Inheritance, corruption, and moral/physical disease

Children inheriting criminality

“Nearly all young criminals are the children of mothers who are constitutional liars.”

Torvald feeling ill in Krogstad’s presence

“I literally feel physically ill in the presence of a man like that.”

Nora’s horror at the thought of corrupting her children

“Corrupt my little children—! Poison my home!”

Nora being obsessed with money like her father

“Just like your father used to be. Always on the look-out for some way to get money.”

Dr. Rank inheriting sickness from his father’s sins

“His father was a frightful creature who kept mistresses and so on. As a result Dr. Rank has been sickly ever since he was a child...”

Rank paying for his father’s sins

“My poor innocent spine must pay for the fun my father had as a gay young lieutenant.”

Torvald’s superiority complex - he thinks he’s better than Nora’s father

“Nora, there’s a considerable difference between your father and me.” Torvald = man with ‘unassailable reputation’

Nora inheriting her father’s recklessness

“All your father’s recklessness and instability... he has handed onto you!”“No religion, no morals, no sense of duty!”

Rank’s death shedding sunlight on Torvald and Nora’s marriage

“His suffering and loneliness seemed to provide a kind of dark background to the happy sunlight of our marriage.”

Krogstad’s label due to his ‘lack’ of morality

“Krogstad” as a “moral cripple.”

Contamination due to lying

“Because an atmosphere of lies contaminates and poisons every corner of the home.”