A Doll's House and Other Plays (Penguin)

by Henrik Ibsen

  NORA: No, I assure you, Torvald –

  HELMER: Not nibbled at a little jam?

  NORA: No, absolutely not.

  HELMER: Not even gnawed a macaroon or two?

  NORA: No, Torvald, I assure you really –

  HELMER: Well, well; I’m only joking of course –

  NORA [goes to the table on the right]: It would never occur to me to go against you.

  HELMER: Yes, I know that; and you’ve given me your word –. [Moving towards her] Well, keep your little Christmas secrets to yourself, darling Nora. They’ll be revealed this evening, no doubt, when the Christmas tree is lit.

  NORA: Have you remembered to invite Dr Rank?

  HELMER: No. But there’s no need; it goes without saying that he’ll eat with us. Besides I’ll invite him when he comes this afternoon. I’ve ordered a good wine. Nora, you can’t believe how I’m looking forward to this evening.

  NORA: Me too. And how thrilled the children will be, Torvald!

  HELMER: Ah, but it certainly is splendid to think that one’s got oneself a secure, safe post; that one has a generous income. It’s a huge pleasure to think of, isn’t that right?

  NORA: Oh, it’s miraculous!13

  HELMER: Do you remember last Christmas? A whole three weeks beforehand, you locked yourself in every evening until way past midnight to make flowers for the Christmas tree and all those other splendid things you planned to surprise us with. Ugh, that was the most boring time I’ve ever been through.

  NORA: I wasn’t the least bored.

  HELMER [smiling]: But the results were rather measly, Nora.

  NORA: Oh, are you going to tease me about that again? How could I help it if the cat got in and ripped everything to pieces?

  HELMER: No, of course you couldn’t, my poor little Nora. You had the best of intentions, you wanted to make us all happy, and that’s the main thing. But it really is so good those pinched times are over.

  NORA: Yes, it’s absolutely miraculous.

  HELMER: Now I won’t need to sit here alone and bored; and you won’t need to torture your darling eyes and your fair, delicate little hands –

  NORA [clapping her hands]: Yes, isn’t that so, Torvald, it’s no longer necessary? Oh, how lovely that is to hear! [Takes his arm.] Now I’ll tell you how I thought we should arrange things, Torvald. As soon as Christmas is over – [There is a ring in the hallway.] Oh, that’s the doorbell. [Tidying the room a bit] Someone must be coming. What a bore.

  HELMER: I’m not at home for visitors, remember.

  MAID [in the door to the hall]: Madam, there’s a lady – a stranger –

  NORA: Very well, ask her to come in.

  MAID [to HELMER]: And the doctor’s come too.

  HELMER: Did he go straight into my study?

  MAID: Yes, he did.

  HELMER goes into his study. The MAID shows MRS LINDE, who is in travelling clothes,14 into the living room and closes the door after her.

  MRS LINDE [timidly and a little hesitantly]: Good morning, Nora.

  NORA [uncertainly]: Good morning –

  MRS LINDE: You probably don’t recognize me.

  NORA: Well, I don’t know – ah yes, I seem to – [Bursting out] What! Kristine! Is it really you?

  MRS LINDE: Yes, it’s me.

  NORA: Kristine! And there I was, not recognizing you! But then how could I possibly – [More quietly] How you’ve changed, Kristine!

  MRS LINDE: Yes, I probably have. In nine or ten long years –

  NORA: Is it that long since we saw each other? Yes, so it is. Oh, these last eight years have been a happy time, believe you me. And now you’ve come here to town? Made that long journey in the winter. That was very brave.

  MRS LINDE: I arrived on the steamer just this morning.

  NORA: To enjoy yourself over Christmas, naturally. Oh, but how lovely! Yes, and enjoy ourselves we certainly shall. But do take your coat off. You’re not cold, are you? [Helps her.] There; now we’ll sit ourselves comfortably here by the stove. No, in the armchair there! I’ll sit here in the rocking-chair. [Grasps MRS LINDE’s hands] Yes, you’ve got your old face again now; it was just in that first moment –. You’ve grown a little paler, though, Kristine – and a little thinner perhaps.

  MRS LINDE: And much, much older, Nora.

  NORA: Yes, a little older perhaps, a teeny little bit; not much at all. [Stopping herself suddenly, serious] Oh, what a thoughtless person I am, sitting here and chattering away. Sweet, darling Kristine, can you forgive me?

