar rooms. The two of you have everything so cosy and comfortable in here.
HELMER: You seemed to make yourself very comfortable upstairs too.
RANK: Absolutely. Why shouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t we take from this world what it offers? As much as we can at least, and for as long as we can. The wine was excellent –
HELMER: The champagne in particular.
RANK: Noticed that too, did you? It’s quite unbelievable how much I managed to swill down.
NORA: Torvald drank lots of champagne tonight too.
RANK: Really?
NORA: Yes; and then he’s always so amusing afterwards.
RANK: Well, why shouldn’t a man allow himself a merry evening after a day well spent?
HELMER: Well spent? That’s not, I’m afraid, something I can boast of.
RANK [slaps him on the shoulder]: But I can, you see!
NORA: Dr Rank, I take it you conducted a scientific investigation today.
RANK: Correct.
HELMER: I say, my little Nora talking about scientific investigations!
NORA: And may I congratulate you on the result?
RANK: Yes, you certainly may.
NORA: So it was good?
RANK: The best possible for both doctor and patient – certainty.
NORA [quickly and searchingly]: Certainty?
RANK: Absolute certainty. So shouldn’t I allow myself a cheerful evening afterwards?
NORA: Yes, you were right to, Dr Rank.
HELMER: I’d second that; as long as you don’t end up suffering for it in the morning.
RANK: Well, you don’t get anything for nothing in this life, you know.
NORA: Dr Rank – you’re rather fond of these little masquerades, aren’t you?
RANK: Yes, when there are plenty of amusing disguises –
NORA: Listen; what shall the two of us be at the next masquerade?
HELMER: You frivolous little thing – you’re already thinking about the next!
RANK: The two of us? Ah, yes, I’ll tell you; you must come as the child of joy and good fortune –46
HELMER: Yes, but find a costume that can represent that.
RANK: Let your wife attend exactly as she walks through this world –
HELMER: How brilliantly put. But about you, what will you be?
RANK: Well, my dear friend, of that I am absolutely certain.
RANK: At the next masquerade I shall be invisible.
HELMER: That’s a quaint idea.
RANK: There’s a big black hat – haven’t you heard tell of the cap of invisibility?47 You put it over you, and then nobody can see you.
HELMER [with a suppressed smile]: Right, I see your point.
RANK: But I’m completely forgetting what I came for; Helmer, give me a cigar, one of those dark Havanas.
HELMER: With the greatest pleasure. [Offers him the box.]
RANK [takes a cigar and cuts off the end]: Thank you.
NORA [strikes a match]: Let me give you a light.
RANK: Thank you. [She holds the match for him; he lights up.] And now goodbye!
HELMER: Goodbye, goodbye, my dear friend!
NORA: Sleep well, Dr Rank.
RANK: Thank you for that kind wish.
NORA: Wish me the same.
RANK: You? Well, if you want me to –. Sleep well. And thank you for the light.
He nods to them both and goes.
HELMER [subdued]: He’d had a lot to drink.
NORA [absently]: Perhaps.
HELMER takes his bunch of keys out of his pocket and goes out into the hall.
NORA: Torvald – what are you doing out there?
HELMER: I have to empty the letterbox; it’s pretty full; there’ll be no room for the newspapers in the morning –
NORA: Will you be working tonight?
HELMER: You know very well I won’t. – What’s this? Someone’s been at the lock.
NORA: At the lock –?
HELMER: Yes, most definitely. How can that be? I can’t believe the maids –? Here’s a broken hairpin. Nora, it’s yours –
NORA [quickly]: Then it must be the children –
HELMER: You really must break them of that habit. Hm, hm –. There now, I’ve got it open anyway. [Takes the contents out and calls out into the kitchen] Helene? – Helene, put out the lamp in the hall.
He comes back into the room and closes the door to the hall.
HELMER [with the letters in his hand]: Look at this. Just look how they’ve piled up. [Leafs through them.] Whatever’s this?
NORA [by the window]: The letter! Oh no, no, Torvald!
HELMER: Two visiting cards – from Rank.
NORA: From Dr Rank?
HELMER [looking at them]: Dr Rank MD. They were lying on top; he must have stuck them in as he left.
NORA: Is there anything on them?
HELMER: There’s a black cross over his name. Look. What a sinister idea. It’s as though he were announcing his own death.
