Throughout Nora’s various interactions with Krogstad concerning her debt and his blackmail to keep his job, their conversation at the end of Act Two reveals both Nora’s complete love for her husband and Krogstad’s motivations behind his supposed immoral nature, interestingly presenting Krogstad as a potential foil for Nora. Earlier in Act One, Torvald reveals that Krogstad once committed forgery, and through his “sharp practices,” he caused everyone to look down at his “moral breakdown,” depicting the reasoning behind various character assumptions of Krogstad’s despicable nature (70). While the revelation illustrates the surface interpretation of Krogstad’s character, it also mirrors Nora’s actions in that she attempts to avoid conviction …show more content…
With his question, Krogstad illustrates his humane characteristics, implying that his actions primarily stem from a need for survival rather than a complete desire for the destruction of society. Additionally, Krogstad underscores that, while his actions remain immoral, neither Nora nor Torvald “think of [Krogstad’s children],” before Torvald gave him his notice, implying that he possesses at least a partially selfless motivation to keep his job (86). As Krogstad considers more than himself in his negotiations, the play illustrates that his nature remains inherently complex, steadily moving him away from the role of a static antagonist. Furthermore, Krogstad conveys that he “want[s] to recoup” rather than receive any monetary compensation, indicating that he dedicated the previous “year and a half” to heighten his social status in the community …show more content…
Moreover, Nora emphasizes to Krogstad that “[he’ll] see, [he’ll] see,” depicting her trust in her husband to stand resolute against Krogstad’s threat (88). From this, Nora’s belief only further promotes the irony of the situation, as Torvald quickly succumbs to selfish desires and immediately sacrifices Nora instead of himself when presented with Krogstad’s demands. With the entire conversation highlighting Krogstad’s complex character and Nora’s blind faith, the play portrays Krogstad as a potential foil for Nora, as both committed the crime of forgery, and Krogstad depicts Nora’s possible future where she, due to her crime and disillusionment with her husband, now looks down upon those who act like Torvald. As hints of Krogstad’s moral nature reveal themselves to the audience beneath other character’s demeaning insults about his character, the play presents him not as a stock villain, but as a mirror of a feasible future for the protagonist, contributing complex characterization that adds realism to the overall
When Krogstad confronts Nora about her forgery, he tells her, “Now listen to me, Mrs. Helmer. If necessary, I’ll fight for my job in the bank as if it were for life itself” (Ibsen 2200). Krogstad understands the noble reason behind Nora’s crime,exploiting Nora’s secret trying to fix his reputation and get a well-paying job. This demonstrates the power that money and reputation have in society and how predatory people in society act to gain money and status. When Krogstad is laying out exactly what he wants in return for keeping Nora’s secret he asks her, “Are you forgetting that I’ll be in control then of your final reputation?” (Ibsen 2216). Krogstad, especially living with a tarnished reputation, knows the value of status within society. He is willing to threaten Nora’s reputation, and therefore the well-being of her entire family, to ensure the restoration of his status and employment , an act which asserts how predatory a member of society will act keep their honorable standing and keep out others that are not so highly
...order to commit senseless, hateful crimes, while Krogstad must assume a villainous role in order to save his family – an act of love. In summation, the antagonists and the affected relationships are nearly diametrically opposed, as are the respective means of marital destruction.
In the play, the audience sees it from Nora’s perspective. Nora is Torvald’s little squirrel, his little, insignificant squirrel. Nora is worthless to Torvald and she only realizes in the end how foolish she is to think that he will
Nora hides the fact that she has done something illegal from Torvald. She is given the opportunity to tell Torvald and maybe get his support or advise on the situation, and she lies to him to hide the truth. She claims that the reason that she does not want Torvald to fire Krogstad is that "this fellow writes in the most scurrilous newspapers...he can do [Torvald] an unspeakable amount of harm"(Ibsen 519). Nora hides the truth and replaces it with lies. Torvald does not know that if he fires Krogstad that the consequences will affect his whole family. Nora could have told him, but instead she decided to hide the truth from her husband.
Nora is the pampered wife of an aspiring bank manager Torvald Halmer. In a desperate attempt to saves her husband's life Nora once asked for a loan so she and her family could move somewhere where her husband could recover from his sickness. Giving the circumstances she, as a woman of that period, by herself and behind her husband forged her dad signature to receive the loan. Now, Nora's lender (Mr. Krogstad), despite her paying punctually, uses that fault as a fraud to pressure her so she could help him to keep his job in the Bank where her husband is going to be the manager. Nora finds out that Torvald would fire Mr. Krogstad at any cost. At learning this, Nora trembles for she knows Mr. Krogstad will tell everything to Torvald. She remains confident; however that Torvald will stand by her no matter what outcome. His reaction though is not what she expected and therefore here is when she realizes that she "must stand quite alone" and leaves her husband.
Krogstad is different from Torvald because he is not as well off economically and socially and this leads him to try an extremer form of manipulation. Krogstad is desperate to keep his job at the bank and tries to get Nora to secure the job with her husband through blackmail. Since he was once found to be forging documents, his reputation has been flaky, so in order to regain his reputation for his sons: "For their sake I must win back as much respect as I can in the town" (22), he needs to keep his job at the bank.
