Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet contuer

 

ACT III

(THE SAME SCENE.--The table has been placed in the middle of the stage,
with chairs around it. A lamp is burning on the table. The door into the
hall stands open. Dance music is heard in the room above. Mrs. LINDE is
sitting at the table idly turning over the leaves of a book; she tries
to read, but does not seem able to collect her thoughts. Every now and
then she listens intently for a sound at the outer door.)

Mrs. Linde (looking at her watch). Not yet--and the time is nearly up.
If only he does not--. (Listens again.) Ah, there he is. (Goes into the
hall and opens the outer door carefully. Light footsteps are heard on
the stairs. She whispers.) Come in. There is no one here.

Krogstad (in the doorway). I found a note from you at home. What does
this mean?

Mrs. Linde. It is absolutely necessary that I should have a talk with
you.

Krogstad. Really? And is it absolutely necessary that it should be here?

Mrs. Linde. It is impossible where I live; there is no private entrance
to my rooms. Come in; we are quite alone. The maid is asleep, and the
Helmers are at the dance upstairs.

Krogstad (coming into the room). Are the Helmers really at a dance
tonight?

Mrs. Linde. Yes, why not?

Krogstad. Certainly--why not?

Mrs. Linde. Now, Nils, let us have a talk.

Krogstad. Can we two have anything to talk about?

Mrs. Linde. We have a great deal to talk about.

Krogstad. I shouldn't have thought so.

Mrs. Linde. No, you have never properly understood me.

Krogstad. Was there anything else to understand except what was obvious
to all the world--a heartless woman jilts a man when a more lucrative
chance turns up?

Mrs. Linde. Do you believe I am as absolutely heartless as all that? And
do you believe that I did it with a light heart?

Krogstad. Didn't you?

Mrs. Linde. Nils, did you really think that?

Krogstad. If it were as you say, why did you write to me as you did at
the time?

Mrs. Linde. I could do nothing else. As I had to break with you, it was
my duty also to put an end to all that you felt for me.

Krogstad (wringing his hands). So that was it. And all this--only for
the sake of money!

Mrs. Linde. You must not forget that I had a helpless mother and two
little brothers. We couldn't wait for you, Nils; your prospects seemed
hopeless then.

Krogstad. That may be so, but you had no right to throw me over for
anyone else's sake.

Mrs. Linde. Indeed I don't know. Many a time did I ask myself if I had
the right to do it.

Krogstad (more gently). When I lost you, it was as if all the solid
ground went from under my feet. Look at me now--I am a shipwrecked man
clinging to a bit of wreckage.

Mrs. Linde. But help may be near.

Krogstad. It was near; but then you came and stood in my way.

Mrs. Linde. Unintentionally, Nils. It was only today that I learned it
was your place I was going to take in the Bank.

Krogstad. I believe you, if you say so. But now that you know it, are
you not going to give it up to me?

Mrs. Linde. No, because that would not benefit you in the least.

Krogstad. Oh, benefit, benefit--I would have done it whether or no.

Mrs. Linde. I have learned to act prudently. Life, and hard, bitter
necessity have taught me that.

Krogstad. And life has taught me not to believe in fine speeches.

Mrs. Linde. Then life has taught you something very reasonable. But
deeds you must believe in?

Krogstad. What do you mean by that?

Mrs. Linde. You said you were like a shipwrecked man clinging to some
wreckage.

Krogstad. I had good reason to say so.

Mrs. Linde. Well, I am like a shipwrecked woman clinging to some
wreckage--no one to mourn for, no one to care for.

Krogstad. It was your own choice.

Mrs. Linde. There was no other choice--then.

Krogstad. Well, what now?

Mrs. Linde. Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people could
join forces?

Krogstad. What are you saying?

Mrs. Linde. Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better
chance than each on their own.

Krogstad. Christine I...

Mrs. Linde. What do you suppose brought me to town?

Krogstad. Do you mean that you gave me a thought?

Mrs. Linde. I could not endure life without work. All my life, as long
as I can remember, I have worked, and it has been my greatest and
only pleasure. But now I am quite alone in the world--my life is so
dreadfully empty and I feel so forsaken. There is not the least pleasure
in working for one's self. Nils, give me someone and something to work
for.

Krogstad. I don't trust that. It is nothing but a woman's overstrained
sense of generosity that prompts you to make such an offer of yourself.

Mrs. Linde. Have you ever noticed anything of the sort in me?

Krogstad. Could you really do it? Tell me--do you know all about my past
life?

Mrs. Linde. Yes.

Krogstad. And do you know what they think of me here?

Mrs. Linde. You seemed to me to imply that with me you might have been
quite another man.

Krogstad. I am certain of it.

Mrs. Linde. Is it too late now?

Krogstad. Christine, are you saying this deliberately? Yes, I am sure
you are. I see it in your face. Have you really the courage, then--?

Mrs. Linde. I want to be a mother to someone, and your children need
a mother. We two need each other. Nils, I have faith in your real
character--I can dare anything together with you.