NORA: And so he is.
HELMER: What? Do you know something? Has he told you something?
NORA: Yes. When these cards come, he’s taken his leave of us. He wants to shut himself away and die.
HELMER: My poor friend. I knew, of course, that I wouldn’t keep him for long. But so soon –. And then to hide away like a wounded animal.
NORA: When it has to happen, then it’s best it happens without words. Don’t you think, Torvald?
HELMER [pacing up and down]: He’d grown so much a part of us. I don’t think I can imagine him gone. With all his sufferings and his loneliness, he somehow offered a cloudy backdrop to our sunlit happiness. – Ah well, perhaps it’s best this way. For him at least. [Stops.] And maybe for us too, Nora. Now you and I will have to look to each other alone. [Puts his arms around her.] Oh, my darling wife; I don’t think I can hold you tightly enough. You know, Nora – many a time I’ve wished that some impending danger might threaten you, so I could risk life and limb and everything, everything, for your sake.
NORA [tears herself free and says firmly and decisively]: You should read your letters now, Torvald.
HELMER: No, no, not tonight. I want to be with you, my darling wife.
NORA: With the thought of your friend dying –?
HELMER: You’re right. This has shaken us both; something unlovely has entered between us; thoughts of death and decay. From which we must seek to be absolved. Until then –. We’ll go to our separate rooms.
NORA [with her arms round his neck]: Torvald – good night! Good night!
HELMER [kisses her on the forehead]: Good night, my little songbird. Sleep well, Nora. I’ll read through my letters now.
He takes the bundle into his room and shuts the door after him.
NORA [wild-eyed, fumbling around, grabs HELMER’s cloak, throws it around herself and speaks rapidly and jerkily in a hoarse whisper]: Never see him again. Never. Never. Never. [Throws her shawl over her head.] Never see the children again. Not them either. Never. Never. – Oh, the ice-cold black water. Oh, the bottomless – this –. Oh, if only this were over. – He’s got it now; he’s reading it. Oh no, no; not yet. Torvald, goodbye to you and the children –
She is about to rush out through the hall; at that moment HELMER tears his door open and stands there with an open letter in his hand.
HELMER: Nora!
NORA [lets out a loud scream]: Ah –!
HELMER: What is this? Do you know what’s in this letter?
NORA: Yes, I do. Let me leave! Let me get out!
HELMER [holds her back]: Where are you going?
NORA [tries to tear herself free]: You’re not to rescue me, Torvald!
HELMER [stumbles backwards]: What! Is it true what he writes here? Terrible! No, no; it can’t possibly be true.
NORA: It is true. I’ve loved you above all else in the world.
HELMER: Don’t come here with your pathetic evasions.
NORA [takes a step towards him]: Torvald –!
HELMER: You creature of ill-fortune – what have you been up to!
NORA: Let me go away. You shan’t carry this for my sake. You shan’t take it upon yourself.
HELMER: No playacting, now. [Locks the front door.] You will stay and you will stand accountable to me. Do you understand what you’ve done? Answer me! Do you understand?
NORA [looks fixedly at him, her face tensing as she speaks]: Yes, I am certainly beginning to understand.
HELMER [walks around the room]: Oh, how terribly I’ve been awakened. All these eight years – the woman who was my pleasure, my pride – a hypocrite, a liar – worse, worse – a criminal! – Oh, the depths of ugliness in all this! Shame, shame!
NORA remains silent and continues to look fixedly at him.
HELMER [stops in front of her]: I should have sensed that something like this would happen. I should have foreseen it. All your father’s frivolous attitudes. – Be quiet! You’ve inherited all your father’s frivolous attitudes: no religion, no morals, no sense of duty –. Oh, how I’ve been punished for turning a blind eye to him. I did it for your sake; and this is how you repay me.
NORA: Yes, this is how.
HELMER: You’ve wrecked my entire happiness now. You’ve gambled away my entire future for me. Oh, it’s too terrible to contemplate. I’m in the power of a man without conscience; he can do whatever he wants with me, demand anything at all of me, order me about as he pleases – I daren’t breathe a word. And this is how miserably I must sink and be ruined for the sake of a frivolous woman!
NORA: When I’m out of this world, you’ll be free.
