A Doll's House "Conflict is the Essence of All Drama"

Although it is hard to see, money is the major determinant for conflict in this play. That is, if everyone had money, there wouldn’t be any need of struggle. “I’d a bedridden mother and two small brothers. We couldn’t wait for you, Nils. You’d no prospects then”, Mrs. Linde exclaimed to Krogstad (from Act 3 Lines 31-33). This shows that Mrs. Linde wouldn’t have been married to her husband if he didn’t have money. Money has also been the main source of destruction for Torvald and Nora. Nora wouldn’t have had to borrow money if they did have money to spend. Torvald stated; “That doesn’t mean we’ve money to burn” and “has my little songbird been spending all my money again?” (Act 1 Lines 16-21).

Another type of conflict which is present in “A Doll’s House” is conflict within oneself. It arises when a person is unsure of what to do and keeps on battling with it themselves. A prime example of this is Nora; she was fighting herself. “The children… never again. Never. Water…deep…black…” (Act 3 Lines 351-352) The last 3 words in this sentence give the audience the impression that she was thinking of killing herself. There was also a battle within oneself occurring in Mrs. Linde. Again, she had to choose in marrying her currently dead husband because he was the one who had money and not Krogstad who she had truly cared for. She had mentioned to Krogstad; “What else could I do? I had to break with you. It was essential to kill everything you felt for me.” (Act 3 Lines 27-28). She would have been very troubled when she had to make that decision in the past and now it is Krogstad’s job that is given to her and that has made her feel worse.  Dr. Rank is another example of this; he had an inherited disease in him that he had to fight with. It the end, he sent out a card, which purpose was to say goodbye - (Death).

In addition to these two types of conflict, there is one more type and that is conflict with society. Society was the role model for everyone and still is sometimes nowadays. Nora was the ‘odd one out’ because she didn’t follow what the society would expect her to do. She abandoned her children and husband so she can spend some time on herself to think. She didn’t believe what people teach in books; Torvald said; “You don’t understand the society you live in” and Nora responded with “You’re right: I don’t. But I’m going to find out – which of us is right, society or me.” (Act 3 Lines 595-598). Another exception was Torvald, e.g. “I’m saved” (Act 3 Line 416) – he was concerned of himself and not of Nora. Other than that, every other character seems to do what the rest of the society would do; put others first. Examples are; Mrs. Linde - she puts her family first and Dr. Rank even though he had a “tainted blood” (Act 2 Line 71) or in other words an inherited disease, he was still considerate towards Helmer and Nora. Krogstad also had the correct believes of the society; “The law’s not interested in reasons… it’s what you’ll be judged by, if I take this document to court.” (Act 1 Lines 806-809). He thinks that the law is more important than feelings – ‘love’ that Nora had for Torvald. Torvald had always thought that, “you’re a wife, a mother. They come first” while Nora doesn’t think so - “I think that first I’m a human being…I must think things for myself, I must decide.”  

In conclusion, you can clearly see that conflict is at the essence of this play. It appears in every corner of it and we’ve come to discover that it is something that keeps people going. It has the power to drive us forward and hold us back.