A Doll's House Quotes and Questions
Krogstad
"For a year and a half I've been guilt of nothing dishonest; I have, in all that time, battled in the most straitened circumstances; I was content to work my way up step by step" (158)
Torvald
"Engage in conversation with a man of that sort, and then give him a promise! And then to top it, tell me an untruth!" (137)
Nora
"...I always thought it was tremendous fun when I could steal down to the maids' room; they never ever tried to guide or instruct me; and they always talked so amusingly among themselves" (155)
Nora
"...but you're not to read anything of that sort now; nothing ugly must come between us before it's all over" (163)
Kristine
"...is the man completely sincere? I mean, doesn't he rather like saying things to please people?" (144)
Kristine
"...provide me with someone and something to work for" (167)
Nora
"...we must be able to let ourselves go a little this year. After all, this is the first Christmas we don't need to save" (110)
Torvald
"...you know my thoughts on this issue. No debts! Never borrow!" (111)
Nora
"A man can handle this sort of thing so much better than a mere woman" (145)
Nora
"Actually it's a deep joy, to be sitting here and waiting for that miraculous to happen" (164)
Nora
"After all, you'll have a big salary now and be earning lots and lots of money" (110)
Torvald
"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?" (114)
Torvald
"Ah, how cozy and comfortable it is in here" (137)
Nanny
"Ah, there'll certainly be nobody at the whole ball as lovely as Miss Nora" (142)
Torvald
"Aha, is little Miss Wilful out looking for a man to rescue her?" (138)
Torvald
"Almost all those who are corrupt from an early age have had mothers who were liars" (139)
Rank
"And every single family is in some way or other governed by this kind of inexorable retribution" (151)
Krogstad
"And life has taught me not to believe in fine words"
Torvald
"Because such an atmosphere of lies brings contagion and disease into the very life of a home" (139)
Torvald
"But I do nevertheless forgive you, because it's such sweet testimony to your great love for me" (149)
Nora
"But it was terribly fun, nonetheless, to sit like that, working and earning money. It was almost as though I was a man" (123)
Kristine
"But now I am entirely alone in the world, so dreadfully empty and abandoned. There's no joy, after all, in working for oneself" (167)
Nora
"But-? - No, it's impossible! I did it out of love after all" (136)
Nora
"Corrupt my little children - ! Poison our home? It isn't true. It can't ever possibly be true" (140)
Rank
"Do you actually know what society is?" (126)
Nora
"Do you believe that? Do you believe they'd forget their mummy if she was gone altogether" (142)
Kristine
"Helmer must know everything; this disastrous secret must come to light; there needs to be absolute openness between them; it's impossible to carry on with all these concealments and excuses" (169)
Rank
"Helmer, with his fine sensibilities, has such a marked loathing for anything hideous. I don't want him in my sickroom" (151)
Nora
"Hid the Christmas tree well, Helene. The children mustn't see it until this evening when it's decorated" (109)
Kristine
"How sweet of you, Nora, to be so eager on my behalf - doubly sweet of you, when you now so little of life's burdens and hardships yourself" (119)
Rank
"However miserable I may be, I still prefer to be tormented for as long as is possible" (125)
Krogstad
"I can't believe this. It's nothing but overexcited female high-mindedness, driven to self-sacrifice" (167)
Nora
"I can't think of anything that'll do; everything seems so pathetic, so meaningless" (138)
Rank
"I don't know if you also, over in your parts, have the kind of people who scamper breathlessly about sniffing for moral decay, only to get the individual admitted for observation in some favorable position or other. The healthy people just have to put up with being left outside" (126)
Kristine
"I have learned to act sensibly. Life and hard, bitter necessity have taught me that" (167"
Kristine
"I have to work if I'm to endure this life. Every waking day, as far back as I can remember, I've worked, and it's been my greatest and only joy" (167)
Torvald
"I promise you; this evening I shall be totally and utterly at your service - helpless little thing" (162)
Nora
"I really am terribly happy" (127)
Kristine
"I too am sitting like a woman shipwrecked on a broken vessel. Nobody to grieve for, nobody to provide for" (167)
Krogstad
"I want to rise in the world, I tell you" (158)
Torvald
"I'm not at home for visitors, remember" (114)
Torvald
"I'm supposed to go in and make myself ridiculous in front of the entire staff - give people the idea I'm subject to all kinds of external influence?" (148)
Krogstad
"I've been thinking about you all day. A debt-collector, a hack lawyer, a - well, even someone of my sort has a little of what's called compassion, you see" (157)
Nora
"If something that ghastly happened, it would make no odds to me whether I was in debt or not" (111)
Nora
"It would upset the entire balance of our relationship; our beautiful, happy home would no longer be what it is" (122)
Torvald
"It would, I assure you, have been impossible for me to work with him; I literally feel physically ill in the proximity of such individuals" (140)
Torvald
"It's in the blood. Oh yes it is, these things are hereditary, Nora" (113)
Torvald
"It's incredible how expensive it is for a man to keep a spending-bird" (112)
Rank
"It's that attitude that turns society into an infirmary" (126)
Torvald
"Just imagine how such a guilt-ridden person has to lie and dissemble and pretend to all and sundry, has to wear a mask even for those closest to him yes, even for his own wife and his own children" (139)
Kristine
"Just unspeakably empty. With nobody to live for any more" (119)
Kristine
"Krogstad somebody who has sold themselves once for the sake of others, does not do it again" (168)
Torvald
"My little Nora, there is a significant difference between your father and myself. Your father wasn't an unimpeachable public servant. But I am and hope to remain so for as long as I am in my post" (147)
Kristine
"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" (119)
Krogstad
"My sons are growing older; for their sake I must try to reclaim all the social respectability I can" (132)
Nora
"No, dogs don't bite lovely little baby dolls" (129)
Nora
"No, for heaven's sake, how can you think that? When he's so strict on the issue of borrowing!" (122)
Torvald
"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" (114)
Kristine
"Now listen, Nora; you are in many respects like a child still; I'm considerably older than you, of course, and have a little more experience."
