A Doll's House Key Quotes

I would never dream

of doing anything you didn’t want me to (Nora)

It’s incredible what

an expensive pet she is for a man to keep -Torvald

My little

songbird musn’t droop her wings.- Torvald

You’re an odd little one

Exactly the way a woman ought to be -Torvald

I’ve been your doll-wife

just as I used to be Papa’s doll-child -Nora

Is that my skylaryk twittering

out there?

Is that my squirrel rustling?

When did my squirrel come home?

Has my little

squanderbird been overspending ? -Torvald

A wife cannot

borrow without her husband’s consent ? -Mrs. Linde

It was a tremendous pleasure

to sit there working and earning money. It was almost like being a man -Nora

how painful and humiliating

it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything -Nora

A man’s better

at coping with these things than a woman… -Nora

My little songbird must never do that

again. A songbird must have a clean beak to sing with. Otherwise she’ll start twittering out of tune. - Torvald

Yes, Torvald I can’t

get anywhere without your help -Nora

Men often succeed in

re-establishing themselves if they admit their crime and take their punishment -Torvald

Just think of how a man with that load on his conscience

must always be lying and cheating and dissembling- how he must always wear a mask even in the presence of those who are dearest to him, even his own wife and children! -Torvald

Nearly all young criminals

are the children of mothers who are constitutional liars - Torvald

Why do you say mother ? -Nora

It’s usually the mothers. -Torvald

Squirrel would do lots

of pretty tricks for you, if you granted her wish -Nora

Oh you can’t frighten me

a pampered little pretty like you -Krogstad

You see how much

I need you -Nora

My child

shall have her way -Torvald

She just gets

scared like a child sometimes -Torvald

It’s the old story isn’t it

a woman chucking a man because something better turns up? -Krogstad

I must work

if i’m to find life worth living -Mrs.Linde

Nils, a woman who has

sold herself once for the sake of others doesn’t make the same mistake again. -Mrs. Linde

Dreadful

bore that woman is -Torvald (backlash on the ‘new woman’)

You’re a

distractingly beautiful woman -Torvald

Why not look at my most

treasured possession? At all this wonderful beauty that’s mine, mine alone, all mine. -Torvald

As you stand there

young and trembling and beautiful -Torvald

I am condemned to

humiliation and ruin simply for the weakness of a woman -Torvald

But no man can be

expected to sacrifice his honour, even for the person he loves -Torvald

It is a things hundreds of thousands of women have done. -Nora

I would not be a true man if

your feminine helplessness did not make you doubly attractive in my eyes -Torvald

My frightened little

songbird. Don’t be afraid. I have broad wings to shield you. -Torvald

You’re talking like a

child. You don’t understand how society works -Torvald

No, I don’t. But now I intend to learn. I must try to satisfy myself with which is right, society or I. -Nora

You know how much

Torvald loves me'; he wouldn’t hesitate a moment to give his life for me -Nora

Years from now, when I’m

no longer pretty. You mustn’t laugh! I mean, of course, when Torvald no longer loves me as he does now, when it no longer amuses him to see me dance and dress up and play the fool for him. -Nora

I can play all day with the children

I can fill the house with pretty things just like Torvald likes! -Nora

Torvald’s so hopelessly in love with me

that he wants to have me all to himself -Nora

When we were first married

he got quite jealous if I as much as mentioned any of my old friends back home. So naturally I stopped talking about them. -Nora

I’d turn myself into a

little fairy and dance for you in the moonlight, Torvald -Nora

We shall share it, Nora

- as man and wife. And that’s as it should be. -Torvald

I feel the same way

about Torvald, as I did about papa. -Nora

You’re just being hysterical and romantic.

You want to find an excuse for self-sacrifice- Krogstad to Mrs Linde

I need someone to be a mother to;

and your children need a mother. And you and I need each other- Mrs Linde

Someone to work for- to live for!