Krogstad (grasps her hands). Thanks, thanks, Christine! Now I shall find
a way to clear myself in the eyes of the world. Ah, but I forgot--

Mrs. Linde (listening). Hush! The Tarantella! Go, go!

Krogstad. Why? What is it?

Mrs. Linde. Do you hear them up there? When that is over, we may expect
them back.

Krogstad. Yes, yes--I will go. But it is all no use. Of course you are
not aware what steps I have taken in the matter of the Helmers.

Mrs. Linde. Yes, I know all about that.

Krogstad. And in spite of that have you the courage to--?

Mrs. Linde. I understand very well to what lengths a man like you might
be driven by despair.

Krogstad. If I could only undo what I have done!

Mrs. Linde. You cannot. Your letter is lying in the letter-box now.

Krogstad. Are you sure of that?

Mrs. Linde. Quite sure, but--

Krogstad (with a searching look at her). Is that what it all
means?--that you want to save your friend at any cost? Tell me frankly.
Is that it?

Mrs. Linde. Nils, a woman who has once sold herself for another's sake,
doesn't do it a second time.

Krogstad. I will ask for my letter back.

Mrs. Linde. No, no.

Krogstad. Yes, of course I will. I will wait here until Helmer comes; I
will tell him he must give me my letter back--that it only concerns my
dismissal--that he is not to read it--

Mrs. Linde. No, Nils, you must not recall your letter.

Krogstad. But, tell me, wasn't it for that very purpose that you asked
me to meet you here?

Mrs. Linde. In my first moment of fright, it was. But twenty-four hours
have elapsed since then, and in that time I have witnessed incredible
things in this house. Helmer must know all about it. This unhappy secret
must be disclosed; they must have a complete understanding between them,
which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on.

Krogstad. Very well, if you will take the responsibility. But there is
one thing I can do in any case, and I shall do it at once.

Mrs. Linde (listening). You must be quick and go! The dance is over; we
are not safe a moment longer.

Krogstad. I will wait for you below.

Mrs. Linde. Yes, do. You must see me back to my door...

Krogstad. I have never had such an amazing piece of good fortune in my
life! (Goes out through the outer door. The door between the room and
the hall remains open.)

Mrs. Linde (tidying up the room and laying her hat and cloak ready).
What a difference! what a difference! Someone to work for and live
for--a home to bring comfort into. That I will do, indeed. I wish they
would be quick and come--(Listens.) Ah, there they are now. I must put
on my things. (Takes up her hat and cloak. HELMER'S and NORA'S voices
are heard outside; a key is turned, and HELMER brings NORA almost by
force into the hall. She is in an Italian costume with a large black
shawl around her; he is in evening dress, and a black domino which is
flying open.)

Nora (hanging back in the doorway, and struggling with him). No, no,
no!--don't take me in. I want to go upstairs again; I don't want to
leave so early.

Helmer. But, my dearest Nora--

Nora. Please, Torvald dear--please, please--only an hour more.

Helmer. Not a single minute, my sweet Nora. You know that was our
agreement. Come along into the room; you are catching cold standing
there. (He brings her gently into the room, in spite of her resistance.)

Mrs. Linde. Good evening.

Nora. Christine!

Helmer. You here, so late, Mrs. Linde?

Mrs. Linde. Yes, you must excuse me; I was so anxious to see Nora in her
dress.

Nora. Have you been sitting here waiting for me?

Mrs. Linde. Yes, unfortunately I came too late, you had already gone
upstairs; and I thought I couldn't go away again without having seen
you.

Helmer (taking off NORA'S shawl). Yes, take a good look at her. I think
she is worth looking at. Isn't she charming, Mrs. Linde?

Mrs. Linde. Yes, indeed she is.

Helmer. Doesn't she look remarkably pretty? Everyone thought so at the
dance. But she is terribly self-willed, this sweet little person. What
are we to do with her? You will hardly believe that I had almost to
bring her away by force.

Nora. Torvald, you will repent not having let me stay, even if it were
only for half an hour.

Helmer. Listen to her, Mrs. Linde! She had danced her Tarantella, and
it had been a tremendous success, as it deserved--although possibly the
performance was a trifle too realistic--a little more so, I mean, than
was strictly compatible with the limitations of art. But never mind
about that! The chief thing is, she had made a success--she had made
a tremendous success. Do you think I was going to let her remain there
after that, and spoil the effect? No, indeed! I took my charming little
Capri maiden--my capricious little Capri maiden, I should say--on my
arm; took one quick turn round the room; a curtsey on either side, and,
as they say in novels, the beautiful apparition disappeared. An exit
ought always to be effective, Mrs. Linde; but that is what I cannot make
Nora understand. Pooh! this room is hot. (Throws his domino on a chair,
and opens the door of his room.) Hullo! it's all dark in here. Oh, of
course--excuse me--. (He goes in, and lights some candles.)

