DRAMA II Lecture 6

SYNOPSIS: Critical Analysis 1. Critical Analysis of Major Characters (continues…) Dr. Rank Mrs. Kristine Linde 2. Themes The Sacrificial Role of Women Parental and Filial Obligations The Unreliability of Appearances Nora’s Definition of Freedom 3. Motifs Letters

Dr. Rank At first, Dr. Rank appears to be an extraneous supporting character. He does not further the plot the way Krogstad or Mrs. Linde do. Krogstad initiates the conflict by attempting to blackmail Nora Helmer. Mrs. Linde gives Nora an excuse to leap into exposition in Act One, and she also tames the heart of the antagonistic Mr. Krogstad.

But What Does Dr. Rank Do? Not too much. He visits with Torvald Helmer in his office. He flirts with a married woman. Oh, and he is slowly dying of an unnamed illness (he does hint at his disintegrating spine—and most scholars suggest he is plagued with a case tuberculosis). Even Dr. Rank believes himself to be easily replaceable:

Dr. Rank: The thought of having to leave it all… without being able to leave behind even the slightest token of gratitude, hardly a fleeting regret even… nothing but an empty place to be fulfilled by the first person that comes along. (Act Two) More than any other character in the play, Dr. Rank reflects the dawning of “Modern Drama.” Torvald and Krogstad could just as easily appear in a sappy melodrama. However, Dr. Rank might well fit into one of Anton Chekhov’s plays. Before Ibsen’s time, many plays focused on characters facing and solving problems. As plays became more realistic, characters began spending more time being reflective rather than getting caught up in convoluted plot lines. Dr. Rank, like characters found in the works of Chekhov, Brecht, and other modern dramatists, ponders aloud about his inner misgivings.

Many scholars see Dr. Rank as a symbol of moral corruption within society. However, because of the many sincere aspects of his character, that view is debatable. Basically, Dr. Rank adds to the somber mood of the play, yet he is not essential to the conflict, climax, or resolution. He chats with the other characters, admiring them, all the while knowing he will never be important to any of them.

Dr. Rank’s Friendship with Torvald and Nora When the Helmers find Dr. Rank’s letter that indicates he has gone home to await death, Torvald says, “His suffering and his loneliness seemed almost to provide a background of dark cloud to the sunshine of our lives. Well, perhaps it’s all for the best. For him at any rate. And maybe for us as well, Nora. Now there’s just the two of us.” It doesn’t sound like they will miss him too much. Believe it or not, Torvald is the doctor’s closest friend!

When students first read the play, some feel immense sympathy for Dr When students first read the play, some feel immense sympathy for Dr. Rank. Other students are disgusted by him. They believe that he fits his name. Dictionary.com offers a few vile definitions for the adjective “rank.” It is a word that means, “highly offensive; disgusting; vulgar; or indecent.”

More Than Just Friendly? Does Dr. Rank fit those negative dictionary descriptions? That depends on how the reader interprets Dr. Rank’s affection for Nora. Dr. Rank: Nora…Do you think he’s the only one who…? Who wouldn’t gladly give his life for your sake. I swore to myself you would know before I went. I’ll never have a better opportunity. Well, Nora! Now you know. And now you know too that you can confide in me as in nobody else. (Act Two) One could view this as an honorable love-from-afar, or it could be grounds for a restraining order! Most actors portray Dr. Rank as soft-spoken and well- meaning. He does not mean to be vulgar, but instead confesses his feelings for Nora mainly because he only has a few days left to live.

Sadly, Nora responds to his forwardness by summoning her maid, turning up the lights, steeping away from him and quickly dismissing the conversation. When Dr. Rank suggests that his love is just as strong as Torvald’s, Nora recoils from him. She never again looks to him as a possible solution to her problem. The fact that she would consider suicide before accepting Dr. Rank’s endearments speaks volumes about the way the poor doctor is perceived by others.

He Doesn’t Rank Very Highly Consider one last time the name of Rank. One of the definitions of the word in its noun form is: “a high position or station in the social scale.” Perhaps Ibsen has chosen this name to be ironic; none of the characters place him highly in their thoughts.

Mrs. Kristine Linde Of all the characters in A Doll’s House, Mrs. Kristine Linde serves as the most functional in terms of plot development. It is as though Henrik Ibsen was writing Act One and wondering, “How will I let the audience know the inner thoughts of my protagonist? I know! I’ll introduce an old friend, and Nora Helmer can then reveal everything!” At times, Mrs. Linde functions as a convenient device for exposition. She enters Act One as an almost forgotten friend, a lonely widow seeking a job from Nora’s husband. However, Nora does not spend much time listening to Mrs. Linde’s troubles. Rather selfishly, Nora discusses how excited she is about Torvald Helmer’s recent success.