Torvald
"Now my skylark is talking as though it were a person" (172)
Torvald
"Now, we've both held out very bravely until today; and we'll go on doing so for the short time it's still necessary" (111)
Nora
"Oh yes, yes, it certainly is miraculous to be alive and to be happy!" (124)
Nora
"Oh, sit down and play for me, dear Torvald; correct me, instruct me as you always do" (162)
Nora
"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?" (118)
Rank
"Oh, you'd soon recover from the loss. Those who depart are soon forgotten" (152)
Nora
"Oh...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" (116)
Krogstad
"So I struck out into the line of business you know about. I had to grab on to something after all; and I think I can say I've not been amongst the worst" (132)
Kristine
"So I suppose your own necessities took the brunt of it, my poor Nora?" (123)
Kristine
"So you'll be in disguise tomorrow, Nora?" (143)
Kristine
"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" (119)
Torvald
"The child shall have her way. But tomorrow night, when you've danced..." (164)
Krogstad
"The post in the Bank was to be the first step on the ladder for me. And now your husband wants to kick me off that ladder, so I'll end up down in the dirt again" (132)
Nora
"Then I'd sit here and imagine that an elderly rich gentleman had fallen in love with me" (123)
Torvald
"There's something unfree, and so something unlovely, that comes over the home that's founded on loans and debts" (111)
Nora
"To be so utterly alone. What a heavy sadness that must be for you" (116)
Nora
"Today I don't want to be selfish. Today I want only to think of your concerns" (116)
Krogstad
"Was there more to understand, apart from what's entirely commonplace in this world? A heartless woman gives a man his marching orders as soon as something more advantageous presents itself" (166)
Kristine
"We have to live after all; and then we get self-centered" (119)
Nanny
"When I could get such a good job? A penniless girl who's got herself into trouble has to be grateful for whatever she gets. After all, that scoundrel did nothing for me" (142)
Kristine
"When you told me about the happy change in your circumstances - can you believe it? - I wasn't so pleased on your behalf, as on my own" (119)
Nora
"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?" (116-117)
Nora
"You must sacrifice yourself to me totally this evening" (162)
Kristine
"You mustn't forget that I had a helpless mother and two little brothers. We couldn't wait for you Krogstad; your prospects were so far off back then" (166)
Rank
"You'd better not contradict her" (163)
Torvald
"You'll see, I am man enough to take everything upon myself" (149)
Kristine
"You're a child, Nora" (120)
Torvald
"You're a strange little one. Just as your father was" (113)
Rank
"You're an enigma to me. I've often had the sense that you'd almost as soon be with me as with Helmer" (155)
Torvald
"You're forever on the lookout for ways to get money; but as soon as you get it, it's as though it slips through your fingers; you never know what you've done with it" (113)
Torvald
"come on, Mrs. Linde; it'll be intolerable here now for anybody but a mother" (129)
Torvald
"this is nothing, really, but the emptiest figment of your imagination" (149)
Kristine
"Two on one wreck are, after all, better off than if they each keep to their own" (167)
Christmas Eve
What day does the play begin on?
Anne-Marie
What is the nanny's name?
Miraculous
What word does Nora continuously use to describe what will happen after she spoke to Krogstad? (160)
Italy
Where did Torvald go when he was mortally ill?
Kristine
Who does Dr. Rank say will be his successor in Nora's house? (152)
Rank
Who does this quote describe? "...is the man completely sincere? I mean, doesn't he rather like saying things to please people?" (144)
Rank
Who is Nora referring to in this quote? "You're my truest and best friend" (153)
Ibsen
father of modern drama
