English 12 - Mr. RinkaLesson #59

Henrik Ibsen&

A Doll’s House Act Three

Act Threehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Doll's_House

• Christine tells Krogstad that she only married her husband because she had no other means to support her sick mother and young siblings.

• She has returned to offer him her love again.

• She believes that he would not have stooped to unethical behavior if he had not been devastated by her abandonment and in such dire financial straits.

• Krogstad is moved and offers to take back his letter to Torvald.

• However, Christine decides that Torvald should know the truth for the sake of his and Nora's marriage.

• After literally dragging Nora home from the party, Torvald goes to check his mail but is interrupted by Dr. Rank, who has followed them.

• Dr. Rank chats for a while so as to convey obliquely to Nora that this is a final goodbye as he has determined that his death is near.

• Dr. Rank leaves.

Act Three (through p. 65)

#57 LA 12 A Doll's House

http://ia700208.us.archive.org/13/items/dolls_house_0812_librivox/dollhouse_03_ibsen_64kb.mp3

• Torval retrieves his letters. As he reads them, Nora steels herself to take her life.

• Torvald confronts her with Krogstad's letter.

• Enraged, he declares that he is now completely in Krogstad's power—he must yield to Krogstad's demands and keep quiet about the whole affair.

• He berates Nora, calling her a dishonest and immoral woman and telling her she is unfit to raise their children.

• He says that from now on their marriage will be only a matter of appearances.

• A maid enters delivering a letter to Nora. The letter is from Krogstad, yet Torvald demands to read it.

• Torvald exults that he is saved as Krogstad has returned the incriminating bond, which Torvald immediately burns along with Krogstad's letters.

• He takes back his harsh words to his wife and tells her that he forgives her.

• Nora realizes that her husband is not the strong and gallant man she thought he was and that he truly loves himself more than he does her.

• Torvald explains that when a man has forgiven his wife, it makes him love her all the more since it reminds him that she is totally dependent on him like a child.

• He dismisses Nora's agonized choice made against her conscience for the sake of his health. He overlooks the years of secret efforts she made to free them from the ensuing obligations and danger of loss of reputation.

• He keeps his peace of mind by seeing her actions as a mistake she made out of her foolishness.

• In a moment of revelation, Nora tells Torvald that she is leaving him to live alone so she can find out who she is, what she believes and decide what to do with her life.

• She says she has been treated like a “doll” to play with, first by her father, and then by Torvald.

• Concerned for the family’s reputation, Torvald insists she stays.

• He tells her she must fulfill her duty as a wife and mother.

• Nora says that her first duties are to herself.

• She cannot be a good mother or wife without learning to be more than a “plaything.”

• She expected that he would want to sacrifice his reputation for hers.

• She was willing to kill herself for him.

• She now realizes that Torvald is not at all the kind of person she had believed him to be and that their marriage has been based on mutual misunderstanding, in fact, fantasies.

• Torvald can not comprehend this. It goes contrary to all he believes.

• Furthermore, he is so narcissistic that it would be impossible for him to understand how he appears to her, as selfish, hypocritical and more concerned with public reputation than with actual morality. • Nora leaves her keys and

wedding ring as a definitive gesture of her position.

• Baffled by what has happened, Torvald breaks down and begins to cry.

• Slamming the door, Nora leaves the house.

• The audience senses that traditional boundaries have been justifiably crossed.

• It is not hard to empathize with Nora.

The Ending

http://quietube6.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=IbTGhNw98aw&feature=endscreen

Criticismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Doll's_House

• A Doll's House criticizes the traditional roles of men and women in 19th-century marriage.

• To many 19th-century Europeans, this was scandalous.

• The playwright August Strindberg attacked the play in his volume of short stories, Getting Married.

• Nothing was considered more holy than the covenant of marriage, and to portray it in such a way was completely unacceptable.

• However, a few more open-minded critics, such as George Bernard Shaw, found Ibsen's willingness to examine society without prejudice exhilarating.

• In Germany, the production's lead actress refused to play the part of Nora unless Ibsen changed the ending, which under pressure, he eventually did. In the alternative ending, Nora gives her husband another chance after he reminds her of her responsibility to their children.

• This ending proved unpopular and Ibsen later regretted his decision on the matter.

• Virtually all productions today, however, use the original ending as do nearly all of the film versions of this play.

• Its meaning has become more poignant over the years.

• Nora's leaving home and her act of slamming the door as she leaves has come to represent the play itself.

• One critic noted, "That slammed door reverberated across the roof of the world."

• It can also be stated it broadened the purpose of literature as well.

Assignment #1

Finish Listening to and reading Act Three.#57 LA 12 A Doll's House

http://librivox.org/a-dolls-house-by-henrik-ibsen/

Assignment #2

An epilogue is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature usually used to bring closure to the work. It is presented from the perspective of the story. So, what happens to Nora? Where did she go? What did she do? How did she reconcile with her children?

Speculate on what you think happens to Nora after she “storms” out of the house. Write your narrative out as if you were adding an epilogue to this play that gives the reader some closure.

English 12 - Mr. RinkaLesson #59

Henrik Ibsen&

A Doll’s House Act Three