Mrs. Linde says to Nora, “You haven’t known much trouble or hardship in your own life.” Nora tosses her head defiantly and struts to the other side of the room. Then, she launches into a dramatic explanation of all her secret activities (obtaining a loan, saving Torvald’s life, paying off her debt). Yet, Mrs. Linde is more than a sounding board. She offers opinions about Nora’s questionable actions. She warns Nora of her flirtation with Dr. Rank. She also raises questions in between Nora’s lengthy speeches.

Meddling with the Helmers In Act Three, Mrs. Linde becomes more pivotal. It turns out that she long ago had a romantic tryst with Nils Krogstad, the man attempting to blackmail Nora. She rekindles their relationship and inspires Krogstad to amend his wicked ways. It could be argued that this happy coincidence is not terribly realistic. However, Ibsen’s third act is not about Nora’s conflict with Krogstad. It is about the dismantling of illusions between a husband and wife. Therefore, Mrs. Linde conveniently removes Krogstad from the role of villain. Yet, she still decides to meddle. She insists that, “Helmer must know everything. This unhappy secret must come out!” Even though she has the power to change Krogstad’s mind, she uses her influence to make certain that Nora’s secret is discovered.

Ideas for Discussion Does this make her a good or bad friend? When teachers discuss Mrs. Linde in class, it is interesting to gauge the students’ reactions to Mrs. Linde. Many believe that she should mind her own business, while others feel that a true friend will intervene in the same way Mrs. Linde does.

Love Conquers All? Despite some of the perfunctory qualities of Mrs. Linde, she does provide a striking thematic contrast. Many view Ibsen’s play as an assault on the traditional institution of marriage. Yet, in Act Three Mrs. Linde happily celebrates the return to domesticity: Mrs. Linde: (Tidies the room a little and gets her hat and coat ready.) How things changes! How things change! Somebody to work for… to live for. A home to bring happiness into. Just let me get down to it. Notice how, ever the caretaker, she cleans up while daydreaming about her new life as Krogstad’s wife. She is ecstatic about her newly revived love. In the end, perhaps Mrs. Kristine Linde balances Nora’s impetuous and ultimately independent nature.

Themes, Motifs and Symbols The interwoven themes of A Doll's House revolves around… the difficulty of maintaining an individual personality — in this case a feminine personality — within the confines of a stereotyped social role. The problem is personified as Nora, the doll, strives to become a self-motivated human being in a woman-denying man's world.

As he once forced a female character in an earlier play, The Pillars of Society, to cry out, "Your society is a society of bachelor-souls!" In his notes for A Doll's House, Ibsen writes that the background of his projected drama "is an exclusively masculine society with laws written by men and with prosecutors and judges who regard feminine conduct from a masculine point of view."

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

1. The Sacrificial Role of Women In A Doll’s House, Ibsen paints a bleak picture of the sacrificial role held by women of all economic classes in his society. the play’s female characters exemplify Nora’s assertion (spoken to Torvald in Act Three) that even though men refuse to sacrifice their integrity, “hundreds of thousands of women have.” In order to support her mother and two brothers, Mrs. Linde found it necessary to abandon Krogstad, her true—but penniless—love, and marry a richer man. The nanny had to abandon her own child to support herself by working as Nora’s (and then as Nora’s children’s) caretaker. As she tells Nora, the nanny considers herself lucky to have found the job, since she was “a poor girl who’d been led astray.”

Though Nora is economically advantaged in comparison to the play’s other female characters, she nevertheless leads a difficult life because society dictates that Torvald be the marriage’s dominant partner. Torvald issues decrees and condescends to Nora, and Nora must hide her loan from him because she knows Torvald could never accept the idea that his wife (or any other woman) had helped save his life.

Furthermore, she must work in secret to pay off her loan because it is illegal for a woman to obtain a loan without her husband’s permission. By motivating Nora’s deception, the attitudes of Torvald—and society—leave Nora vulnerable to Krogstad’s blackmail. Nora’s abandonment of her children can also be interpreted as an act of self- sacrifice. Despite Nora’s great love for her children—manifested by her interaction with them and her great fear of corrupting them—she chooses to leave them. Nora truly believes that the nanny will be a better mother and that leaving her children is in their best interest.

2. Parental Obligations Nora, Torvald, and Dr. Rank each express the belief that a parent is obligated to be honest and upstanding, because a parent’s immorality is passed on to his or her children like a disease. Dr. Rank does have a disease that is the result of his father’s depravity. Dr. Rank implies that his father’s immorality—his many affairs with women—led him to contract a venereal disease that he passed on to his son, causing Dr. Rank to suffer for his father’s misdeeds. Torvald voices the idea that one’s parents determine one’s moral character when he tells Nora, “Nearly all young criminals had lying -mothers.” He also refuses to allow Nora to interact with their children after he learns of her deceit, for fear that she will corrupt them.