A home to bring joy into! I won’t let this chance of happiness slip through my fingers. -Mrs. Linde

Oh you’re always right, whatever you do. -Nora

Now my songbird’s talking like a real human being- Torvald

Nora, often I wish

some terrible danger might threaten you, so that I could offer my life and my blood, everything, for your sake. -Torvald

You have loved me as

a wife should love her husband -Torvald

There is something indescribably wonderful

and satisfying for a husband in knowing that he has forgiven his wife- Torvald

It means she has become his

property in a double sense; he has, as it were, brought her into the world anew; she is now not only his wife but also his child. From now on, that is what you shall be to me, my poor, helpless, bewildered little creature. -Torvald

Can you neglect your most sacred duties?- Torvald

What do you call my most sacred duties ?- Nora

…Your duties towards your husband, and your children- Torvald

I have another duty

which is equally sacred. -Nora

You have not. What on earth could it be? -Torvald

My duty towards myself -Nora

First and foremost you

are a wife and a mother- Torvald

I don’t believe that any longer.

I believe that I am first and foremost a human being- Nora

I don’t

love you any longer- Nora

I have the strength

to change -Torvald

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

Money! Heaps

nd heaps of money! -Torvald

A songbird must have

a clean beak to sing with- Nora

No debts

Never borrow! A home that is founded on debts and borrowing can never be a place of freedom and beauty! -Torvald

What do I care about

society. I think it’s a bore. -Nora

And now your husband wants to kick

me off that ladder back into the dirt -Krogstad

If I get thrown into the gutter

for a second time, I shall take you with me -Krogstad

Without work

I couldn’t live -Mrs. Linde

Your father was not a man of

unassailable reputation. But I am. And I hope to remain so all my life. -Torvald

Do you expect me to make a laughing stock

of myself before my entire staff- give people the idea that I am open to outside influence ? -Torvald

Isn’t it an insult to imply that

I should be frightened by the vindictiveness of a depraved hack journalist? -Torvald

I’ve learned to look at things

practically. Life and poverty have taught me that. -Mrs. Linde

I’d gladly work day and night for you, Nora

bear sorrow and want for your sake - Torvald

but no man sacrifices his honour,

even for the woman he loves -Torvald

Why not- millions of women have done it - Nora

Oh you think and talk like a stupid child -Torvald

All your father’s recklessness

and instability he has handed on to you! No religion, no morals, no sense of duty! -Torvald

As regards to our realationship

we must appear to be living together, just as before. Only appear of course. -Torvald

Leave your home, your husband and your children!

And you haven’t a thought for what people will say -Torvald

This secret is my

pride and joy -Nora

Just think how a man with a thing like that on his conscience

will always be having to lie and cheat and dissemble; he can never drop the mask, not even with his own wife and children. -Torvald

The front door was ajar

someone must have forgotten to close it -Krogstad

The law does not

concern itself with motives -Krogstad

Then the law must be very stupid -Nora

Because an atmosphere of lies

contaminates and poisons every corner of the home. Every breath that the children draw in such a house contains the germs of evil. -Torvald

You can’t help it

you’re just a woman -Torvald

When the real crisis comes, you will not find me

lacking in strength or courage. I am man enough to bear the burden for us both. -Torvald

Helmer must know the truth.

This unhappy secret of Nora’s must be revealed. They must come to a full understanding. There must be an end of all these shiftings and evasions. -Mrs. Linde

An exit

should always be dramatic -Torvald

When the time comes

it’s best to go silently -Nora

His suffering and loneliness seemed to provide a kind of dark

background to the happy sunlight of our marriage. -Torvald about Rank

An ugliness has come between us;

 thoughts of death and dissolution -Torvald

I must try to educate myself.

And you’re not the man to help me -Nora

Wretched woman!

what have you done ? -Torvald

For eight whole years- she who was my joy and pride-

a hypocrite, a liar- worse, worse- a criminal! Oh, the hideousness of it! Shame on you, shame! -Torvald

Now you have destroyed all my happiness.

You have ruined my whole future. -Torvald

You can’t believe that I have forgiven you. But I have, Nora

I swear it to you. I have forgiven you everything. I know that what you did you did for your love of me.” -Torvald

You have never loved me.

You just thought it was fun to be in love with me. -Nora

You and papa have done me a great wrong.

 It’s your fault that I have done nothing with my life. -Nora

But our home has never been anything but a playroom.

I’ve been your doll-wife, just as I used to be papa’s doll child. -Nora

Why shouldn’t one make the most of this world?

As much as one can, and for as long as one can. -Rank

But it’s unheard of for so young a woman to behave like this!

If religion cannot guide you, let me at least appeal to your conscience. -Torvald to Nora

Do you need to ask where your duties lie in your own home?

Haven’t you an infallible guide in such matters- your religion? -Torvald