  MRS LINDE: What do you mean, Nora?

  NORA [softly]: Poor Kristine, you’re a widow now, of course.

  MRS LINDE: Yes, it happened three years ago.

  NORA: Oh, I did know about it; I read it in the newspapers. Oh, Kristine, you must believe me, I often thought about writing to you at the time; but I always put it off, something always got in the way.

  MRS LINDE: Nora dear, I completely understand.

  NORA: No, it was bad of me, Kristine. Oh, you poor thing, you must have gone through so much. – And he didn’t leave you anything to live on?

  MRS LINDE: No.

  NORA: And no children?

  MRS LINDE: No.

  NORA: Absolutely nothing, then?

  MRS LINDE: Not even a sense of grief or loss to sustain me.

  NORA [looks at her in disbelief]: But Kristine, how can that be possible?

  MRS LINDE [smiles sadly and strokes NORA’s hair]: Oh, these things happen, Nora.

  NORA: To be so utterly alone. What a heavy sadness that must be for you. I have three lovely children. Though you can’t see them at the moment, they’re out with their nanny. But now, you must tell me everything –

  MRS LINDE: No, no, no, you tell.

  NORA: No, you start. Today I don’t want to be selfish. Today I want only to think of your concerns. Although there is one thing I really must tell you. Do you know what wonderful good fortune we’ve had recently?

  MRS LINDE: No. What’s that?

  NORA: Just think, my husband’s been made director of the Commercial Bank.

  MRS LINDE: Your husband? Oh, what luck –!

  NORA: Yes, tremendous! As a lawyer one’s income is so unreliable, especially when one doesn’t want to handle any affairs except those that are right and proper. And that’s something Torvald’s never wanted to do, of course; and I’m entirely with him there. Oh, believe me, we’re so looking forward to it! He’s starting at the bank right after the New Year, and then he’ll have a big salary and lots of bonuses. From now on we’ll be able to live quite differently – just as we want. Oh, Kristine, I feel so light and happy! Yes, because it’s so lovely to have a proper amount of money and not to have to go worrying over things. Isn’t it?

  MRS LINDE: Well, it must be lovely at least to have what’s necessary.

  NORA: No, not just what’s necessary, but a proper, proper amount of money!

  MRS LINDE [smiles]: Nora, Nora, you’ve not grown sensible yet? Back at school you were a big spendthrift.

  NORA [laughs softly]: Yes, Torvald still says that too. [Wags a finger sternly.] But ‘Nora, Nora’ isn’t as crazy as you all think. – We’ve certainly been in no position for me to be extravagant. We’ve had to work, both of us.

  MRS LINDE: You too?

  NORA: Yes, with little things, with handiwork, with crocheting and embroidery, things like that, [casually] and with other things too. You know presumably that Torvald left the Department15 when we got married? There were no prospects for promotion in his office, and of course he needed to earn more money than before. But he exhausted himself dreadfully in that first year. He had to seek out all kinds of extra income, as you can imagine, and to work from morning till night. But it was more than he could take, and he became dangerously ill. So the doctors declared that it was vital he travel south.

  MRS LINDE: Yes, you stayed for a whole year in Italy, didn’t you?

  NORA: That’s right. It wasn’t easy to get away, believe me. Ivar had only just
been born then. But we had to go, of course. Oh, it was a miraculous, lovely trip. And it saved Torvald’s life. But it cost an awful lot of money, Kristine.

  MRS LINDE: I can well imagine.

  NORA: Twelve hundred speciedaler16 it cost. Four thousand eight hundred kroner. That’s a huge amount of money, you know.

  MRS LINDE: Yes, but in such a situation it’s a great blessing to have it at least.

  NORA: Yes, I’ll say, though we got it from Daddy of course.

  MRS LINDE: Oh, I see. It was at around that time your father died, I believe.

  NORA: Yes, Kristine, it was just at that time. And imagine, I couldn’t travel to him and nurse him. I was here, of course, waiting for little Ivar to come into the world any day. And then I had my poor mortally ill Torvald to look after. My dear kind Daddy! I never got to see him again, Kristine. Oh, that’s the heaviest thing I’ve gone through since I was married.

  MRS LINDE: I know you were very fond of him. But then you went to Italy?

  NORA: Yes; well, we had the money then; and the doctors were pressing us to go. So we left a month later.

  MRS LINDE: And your husband returned in full health.

