by Henrik Ibsen
17. Prodigal Tønnesen: An allusion to the parable of the prodigal son, Luke 15:11–32. The Norwegian adjective ‘forlorne sønn’ means ‘lost’ or ‘wayward’, so the effect is starker here than in the English. There are several variations on this theme later in the play. See also Ghosts, note 38.
18. held lectures in public halls: It was quite uncommon for women to give lectures at this time. But Aasta Hansteen (1824–1908), an advocate for women’s rights, had criticized the Church’s view of women during a Scandinavian lecture tour in 1876, and Ibsen’s mother-in-law, the writer Magdalene Thoresen (1819–1903), was the first woman writer in Scandinavia to give readings from her own works (1867).
19. A Norseman’s word: When the men who had signed the Norwegian constitution in 1814 parted, they gave the promise: ‘Enige og troe, indtil Dovre falder!’ (‘United and loyal, until (the mountain) Dovre falls!’). Here, the phrase indicates more generally that the word of a Norwegian can be trusted.
20. council: Norway had introduced a certain level of local administration in so-called communes (municipalities) in 1837. The most important tasks of these entities were the care of paupers and the running of elementary schools.
21. inland route: In contemporary debates the inland railway line was primarily supported by farmers and the forestry business and competed with the plans for a line along the coast.
22. tracts of forest: Timber, pulp and paper were among Norway’s most important export products in the nineteenth century.
23. family-minded: The compound ‘familjesind’ literally means ‘family mentality’ or ‘family spirit’, a way of thinking dominated by a sense of loyalty and duty to the family.
24. telegram: The first telegraph line in Norway had been established in 1855, and this new communication network had reached the northernmost towns by 1871.
25. circus troupe: The word ‘beriderselskab’ refers more specifically to a travelling circus with horses.
26. that woman: The word ‘fruentimmer’ originally meant ‘a woman’s room’. By this period it was used as a humorous or pejorative reference to a woman.
27. co-shipowner: In the south of Norway shipping was typically organized in partnerships, and many members of the local communities of coastal towns would be part owners of ships.
28. I’m in my fifties now: Average age expectancy for men in Norway was forty-eight years in the 1870s, and three years more for women. Only 5 per cent of the population were over sixty-five years during the nineteenth century.
29. the consul: Here used as a polite form of address in the third person.
30. great and good works: An allusion to Ove Malling’s popular patriotic work Store og gode Handlinger av Danske, Norske og Holstenere (1777) (Great and Good Actions of Danes, Norwegians and Holsteinians), a series of portraits of exemplary historical figures in the then union of Denmark-Norway.
31. gas pipe: Gas was primarily used for lighting. The first Norwegian gas works was established in Kristiania in 1847.
32. the poor school: The ‘almueskolen’ of the original was a type of school for the general populace, traditionally catering for those least well off.
33. this stuffy air: The word ‘stueluft’ (literally ‘living room air’) is a key concept in Ibsen which comes up again in his penultimate play, John Gabriel Borkman (1896). ‘Stueluft’ stands in opposition to another, more frequently used compound, namely ‘friluft’ (literally: ‘free air’ or ‘outdoors air’).
34. four hundred kroner: A timberman working in ship construction might earn two kroner a day around this time.
35. Mr Consul, sir: Vigeland uses the polite form ‘de’ (‘you’) to Bernick, who is socially above him. He later addresses him as ‘Mr Consul’, and this therefore seems to be the solution that best captures the polite form of address.
36. You: Bernick and Rummel are social equals, and Rummel here uses the informal ‘du’.
37. cane: The ‘spanskrør’ of the original was a long, thin cane made from palm wood, used for punishment.
38. breakfast: Ibsen uses the word ‘frokost’ in its Norwegian sense, i.e. ‘breakfast’, rather than what became Danish usage in the latter half of the nineteenth century, i.e. ‘lunch’.
39. absolute certainty: The original expression is ‘troen i hændene’ (‘faith in one’s hands’), often associated with St Thomas, who doubted Christ’s resurrection until he had touched His wounds. A reference to having solid evidence.