HELMER: Oh, spare the gestures. Your father always had such phrases ready to hand too. What use would it be to me if you were out of the world, as you put it? It wouldn’t be of the slightest use. He can make it public just the same; and if he does, I’ll perhaps be suspected of having known about your criminal act. People will perhaps believe that I was behind it – that I was the one who incited you to it! And all this I can thank you for, you, whom I’ve borne in my arms48 throughout our married life. Do you understand now what you’ve done against me?
NORA [coldly and calmly]: Yes.
HELMER: This is so unbelievable, I can’t grasp it. But we’ll have to come to some arrangement. Take your shawl off. Take it off, I say! I’ll have to try to placate him in some way. This business must be hushed up at all costs. – And as far as you and I are concerned, it must look as though everything were the same as before between us. But obviously only in the eyes of the world. You’ll go on living here; that goes without saying. But you won’t be allowed to bring up the children; I daren’t entrust them to you –. Oh, to have to say this to the woman I once loved so highly, and whom I still –! Well, that must be put in the past. From today it’s no longer a question of happiness; it’s merely a question of rescuing the remains, the scraps, the outer shell –
The doorbell rings.
HELMER [starts]: What’s that? So late. Could the most terrible thing –? Could he –? Hide, Nora! Say you’re ill.
NORA stands motionless. HELMER goes over and opens the door to the hall.
MAID [half undressed, in the hall]: A letter’s arrived for madam.
HELMER: Give it to me.49 [Grabs the letter and closes the door.] Yes, it’s from him. You’re not having it; I’ll read it myself.
NORA: Yes, read it.
HELMER [by the lamp]: I scarcely have the courage. Perhaps we are lost, both you and I. No; I must know. [Tears open the letter hurriedly; skims through some lines; looks at a piece of paper that is enclosed; a cry of joy] Nora!
NORA looks at him questioningly.
HELMER: Nora! – No; I must read it over again. – Yes, yes; it’s true. I’m saved! Nora, I’m saved!
NORA: And me?
HELMER: You too, naturally; we’re both saved, both you and I. Look. He’s sent you back your bond. He writes that he regrets and is sorry – that a happy change in his life – oh it makes no odds what he writes. We’re saved, Nora! Nobody can do anything to you. Oh, Nora, Nora –. No, first get this repulsive thing out of the way. Let me see – [Glances at the bond.] No, I don’t want to see it; this will be nothing more to me than a dream, this whole thing. [Tears the bond and both letters into pieces, throws the whole lot into the stove and watches as it burns.] There now, it’s gone. – He wrote that since Christmas Eve you’ve –. Oh, they must have been three dreadful days for you, Nora.
NORA: I’ve fought a hard battle these three days.
HELMER: And been in anguish, and seen no other way out except to –. No; we’ll forget this whole hideous thing. We’ll just rejoice and repeat: it’s over; it’s over! Listen to me now, Nora; you don’t seem to comprehend: it’s over. But what’s all this – this steely expression? Oh my poor little Nora, I understand of course; you don’t feel you can believe I’ve forgiven you. But I have, Nora; I swear to you: I’ve forgiven you everything. I know, of course, that what you did, you did out of love for me.
NORA: That’s true.
HELMER: You’ve loved me as a wife should love her husband. It was just the means that you lacked the insight to make a judgement on. But do you think you are any less dear to me because you don’t know how to act independently? No; just you lean on me; I’ll advise you; I’ll guide and instruct you.50 I wouldn’t be a man if this feminine helplessness didn’t make you doubly attractive in my eyes. You mustn’t pay any attention to the harsh words I said to you in my initial shock, when I thought everything might crash down over me. I’ve forgiven you, Nora; I swear to you, I’ve forgiven you.
NORA: I thank you for your forgiveness.
She goes out through the door on the right.
HELMER: No, stay – [Looks in.] What are you doing there in the alcove?
NORA [from within]: Taking off my masquerade costume.
