by Henrik Ibsen
NORA [in her everyday dress]: Yes, Torvald, I’ve changed clothes now.
HELMER: But why now, this late –?
NORA: I won’t sleep tonight.
HELMER: But, my dear Nora –
NORA [looks at her watch]: It’s not so late yet. Sit down here, Torvald; you and I have a lot to talk about. [Sits on one side of the table.]
HELMER: Nora – what is this? This steely expression –
NORA: Sit down. This will take time. I’ve got a lot to talk to you about.
HELMER [sits down at the table opposite her]: You’re worrying me, Nora. And I don’t understand you.
NORA: No, that’s just it. You don’t understand me. And I’ve never understood you either – before tonight. No, you shan’t interrupt me. You’re just going to listen to what I have to say. – This is a reckoning, Torvald.
HELMER: What do you mean by that?
NORA [after a brief silence]: Isn’t there something that strikes you, Torvald, as we sit here?
HELMER: What should that be?
NORA: We have been married now for eight years. Doesn’t it occur to you that this is the first time the two of us, you and I, man and wife, are talking seriously together?
HELMER: Seriously – what do you mean?
NORA: In eight whole years – no, more – ever since our first meeting, we’ve never exchanged a serious word about serious things.
HELMER: Should I have perpetually consulted you about worries you could do nothing to help me bear?
NORA: I’m not talking about worries. I’m saying, we have never sat down together seriously to try to get to the bottom of anything.
HELMER: But, my dearest Nora, would that really have been for you?
NORA: That’s it precisely. You’ve never understood me. – I’ve been greatly wronged, Torvald. First by Daddy and then by you.
HELMER: What? By the two of us – by the two of us, who have loved you more highly than anyone else ever did?
NORA [shakes her head]: Neither of you ever loved me. You just thought it was amusing to be in love with me.
HELMER: Nora, what kind of words are these?
NORA: Well, that’s how it is, Torvald. When I was at home with Daddy, he told me all his opinions, and then I had the same opinions; and if I had others, I hid them; because he wouldn’t have liked it. He called me his doll-child, and he played with me, just as I played with my dolls. And then I came into your house –
HELMER: What kind of way is this to describe our marriage?
NORA [impervious]: I mean, I then went from Daddy’s hands over into yours. You arranged everything according to your taste, and I acquired the same taste as you; or I only pretended to; I don’t know really; I think it was both; sometimes one and sometimes the other. When I look at it now, I think I’ve lived like a pauper here – just from hand to mouth. I’ve lived by doing tricks for you, Torvald. But that was how you wanted it. You and Daddy have wronged me greatly. The two of you are to blame for the fact that nothing has come of me.
HELMER: Nora, how unreasonable and ungrateful you are! Haven’t you been happy here?
NORA: No, never. I thought so; but I have never been that.
HELMER: Not –? Not happy?
NORA: No; just cheerful. And you’ve always been so kind to me. But our home has never been anything other than a play-house. I’ve been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Daddy’s doll-child. And the children, they have in turn been my dolls. I thought it was amusing when you came and played with me, just as they thought it was amusing when I came and played with them. That’s been our marriage, Torvald.
HELMER: There is some truth in what you’re saying – however exaggerated and over-emotional it may be. But from now on it will be different. The time for playing is over; now comes the time for upbringing.
NORA: Whose upbringing? Mine or the children’s?
HELMER: Both yours and the children’s, my darling Nora.
NORA: Oh, Torvald, you’re not the man to bring me up to be a proper wife for you.
HELMER: And you’re saying that?
NORA: And I – how equipped am I to bring up the children?
HELMER: Nora!
NORA: Didn’t you say yourself a moment ago – that that was a task you daren’t entrust me with.
HELMER: In the heat of the moment! How could you take that seriously?
NORA: Yes, but what you said was very right. I’m not up to that task. There’s another task that must be solved first. I must bring myself up. You’re not the man to help me with that. I must do that alone. Which is why I’m leaving you now.
HELMER [jumps up]: What was that you said?
NORA: I must stand totally alone, if I’m to get an understanding of myself and of everything outside. That’s why I can’t stay with you any longer.
HELMER: Nora, Nora!
NORA: I shall leave here immediately. I’m sure Kristine will put me up for the night –
HELMER: You’re crazed! You are not permitted! I forbid you!
NORA: It’ll be no use forbidding me anything from now on. I’ll take with me what belongs to me. From you I want nothing, either now or later.
HELMER: But what lunacy is this!
NORA: Tomorrow I’m travelling home – I mean, to my old hometown. It’ll be easier for me to find something to do there.
HELMER: Oh you blind, inexperienced creature!
NORA: I must see to it I get experience, Torvald.
HELMER: Leave your home, your husband and your children! And you haven’t a thought for what people will say.
NORA: I can’t take that into consideration. I just know that it’ll be necessary for me.
HELMER: Oh, this is outrageous. You can abandon your most sacred duties, just like that?
NORA: What, then, do you count as my most sacred duties?