40. My conscience burdened: The original uses ‘ubelastet’ here, literally ‘unladen’ (‘jeg må have min samvittighed ubelastet’, literally ‘I must have my conscience unladen’), and it is only used this once in Ibsen. It implies a conscience without load, but was used more commonly in a financial context meaning ‘without debt’. It corresponds simultaneously to Bernick having a free conscience and to his concern that he will not be seen as responsible.
41. French raid on the Kabyles: Refers to the French actions in Algeria in the 1840s. The Kabyles are Berbers in northern Algeria.
42. in this country … the immigrant families: Trade in Norway had for centuries been dominated by immigrants and their descendants. Businesspeople were often from Sweden, Germany and Denmark.
43. dead as a citizen: The word ‘borgerlig’ means both ‘citizen’ and ‘bourgeois’. The latter sense, lost here and in the common English rendering ‘middle class’ in other contexts, resonates throughout the play.
44. In two months I’ll be back: From 1870 steamships from Norway via Liverpool were the standard way of travelling to America. The total travel time was around two weeks.
45. freights: Around 60 per cent of all Norwegian shipping went between third countries. This trade was vulnerable to changes in the international economy and was hard hit by economic slumps in the middle of the 1870s.
46. illuminations: Lighting arrangements for feasts of various kinds.
47. buck up: The phrase ‘mande dig op’ literally means ‘man yourself up’, or ‘show some courage’.
48. You do know: Rummel and Bernick use the formal second-person pronoun ‘de’ when addressing Miss Hessel. This polite mode of address was more or less compulsory in bourgeois and higher social milieux at the time.
49. stuff: The original has ‘malm’, meaning ‘ore’, a word that runs through Ibsen’s entire oeuvre and acquires a particularly central function in John Gabriel Borkman (1896).
50. Get away from me: See Christ’s response to Satan in Matthew 4:10: ‘Get thee hence, Satan.’
51. transparency: Transparent banner or large placard, lit from behind.
52. citizen of the state: The term ‘statsborger’ refers to a person belonging not just to the local community, but the wider community of the state.
53. true citizen: Here a distinction is made between the public sphere and the private.
54. book of family devotions: A ‘huspostille’, a Lutheran collection of sermons for the entire year, used for daily homilies.
55. Old friendship doesn’t rust: A Norwegian saying.
56. life’s work: The original has the compound ‘livsgerning’ (literally ‘life’s doing’ or ‘life’s work’), a more succinct and poetic term which refers to the totality of what one has achieved or will achieve in life. It also has associations with ‘calling’.
57. the spirit of truth, the spirit of freedom: The concepts of truth and freedom were often activated in political rhetoric in the aftermath of the French Revolution and in connection with other revolutionary movements of the nineteenth century.
A DOLL’S HOUSE
1. A Doll’s House: Ibsen claimed to have coined the word ‘dukkehjem’, which means ‘doll home’ rather than ‘doll’s house’. It had in fact already been used in 1851 by his friend Paul Botten-Hansen, for whom it seems to have invoked an unreal and dreamy existence. The standard word was ‘dukkehus’.
2. lawyer: Two different terms are used
in the original here: ‘advokat’ and ‘sagfører’. Helmer is the former, Krogstad the latter. An ‘advokat’ was at this time used for a barrister with the right to appear before the Norwegian High Court. Krogstad is a ‘sagfører’, a lawyer of a lower status than Helmer. He has passed the final examination in law, and has the right to appear in cases in both civil and criminal law.
3. Mrs: The term is ‘fru’, indicating that the woman in question is married and has a relatively high social standing (belonging to the bourgeoisie or the higher levels of the rural community). The term ‘madam’ was at this time used for married women from lower social strata.
4. maid: ‘Stuepigen’ refers to a maid with a particular responsibility for cleaning and keeping tidy the more private areas of the house, but who would also assist with receiving family guests and serving.
