A Doll's House
By Henrik Ibsen
5/5
()
About this ebook
First performed in December of 1879, Henrik Ibsen's play "A Doll’s House" was met with both incredible success and immediate criticism for its, at the time, highly controversial views on marriage and family. Whereas critics claimed "A Doll's House" threatened to dismantle traditional Victorian values, fans found its realistic, complex depictions of individuals and families relatable, inspiring, and refreshing.
Henrik Ibsen
Born in 1828, Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright and poet, often associated with the early Modernist movement in theatre. Determined to become a playwright from a young age, Ibsen began writing while working as an apprentice pharmacist to help support his family. Though his early plays were largely unsuccessful, Ibsen was able to take employment at a theatre where he worked as a writer, director, and producer. Ibsen’s first success came with Brand and Peter Gynt, and with later plays like A Doll’s House, Ghosts, and The Master Builder he became one of the most performed playwrights in the world, second only to William Shakespeare. Ibsen died in his home in Norway in 1906 at the age of 78.
Read more from Henrik Ibsen
An Enemy of the People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nora : A Doll's House (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhosts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Doll’s House: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Enemy of the People (1882) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rosmersholm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Enemy of the People (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Master Builder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wild Duck Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Doll's House and Other Plays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Enemy of the People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHedda Gabler (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPeer Gynt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Enemy of the People: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hedda Gabbler Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen We Dead Awaken Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love's Comedy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ghosts (1881) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Eyolf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Four Plays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Doll's House
Related ebooks
A Dolls House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Doll's House (1879) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Doll´s House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arms and The Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saint Joan: A Play Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncle Vanya Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Seagull Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Ideal Husband: A Play Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov (Illustrated) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lysistrata Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life is a Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeartbreak House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sea-Gull Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman's Prize: aka The Tamer Tam'd "I find the medicine worse than the malady" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Master Builder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hedda Gabler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Importance of Being Earnest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cherry Orchard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miss. Julie Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Orestes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lady from the Sea Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Sea-Gull Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Misanthrope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Sisters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Votes for Women A Play in Three Acts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Changeling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Seagull: A play in four acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Major Barbara Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Performing Arts For You
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Macbeth (new classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sisters Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Town: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diamond Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hamlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Me: An Oprah's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of Sketch Comedy: A Journey through the Art and Craft of Humor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Count Of Monte Cristo (Unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Midsummer Night's Dream, with line numbers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Sherlock Holmes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Importance of Being Earnest: A Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lucky Dog Lessons: Train Your Dog in 7 Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for A Doll's House
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
A Doll's House - Henrik Ibsen
A DOLL’S HOUSE
Henrik Ibsen
Characters of the Play
Torvald Helmer.
Nora, his wife.
Doctor Rank.
Mrs. Linde.
Nils Krogstad.
Helmer’s three young children.
Anne, their nurse.
A Housemaid.
A Porter.
( The action takes place in Helmer’s house.)
Act 1
(SCENE. — A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not extravagantly. At the back, a door to the right leads to the entrance-hall, another to the left leads to Helmer’s study. Between the doors stands a piano. In the middle of the left-hand wall is a door, and beyond it a window. Near the window are a round table, armchairs and a small sofa. In the right-hand wall, at the farther end, another door; and on the same side, nearer the footlights, a stove, two easy chairs and a rocking-chair; between the stove and the door, a small table. Engravings on the wall; a cabinet with china and other small objects; a small book-case with well-bound books. The floors are carpeted, and a fire burns in the stove. It is winter.
A bell rings in the hall; shortly afterwards the door is heard to open. Enter NORA, humming a tune and in high spirits. She is in out-door dress and carries a number of parcels; these she lays on the table to the right. She leaves the outer door open after her, and through it is seen a PORTER who is carrying a Christmas Tree and a basket, which he gives to the MAID who has opened the door.)
Nora. Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it till this evening, when it is dressed. ( To the PORTER, taking out her purse.) How much?
Porter. Sixpence.
Nora. There is a shilling. No, keep the change. ( The PORTER thanks her, and goes out. NORA shuts the door. She is laughing to herself, as she takes off her hat and coat. She takes a packet of macaroons from her pocket and eats one or two; then goes cautiously to her husband’s door and listens.) Yes, he is in. ( Still humming, she goes to the table on the right.)
Helmer ( calls out from his room). Is that my little lark twittering out there?
Nora ( busy opening some of the parcels). Yes, it is!
Helmer. Is it my little squirrel bustling about?
