Is that my little lark, twittering out there?...When did my
squirrel get home?
A Doll's House
Torvald Helmer, to his wife Nora, Act 1. |
There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends
on borrowing and debt.
A Doll's House
Helmer, Act 1. |
It's a sweet little bird, but it gets through a terrible amount
of money. You wouldn't believe how much it costs a man when
he's got a little song-bird like you!
A Doll's House
Helmer to Nora, Act 1. |
Yes - some day, perhaps, after many years, when I am no longer
as pretty as I am now. Don't laugh at me! I mean, of course,
when Torvald is no longer as devoted to me as he is now; when
my dancing and dressing-up and reciting have palled on him then
it may be a good thing to have something in reserve.
A Doll's House
Nora, to Mrs Linde's question as to whether
she will ever tell Torvald of the loan she took out in order
to save his life, Act 1. |
Still it was really tremendous fun sitting there working and
earning money. It was almost like being a man.
A Doll's House
Nora tells Mrs Linde of copying work she
did to earn money to pay her debt, Act 1. |
I should just love to say - "Well, I'm damned!"
A Doll's House
Nora reveals to Dr Rank and Mrs Linde what
she would love to say in front of Torvald, Act 1. |
Hasn't a daughter the right to protect her dying father from
worry and anxiety? Hasn't a wife the right to save her husband's
life? I don't know much about the law, but I'm quite certain
that it must say somewhere that things like that are allowed.
A Doll's House
Nora to Krogstad, on her taking a loan
and forging her father's signature to save her husband's life,
Act 1. |
Many a man can save himself if he admits he's done wrong and
takes his punishment.
A Doll's House
Helmer, Act I. |
An atmosphere of lies like that infects and poisons the whole
life of a home. In a house like that, every breath that the
children take is filled with the germs of evil.
A Doll's House
Helmer to Nora, on Krogstad's lies and
deceit, Act 1. |
Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has
had a deceitful mother.
A Doll's House
Torvald to Nora, Act 1. |
To be able to be free from care, quite free from care; to
be able to play and romp with the children; to be able to keep
the house beautifully and have everything just as Torvald likes
it!
A Doll's House
Nora, Act 1. |
Your squirrel would run about and do all her tricks if you
would be nice, and do as she wants ... Your skylark would chirp
about in every room, with her song rising and falling.
A Doll's House
Nora to her husband, trying to manipulate
him into keeping Krogstad in his post at the bank so Krogstad
won't reveal to Torvald about Nora's debt, Act 2. |
It is no use lying to one's self.
A Doll's House
Dr Rank to Nora, on facing up to his imminent
death, Act 2. |
A wonderful thing is going to happen!
A Doll's House
Nora to Mrs Linde, after Krogstad drops
a letter about Nora's debt to him and her forgery of her father's
signature, into Torvald's letterbox. She is referring to her
expectation that Torvald will take all the blame for her actions
upon himself, Act 2. |
Nora, darling, you're dancing as if your life depended on
it!
A Doll's House
Helmer, Act 2. |
When I lost you, it was as if all the solid ground went from
under my feet. Look at me now—I am a shipwrecked man clinging
to a bit of wreckage.
A Doll's House
Krogstad to Mrs Linde, Act 3. |
When you've sold yourself once for the sake of others, you
don't do it a second time.
A Doll's House
Mrs Linde to Krogstad, Act 3. |
Someone to work for and live for — a home to bring comfort
into. That I will do, indeed.
A Doll's House
Mrs Linde, Act 3. |
Why shouldn't I look at my dearest treasure? - at all the
beauty that is mine, all my very own.
A Doll's House
Helmer staring at Nora in her fancy-dress
costume, Act 3. |
One can't have anything in this life without paying for it.
A Doll's House
Dr Rank, Act 3. |
At the next fancy-dress ball I shall be invisible. There is
a big black hat - have you never heard of hats that make you
invisible? If you put one on, no one can see you..
A Doll's House
Dr Rank to Helmer and Nora, telling her
in code that he will be dead by the next fancy-dress ball, Act
3. |
Do you know, Nora, I have often wished that you might be threatened
by some great danger, so that I might risk my life's blood,
and everything, for your sake.
A Doll's House
Helmer to Nora, captivated by her beauty
in her fancy-dress costume, Act 3. |
The black, cold, icy water. Down and down, without end —
if it would only end.
A Doll's House
Nora, as her husband is about to learn
the secret of her debt, Act 3. |
From this moment happiness is not the question; all that concerns
us is to save the remains, the fragments, the appearance.
A Doll's House
Helmer, learning the details of Krogstad's
loan to Nora, rejects her as a wife and mother but wants her
to remain in his house and keep up the pretence that all is
well with their marriage, Act 3. |
I have existed merely to perform tricks for you, Torvald.
But you would have it so. You and papa have committed a great
sin against me. It is your fault that I have made nothing of
my life. Our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been
your doll-wife, just as at home I was papa's doll-child; and
here the children have been my dolls. I thought it great fun
when you played with me, just as they thought it great fun when
I played with them. That is what our marriage has been, Torvald.
A Doll's House
Nora to Torvald Helmer, as she realizes
the truth about their marriage, Act 3. |
If I'm ever to reach any understanding of myself and the things
around me, I must learn to stand alone. That's why I can't stay
here with you any longer.
A Doll's House
Nora to her husband, Act 3. |
I have another duty equally sacred ... My duty to myself.
A Doll's House
Nora to husband, Act 3. |
HELMER: First and foremost, you are a wife and mother.
NORA: That I don't believe any more. I believe that first and
foremost I am an individual, just as you are.
A Doll's House
Act 3. |
You don't talk or think like the man I could bind myself to.
When your first panic was over - not about what threatened me,
but about what might happen to you - and when there was no more
danger, then, as far as you were concerned, it was just as if
nothing had happened at all. I was simply your little songbird,
your doll, and from now on you would handle it more gently than
ever because it was so delicate and fragile. At that moment,
Torvald, I realized that for eight years I'd been living her
with a strange man and that I'd borne him three children. Oh,
I can't bear to think of it - I could tear myself to little
pieces!
A Doll's House
Nora just before she leaves her husband,
Act 3. |
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