5. comfortably: The original ‘hyggeligt’ is a key word in what might be called a Danish and Norwegian cult of domesticity, akin to the German notion of ‘Gemütlichkeit’. ‘Cosy’ and ‘comfortable’ later in this act are translations of the related words ‘hyggelig’, ‘hygge’ and ‘hygget seg’.
6. hallway: The original has ‘forstuen’, the first room (after an entrance or the like) you entered in a house or an apartment, from which there was access to the other rooms.
7. Christmas tree: This German tradition was introduced in Norway from the middle of the nineteenth century, first in the towns and among the bourgeoisie. The tree was decorated in secret by the parents before the doors to the living room were opened on Christmas Eve.
8. Half a krone: In 1875 Norway changed to a decimal system in which one krone equalled 100 øre. To make it immediately clear that Nora is being very generous, for those unfamiliar with Norwegian currency, half a krone is used rather than the fifty ‘øre’ of the original.
9. spending-bird: The original has ‘spillefugl’, from the German ‘Spielvogel’, a toy bird; ‘spille’ means both to play and to waste.
10. a woman thou art: In the original the archaic form ‘du est’ is used to signal a humorous formality.
11. dress material: Servants received some of their pay in the form of goods and were often given at least one new piece of clothing for Christmas.
12. hang the money: Small home-made paper baskets filled with fruit, sweets and raisins were hung on the Christmas tree and harvested by the children during Christmas.
13. miraculous: This is the first instance of the key and recurring word ‘vidunderligt’ or ‘det vidunderlige’. ‘Vidunderligt’ is a stronger expression than ‘wonderful’ in modern English. It is something which, according to Ordbog over det danske sprog (Dictionary of the Danish Language), appears as ‘nearly supernatural or unfathomable in its grandeur, excellent qualities or “inexplicability” and which creates an overwhelming impression and thrill. It is above the everyday, the usual, the ordinary, having the character of something unreal, unearthly, fairy-tale-like in its beauty and magnitude.’ In order to avoid the excessively religious connotations of ‘the miracle’, this translation has opted for phrases such as ‘the miraculous’ and ‘the miraculous thing’.
14. travelling clothes: During the decade in which the play was written, this would often be a jacket or a paletot, a waisted overcoat. Jackets of sealskin were popular from the mid 1870s.
15. Department: The Norwegian word ‘departementet’ might also be translated as ‘ministry’, but Helmer’s work has been with the civil service and not particularly high-powered or prestigious.
16. Twelve hundred speciedaler: Before Norway in 1875 introduced kroner, it had used ‘speciedaler’. One speciedaler at this point equalled four kroner.
17. little school: Teaching was among the few socially acceptable professions for women of the upper and middle classes. Women from the middle classes might also work in shops and offices.
18. spa: The first Norwegian spa was opened in 1837 and was soon followed by others. These were used for treating both physical and mental illness.
19. your circumstances: The genitive pronoun ‘eders’ (plural ‘your’) is a more formal variant of ‘deres’; this distinction is not available in English.
20. lottery: Denmark at this time had a state lottery. Lotteries were forbidden by law in Norway, except for charity.
21. a wife can’t borrow without her husband’s consent: Married women were formally without independent legal status and were not allowed to enter into economic transactions on their own, although this was not always adhered to in practice.
22. solicitor’s clerk: A ‘sagførerfuldmægtig’ was a person with the right to do certain kinds of business for a lawyer, a subordinate but responsible and respectable position.
23. telegram: The first telegraph line in Norway had been established in 1855, and this new communication network had reached the northernmost towns by 1871.
24. front door: The word ‘porten’ may mean gate rather than door.
25. Do you remember this, Mrs Helmer?: The original has ‘Husker fruen’ (‘Does the lady remember’). Such use of the third-person form and title communicated politeness, at times also condescension and distance.
26. atmosphere: The word ‘dunstkreds’ in the original specifically refers to air with a bad smell. It is associated with infectious matter, miasma.
27. Christmas Day: The most important holy day of the year. Families would traditionally keep to themselves, and not receive or go on visits.
