Act 1 Quotations

Helmer - nicknames for Nora

• ‘My skylark’

• ‘My squirrel’

• ‘Has my little squander-bird been overspending again?’

Helmer - male authority

• ‘You mustn’t disturb me!’

• ‘We can’t afford to be extravagant.’

Helmer - money affairs

• ‘No debts! Never borrow!’

• ‘I know how these small expenses crop up at Christmas.’

Helmer - relationship with Nora

• ‘It’s incredible what an expensive pet she is for a man to keep.’

• ‘You’re a funny little creature.’

• ‘Your pretty eyes and your delicate little hands-’

Helmer - patronising women

• ‘It’s in your blood. Yes, yes, yes, these things are hereditary, Nora.’

• ‘Has my little sweet-tooth been indulging herself in town today, by any chance?’

• ‘My little songbird must never do that again.’

• ‘So little Miss Independent’s in trouble and needs a man to rescue her, does she?

Helmer - patriarchal views

• ‘Men often succeed in re-establishing themselves.’

• ‘Nearly all young criminals are the children of mothers who are constitutional liars.’

Nora - money affairs

• ‘Torvald, we can be a little extravagant now.’

• ‘I save every penny I can.’

• ‘Quarterly investments and interests.’

• ‘I always bought what was cheapest and plainest.’

Nora - childish

• ‘Oh, pooh, I don’t want anything.’

• ‘Torvald dear, please, please!’

• ‘Hm; tra-la-la-la!’

• ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid!’

Nora - selfish

• ‘How dreadful that must be for you. I’ve three lovely children.’

• ‘My husband’s just been made vice-president of the bank!’

• ‘We’re going to have heaps and heaps and heaps of money!’

Nora - relationship with Torvald

• ‘Speak quietly! Suppose Torvald could hear!’

• ‘He’s so proud of being a man - it’d be so painful and humiliating for him to know that he owed everything to me.’

• ‘When it no longer amuses him to see me dance and dress up and play the fool for him.’

• ‘Hasn’t a wife the right to save her husband’s life?’

Nora - rebellious

• ‘I’ve the most extraordinary longing to say: ‘Bloody hell!’

• ‘You weren’t to know Torvald had forbidden them. He’s afraid they’ll ruin my teeth.’

Mrs. Linde - maturity/hardworking

• ‘Not even a feeling of loss and sorrow.’

• ‘These last three years have been just one endless slog for me.’

• ‘One has to live; and so one becomes completely egocentric.’

Mrs. Linde - relationship with Nora

• ‘Especially you know so little of the worries and hardships of life.’

• ‘You’re a child, Nora'.

Dr. Rank - relationship with Nora

• ‘It’s that attitude that’s turning human society into a hospital.’

• ‘Macaroons! I say! I thought they were forbidden here.’

• ‘Say it. Here he is.’

Krogstad - morally complex

• ‘If I’m forced to, I shall fight for my little job at the bank as I would fight for my life.’

• ‘I committed an indiscretion.’

• ‘But I have the means to make you.’

• ‘The law does not concern itself with motives.’