Thou art mother thyself to the man that’s there.

  SOLVEIG

  Ay, that I am; but who is his father?

  Surely he that forgives at the mother’s prayer.

  PEER [A light shines in his face; he cries:]

  My mother; my wife; oh, thou innocent woman!—

  In thy love—oh, there hide me, hide me!

  [Clings to her and hides his face in her lap. A long silence.The sun rises.]

  SOLVEIG [Sings softly.]

  Sleep thou, dearest boy of mine!

  I will cradle thee, I will watch thee——

  The boy has been sitting on his mother’s lap.

  They two have been playing all the life-day long.

  The boy has been resting at his mother’s breast

  All the life-day long. God’s blessing on my joy.

  The boy has been lying close in to my heart,

  All the life-day long. He is weary now.

  Sleep thou, dearest boy of mine!

  I will cradle thee, I will watch thee.

  THE BUTTON-MOULDER’S VOICE [Behind the house.]

  At the last cross-road we will meet again, Peer;

  And then we’ll see whether——; I say no more.

  SOLVEIG [Sings louder in the full daylight.]

  I will cradle thee, I will watch thee;

  Sleep and dream thou, dear my boy!

  A DOLL’S HOUSE (1879)

  INTRODUCTION

  A DOLL’SHOUSE (1879; Et dukkehjem) did not make Ibsen famous, but it did make him notorious. Immediately after its publication, it was staged in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Christiania, and Bergen, and very soon outside Scandinavia as well—for example, in Munich and other German cities (1880), Vienna (1881), Milwaukee (1882), and Louisville, Kentucky (1883). It also was a publishing success, mandating immediate reprints and translations into many languages, including English and German in the 1880s, Swedish (1880), Finnish (1880), Polish (1882), Russian (1883), Italian (1894), Dutch (1887), Serbo-Croatian (1891), Spanish (1894), Portuguese (1894), Hungarian (1894), and Catalan (1903).

  The immediate and lasting success of A Doll’s House established Ibsen’s reputation as an enemy of bourgeois morality, as a subversive playwright whose primary goal was to unmask the hypocrisies of bourgeois society. William Archer, Ibsen’s most accomplished and influential translator and promoter, published some of Ibsen’s notes that seem to confirm this impression: “A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view” (William Archer on Ibsen, p. 206; see “For Further Reading”). Ibsen really seemed out to accuse this society and everyone in it of collaboration, writing what George Bernard Shaw gleefully called a “propagandistic play” (The Quintessence of Ibsenism, p. 40).

  Given the extreme reactions, both positive and negative, to A Doll’s House, it is surprising to note that for the most part it is a rather traditional play based on a blackmail plot. It is only at the end that things take a sudden and startling turn. Instead of concluding with reconciliation, forgiveness, and reestablishment of familial order, the play has Nora force her husband into a discussion that quickly turns into what contemporaries saw as a feminist declaration of independence—and she leaves. This abrupt change was too much for many contemporaries. A German producer promptly came up with a symptomatic solution: to have the play conclude with a reconciliation. In fact, he coaxed Ibsen into writing that travestied ending himself; it was the best Ibsen could do since there was little chance for him to take legal action.

  However, A Doll’s House shocks the audience not bluntly but subtly. Ibsen embedded the traditional plot and its abrupt ending in an intricate network of images, props, and parallel constructions. A homely Christmas tree, for example, is contrasted with an excessive tarantella dance. Nora’s triumphant escape is colored by the difficult life of her friend Mrs. Linden, whose unhappy marriage has ended with her husband’s death but who finds herself now even more at a loss about what to do. Doctor Rank, the trusted friend of the family, maintains an ambiguous position as well, for he is in love with Nora, who toys with him even as she keeps him at a distance. Theatrically speaking, then, A Doll’s House does not so much offer clear-cut solutions as it outlines problems.

  For a playwright obsessed with the question of the home and the house, the metaphor of the doll’s house signifies more than just the in fantilization of Nora by her husband. It is part of Ibsen’s repeated attempt to think rigorously about the bourgeois home, to expose all that is false and infantile about it. Why must the home be a place that is shielded from the world outside? Why must it constitute a separate and female sphere? It is this larger social institution of the home that Ibsen attacks in play after play and that takes the form of a plea: If we want to stop living in doll’s houses, we have to start growing up.

  —Martin Puchner

  CHARACTERS

  TORVALD HELMER.

  NORA, his wife.

  DOCTOR RANK.

  MRS. LINDEN.120

  NILS KROGSTAD.

  THE HELMERS’ THREE CHILDREN.

  ANNA,121 their nurse.

  A MAID-SERVANT (ELLEN).

  A PORTER.

  The action passes in Helmer’s house (a flat) in Christiania.