28. Miss Nora: Using the first name shows a degree of intimacy, while the use of her title (which is ‘fru’ (‘Mrs’) rather than ‘frøken’ (‘Miss’) in the original) preserves some formality.
29. got herself into trouble: The phrase ‘kommen i ulykke’ refers even more explicitly to a woman who has been seduced and become pregnant outside of marriage.
30. Consul: A consul was a local businessman appointed to facilitate a foreign nation’s trade interests. In 1877 there were 210 such consuls in Norway.
31. Neapolitan fisher-girl: Motif used in nineteenth-century genre painting.
32. tarantella: The most famous of all Italian folk dances, dating back to medieval times. The Danish author and scientist Vilhelm Bergsøe, who became Ibsen’s friend during his first stay in Italy in 1864–8, described the tarantella as a popular folk tradition and noted the belief that the dancer was in a state of possession.
33. consumption of the spine: Rare neurological form of tertiary syphilis. In contemporary scientific belief the last phase of this degenerative illness was thought to include an attack on inner organs, including the marrow. This might lead to paralysis, heart failure and madness. The patient might be symptom-free for long periods between the various phases of the illness.
34. elfin-girl: In ancient Norse tradition elves were considered dangerous creatures. Ibsen here seems to build on a Romantic view, also associated with Shakespeare, where elves are more friendly, attractive and gracious. They are generally shy, but may appear in moonlight.
35. first-name terms: By saying ‘vi er dus’ Helmer here notes a breach of etiquette. Polite society required that one would only use the intimate ‘du’ (‘you’) to people one would address by first name, generally only the close family. Two people who knew each other well might in rare cases use ‘du’ and first names even in more official settings. With others present, with whom the parties were not on intimate terms, it was customary to switch to the polite form ‘de’.
36. Let whatever comes come: An allusion to two hymns in the Lutheran hymn book, one of them by Martin Luther.
37. abominable process of destruction: A biblical expression, ‘ødelæggelsens vederstyggelighed’, in the original. See, e.g., Matthew 24:15: ‘When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation …’
38. poor innocent spine: A reference to the contemporary idea that syphilis was an inherited disease, transferable from father to son.
39. higher up: Etiquette required that no wo
man showed her legs above the ankle. For a woman to show the upper part of her stocking to a man other than her husband was a daring act.
40. guide or instruct: The single word ‘vejlede’ means both ‘instruct’ and ‘guide’.
41. back stairs: These were used by the servants and for deliveries.
42. the most terrible thing: The original’s ‘det forfærdelige’ (repeated in Act Three) is an instance of an adjective used with the definite article but no following noun, a stylistic possibility in Norwegian employed by Ibsen to denote a central idea, communicating a certain indeterminacy or enigmatic quality. Other instances of the same in this play include, most centrally, ‘det vidunderlige’ (‘the miraculous thing’).
43. black cloak: The ‘domino’ was originally a piece of winter clothing which only reached down over part of the chest and back, used by clerics. It was later commonly used for masquerades, by both men and women.
44. I’d have liked to –: A respectable woman would generally be accompanied home.
45. past our door: Biblical allusion. See Exodus 12:23: ‘the Lord will pass over the door.’
46. child of joy and good fortune: The original has the poetic compound ‘lykkebarn’, literally ‘luck child’ or ‘good fortune child’. Helmer later berates Nora by calling her ‘Du ulyksalige’, ‘You unfortunate [one]’.
47. cap of invisibility: It was a common folk belief that the subterranean creatures could make themselves invisible by putting on a piece of clothing.
48. borne in my arms: Biblical allusion. See Matthew 4:6: ‘He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.’
49. Give it to me: Helmer insists on his legal right to read his wife’s letters.
50. I’ll guide and instruct you: According to the Danish theologian Erik Pontoppidan’s explanation of Luther’s Small Cathecism, a married man ought to ‘faithfully love, honour, direct, govern and provide for’ his wife. The original repeats the word ‘vejlede’, cf. above, but here also uses ‘råde’, ‘give advice’.