HELMER [by the open door]: Yes, you do that; be calm now, gather your mind once more into balance, my terrified little songbird. Rest safe now; I have broad wings to cover you with. [Walks about near to the door.] Oh, our home is so cosy and perfect, Nora. There’s shelter for you here; I will hold you here like a hunted dove that I’ve rescued unscathed out of the hawk’s claws; I’ll calm the clapping of your heart. Little by little it’ll happen, Nora; believe me. Tomorrow this will all look entirely different to you; soon everything will be just as it was; before long I won’t need to repeat how I’ve forgiven you; you will feel unshakeably that I have done so. How can you think it would cross my mind to reject you, or even to reproach you for anything? Oh, you don’t know the stuff of a real man’s heart, Nora. For a man there’s something so indescribably sweet and gratifying in knowing that he’s forgiven his wife – that he has forgiven her with a full and honest heart. Yes, in a way, she has become his property in a double sense; in a way, he has brought her into the world afresh; she is, in a sense, not only his wife but also his child. That’s how you’ll be for me from today, you helpless, confused little creature. Don’t worry about anything, Nora; just be honest of heart with me, and I will be both your will and your conscience. – What’s this? Not going to bed? You’ve changed clothes?
NORA [in her everyday dress]: Yes, Torvald, I’ve changed clothes now.
HELMER: But why now, this late –?
NORA: I won’t sleep tonight.
HELMER: But, my dear Nora –
NORA [looks at her watch]: It’s not so late yet. Sit down here, Torvald; you and I have a lot to talk about. [Sits on one side of the table.]
HELMER: Nora – what is this? This steely expression –
NORA: Sit down. This will take time. I’ve got a lot to talk to you about.
HELMER [sits down at the table opposite her]: You’re worrying me, Nora. And I don’t understand you.
NORA: No, that’s just it. You don’t understand me. And I’ve never understood you either – before tonight. No, you shan’t interrupt me. You’re just going to listen to what I have to say. – This is a reckoning, Torvald.
HELMER: What do you mean by that?
NORA [after a brief silence]: Isn’t there something that strikes you, Torvald, as we sit here?
NORA: We have been married now for eight years. Doesn’t it occur to you that this is the first time the two of us, you and I, man and wife, are talking seriously together?
HELMER: Seriously – what do you mean?
NORA: In eight whole years – no, more – ever since our first meeting, we’ve never exchanged a serious word about serious things.
HELMER: Should I have perpetually consulted you about worries you could do nothing to help me bear?
NORA: I’m not talking about worries. I’m saying, we have never sat down together seriously to try to get to the bottom of anything.
HELMER: But, my dearest Nora, would that really have been for you?
NORA: That’s it precisely. You’ve never understood me. – I’ve been greatly wronged, Torvald. First by Daddy and then by you.
HELMER: What? By the two of us – by the two of us, who have loved you more highly than anyone else ever did?
NORA [shakes her head]: Neither of you ever loved me. You just thought it was amusing to be in love with me.
HELMER: Nora, what kind of words are these?
NORA: Well, that’s how it is, Torvald. When I was at home with Daddy, he told me all his opinions, and then I had the same opinions; and if I had others, I hid them; because he wouldn’t have liked it. He called me his doll-child, and he played with me, just as I played with my dolls. And then I came into your house –
HELMER: What kind of way is this to describe our marriage?
NORA [impervious]: I mean, I then went from Daddy’s hands over into yours. You arranged everything according to your taste, and I acquired the same taste as you; or I only pretended to; I don’t know really; I think it was both; sometimes one and sometimes the other. When I look at it now, I think I’ve lived like a pauper here – just from hand to mouth. I’ve lived by doing tricks for you, Torvald. But that was how you wanted it. You and Daddy have wronged me greatly. The two of you are to blame for the fact that nothing has come of me.
HELMER: Nora, how unreasonable and ungrateful you are! Haven’t you been happy here?
NORA: No, never. I thought so; but I have never been that.
HELMER: Not –? Not happy?
NORA: No; just cheerful. And you’ve always been so kind to me. But our home has never been anything other than a play-house. I’ve been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Daddy’s doll-child. And the children, they have in turn been my dolls. I thought it was amusing when you came and played with me, just as they thought it was amusing when I came and played with them. That’s been our marriage, Torvald.
HELMER: There is some truth in what you’re saying – however exaggerated and over-emotional it may be. But from now on it will be different. The time for playing is over; now comes the time for upbringing.
NORA: Whose upbringing? Mine or the children’s?
HELMER: Both yours and the children’s, my darling Nora.
NORA: Oh, Torvald, you’re not the man to bring me up to be a proper wife for you.
HELMER: And you’re saying that?
NORA: And I – how equipped am I to bring up the children?
HELMER: Nora!