  NORA: Fit as a fiddle!

  MRS LINDE: But – the doctor?

  NORA: How do you mean?

  MRS LINDE: I thought the maid said he was the doctor, that man who came at the same time as me.

  NORA: Oh, that was Dr Rank; but he doesn’t come on patient visits; he’s our closest friend and looks in at least once a day. No, Torvald hasn’t had one hour of illness since. And the children are fit and healthy, and so am I. [She jumps up and claps her hands.] Oh God, oh God, Kristine, it’s lovely and miraculous to be alive and happy! – Oh, but this really is loathsome of me – I’m talking about my own concerns again. [Sits on a footstool close to MRS LINDE and rests her arms on her knees.] Oh, you mustn’t be cross with me! – Tell me, is it really true that you didn’t love your husband? Why did you marry him, then?

  MRS LINDE: My mother was still alive; and she was bedridden and helpless. And I also had my two younger brothers to provide for. I didn’t really see how I could justify declining his offer.

  NORA: No, perhaps you’re right. He was rich at the time, then?

  MRS LINDE: He was reasonably well off, I think. But his business interests were unreliable, Nora. When he died, everything collapsed and there was nothing left over.

  NORA: And then –?

  MRS LINDE: Well, then I had to struggle on with a little shop and a little school17 and whatever else I could think of. The last three years have been like one long, unremitting workday for me. Now it’s at an end, Nora. My poor mother no longer needs me, now that she’s passed away. And neither do the boys; they’ve got jobs now and can provide for themselves.

  NORA: You must feel a good deal lighter –

  MRS LINDE: No, Nora. Just unspeakably empty. With nobody to live for any more. [Gets up restlessly.] That’s why I couldn’t stand it any longer out there in that little backwater. It must surely be easier to find something here to engage you and occupy your thoughts. If I could just be lucky enough to get a permanent post, some sort of office work –

  NORA: Oh but, Kristine, that’s so terribly exhausting; and you already look exhausted before you’ve begun. It would be much better for you to go to a spa.18

  MRS LINDE [moves towards the window]: I don’t have any daddy who can present me with travel money, Nora.

  NORA [gets up]: Oh, don’t be angry with me!

  MRS LINDE [moves towards her]: Nora dear, don’t you be angry with me. That’s the worst thing about a situation like mine, it leaves such a deep trace of bitterness in your mind. You have nobody to work for; but you still have to be on the lookout, fighting your corner. We have to live after all; and then we get self-centred. When you told me about the happy change in your circumstances19 – can you believe it? – I wasn’t so pleased on your behalf, as on my own.

  NORA: In what way? Oh, I see. You mean that Torvald could maybe do something for you.

  MRS LINDE: Yes, that was my thought.

  NORA: And so he will, Kristine. Just leave it to me; I’ll bring it up so, so delicately – I’ll think up something that’ll charm him, that’ll capture his approval. Oh, I do so sincerely want to be of help to you.

  MRS LINDE: How sweet of you, Nora, to be so eager on my behalf – doubly sweet of you, when you know so little of life’s burdens and hardships yourself.

  NORA: I –? I know so little of –?

  MRS LINDE [smiling]: Well. Good Lord, a little bit of handwork and the like –. You’re a child, Nora.

  NORA [tosses her head and crosses the room]: You oughtn’t to say that so condescendingly.

  MRS LINDE: Oh?

  NORA: You’re like the others. You all think I’m incapable of anything really serious –

  MRS LINDE: Now, now –

  NORA: – that I’ve experienced nothing of this difficult world.

  MRS LINDE: Nora dear, you’ve just told me about all your hardships.

  NORA: Pfff – those trifles! [Softly] I haven’t told you about the biggest.

  MRS LINDE: Biggest? What do you mean?

  NORA: You’re far too dismissive of me, Kristine; but you shouldn’t be. You’re proud that you worked so hard and so long for your mother.

  MRS LINDE: I certainly don’t dismiss anyone. But it is true: I am both proud and happy that it was granted me to make my mother’s last years relatively free from care.

  NORA: And you’re proud too, when you think about what you’ve done for your brothers.

  MRS LINDE: I think I have a right to be.

  NORA: I think so too. But now I’m going to tell you something, Kristine. I also have something to be proud and happy about.

  MRS LINDE: I don’t doubt it. But how do you mean?