HELMER: And I really need to tell you that! Aren’t they the duties to your husband and your children?
NORA: I have other equally sacred duties.
HELMER: You do not. What duties could they be?
NORA: The duties to myself.
HELMER: You are first and foremost a wife and mother.
NORA: I don’t believe that any more. I believe I am first and foremost a human being, I, just as much as you – or at least, that I must try to become one. I know, of course, that most people would say you’re right, Torvald, and that something of the sort is written in books. But I can no longer allow myself to be satisfied with what most people say and what’s written in books. I have to think these things through for myself and see to it I get an understanding of them.
HELMER: And you don’t have an understanding of your position in your own home? Haven’t you an unshakeable guide in such questions? Haven’t you your religion?51
NORA: Oh, Torvald, I’m not even sure I know what this religion is.
HELMER: What are you saying!
NORA: I know nothing other than what Reverend Hansen said when I was prepared for confirmation. He told us that our religion was this and that. When I have come away from all this and I’m alone, I shall investigate that too. I want to see if they were right, the things Reverend Hansen said, or at least, whether they’re right for me.
HELMER: Oh, this is unheard of from such a young woman! But if religion can’t direct you, then at least let me stir your conscience. For surely you have some moral sense? Or, answer me – have you perhaps none?
NORA: Oh, Torvald, that’s not easy to answer. I simply don’t know. I’m in such confusion over these things. I just know that my opinion is very different from yours on such matters. And I now hear, too, that the laws are other than I’d imagined; but that these laws should be right is something I can’t possibly get into my head. That a woman shouldn’t have the right to spare her old and dying father, or to save her husband’s life! I can’t believe in such things.
HELMER: You talk like a child. You don’t understand the society you live in.
NORA: No, I don’t. But
now I intend to look into it. I must find out who is right, society or me.
HELMER: You’re ill, Nora; you’re feverish; I almost think you’re out of your mind.
NORA: I’ve never been so clear and sure as I am tonight.
HELMER: And you’re clear and sure about leaving your husband and your children?
NORA: Yes; I am.
HELMER: Then there’s only one explanation possible.
NORA: That is?
HELMER: You don’t love me any more.
NORA: No, that’s just the thing.
HELMER: Nora! – And you can say that!
NORA: Oh, it gives me so much pain, Torvald; because you’ve always been so kind to me. But I can’t do anything about it. I don’t love you any more.
HELMER [struggling to stay composed]: You’re clear and sure in this conviction too?
NORA: Yes, absolutely clear and sure. That’s why I don’t want to be here any more.
HELMER: And can you also explain to me in what way I have forfeited your love?
NORA: Yes, I can. It was tonight, when the miraculous thing didn’t happen; because then I saw that you weren’t the man I’d imagined.
HELMER: Explain what you mean; I don’t understand.
NORA: I’ve waited so patiently now for eight years; because, good Lord, I realized that miraculous things aren’t exactly an everyday event. Then this crushing blow came at me; and I was so unshakeably certain: something miraculous will come now. When Krogstad’s letter was out there – not for one moment did it occur to me that you’d be prepared to bend to that man’s terms. I was so unshakeably certain that you would say to him: let the whole world know everything. And when that was done –
HELMER: Yes, what then? When I’d offered my wife up to shame and dishonour –?
NORA: When that had been done, I was unshakeably certain that you would step forward and take everything upon yourself and say: I am the guilty one.
HELMER: Nora –!
NORA: You’re thinking I’d never have accepted such a sacrifice from you? No, of course not. But what would my assurances have counted against yours? – That was the miraculous thing that I went about hoping for in terror. And it was to prevent that that I wanted to end my life.
HELMER: I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora – bear pain and hardship for your sake. But nobody would sacrifice their honour for the one they love.
NORA: Hundreds of thousands of women have.
HELMER: Oh, you both think and talk like a foolish child.
NORA: Perhaps so. But you neither think nor talk like the man I could live with. Once you’d got over your fright – not at what was threatening me, but at what you yourself were exposed to, and when the whole danger was over – then for you, it was as if absolutely nothing had happened. I was, just as before, your little song-lark, your doll that you would carry in your arms twice as carefully hereafter, because it was so fragile and weak. [Gets up.] Torvald – at that moment I realized that the man I’d lived with here for eight years was a stranger and that I’d borne him three children –. Oh, I can’t bear to think of it! I could rip myself to pieces.
HELMER [sadly]: I can see now; I see it. A chasm has indeed come between us. – Oh, but, Nora, might it not be possible to fill it?
NORA: As I am now, I am no wife for you.
HELMER: I have the strength to be a different person.
NORA: Perhaps – if your doll is taken away from you.
HELMER: To part – to part from you! No, no, Nora, I can’t grasp the thought.
NORA [goes into the room to the right]: The more surely it must happen. [She comes back with her outdoor clothes and a small travelling bag, which she puts on the chair by the table.]
HELMER: Nora, Nora, not now! Wait till tomorrow.