NORA: Didn’t you say yourself a moment ago – that that was a task you daren’t entrust me with.
HELMER: In the heat of the moment! How could you take that seriously?
NORA: Yes, but what you said was very right. I’m not up to that task. There’s another task that must be solved first. I must bring myself up. You’re not the man to help me with that. I must do that alone. Which is why I’m leaving you now.
HELMER [jumps up]: What was that you said?
NORA: I must stand totally alone, if I’m to get an understanding of myself and of everything outside. That’s why I can’t stay with you any longer.
HELMER: Nora, Nora!
NORA: I shall leave here immediately. I’m sure Kristine will put me up for the night –
HELMER: You’re crazed! You are not permitted! I forbid you!
NORA: It’ll be no use forbidding me anything from now on. I’ll take with me what belongs to me. From you I want nothing, either now or later.
HELMER: But what lunacy is this!
NORA: Tomorrow I’m travelling home – I mean, to my old hometown. It’ll be easier for me to find something to do there.
HELMER: Oh you blind, inexperienced creature!
NORA: I must see to it I get experience, Torvald.
HELMER: Leave your home, your husband and your children! And you haven’t a thought for what people will say.
NORA: I can’t take that into consideration. I just know that it’ll be necessary for me.
HELMER: Oh, this is outrageous. You can abandon your most sacred duties, just like that?
NORA: What, then, do you count as my most sacred duties?
HELMER: And I really need to tell you that! Aren’t they the duties to your husband and your children?
NORA: I have other equally sacred duties.
HELMER: You do not. What duties could they be?
NORA: The duties to myself.
HELMER: You are first and foremost a wife and mother.
NORA: I don’t believe that any more. I believe I am first and foremost a human being, I, just as much as you – or at least, that I must try to become one. I know, of course, that most people would say you’re right, Torvald, and that something of the sort is written in books. But I can no longer allow myself to be satisfied with what most people say and what’s written in books. I have to think these things through for myself and see to it I get an understanding of them.
HELMER: And you don’t have an understanding of your position in your own home? Haven’t you an unshakeable guide in such questions? Haven’t you your religion?51
NORA: Oh, Torvald, I’m not even sure I know what this religion is.
HELMER: What are you saying!
NORA: I know nothing other than what Reverend Hansen said when I was prepared for confirmation. He told us that our religion was this and that. When I have come away from all this and I’m alone, I shall investigate that too. I want to see if they were right, the things Reverend Hansen said, or at least, whether they’re right for me.
HELMER: Oh, this is unheard of from such a young woman! But if religion can’t direct you, then at least let me stir your conscience. For surely you have some moral sense? Or, answer me – have you perhaps none?
NORA: Oh, Torvald, that’s not easy to answer. I simply don’t know. I’m in such confusion over these things. I just know that my opinion is very different from yours on such matters. And I now hear, too, that the laws are other than I’d imagined; but that these laws should be right is something I can’t possibly get into my head. That a woman shouldn’t have the right to spare her old and dying father, or to save her husband’s life! I can’t believe in such things.
HELMER: You talk like a child. You don’t understand the society you live in.
NORA: No, I don’t. But now I intend to look into it. I must find out who is right, society or me.
HELMER: You’re ill, Nora; you’re feverish; I almost think you’re out of your mind.
NORA: I’ve never been so clear and sure as I am tonight.
HELMER: And you’re clear and sure about leaving your husband and your children?
NORA: Yes; I am.
HELMER: Then there’s only one explanation possible.
NORA: That is?
HELMER: You don’t love me any more.
NORA: No, that’s just the thing.
HELMER: Nora! – And you can say that!
NORA: Oh, it gives me so much pain, Torvald; because you’ve always been so kind to me. But I can’t do anything about it. I don’t love you any more.
HELMER [struggling to stay composed]: You’re clear and sure in this conviction too?
NORA: Yes, absolutely clear and sure. That’s why I don’t want to be here any more.
HELMER: And can you also explain to me in what way I have forfeited your love?
NORA: Yes, I can. It was tonight, when the miraculous thing didn’t happen; because then I saw that you weren’t the man I’d imagined.
HELMER: Explain what you mean; I don’t understand.