Nora (in a hurried and breathless whisper). Well?

Mrs. Linde (in a low voice). I have had a talk with him.

Nora. Yes, and--

Mrs. Linde. Nora, you must tell your husband all about it.

Nora (in an expressionless voice). I knew it.

Mrs. Linde. You have nothing to be afraid of as far as Krogstad is
concerned; but you must tell him.

Nora. I won't tell him.

Mrs. Linde. Then the letter will.

Nora. Thank you, Christine. Now I know what I must do. Hush--!

Helmer (coming in again). Well, Mrs. Linde, have you admired her?

Mrs. Linde. Yes, and now I will say goodnight.

Helmer. What, already? Is this yours, this knitting?

Mrs. Linde (taking it). Yes, thank you, I had very nearly forgotten it.

Helmer. So you knit?

Mrs. Linde. Of course.

Helmer. Do you know, you ought to embroider.

Mrs. Linde. Really? Why?

Helmer. Yes, it's far more becoming. Let me show you. You hold
the embroidery thus in your left hand, and use the needle with the
right--like this--with a long, easy sweep. Do you see?

Mrs. Linde. Yes, perhaps--

Helmer. But in the case of knitting--that can never be anything but
ungraceful; look here--the arms close together, the knitting-needles
going up and down--it has a sort of Chinese effect--. That was really
excellent champagne they gave us.

Mrs. Linde. Well,--goodnight, Nora, and don't be self-willed any more.

Helmer. That's right, Mrs. Linde.

Mrs. Linde. Goodnight, Mr. Helmer.

Helmer (accompanying her to the door). Goodnight, goodnight. I hope you
will get home all right. I should be very happy to--but you haven't any
great distance to go. Goodnight, goodnight. (She goes out; he shuts the
door after her, and comes in again.) Ah!--at last we have got rid of
her. She is a frightful bore, that woman.

Nora. Aren't you very tired, Torvald?

Helmer. No, not in the least.

Nora. Nor sleepy?

Helmer. Not a bit. On the contrary, I feel extraordinarily lively. And
you?--you really look both tired and sleepy.

Nora. Yes, I am very tired. I want to go to sleep at once.

Helmer. There, you see it was quite right of me not to let you stay
there any longer.

Nora. Everything you do is quite right, Torvald.

Helmer (kissing her on the forehead). Now my little skylark is speaking
reasonably. Did you notice what good spirits Rank was in this evening?

Nora. Really? Was he? I didn't speak to him at all.

Helmer. And I very little, but I have not for a long time seen him in
such good form. (Looks for a while at her and then goes nearer to her.)
It is delightful to be at home by ourselves again, to be all alone with
you--you fascinating, charming little darling!

Nora. Don't look at me like that, Torvald.

Helmer. Why shouldn't I look at my dearest treasure?--at all the beauty
that is mine, all my very own?

Nora (going to the other side of the table). You mustn't say things like
that to me tonight.

Helmer (following her). You have still got the Tarantella in your blood,
I see. And it makes you more captivating than ever. Listen--the guests
are beginning to go now. (In a lower voice.) Nora--soon the whole house
will be quiet.

Nora. Yes, I hope so.

Helmer. Yes, my own darling Nora. Do you know, when I am out at a party
with you like this, why I speak so little to you, keep away from you,
and only send a stolen glance in your direction now and then?--do you
know why I do that? It is because I make believe to myself that we are
secretly in love, and you are my secretly promised bride, and that no
one suspects there is anything between us.

Nora. Yes, yes--I know very well your thoughts are with me all the time.

Helmer. And when we are leaving, and I am putting the shawl over your
beautiful young shoulders--on your lovely neck--then I imagine that you
are my young bride and that we have just come from the wedding, and I am
bringing you for the first time into our home--to be alone with you for
the first time--quite alone with my shy little darling! All this evening
I have longed for nothing but you. When I watched the seductive figures
of the Tarantella, my blood was on fire; I could endure it no longer,
and that was why I brought you down so early--

Nora. Go away, Torvald! You must let me go. I won't--

Helmer. What's that? You're joking, my little Nora! You won't--you
won't? Am I not your husband--? (A knock is heard at the outer door.)

Nora (starting). Did you hear--?

Helmer (going into the hall). Who is it?

Rank (outside). It is I. May I come in for a moment?

Helmer (in a fretful whisper). Oh, what does he want now? (Aloud.) Wait
a minute! (Unlocks the door.) Come, that's kind of you not to pass by
our door.

Rank. I thought I heard your voice, and felt as if I should like to look
in. (With a swift glance round.) Ah, yes!--these dear familiar rooms.
You are very happy and cosy in here, you two.

Helmer. It seems to me that you looked after yourself pretty well
upstairs too.

Rank. Excellently. Why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't one enjoy everything
in this world?--at any rate as much as one can, and as long as one can.
The wine was capital--

Helmer. Especially the champagne.