  NORA: Speak quietly. Imagine if Torvald heard this! He mustn’t at any price – nobody must get to know this, Kristine; nobody but you.

  MRS LINDE: But what is it?

  NORA: Come here. [Pulls her down on the sofa beside her.] Well, Kristine – I also have something to be proud and happy about. It was I who saved Torvald’s life.

  MRS LINDE: Saved –? In what way saved?

  NORA: I told you about our trip to Italy. Torvald could never have pulled through if he hadn’t gone down there –

  MRS LINDE: Right; and your father gave you the necessary money –

  NORA: Yes, that’s what Torvald and all the others believe; but –

  MRS LINDE: But –?

  NORA: Daddy didn’t give us a penny. It was I who raised the money.

  MRS LINDE: You? That entire sum?

  NORA: Twelve hundred speciedaler. Four thousand eight hundred kroner. What do you say to that?

  MRS LINDE: Yes, but, Nora, how was that possible? Had you won the lottery?20

  NORA [with scorn]: The lottery? [Gives a little snort.] Where would the skill be in that?

  MRS LINDE: But then where did you get it from?

  NORA [hums and smiles secretively]: Hm; tra la la la!

  MRS LINDE: After all, you couldn’t borrow it.

  NORA: Oh? Why not?

  MRS LINDE: Well, of course, a wife can’t borrow without her husband’s consent.21

  NORA [tosses her head]: Oh, when it’s a wife with a touch of business flair – a wife who knows how to go about things a little cleverly, then –

  MRS LINDE: But, Nora, I simply don’t understand –

  NORA: Nor do you need to. Nobody’s said that I borrowed the money. After all, I might have got it in other ways. [Throws herself back in the sofa.] I might have got it from some admirer or other. When you’re as relatively attractive as I am –

  MRS LINDE: You’re a crazy one!

  NORA: You’re tremendously curious now, aren’t you, Kristine?

  MRS LINDE: Now listen, Nora my dear – haven’t you acted rather imprudently?

  NORA [sitting upright again]: Is it imprudent to save one’s husband’s
life?

  MRS LINDE: I think it’s imprudent that, without his knowing, you –

  NORA: But that’s exactly it, he wasn’t meant to know anything! Good Lord, don’t you understand? He wasn’t even meant to know how much danger he was in. I was the one the doctors came to, saying that his life was at risk; that nothing could save him except a stay in the south. Don’t you think I tried to coax him at first? I talked to him about how lovely it would be for me to travel abroad like other young wives; I cried and I begged; I said he should please remember my condition, that he must be kind and give in to my wishes; and then I suggested that he could perhaps take out a loan. But then he almost went into a fury, Kristine. He said I was frivolous, and that it was his duty as a husband not to give way to me in my whims and caprices – I think he called it. Well, I thought, you’ve got to be rescued; and so I found a way out –

  MRS LINDE: And your husband didn’t discover from your father that the money hadn’t come from him?

  NORA: No, never. Daddy died at just around that time. I’d thought to let him in on it and ask him not to reveal anything. But then he was so ill –. Sadly, it was never necessary.

  MRS LINDE: And you’ve not confided in your husband since?

  NORA: No, for heaven’s sake, how can you think that? When he’s so strict on the issue of borrowing! And besides, just think how awkward and humiliating it would be for Torvald – with his manly self-esteem – to know he owed me something. It would upset the entire balance of our relationship; our beautiful, happy home would no longer be what it is.

  MRS LINDE: Will you never tell him?

  NORA [thoughtfully, half smiling]: Yes – perhaps one day – many years from now, when I’m no longer as pretty. You shouldn’t laugh! I mean, of course, when Torvald no longer admires me as much as he does now; when he no longer finds it amusing to have me dance for him, and dress up and recite things. Then it might be good to have something in reserve – [Breaks off.] Oh, rubbish, rubbish! That time will never come. – So, what do you say to my big secret, Kristine? Aren’t I also capable of something? – And you can be sure too that this matter has caused me a great many worries. It certainly hasn’t been easy for me to fulfil my obligations on time. In the business world, let me tell you, there’s something called quarterly interest, and something called instalments; and they’re always terribly difficult to get hold of. So I’ve had to save a bit here and a bit there, wherever I could, you see. Naturally, I couldn’t put much aside from the housekeeping money, since Torvald had to live comfortably. And I couldn’t let the children go badly dressed; whatever I got for them, I had to use every bit. My sweet little angels!