Study Questions &
Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Compare Torvald’s and Nora’s attitudes
toward money.
Torvald and Nora’s first conversation establishes
Torvald as the member of the household who makes and controls the
money and Nora as the one who spends it. Torvald repeatedly teases
Nora about her spending, and at one point Mrs. Linde points out
that Nora was a big spender in her younger days. These initial comments paint
Nora as a shallow woman who is overly concerned with -material delights.
Yet Nora’s generous tip to the porter in the play’s opening scene
shows that she is not a selfish woman. More important, once the
secret of Nora’s loan is made known to the audience, we see that
Nora’s interest in money stems more from her concern for her family’s
welfare than from petty desires. We realize that the excitement
she has expressed over Torvald’s new, well-paying job results from
the fact that more spending money means she can finally pay off
her debt to Krogstad.
While Torvald seems less enthralled by money because he
doesn’t talk about it except to chastise Nora for her spending,
he is obsessed with having a beautiful home, including a beautiful
wife. He considers these things important to his reputation, and
keeping up this reputation requires money. Although Torvald accuses
Nora of wasting money, Nora spends her money mostly on worthy causes,
whereas Torvald uses his for selfish, shallow purposes.
2. Why does Torvald constantly reprimand
Nora for her wastefulness and foolishness while simultaneously supporting
her behavior? What insight does this contradiction give us into
Torvald and Nora’s relationship?
Torvald perceives Nora as a foolish woman
who is ignorant of the way society works, but he likes Nora’s foolishness
and ignorance because they render her helpless and therefore dependent
on him. It soon becomes clear to us that Nora’s dependence, not
Torvald’s love for Nora as a person, forms the foundation of Torvald’s
affection for her. In Act One, Torvald teases Nora about wasting
money but then tries to please her by graciously giving her more.
Similarly, he points out her faults but then says he doesn’t want
her to change a bit. He clearly enjoys keeping Nora in a position
where she cannot function in the world without him, even if it means
that she remains foolish.
In general, Torvald disapproves of any kind of change
in Nora’s constant, obedient demeanor because he needs to control
her behavior. When Nora begins to dance the tarantella wildly in
Act Two, he is unsettled. In Act One, Nora says that it would humiliate
Torvald if he knew he was secretly in debt to her for his life,
indicating that Torvald wants the power in his marriage to be one-sided
rather than mutual.
3. Compare and contrast Mrs. Linde
and Nora at the end of the play.
By the end of Act Three, both Nora and Mrs.
Linde have entered new phases in their lives. Nora has chosen to
abandon her children and her husband because she wants independence
from her roles as mother and wife. In contrast, Mrs. Linde has chosen
to abandon her independence to marry Krogstad and take care of his
family. She likes having people depend on her, and independence
does not seem to fulfill her. Despite their apparent opposition,
both Nora’s and Mrs. Linde’s decisions allow them to fulfill their
respective personal desires. They have both chosen their own fates,
freely and without male influence. Ibsen seems to feel that the
nature of their choices is not as important as the fact that both
women make the choices themselves.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. What is the relationship between
Mrs. Linde’s arrival and Nora’s awakening and transformation?
2. In Act One, Mrs. Linde describes
Nora as “a child.” Is this assessment of Nora’s state of development
valid?
3. What does Torvald’s fascination
with beauty and appearances imply about his personality? Do his
attitudes change at all over the course of the play?
4. Compare Nora and Krogstad.
Are there any similarities between them, especially as far as their
relationship to society is concerned?
5. How do the characters in A
Doll’s House use the words “free” and “freedom”? Do different
speakers use the terms differently? Do they take on different connotations
over the course of the play?
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