NORA [puts her coat on]: I can’t stay the night in a strange man’s rooms.
HELMER: But then can’t we live here as brother and sister –?
NORA [tying on her hat]: You know very well that wouldn’t last long –. [Wraps her shawl around her.] Goodbye, Torvald. I don’t want to see the little ones. I know they’re in better hands than mine. As I am now, I can’t be anything for them.
HELMER: But some time, Nora – some time –?
NORA: How can I know? I have no idea what I will become.
HELMER: But you’re my wife, both as you are and as you will be.
NORA: Listen, Torvald; when a wife leaves her husband’s house, as I am now doing, I’ve heard that he is freed according to the law from all obligations towards her.52 At any rate, I’m freeing you from any obligation. You mustn’t feel bound in any way, any more than I shall be. There must be complete freedom on both sides. Look, here’s your ring back. Give me mine.
HELMER: This too?
NORA: Yes, this too.
HELMER: Here it is.
NORA: There. So now it’s over. I’m putting the keys here. The maids know everything that needs doing in the house – better than I. Tomorrow, when I’ve left town, Kristine will come here to pack the things that were my property from home. I want them sent after me.
HELMER: Over; over! Nora, will you never think about me again?
NORA: Of course, I shall often think about you and about the children and about this house.
HELMER: May I write to you, Nora?
NORA: No – never. You’re not to do that.
HELMER: Oh, but surely I can send you –
NORA: Nothing; nothing.
HELMER: – help you, if you should need it.
NORA: No, I say. I don’t take anything from strangers.
HELMER: Nora – can I never be more than a stranger to you?
NORA [takes her travel bag]: Oh, Torvald, then the most miraculous thing would have to happen. –
HELMER: Name me this miraculous thing!
NORA: Then both you and I would have to change ourselves in such a way that –. Oh, Torvald, I no longer believe in the miraculous.
HELMER: But I want to believe in it. Name it! Change in such a way that –?
NORA: That our living together could become a marriage. Goodbye.
She goes out through the hall.
HELMER [sinks down on a chair by the door and throws his hands up to his face]: Nora! Nora! [Looks around the room and gets up.] Empty! She’s not here any more. [A flash of hope rises in him.] The most miraculous –?!
The sound of the street door being slammed is heard from below.
GHOSTS1
* * *
A Family Drama2 in Three Acts
Characters
MRS3 HELENE ALVING, widow of Captain Alving, late chamberlain4 to the king
OSVALD ALVING, her son, an artist
PASTOR MANDERS
ENGSTRAND, a carpenter
REGINE ENGSTRAND, in the service5 of Mrs Alving
The action takes place at Mrs Alving’s country estate by a large fjord in West Norway.
Act One
A spacious garden room with a door in the wall to the left6 and two doors to the right. A round table stands in the centre of the room with chairs around it: on it are books, magazines and newspapers. There is a window, and next to it a small sofa with a little sewing table in front of it. In the background the room leads on to a somewhat narrower conservatory, the walls of which are predominantly glazed. In the right wall of the conservatory is a door leading on to the garden. Through the conservatory windows a gloomy fjord landscape can be seen, veiled by steady rain.
ENGSTRAND the carpenter is standing at the back by the garden door. His left leg is slightly crooked, and the sole of his shoe is built up with a wooden block. REGINE, with an empty flower mister in her hand, is stopping him from advancing further.
REGINE [keeping her voice low]: What do you want? Stay right where you are. You’re dripping everywhere!
ENGSTRAND: That’s God’s rain, that, my child.
REGINE: It’s the devil’s rain, more like.
ENGSTRAND: Jesus, how you talk, Regine. [L
imps forward a couple of steps into the room.] But what I wanted to say was –
REGINE: Stop clomping about with that foot, idiot.7 The young master’s asleep upstairs.
ENGSTRAND: Lying there asleep is he? In the middle of the day?
REGINE: That’s no concern of yours.
ENGSTRAND: I was out on a bender last night –
REGINE: That I can believe.
ENGSTRAND: Aye, for we are but frail,8 my child –
REGINE: Yes, aren’t we just!
ENGSTRAND: – and the temptations are manifold in this world – but, by God, I was still at my work at half past five this morning.
REGINE: Yes, yes, yes, just get out of here. I don’t want to stand here rendezvousing with you.
ENGSTRAND: You don’t want what?
REGINE: I don’t want anyone seeing you here. Go on; get on your way.
ENGSTRAND [a couple of steps closer]: Damned if I’m going before I’ve talked to you. This afternoon I’ll have finished with the job down there at the schoolhouse, and then tonight I’ll be off on the steamship9 to town.
REGINE [mumbles]: Pleasant trip!
ENGSTRAND: Well, thank you, my child. The orphanage will be dedicated tomorrow, so there’s likely to be a right commotion here with intoxicating liqueurs see. And nobody’s going to pin it on Jakob Engstrand that he can’t stay away when temptation comes along.
REGINE: Hmm!