Rank. So you noticed that too? It is almost incredible how much I
managed to put away!

Nora. Torvald drank a great deal of champagne tonight too.

Rank. Did he?

Nora. Yes, and he is always in such good spirits afterwards.

Rank. Well, why should one not enjoy a merry evening after a well-spent
day?

Helmer. Well spent? I am afraid I can't take credit for that.

Rank (clapping him on the back). But I can, you know!

Nora. Doctor Rank, you must have been occupied with some scientific
investigation today.

Rank. Exactly.

Helmer. Just listen!--little Nora talking about scientific
investigations!

Nora. And may I congratulate you on the result?

Rank. Indeed you may.

Nora. Was it favourable, then?

Rank. The best possible, for both doctor and patient--certainty.

Nora (quickly and searchingly). Certainty?

Rank. Absolute certainty. So wasn't I entitled to make a merry evening
of it after that?

Nora. Yes, you certainly were, Doctor Rank. Helmer. I think so too, so
long as you don't have to pay for it in the morning.

Rank. Oh well, one can't have anything in this life without paying for
it.

Nora. Doctor Rank--are you fond of fancy-dress balls?

Rank. Yes, if there is a fine lot of pretty costumes.

Nora. Tell me--what shall we two wear at the next?

Helmer. Little featherbrain!--are you thinking of the next already?

Rank. We two? Yes, I can tell you. You shall go as a good fairy--

Helmer. Yes, but what do you suggest as an appropriate costume for that?

Rank. Let your wife go dressed just as she is in everyday life.

Helmer. That was really very prettily turned. But can't you tell us what
you will be?

Rank. Yes, my dear friend, I have quite made up my mind about that.

Helmer. Well?

Rank. At the next fancy-dress ball I shall be invisible.

Helmer. That's a good joke!

Rank. There is a big black hat--have you never heard of hats that make
you invisible? If you put one on, no one can see you.

Helmer (suppressing a smile). Yes, you are quite right.

Rank. But I am clean forgetting what I came for. Helmer, give me a
cigar--one of the dark Havanas.

Helmer. With the greatest pleasure. (Offers him his case.)

Rank (takes a cigar and cuts off the end). Thanks.

Nora (striking a match). Let me give you a light.

Rank. Thank you. (She holds the match for him to light his cigar.) And
now goodbye!

Helmer. Goodbye, goodbye, dear old man!

Nora. Sleep well, Doctor Rank.

Rank. Thank you for that wish.

Nora. Wish me the same.

Rank. You? Well, if you want me to sleep well! And thanks for the light.
(He nods to them both and goes out.)

Helmer (in a subdued voice). He has drunk more than he ought.

Nora (absently). Maybe. (HELMER takes a bunch of keys out of his pocket
and goes into the hall.) Torvald! what are you going to do there?

Helmer. Emptying the letter-box; it is quite full; there will be no room
to put the newspaper in tomorrow morning.

Nora. Are you going to work tonight?

Helmer. You know quite well I'm not. What is this? Someone has been at
the lock.

Nora. At the lock--?

Helmer. Yes, someone has. What can it mean? I should never have thought
the maid--. Here is a broken hairpin. Nora, it is one of yours.

Nora (quickly). Then it must have been the children--

Helmer. Then you must get them out of those ways. There, at last I have
got it open. (Takes out the contents of the letter-box, and calls to the
kitchen.) Helen!--Helen, put out the light over the front door. (Goes
back into the room and shuts the door into the hall. He holds out his
hand full of letters.) Look at that--look what a heap of them there
are. (Turning them over.) What on earth is that?

Nora (at the window). The letter--No! Torvald, no!

Helmer. Two cards--of Rank's.

Nora. Of Doctor Rank's?

Helmer (looking at them). Doctor Rank. They were on the top. He must
have put them in when he went out.

Nora. Is there anything written on them?

Helmer. There is a black cross over the name. Look there--what an
uncomfortable idea! It looks as if he were announcing his own death.

Nora. It is just what he is doing.

Helmer. What? Do you know anything about it? Has he said anything to
you?

Nora. Yes. He told me that when the cards came it would be his
leave-taking from us. He means to shut himself up and die.

Helmer. My poor old friend! Certainly I knew we should not have him very
long with us. But so soon! And so he hides himself away like a wounded
animal.

Nora. If it has to happen, it is best it should be without a word--don't
you think so, Torvald?

Helmer (walking up and down). He had so grown into our lives. I can't
think of him as having gone out of them. He, with his sufferings and his
loneliness, was like a cloudy background to our sunlit happiness. Well,
perhaps it is best so. For him, anyway. (Standing still.) And perhaps
for us too, Nora. We two are thrown quite upon each other now. (Puts his
arms round her.) My darling wife, I don't feel as if I could hold you
tight enough. Do you know, Nora, I have often wished that you might be
threatened by some great danger, so that I might risk my life's blood,
and everything, for your sake.

