4. The maid comes in and announces two visitors, an unknown woman and their old friend doctor Rank. Dr. Rank goes into Torvald’s study while the unknown woman is shown into the living-room.
5. The scene shows Nora going to meet the unknown woman and after a moment of blankness realises that it is her old friend, Christine Linde whom she has not seen for ten years. A conversation reveals that Christine is a widow and was only married to him to provide security for her family. Her husband died three years before ‘now’ leaving her nothing. She has come here now because she has heard of Torvald’s appointment and is hoping for him to find a job for her at the bank.
6. During this conversation it is revealed that a few years ago, Torvald had become ill and the doctor insisted that it was necessary for him to take a holiday and go to a warm country. At the time, they had no money and Torvald would not borrow money. So Nora borrowed money secretly, telling Torvald that it came from her father. She has managed to pay the money back over the years with quarterly instalments and interest. Now Nora thinks that because Torvald is getting a new salary it will be much easier to pay off the debt. She has not told Torvald because it would hurt his pride
7. Krogstad who works at the bank is announced and there is a quiet discussion with him but he is there to talk to Torvald about bank business. Dr. Rank enters and gives his low opinion of Krogstad.
8. After Krogstad is sent on his way, Nora asks Torvald if he can get a job for Christine. He agrees. They invite Christine and Dr. Rank back for dinner. The children enter and Nora plays with them.
9. Krogstad enters unannounced and Nora shoo’s the children into the playroom so that she can talk to him alone. It is revealed that he knows Christine. He tries to blackmail Nora into using her powers as a wife to persuade Torvald into letting him keep his job at the bank.
10. When Torvald asks what Krogstad wanted, Nora asks what Krogstad did to be demerited in such a way. Torvald tells her that not only did he commit forgery but he lied to try and get himself out of it. This is exactly the thing that Nora has done.
Act 2
1. The lights come up on a post-Christmas scene. The tree is stripped of decorations, the candles are burnt out and Nora is alone, wondering whether Krogstad will send the letter that will ruin her life.
2. The nanny comes in with a box of fancy-dress clothes to look at. They begin to talk and it becomes clear that she has decided to limit her contact with the children as much as possible. She consoles herself in the knowledge that the nanny will look after them.
3. Mrs. Linde arrives and starts to help Nora with her fancy-dress outfit. It is explained that Dr. Rank is suffering from TB of the spine which he inherited from his father because of his debauchery. She refutes the suspicion that the loan was taken from Dr. Rank.
4. Dr. Rank arrives and tells Nora that he has the results of the test and knows when he is going to die. Nora takes this opportunity to flirt with Dr. Rank so that she can get some money to pay back her debt. This is spoiled however because he confesses his love for her and so making sure that asking for money is truly impossible.
5. Krogstad calls to blackmail Torvald into giving him a new job at the bank, he does not want to expose her publicly, and this is the pressure of the blackmail.
6. Ms. Linde comes back in and sees Nora who is terrified. She realises that it was Krogstad who leant the money and leaves to try and persuade him not to do it. Meanwhile, Nora keeps Torvald occupied so he does not read the letter. So the tarantella dance ensues where she dances it far too passionately to be shown in public. After this scene, she realises that she only has 31 hours ‘to live’.
Act 3
1. Mrs. Linde is waiting for Krogstad in the Helmer’s apartment. It is explained that she had to leave him in the past because of problems with family. The letter is left in the letter box so that Torvald will find out about the loan.
2. Torvald and Nora come home to find Mrs. Linde still there. She makes an excuse and leaves, leaving Torvald and Nora alone. Torvald, who has been aroused by her dancing, rushed her home so that he can make love to her. She rejects his advances and protest is cut of by Dr. Rank knocking at the door.
3. Dr. Rank has now left the party and dropped in to borrow a cigar and leave his calling card with a black X on the back of it to show that he is going home to die.
4. Once he leaves, Torvald makes another advance but is rebuffed by the idea that his friend has gone home to die. She suggests that he should read his letters and he goes into his study to do so.
5. Nora gets ready to leave the house and never come back
6. Just as she is about to leave, Torvald stops her and demands an explanation for what is in the letter.
7. He starts to rant about how she has ruined his life and how he is completely at the mercy of this man. She tells her that they will keep up the appearance of man and wife but they will not be, and the children will no longer be in her care.
8. A letter comes from Krogstad with the IOU inside. This changes Torvald’s attitude completely and tries to reverse the damage that he has done by saying that he knows she only did it out of love but did the wrong thing.
9. She takes off her fancy dress as Torvald continues to talk about how he is going to look after her more than ever.
10. She insists that they sit down and discuss their marriage and points out that this is the first serious talk that they have ever had and that she has been played with by her father, then him. Torvald agrees that there is something in what she said but now she is going to educate her rather than play with her. She rebuts this and tells him that only she can educate herself and declares that she is leaving him.
11. She then rejects the idea that her first duties are to her husband and children and insist that her first duty is to herself. She declares that she rejects everything that has ever been told to her as fact, such as what she has learnt about religion. She also says that he destroyed her faith in miracles when he failed to carry out his promise of protecting her whenever something bad happened to her, and to finish it off, when the threat to himself was past he wanted to act as though nothing had happened.
12. She declares that she no longer loves him because he is not the man she thought him to be. Then, after returning his wedding ring, she leaves.