Yet, the play suggests that children too are obligated to protect their parents. Nora recognized this obligation, but she ignored it, choosing to be with—and sacrifice herself for— her sick husband instead of her sick father. Mrs. Linde, on the other hand, abandoned her hopes of being with Krogstad and undertook years of labor in order to tend to her sick mother. Ibsen does not pass judgment on either woman’s decision, but he does use the idea of a child’s debt to her parent to demonstrate the complexity and reciprocal nature of familial obligations.

3. The Unreliability of Appearances Over the course of A Doll’s House, appearances prove to be misleading veneers that mask the reality of the play’s characters and -situations. Our first impressions of Nora, Torvald, and Krogstad are all eventually undercut. Nora initially seems a silly, childish woman, but as the play progresses, we see that she is intelligent, motivated, and, by the play’s conclusion, a strong-willed, independent thinker. Torvald, though he plays the part of the strong, benevolent husband, reveals himself to be cowardly, petty, and selfish when he fears that Krogstad may expose him to scandal. Krogstad too reveals himself to be a much more sympathetic and merciful character than he first appears to be. The play’s climax is largely a matter of resolving identity confusion—we see Krogstad as an earnest lover, Nora as an intelligent, brave woman, and Torvald as a simpering, sad man.

Situations too are misinterpreted both by us and by the characters. The seeming hatred between Mrs. Linde and Krogstad turns out to be love. Nora’s creditor turns out to be Krogstad and not, as we and Mrs. Linde suppose, Dr. Rank. Dr. Rank, to Nora’s and our surprise, confesses that he is in love with her. The seemingly villainous Krogstad repents and returns Nora’s contract to her, while the seemingly kindhearted Mrs. Linde ceases to help Nora and forces Torvald’s discovery of Nora’s secret.

The instability of appearances within the Helmer household at the play’s end results from Torvald’s devotion to an image at the expense of the creation of true happiness. Because Torvald craves respect from his employees, friends, and wife, status and image are important to him. Any disrespect—when Nora calls him petty and when Krogstad calls him by his first name, for example—angers Torvald greatly. By the end of the play, we see that Torvald’s obsession with controlling his home’s appearance and his repeated suppression and denial of reality have harmed his family and his happiness irreparably.

Nora’s Definition of Freedom Nora’s understanding of the meaning of freedom evolves over the course of the play.

Nora’s understanding of the meaning of freedom Act I Krogstad’s Blackmail In the end… In the first act, she believes that she will be totally “free” as soon as she has repaid her debt, because she will have the opportunity to devote herself fully to her domestic responsibilities. After Krogstad blackmails her, however, she reconsiders her conception of freedom and questions whether she is happy in Torvald’s house, subjected to his orders and edicts. By the end of the play, Nora seeks a new kind of freedom. She wishes to be relieved of her familial obligations in order to pursue her own ambitions, beliefs, and identity.

Motifs Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Letters Letter 1 the first reveals Nora’s crime of forgery to Torvald; Letter II the second retracts his blackmail threat and returns Nora’s promissory note. Many of the plot’s twists and turns depend upon the writing and reading of letters, which function within the play as the subtext that reveals the true, unpleasant nature of situations obscured by Torvald and Nora’s efforts at beautification. Krogstad writes two letters:

The first letter, which Krogstad places in Torvald’s letterbox near the end of Act Two, represents the truth about Nora’s past and initiates the inevitable dissolution of her marriage—as Nora says immediately after Krogstad leaves it, “We are lost.” Nora’s attempts to stall Torvald from reading the letter represent her continued denial of the true nature of her marriage. The Two Letters The second letter releases Nora from her obligation to Krogstad and represents her release from her obligation to Torvald. Upon reading it, Torvald attempts to return to his and Nora’s previous denial of reality, but Nora recognizes that the letters have done more than expose her actions to Torvald; they have exposed the truth about Torvald’s selfishness, and she can no longer participate in the illusion of a happy marriage.

Letter 3: Calling Card Dr. Rank’s method of communicating his imminent death is to leave his calling card marked with a black cross in Torvald’s letterbox. In an earlier conversation with Nora, Dr. Rank reveals his understanding of Torvald’s unwillingness to accept reality when he proclaims,“Torvald is so fastidious, he cannot face up to -anything ugly.”By leaving his calling card as a death notice, Dr. Rank politely attempts to keep Torvald from the “ugly” truth

Letter 4 & 5 Other letters include Mrs. Linde’s note to Krogstad, which initiates her -life- changing meeting with him, and Torvald’s letter of dismissal to Krogstad.

REVIEW: Critical Analysis 1. Critical Analysis of Major Characters (continues…) Dr. Rank Mrs. Kristine Linde 2. Themes The Sacrificial Role of Women Parental and Filial Obligations The Unreliability of Appearances Nora’s Definition of Freedom 3. Motifs Letters

Agenda: Lecture 7 1. Symbolism in The Doll’s House 2. Critical Analysis/ Thematic Analysis Critical Analysis of some Dialogues… Dramatic Structure of A Doll's House