Nora (disengages herself, and says firmly and decidedly). Now you must
read your letters, Torvald.

Helmer. No, no; not tonight. I want to be with you, my darling wife.

Nora. With the thought of your friend's death--

Helmer. You are right, it has affected us both. Something ugly has come
between us--the thought of the horrors of death. We must try and rid our
minds of that. Until then--we will each go to our own room.

Nora (hanging on his neck). Goodnight, Torvald--Goodnight!

Helmer (kissing her on the forehead). Goodnight, my little singing-bird.
Sleep sound, Nora. Now I will read my letters through. (He takes his
letters and goes into his room, shutting the door after him.)

Nora (gropes distractedly about, seizes HELMER'S domino, throws it round
her, while she says in quick, hoarse, spasmodic whispers). Never to see
him again. Never! Never! (Puts her shawl over her head.) Never to see
my children again either--never again. Never! Never!--Ah! the icy, black
water--the unfathomable depths--If only it were over! He has got it
now--now he is reading it. Goodbye, Torvald and my children! (She is
about to rush out through the hall, when HELMER opens his door hurriedly
and stands with an open letter in his hand.)

Helmer. Nora!

Nora. Ah!--

Helmer. What is this? Do you know what is in this letter?

Nora. Yes, I know. Let me go! Let me get out!

Helmer (holding her back). Where are you going?

Nora (trying to get free). You shan't save me, Torvald!

Helmer (reeling). True? Is this true, that I read here? Horrible! No,
no--it is impossible that it can be true.

Nora. It is true. I have loved you above everything else in the world.

Helmer. Oh, don't let us have any silly excuses.

Nora (taking a step towards him). Torvald--!

Helmer. Miserable creature--what have you done?

Nora. Let me go. You shall not suffer for my sake. You shall not take it
upon yourself.

Helmer. No tragic airs, please. (Locks the hall door.) Here you shall
stay and give me an explanation. Do you understand what you have done?
Answer me! Do you understand what you have done?

Nora (looks steadily at him and says with a growing look of coldness in
her face). Yes, now I am beginning to understand thoroughly.

Helmer (walking about the room). What a horrible awakening! All these
eight years--she who was my joy and pride--a hypocrite, a liar--worse,
worse--a criminal! The unutterable ugliness of it all!--For shame! For
shame! (NORA is silent and looks steadily at him. He stops in front of
her.) I ought to have suspected that something of the sort would happen.
I ought to have foreseen it. All your father's want of principle--be
silent!--all your father's want of principle has come out in you. No
religion, no morality, no sense of duty--. How I am punished for having
winked at what he did! I did it for your sake, and this is how you repay
me.

Nora. Yes, that's just it.

Helmer. Now you have destroyed all my happiness. You have ruined all my
future. It is horrible to think of! I am in the power of an unscrupulous
man; he can do what he likes with me, ask anything he likes of me, give
me any orders he pleases--I dare not refuse. And I must sink to such
miserable depths because of a thoughtless woman!

Nora. When I am out of the way, you will be free.

Helmer. No fine speeches, please. Your father had always plenty of those
ready, too. What good would it be to me if you were out of the way, as
you say? Not the slightest. He can make the affair known everywhere; and
if he does, I may be falsely suspected of having been a party to your
criminal action. Very likely people will think I was behind it all--that
it was I who prompted you! And I have to thank you for all this--you
whom I have cherished during the whole of our married life. Do you
understand now what it is you have done for me?

Nora (coldly and quietly). Yes.

Helmer. It is so incredible that I can't take it in. But we must come to
some understanding. Take off that shawl. Take it off, I tell you. I must
try and appease him some way or another. The matter must be hushed up at
any cost. And as for you and me, it must appear as if everything between
us were just as before--but naturally only in the eyes of the world. You
will still remain in my house, that is a matter of course. But I shall
not allow you to bring up the children; I dare not trust them to you.
To think that I should be obliged to say so to one whom I have loved
so dearly, and whom I still--. No, that is all over. From this moment
happiness is not the question; all that concerns us is to save the
remains, the fragments, the appearance--

(A ring is heard at the front-door bell.)

Helmer (with a start). What is that? So late! Can the worst--? Can he--?
Hide yourself, Nora. Say you are ill.

(NORA stands motionless. HELMER goes and unlocks the hall door.)

Maid (half-dressed, comes to the door). A letter for the mistress.

Helmer. Give it to me. (Takes the letter, and shuts the door.) Yes, it
is from him. You shall not have it; I will read it myself.

Nora. Yes, read it.

Helmer (standing by the lamp). I scarcely have the courage to do it. It
may mean ruin for both of us. No, I must know. (Tears open the letter,
runs his eye over a few lines, looks at a paper enclosed, and gives a
shout of joy.) Nora! (She looks at him questioningly.) Nora!--No, I must
read it once again--. Yes, it is true! I am saved! Nora, I am saved!

Nora. And I?