  ACT FIRST

  A room comfortably and tastefully, but not expensively, furnished. In the back, on the right, a door leads to the hall; on the left another door leads to HELMER’s study. Between the two doors a pianoforte. In the middle of the left wall a door, and nearer the front a window. Near the window a round table with arm-chairs and a small sofa. In the right wall, somewhat to the back, a door, and against the same wall, further forward, a porcelain stove; in front of it a couple of arm-chairs and a rocking-chair. Between the stove and the side-door a small table. Engravings on the walls. A what-not with china and bric-à-brac. A small bookcase filled with handsomely bound books. Carpet. A fire in the stove. It is a winter day.

  A bell rings in the hall outside. Presently the outer door of the flat is heard to open.Then NORA enters, humming gaily. She is in outdoor dress, and carries several parcels, which she lays on the right-hand table. She leaves the door into the hall open, and a PORTER is seen outside, carrying a Christmas-tree and a basket, which he gives to the MAID-SERVANT who has opened the door.

  NORA

  Hide the Christmas-tree carefully, Ellen; the children must on no

  account see it before this evening, when it’s lighted up.

  [To the PORTER, taking out her purse.]

  How much?

  PORTER

  Fifty öre.

  NORA

  There is a crown. No, keep the change.

  [The PORTER thanks her and goes. NORA shuts the door. She contin

  ues smiling in quiet glee as she takes off her outdoor things.Taking from

  her pocket a bag of macaroons, she eats one or two.Then she goes on tip

  toe to her husband’s door and listens.]

  NORA

  Yes; he is at home.

  [She begins humming again, crossing to the table on the right.]

  HELMER [In his room.]

  Is that my lark twittering there?

  NORA [Busy opening some of her parcels.]

  Yes, it is.

  HELMER

  Is it the squirrel frisking around?

  NORA

  Yes!

  HELMER

  When did the squirrel get home?

  NORA

  Just this minute.

  [Hides the bag of macaroons in her pocket and wipes her mouth.]

  Come here, Torvald, and see what I’ve been buying.

  HELMER

  Don’t interrupt me.

  [A little later he opens the door and looks in, pen in hand.]

  Buying, did you say? What! All that? Has my little spendthrift

  been making the money fly again?

  NORA

  Why, Torvald, surely we can afford to launch out a little now. It’s

  the first Christmas we haven’t had to pinch.

  HELMER

  Come come; we can’t afford to squander money.

  NORA

  Oh yes, Torvald, do let us squander a little, now—just the least

  little bit! You know you’ll soon be earning heaps of money.

  HELMER

  Yes, from New Year’s Day. But there’s a whole quarter before my

  first salary is due.

  NORA

  Never mind; we can borrow in the meantime.

  HELMER

  Nora!

  [He goes up to her and takes her playfully by the ear.]

  Still my little featherbrain! Supposing I borrowed a thousand

  crowns to-day, and you made ducks and drakes of them during

  Christmas week, and then on New Year’s Eve a tile blew off the

  roof and knocked my brains out——

  NORA [Laying her hand on his mouth.]

  Hush! How can you talk so horridly?

  HELMER

  But supposing it were to happen—what then?

  NORA

  If anything so dreadful happened, it would be all the same to me

  whether I was in debt or not.

  HELMER

  But what about the creditors?

  NORA

  They! Who cares for them? They’re only strangers.

  HELMER

  Nora, Nora! What a woman you are! But seriously, Nora, you

  know my principles on these points. No debts! No borrowing!

  Home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as it is founded

  on borrowing and debt. We two have held out bravely till now,

  and we are not going to give in at the last.

  NORA [Going to the fireplace.]

  Very well—as you please, Torvald.

  HELMER [Following her.]

  Come come; my little lark mustn’t droop her wings like that.

  What? Is my squirrel in the sulks?

  [Takes out his purse.]

  Nora, what do you think I have here?

  NORA [Turning round quickly.]

  Money!

  HELMER

  There!

  [Gives her some notes.]

  Of course I know all sorts of things are wanted at Christmas.

  NORA [Counting.]

  Ten, twenty, thirty, forty. Oh, thank you, thank you, Torvald!

  This will go a long way.

  HELMER

  I should hope so.

  NORA

  Yes, indeed; a long way! But come here, and let me show you all

  I’ve been buying. And so cheap! Look, here’s a new suit for Ivar,

  and a little sword. Here are a horse and a trumpet for Bob. And

  here are a doll and a cradle for Emmy. They’re only common;

  but they’re good enough for her to pull to pieces. And dress

  stuffs and kerchiefs for the servants. I ought to have got

  something better for old Anna.

  HELMER

  And what’s in that other parcel?

  NORA [Crying out.]