Nora. Yes!
Helmer. When did my squirrel come home?
Nora. Just now. ( Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her mouth.) Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought.
Helmer. Don’t disturb me. ( A little later, he opens the door and looks into the room, pen in hand.) Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?
Nora. Yes, but, Torvald, this year we really can let ourselves go a little. This is the first Christmas that we have not needed to economize.
Helmer. Still, you know, we can’t spend money recklessly.
Nora. Yes, Torvald, we may be a wee bit more reckless now, mayn’t we? Just a tiny wee bit! You are going to have a big salary and earn lots and lots of money.
Helmer. Yes, after the New Year; but then it will be a whole quarter before the salary is due.
Nora. Pooh! we can borrow till then.
Helmer. Nora! ( Goes up to her and takes her playfully by the ear.) The same little featherhead! Suppose, now, that I borrowed fifty pounds today, and you spent it all in the Christmas week, and then on New Year’s Eve a slate fell on my head and killed me, and —
Nora ( putting her hands over his mouth). Oh! don’t say such horrid things.
Helmer. Still, suppose that happened — what then?
Nora. If that were to happen, I don’t suppose I should care whether I owed money or not.
Helmer. Yes, but what about the people who had lent it?
Nora. They? Who would bother about them? I should not know who they were.
Helmer. That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. We two have kept bravely on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short time longer that there need be any struggle.
Nora ( moving towards the stove). As you please, Torvald.
Helmer ( following her). Come, come, my little skylark must not droop her wings. What is this! Is my little squirrel out of temper? ( Taking out his purse.) Nora, what do you think I have got here?
Nora ( turning round quickly). Money!
Helmer. There you are. ( Gives her some money.) Do you think I don’t know what a lot is wanted for housekeeping at Christmas-time?
Nora ( counting). Ten shillings — a pound — two pounds! Thank you, thank you, Torvald; that will keep me going for a long time.
Helmer. Indeed it must.
Nora. Yes, yes, it will. But come here and let me show you what I have bought. And ah so cheap! Look, here is a new suit for Ivar, and a sword; and a horse and a trumpet for Bob; and a doll and dolly’s bedstead for Emmy. — they are very plain, but anyway she will soon break them in pieces. And here are dress-lengths and handkerchiefs for the maids; old Anne ought really to have something better.
Helmer. And what is in this parcel?
Nora ( crying out). No, no! you mustn’t see that till this evening.
Helmer. Very well. But now tell me, you extravagant little person, what would you like for yourself?
Nora. For myself? Oh, I am sure I don’t want anything.
Helmer. Yes, but you must. Tell me something reasonable that you would particularly like to have.
Nora. No, I really can’t think of anything — unless, Torvald —
Helmer. Well?
Nora ( playing with his coat buttons, and without raising her eyes to his). If you really want to give me something, you might — you might —
Helmer. Well, out with it!
Nora ( speaking quickly). You might give me money, Torvald. Only just as much as you can afford; and then one of these days I will buy something with it.
Helmer. But, Nora —
Nora. Oh, do! dear Torvald; please, please do! Then I will wrap it up in beautiful gilt paper and hang it on the Christmas Tree. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Helmer. What are little people called that are always wasting money?
Nora. Spendthrifts — I know. Let us do as you suggest, Torvald, and then I shall have time to think what I am most in want of. That is a very sensible plan, isn’t it?
Helmer ( smiling). Indeed it is — that is to say, if you were really to save out of the money I give you, and then really buy something for yourself. But if you spend it all on the housekeeping and any number of unnecessary things, then I merely have to pay up again.
Nora. Oh but, Torvald —
Helmer. You can’t deny it, my dear, little Nora. ( Puts his arm round her waist.) It’s a sweet little spendthrift, but she uses up a deal of money. One would hardly believe how expensive such little persons are!
Nora. It’s a shame to say that. I do really save all I can.
Helmer ( laughing). That’s very true — all you can. But you can’t save anything!
Nora ( smiling quietly and happily). You haven’t any idea how many expenses we skylarks and squirrels have, Torvald.
Helmer. You are an odd little soul. Very like your father. You always find some new way of wheedling money out of me, and, as soon as you have got it, it seems to melt in your hands. You never know where it has gone. Still, one must take you as you are. It is in the blood; for indeed it is true that you can inherit these things, Nora.
Nora. Ah, I wish I had inherited many of papa’s qualities.
Helmer. And I would not wish you to be