Helmer. You too, of course; we are both saved, both you and I. Look, he
sends you your bond back. He says he regrets and repents--that a happy
change in his life--never mind what he says! We are saved, Nora! No one
can do anything to you. Oh, Nora, Nora!--no, first I must destroy these
hateful things. Let me see--. (Takes a look at the bond.) No, no, I
won't look at it. The whole thing shall be nothing but a bad dream to
me. (Tears up the bond and both letters, throws them all into the stove,
and watches them burn.) There--now it doesn't exist any longer. He says
that since Christmas Eve you--. These must have been three dreadful days
for you, Nora.

Nora. I have fought a hard fight these three days.

Helmer. And suffered agonies, and seen no way out but--. No, we won't
call any of the horrors to mind. We will only shout with joy, and keep
saying, "It's all over! It's all over!" Listen to me, Nora. You don't
seem to realise that it is all over. What is this?--such a cold, set
face! My poor little Nora, I quite understand; you don't feel as if you
could believe that I have forgiven you. But it is true, Nora, I swear
it; I have forgiven you everything. I know that what you did, you did
out of love for me.

Nora. That is true.

Helmer. You have loved me as a wife ought to love her husband. Only you
had not sufficient knowledge to judge of the means you used. But do you
suppose you are any the less dear to me, because you don't understand
how to act on your own responsibility? No, no; only lean on me; I
will advise you and direct you. I should not be a man if this womanly
helplessness did not just give you a double attractiveness in my eyes.
You must not think anymore about the hard things I said in my first
moment of consternation, when I thought everything was going to
overwhelm me. I have forgiven you, Nora; I swear to you I have forgiven
you.

Nora. Thank you for your forgiveness. (She goes out through the door to
the right.)

Helmer. No, don't go--. (Looks in.) What are you doing in there?

Nora (from within). Taking off my fancy dress.

Helmer (standing at the open door). Yes, do. Try and calm yourself,
and make your mind easy again, my frightened little singing-bird. Be at
rest, and feel secure; I have broad wings to shelter you under. (Walks
up and down by the door.) How warm and cosy our home is, Nora. Here is
shelter for you; here I will protect you like a hunted dove that I
have saved from a hawk's claws; I will bring peace to your poor beating
heart. It will come, little by little, Nora, believe me. Tomorrow
morning you will look upon it all quite differently; soon everything
will be just as it was before. Very soon you won't need me to assure you
that I have forgiven you; you will yourself feel the certainty that I
have done so. Can you suppose I should ever think of such a thing as
repudiating you, or even reproaching you? You have no idea what a true
man's heart is like, Nora. There is something so indescribably sweet
and satisfying, to a man, in the knowledge that he has forgiven his
wife--forgiven her freely, and with all his heart. It seems as if that
had made her, as it were, doubly his own; he has given her a new life,
so to speak; and she has in a way become both wife and child to him. So
you shall be for me after this, my little scared, helpless darling. Have
no anxiety about anything, Nora; only be frank and open with me, and I
will serve as will and conscience both to you--. What is this? Not gone
to bed? Have you changed your things?

Nora (in everyday dress). Yes, Torvald, I have changed my things now.

Helmer. But what for?--so late as this.

Nora. I shall not sleep tonight.

Helmer. But, my dear Nora--

Nora (looking at her watch). It is not so very late. Sit down here,
Torvald. You and I have much to say to one another. (She sits down at
one side of the table.)

Helmer. Nora--what is this?--this cold, set face?

Nora. Sit down. It will take some time; I have a lot to talk over with
you.

Helmer (sits down at the opposite side of the table). You alarm me,
Nora!--and I don't understand you.

Nora. No, that is just it. You don't understand me, and I have never
understood you either--before tonight. No, you mustn't interrupt me.
You must simply listen to what I say. Torvald, this is a settling of
accounts.

Helmer. What do you mean by that?

Nora (after a short silence). Isn't there one thing that strikes you as
strange in our sitting here like this?

Helmer. What is that?

Nora. We have been married now eight years. Does it not occur to you
that this is the first time we two, you and I, husband and wife, have
had a serious conversation?

Helmer. What do you mean by serious?

Nora. In all these eight years--longer than that--from the very
beginning of our acquaintance, we have never exchanged a word on any
serious subject.

Helmer. Was it likely that I would be continually and forever telling
you about worries that you could not help me to bear?

Nora. I am not speaking about business matters. I say that we have never
sat down in earnest together to try and get at the bottom of anything.

Helmer. But, dearest Nora, would it have been any good to you?

Nora. That is just it; you have never understood me. I have been greatly
wronged, Torvald--first by papa and then by you.

Helmer. What! By us two--by us two, who have loved you better than
anyone else in the world?

Nora (shaking her head). You have never loved me. You have only thought
it pleasant to be in love with me.

Helmer. Nora, what do I hear you saying?