  No, Torvald, you’re not to see that until this evening!

  HELMER

  Oh! Ah! But now tell me, you little spendthrift, have you

  thought of anything for yourself?

  NORA

  For myself! Oh, I don’t want anything.

  HELMER

  Nonsense! Just tell me something sensible you would like to

  have.

  NORA

  No, really I don’t know of anything——Well, listen,

  Torvald——

  HELMER

  Well?

  NORA [Playing with his coat-buttons, without looking him in the face.]

  If you really want to give me something, you might, you know—

  you might——

  HELMER

  Well? Out with it!

  NORA [Quickly.]

  You might give me money, Torvald. Only just what you think

  you can spare; then I can buy something with it later on.

  HELMER

  But, Nora——

  NORA

  Oh, please do, dear Torvald, please do! I should hang the money

  in lovely gilt paper on the Christmas-tree. Wouldn’t that be fun?

  HELMER

  What do they call the birds that are always making the money

  fly?

  NORA

  Yes, I know—spendthrifts,122 of course. But please do as I ask

  you, Torvald. Then I shall have time to think what I want most.

  Isn’t that very sensible, now?

  HELMER [Smiling.]

  Certainly; that is to say, if you really kept the money I gave you,

  and really spent it on something for yourself. But it all goes in

  housekeeping, and for all manner of useless things, and then I

  have to pay up again.

  NORA

  But, Torvald——

  HELMER

  Can you deny it, Nora dear?

  [He puts his arm round her.]

  It’s a sweet little lark, but it gets through a lot of money. No one

  would believe how much it costs a man to keep such a little bird

  as you.

  NORA

  For shame! How can you say so? Why, I save as much as ever I

  can.

  HELMER [Laughing.]

  Very true—as much as you can—but that’s precisely nothing.

  NORA [Hums and smiles with covert glee.]

  H’m! If you only knew, Torvald, what expenses we larks and

  squirrels have.

  HELMER

  You’re a strange little being! Just like your father—always on the

  look-out for all the money you can lay your hands on; but the

  moment you have it, it seems to slip through your fingers; you

  never know what becomes of it. Well, one must take you as you

  are. It’s in the blood. Yes, Nora, that sort of thing is hereditary.

  NORA

  I wish I had inherited many of papa’s qualities.

  HELMER

  And I don’t wish you anything but just what you are—my own,

  sweet little song-bird. But I say—it strikes me you look so—

  so—what shall I call it?—so suspicious to-day——

  NORA

  Do I?

  HELMER

  You do, indeed. Look me full in the face.

  NORA [Looking at him.]

  Well?

  HELMER [Threatening with his finger.]

  Hasn’t the little sweet-tooth been playing pranks to-day?

  NORA

  No; how can you think such a thing!

  HELMER

  Didn’t she just look in at the confectioner’s?

  NORA

  No, Torvald; really——

  HELMER

  Not to sip a little jelly?

  NORA

  No; certainly not.

  HELMER

  Hasn’t she even nibbled a macaroon or two?

  NORA

  No, Torvald, indeed, indeed!

  HELMER

  Well, well, well; of course I’m only joking.

  NORA [Goes to the table on the right.]

  I shouldn’t think of doing what you disapprove of.

  HELMER

  No, I’m sure of that; and, besides, you’ve given me your word——

  [Going towards her.]

  Well, keep your little Christmas secrets to yourself, Nora

  darling. The Christmas-tree will bring them all to light, I daresay.

  NORA

  Have you remembered to invite Doctor Rank?

  HELMER

  No. But it’s not necessary; he’ll come as a matter of course.

  Besides, I shall ask him when he looks in to-day. I’ve ordered

  some capital wine. Nora, you can’t think how I look forward to

  this evening.

  NORA

  And I too. How the children will enjoy themselves, Torvald!

  HELMER

  Ah, it’s glorious to feel that one has an assured position and

  ample means. Isn’t it delightful to think of?

  NORA

  Oh, it’s wonderful!

  HELMER

  Do you remember last Christmas? For three whole weeks

  beforehand you shut yourself up every evening till long past

  midnight to make flowers for the Christmas-tree, and all sorts of

  other marvels that were to have astonished us. I was never so

  bored in my life.

  NORA

  I didn’t bore myself at all.

  HELMER [Smiling.]

  But it came to little enough in the end, Nora.

  NORA

  Oh, are you going to tease me about that again? How could I

  help the cat getting in and pulling it all to pieces?

  HELMER

  To be sure you couldn’t, my poor little Nora. You did your best

  to give us all pleasure, and that’s the main point. But, all the

  same, it’s a good thing the hard times are over.

  NORA

  Oh, isn’t it wonderful?

  HELMER

  Now I needn’t sit here boring myself all alone; and you needn’t