Although Krostad’s blackmail does not change Nora’s whimsical nature, it opens her eyes to her underappreciated potential. “I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald,” (Find a different quote perhaps?) she exclaims in her confrontation with Torvald. She realizes that she has been putting on a facade for him throughout their marriage. Acting like someone she is not in order to fill the role that her father, Torvald, and society expected her to have.
The woman in this play is a very happy mother, who does not objectify to be a stay home wife, her life is happy and although she was faced by many obstacles before, like incurring into debt to save her husband’s life, she is a happy woman as long as she possesses the love of her children and husband. Life for Nora seems as calm as it could possibly be, but soon after the promotion of her husband and the imminent consequences such promotion will bring to Krogstad, bring a new set of complication to her life. Soon her past mistakes come to haunt her. She committed forgery, by signing in place of her deceased father, which of course is taken as leverage by Krogstad, the owner of the note she signed, in order for him to conserve his
...d children. The final mask of Krogstad that is seen is that of love and caring. In the end Kristine goes back to Krogstad stating that she always loved him and only left him because “I had a helpless mother and two small brothers. We couldn’t wait for you” (Ibsen, 1225). In the end it is Krogstad who has changed for the better, not Nora or Helmer. It is the very man that Torvald so easily condemned for his past mistakes.
Throughout both plays, each main character exhibits a decay from the norm in their social persona. In Dollhouse, Nora who at first seems a silly, childish woman, is revealed to be intelligent and motivated though the play, and, by the play's conclusion, can be seen to be a strong-willed, independent thinker. She develops an awareness for the truth about her life as Torvald's devotion to an image at the expense of the creation of true happiness becomes more and more evident to her. When Nora calls him petty and swears about the house, and when Krogstad calls him by his first name it angers Torvald notably, and this anger at what he sees to be insubordination and improper etiquette heightens her awareness of the falsities being put in place by Mr. Helmer. When it is revealed to Torvald that their life-saving trip to Italy was funded by his wife borrowing money underneath his very nose and across his authority, he becomes very angry, as he very well should if everything is to abide by the social standard of the time By the end of the play, we see that Torvald's obsession with controlling his home's appearance and his repeated suppression and denial of reality have harmed his family and his happiness irreparably and escalates Nora's need for rebellion, which inevitably results in her walking out on her husband and children to find her own independence at the conclusion of the play.
Nora engages in a mutually dependent game with Torvald in that she gains power in the relationship by being perceived as weak, yet paradoxically she has no real power or independence because she is a slave to the social construction of her gender. Her epiphany at the end at the play realises her and her marriage as a product of society, Nora comes to understand that she has been living with a constr...
Krogstad creates an elaborate plan to blackmail Nora and tell her husband about her forgery if she does not persuade Torvald to keep him employed. This would lead to many legal consequences for Nora and would disrupt the family and Torvald 's business as he would take full blame for her illegal actions. Nora 's secret begins to eat at her as she contemplates what she is going to do to solve the problem. To the audience, Nora 's impression has been completely altered. The secret that Nora possesses, reveals to the audience that her character is much more than just a trophy-wife and an object. In the meantime, Nora begins to look for different ways in order to pay back all of her debts. Nora explains that she, "was lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do... [like] working and earning money" (Ibsen Act 2). Nora begins to deter from that of a traditional wife, and takes on the role of the man and begins working to pay back all of the debt. The audience begins to recognize that Nora is evolving into a determined and brave wife who is willing to protect her secret to support her
an example of the individual’s struggle against society” (Mitchell 136). She was punished severely for something that could be considered a petty crime and the crime ultimately led to her and Torvald’s separation and her leaving the house. In addition, “Christine Linde and Nils Krogstad’s subplot ending in marriage happens at the same time as Nora’s break with Torvald.” (Davies 51) The sharp contrast between the two creates conflict within the audience members because Krogstad is being rewarded for blackmail as Nora is being punished for saving her husband’s life.
Nora is a dynamic character. When the play begins Nora is viewed and presented as a playful and carefree person. She seems to be more intent on shopping for frivolous things. But, as time goes on it becomes apparent that Nora actually has a certain amount of seriousness in her decisions and actions in dealing with the debt she incurred to save Torvald’s life. Nora’s openness in her friendship with Dr. Rank changes after he professes his affections toward her. Her restraint in dealing with him shows that Nora is a mature and intelligent woman. Nora shows courage, not seen previously, by manipulating her way around Krogstad and his threats to reveal her secret. After feeling betrayed by Torvald, Nora reveals that she is leaving him. Having
As the play goes on, Nora seems to transform from her delicate little character into something much more. At the end of act one, Krogstad goes to Nora for the recollection of the money she had borrowed from him. "You don?t mean that you will tell my husband that I owe you money?" (21). Since Nora was wrong in doing so socially, she could not tell Torvald or anyone else about her problem. Not only would that affect their social standard but also Torvald's ego, which inevitably would happen anyway. After Krogstad threatens to expose Nora for forging her father's signature, she realizes that no matter what she does Torvald was going to know the truth. The flaw with...