Nora. It is perfectly true, Torvald. When I was at home with papa, he
told me his opinion about everything, and so I had the same opinions;
and if I differed from him I concealed the fact, because he would not
have liked it. He called me his doll-child, and he played with me just
as I used to play with my dolls. And when I came to live with you--

Helmer. What sort of an expression is that to use about our marriage?

Nora (undisturbed). I mean that I was simply transferred from papa's
hands into yours. You arranged everything according to your own taste,
and so I got the same tastes as your else I pretended to, I am really
not quite sure which--I think sometimes the one and sometimes the other.
When I look back on it, it seems to me as if I had been living here like
a poor woman--just from hand to mouth. I have existed merely to perform
tricks for you, Torvald. But you would have it so. You and papa have
committed a great sin against me. It is your fault that I have made
nothing of my life.

Helmer. How unreasonable and how ungrateful you are, Nora! Have you not
been happy here?

Nora. No, I have never been happy. I thought I was, but it has never
really been so.

Helmer. Not--not happy!

Nora. No, only merry. And you have always been so kind to me. But our
home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll-wife, just
as at home I was papa's doll-child; and here the children have been
my dolls. I thought it great fun when you played with me, just as they
thought it great fun when I played with them. That is what our marriage
has been, Torvald.

Helmer. There is some truth in what you say--exaggerated and strained as
your view of it is. But for the future it shall be different. Playtime
shall be over, and lesson-time shall begin.

Nora. Whose lessons? Mine, or the children's?

Helmer. Both yours and the children's, my darling Nora.

Nora. Alas, Torvald, you are not the man to educate me into being a
proper wife for you.

Helmer. And you can say that!

Nora. And I--how am I fitted to bring up the children?

Helmer. Nora!

Nora. Didn't you say so yourself a little while ago--that you dare not
trust me to bring them up?

Helmer. In a moment of anger! Why do you pay any heed to that?

Nora. Indeed, you were perfectly right. I am not fit for the task.
There is another task I must undertake first. I must try and educate
myself--you are not the man to help me in that. I must do that for
myself. And that is why I am going to leave you now.

Helmer (springing up). What do you say?

Nora. I must stand quite alone, if I am to understand myself and
everything about me. It is for that reason that I cannot remain with you
any longer.

Helmer. Nora, Nora!

Nora. I am going away from here now, at once. I am sure Christine will
take me in for the night--

Helmer. You are out of your mind! I won't allow it! I forbid you!

Nora. It is no use forbidding me anything any longer. I will take with
me what belongs to myself. I will take nothing from you, either now or
later.

Helmer What sort of madness is this!

Nora Tomorrow I shall go home--I mean, to my old home. It will be
easiest for me to find something to do there.

Helmer You blind, foolish woman!

Nora I must try and get some sense, Torvald.

Helmer To desert your home, your husband and your children! And you
don't consider what people will say!

Nora I cannot consider that at all. I only know that it is necessary
for me.

Helmer It's shocking. This is how you would neglect your most sacred
duties.

Nora What do you consider my most sacred duties?

Helmer Do I need to tell you that? Are they not your duties to your
husband and your children?

Nora I have other duties just as sacred.

Helmer That you have not. What duties could those be?

Nora Duties to myself.

Helmer Before all else, you are a wife and a mother.

Nora I don't believe that any longer. I believe that before all else I
am a reasonable human being, just as you are--or, at all events, that
I must try and become one. I know quite well, Torvald, that most people
would think you right, and that views of that kind are to be found in
books; but I can no longer content myself with what most people say, or
with what is found in books. I must think over things for myself and get
to understand them.

Helmer Can you not understand your place in your own home? Have you not
a reliable guide in such matters as that?--have you no religion?

Nora I am afraid, Torvald, I do not exactly know what religion is.

Helmer What are you saying?

Nora I know nothing but what the clergyman said, when I went to be
confirmed. He told us that religion was this, and that, and the other.
When I am away from all this, and am alone, I will look into that matter
too. I will see if what the clergyman said is true, or at all events if
it is true for me.

Helmer This is unheard of in a girl of your age! But if religion cannot
lead you aright, let me try and awaken your conscience. I suppose you
have some moral sense? Or--answer me--am I to think you have none?

Nora I assure you, Torvald, that is not an easy question to answer. I
really don't know. The thing perplexes me altogether. I only know that
you and I look at it in quite a different light. I am learning, too,
that the law is quite another thing from what I supposed; but I find it
impossible to convince myself that the law is right. According to it
a woman has no right to spare her old dying father, or to save her
husband's life. I can't believe that.

Helmer You talk like a child. You don't understand the conditions of
the world in which you live.

Nora No, I don't. But now I am going to try. I am going to see if I can
make out who is right, the world or I.

Helmer You are ill, Nora; you are delirious; I almost think you are out
of your mind.

Nora I have never felt my mind so clear and certain as tonight.

Helmer And is it with a clear and certain mind that you forsake your
husband and your children?

Nora Yes, it is.

Helmer Then there is only one possible explanation.