NORA: I’ve waited so patiently now for eight years; because, good Lord, I realized that miraculous things aren’t exactly an everyday event. Then this crushing blow came at me; and I was so unshakeably certain: something miraculous will come now. When Krogstad’s letter was out there – not for one moment did it occur to me that you’d be prepared to bend to that man’s terms. I was so unshakeably certain that you would say to him: let the whole world know everything. And when that was done –
HELMER: Yes, what then? When I’d offered my wife up to shame and dishonour –?
NORA: When that had been done, I was unshakeably certain that you would step forward and take everything upon yourself and say: I am the guilty one.
HELMER: Nora –!
NORA: You’re thinking I’d never have accepted such a sacrifice from you? No, of course not. But what would my assurances have counted against yours? – That was the miraculous thing that I went about hoping for in terror. And it was to prevent that that I wanted to end my life.
HELMER: I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora – bear pain and hardship for your sake. But nobody would sacrifice their honour for the one they love.
NORA: Hundreds of thousands of women have.
HELMER: Oh, you both think and talk like a foolish child.
NORA: Perhaps so. But you neither think nor talk like the man I could live with. Once you’d got over your fright – not at what was threatening me, but at what you yourself were exposed to, and when the whole danger was over – then for you, it was as if absolutely nothing had happened. I was, just as before, your little song-lark, your doll that you would carry in your arms twice as carefully hereafter, because it was so fragile and weak. [Gets up.] Torvald – at that moment I realized that the man I’d lived with here for eight years was a stranger and that I’d borne him three children –. Oh, I can’t bear to think of it! I could rip myself to pieces.
HELMER [sadly]: I can see now; I see it. A chasm has indeed come between us. – Oh, but, Nora, might it not be possible to fill it?
NORA: As I am now, I am no wife for you.
HELMER: I have the strength to be a different person.
NORA: Perhaps – if your doll is taken away from you.
HELMER: To part – to part from you! No, no, Nora, I can’t grasp the thought.
NORA [goes into the room to the right]: The more surely it must happen. [She comes back with her outdoor clothes and a small travelling bag, which she puts on the chair by the table.]
HELMER: Nora, Nora, not now! Wait till tomorrow.
NORA [puts her coat on]: I can’t stay the night in a strange man’s rooms.
HELMER: But then can’t we live here as brother and sister –?
NORA [tying on her hat]: You know very well that wouldn’t last long –. [Wraps her shawl around her.] Goodbye, Torvald. I don’t want to see the little ones. I know they’re in better hands than mine. As I am now, I can’t be anything for them.
HELMER: But some time, Nora – some time –?
NORA: How can I know? I have no idea what I will become.
HELMER: But you’re my wife, both as you are and as you will be.
NORA: Listen, Torvald; when a wife leaves her husband’s house, as I am now doing, I’ve heard that he is freed according to the law from all obligations towards her.52 At any rate, I’m freeing you from any obligation. You mustn’t feel bound in any way, any more than I shall be. There must be complete freedom on both sides. Look, here’s your ring back. Give me mine.
NORA: Yes, this too.
HELMER: Here it is.
NORA: There. So now it’s over. I’m putting the keys here. The maids know everything that needs doing in the house – better than I. Tomorrow, when I’ve left town, Kristine will come here to pack the things that were my property from home. I want them sent after me.
HELMER: Over; over! Nora, will you never think about me again?
NORA: Of course, I shall often think about you and about the children and about this house.
HELMER: May I write to you, Nora?
NORA: No – never. You’re not to do that.
HELMER: Oh, but surely I can send you –
NORA: Nothing; nothing.
HELMER: – help you, if you should need it.
NORA: No, I say. I don’t take anything from strangers.
HELMER: Nora – can I never be more than a stranger to you?
NORA [takes her travel bag]: Oh, Torvald, then the most miraculous thing would have to happen. –
HELMER: Name me this miraculous thing!
NORA: Then both you and I would have to change ourselves in such a way that –. Oh, Torvald, I no longer believe in the miraculous.
HELMER: But I want to believe in it. Name it! Change in such a way that –?
NORA: That our living together could become a marriage. Goodbye.
She goes out through the hall.
HELMER [sinks down on a chair by the door and throws his hands up to his face]: Nora! Nora! [Looks around the room and gets up.] Empty! She’s not here any more. [A flash of hope rises in him.] The most miraculous –?!
The sound of the street door being slammed is heard from below.