Nora What is that?

Helmer You do not love me anymore.

Nora No, that is just it.

Helmer Nora!--and you can say that?

Nora It gives me great pain, Torvald, for you have always been so kind
to me, but I cannot help it. I do not love you any more.

Helmer (regaining his composure) Is that a clear and certain conviction
too?

Nora Yes, absolutely clear and certain. That is the reason why I will
not stay here any longer.

Helmer And can you tell me what I have done to forfeit your love?

Nora Yes, indeed I can. It was tonight, when the wonderful thing did
not happen; then I saw you were not the man I had thought you were.

Helmer Explain yourself better. I don't understand you.

Nora I have waited so patiently for eight years; for, goodness knows,
I knew very well that wonderful things don't happen every day. Then this
horrible misfortune came upon me; and then I felt quite certain that the
wonderful thing was going to happen at last. When Krogstad's letter was
lying out there, never for a moment did I imagine that you would consent
to accept this man's conditions. I was so absolutely certain that you
would say to him: Publish the thing to the whole world. And when that
was done--

Helmer Yes, what then?--when I had exposed my wife to shame and
disgrace?

Nora When that was done, I was so absolutely certain, you would come
forward and take everything upon yourself, and say: I am the guilty one.

Helmer Nora--!

Nora You mean that I would never have accepted such a sacrifice on your
part? No, of course not. But what would my assurances have been worth
against yours? That was the wonderful thing which I hoped for and
feared; and it was to prevent that, that I wanted to kill myself.

Helmer I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora--bear sorrow and
want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he
loves.

Nora It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done.

Helmer Oh, you think and talk like a heedless child.

Nora Maybe. But you neither think nor talk like the man I could bind
myself to. As soon as your fear was over--and it was not fear for what
threatened me, but for what might happen to you--when the whole thing
was past, as far as you were concerned it was exactly as if nothing at
all had happened. Exactly as before, I was your little skylark, your
doll, which you would in future treat with doubly gentle care, because
it was so brittle and fragile. (Getting up.) Torvald--it was then
it dawned upon me that for eight years I had been living here with a
strange man, and had borne him three children--. Oh, I can't bear to
think of it! I could tear myself into little bits!

Helmer (sadly) I see, I see. An abyss has opened between us--there is
no denying it. But, Nora, would it not be possible to fill it up?

Nora As I am now, I am no wife for you.

Helmer I have it in me to become a different man.

Nora Perhaps--if your doll is taken away from you.

Helmer But to part!--to part from you! No, no, Nora, I can't understand
that idea.

Nora (going out to the right) That makes it all the more certain that
it must be done. (She comes back with her cloak and hat and a small bag
which she puts on a chair by the table)

Helmer Nora, Nora, not now! Wait until tomorrow.

Nora (putting on her cloak) I cannot spend the night in a strange man's
room.

Helmer But can't we live here like brother and sister--?

Nora (putting on her hat) You know very well that would not last long.
(Puts the shawl round her) Goodbye, Torvald. I won't see the little
ones. I know they are in better hands than mine. As I am now, I can be
of no use to them.

Helmer But some day, Nora--some day?

Nora How can I tell? I have no idea what is going to become of me.

Helmer But you are my wife, whatever becomes of you.

Nora Listen, Torvald. I have heard that when a wife deserts her
husband's house, as I am doing now, he is legally freed from all
obligations towards her. In any case, I set you free from all your
obligations. You are not to feel yourself bound in the slightest way,
any more than I shall. There must be perfect freedom on both sides. See,
here is your ring back. Give me mine.

Helmer That too?

Nora That too.

Helmer Here it is.

Nora That's right. Now it is all over. I have put the keys here.
The maids know all about everything in the house--better than I do.
Tomorrow, after I have left her, Christine will come here and pack up my
own things that I brought with me from home. I will have them sent after
me.

Helmer All over! All over!--Nora, shall you never think of me again?

Nora I know I shall often think of you, the children, and this house.

Helmer May I write to you, Nora?

Nora No--never. You must not do that.

Helmer But at least let me send you--

Nora Nothing--nothing--

Helmer Let me help you if you are in want.

Nora No. I can receive nothing from a stranger.

Helmer Nora--can I never be anything more than a stranger to you?

Nora (taking her bag) Ah, Torvald, the most wonderful thing of all
would have to happen.

Helmer Tell me what that would be!

Nora Both you and I would have to be so changed that--. Oh, Torvald, I
don't believe any longer in wonderful things happening.

Helmer But I will believe in it. Tell me! So changed that--?

Nora That our life together would be a real wedlock. Goodbye. (She goes
out through the hall)

Helmer (sinks down on a chair at the door and buries his face in his
hands) Nora! Nora! (Looks round, and rises) Empty. She is gone. (A
hope flashes across his mind) The most wonderful thing of all--?

(The sound of a door shutting is heard from below.)

Modern fiction series set in classical antiquity