Helmer will not borrow money or anything else – he hates it. The fact he hates borrowing shows a distance between him and Nora – the borrowing issue is a shadow of the whole play – as it is introduced so early on in the play and there is a big emphasis put on it shows that it’s an important factor throughout the whole play. It also shows Helmer has strong morals and ideas, and expects Nora to have the same views as him.
Nora says she will never disobey Helmer – however, she has already gone against his wishes by eating macaroons when he specifically told her not to, so this shows that even though she says she won’t disobey him with the macaroons, she still did it. So he doesn’t have much control over her and what goes on behind his back, and the fact the audience know she eats macaroons behind his back gives a message to the audience that there may be other things she does against his wishes that we as an audience don’t know about yet.
Nora asks Helmer for money and he gives it to her after some persuasion. This is an example of their relationship. She knows his weak points and how to persuade him to give her what she wants, but he doesn’t let her have what she wants straight away. She has to persuade him to get round to her way of thinking, where as she has to accept his views straight away no matter what and if she doesn’t there would most likely be some sort of an argument.
Mrs Linde, Nora’s childhood friend comes in and talks to Nora how Mrs Linde is a widow and has no children. Nora shows off about her position. This shows how Nora has not a lot of feeling for the tragedy of her friends life – she is so consumed her own life and troubles and what is going on around her to care about what has happened to Mrs. Linde – all Nora is concerned about what has happened to herself and how she can use it to her advantage in her life and how powerful it makes her feel as a person.
Mrs Linde makes Nora feel sorry for her and then asks Nora for her to put a good word with Helmer for her about getting a job at the bank, as Helmer is now the manager and can promote, employ and dismiss whosoever he chooses. Mrs Linde wants to feel a part of something that is good, as her life has been harsh in the past so she wants to be a part of something that will make her as happy as Nora is. Mrs. Linde also wants sympathy for all she has gone through – she wants Nora to feel guilty for all the tragedy that’s happened to her and wants Nora to feel her pain.
Nora tells Mrs Linde about borrowing money to save Helmer’s life. Shows Nora can confide in Mrs. Linde – as Mrs. Linde has told Nora all the horrors that occurred in her life, she feels she can trust her with what has happened to her. This expands on the fact that Helmer dislikes borrowing money of any kind for any reason at all, and she has deliberately gone against his wishes like she did with the macaroons. Shows that she doesn’t let herself get controlled by anyone else and does what she feels is right to do, no matter what others may think of her.
Dr Rank enters and talks to Mrs Linde and Nora. He says that Krogstad is here, and is talking to Helmer which causes Nora to worry – she had just been telling Mrs. Linde about borrowing money and the person she had borrowed from (the audience don’t know yet) is talking to her husband and this causes Nora to worry incase Krogstad reveals to Helmer what she has done.
Dr Rank reveals that he is ill – this shows a quite a bleak image on the house, foreshadows a sort of despair over the house, as if there is trouble on the horizon and the events to come are quite dark and gloomy.
Dr Rank talks about more cripples and says that Krogstad is one – over work isn’t a good thing in his opinion – it makes a person ill as in the cases of Krogstad and Mrs. Linde – the fact Dr Rank thinks that they are both ill could mean they have something to hide from the rest of society which may have been considered to be a scandal. They could both have done something to be ashamed of and their posture shows them to be ill as they have things to hide and quite distanced from society.
Helmer comes in as Krogstad leaves and Nora asks Helmer if Mrs Linde could have a job at the bank Helmer says yes. As he has just been talking to Krogstad about the bank and that he said Mrs. Linde asked at a good time meant something must have happened between Helmer and Krogstad that has put Krogstad in a dangerous position with his job at the bank.
Helmer leaves with Dr Rank and Linde.
Nurse brings children in and Nora plays games with them. The only time when she is not serious and is happy is when she is with her children because they don’t know the whole laws of being a grown up, so they can’t judge people for what they do as they don’t know what’s wrong or what’s right.
Krogstad comes in because he has seen Helmer leave, but she has to pretend she has no connection with him in front of others when underneath she does have a connection which would be frowned upon if people in society knew. His appearance makes her more on edge because she has no idea as to why he wants to see her so it makes her nervous.
Krogstad blackmails Nora to get his job at the bank back. He thinks that as Nora is married to Helmer, she can influence him in to deciding who has what job, but if she can’t let him keep his job, he will reveal to the world what she has done. This sets off the whole theme of the play – her paranoia about what he is going to do to her, and how it will affect her and Helmers relationship and how Helmer will react to it and what she will do when Helmer finds out.
Nora says that she won’t put in a good word for him and that she isn’t afraid of him anymore. He threatens to tell Helmer about her borrowing money off him – she tries to stand up to him but she can’t be strong and hide how she really feels about the subject to him.
Krogstad reveals that Nora has forged her father’s signature on the IOU. This makes Nora even more scared and nervous and puts her to an even worse position than it did before, because it would make her position in public much worse and would wreak her marriage with Krogstad. At this point in the play, I think Nora would be completely in Krogstad’s shadow – he would be standing over her to show his superiority over her and how he has the power to break her life in to so many little pieces and she would be cowering and shaking as she is scared about what he could do to her life.
Krogstad reveals that he once committed forgery and he has been exiled from society. This shows he has done the same thing as Nora has done, and he has found it hard to get his status back in society because of what he has done. This portrays to the audience an insight into what may become of Nora and Helmer if Krogstad decides to reveal to the world what Nora has done, and foreshadows a way into which what may come in the later events in the play.
Krogstad leaves. This makes him have the upper hand and leaves Nora a wreak and unable to cope with what may happen to her in the near future.
Helmer returns and asks Nora who was there – he may have noticed how unstable and upset by the visitor she was, and that may have triggered his questioning into who had been round to see her.
Nora lies and says no one to pretend that everything is fine and nothing is wrong – Helmer can see right through her, for the way in which she is acting makes him question what has gone on and Helmer says he saw Krogstad leave. This shows that Nora hides quite a lot from Helmer – she doesn’t tell him a lot to protect him from what she has done and what has gone on. This shows that they don’t have an open relationship – she can’t tell him the truth, meaning that their relationship hasn’t always been a good one, they are not on equal terms and can’t carry each others burden.
Nora asks for him to let Krogstad keep his job – hoping that he says yes for she doesn’t want her husbands name blackened, she fears for his decision, for he doesn’t know he is jeopardising his job and status for what he may say. This also shows a gap in their relationship – the fact she asks him for Krogstad to keep his job but doesn’t tell him why, shows that Helmer thinks he knows Nora when there is a lot of things she hides from him.
Helmer reveals his reasons for disliking Krogstad. Krogstad poisoned children with his crime. This makes Nora feel more nervous about Helmer finding out what she has done, as he will think the same about her as he does for Krogstad which makes it harder for her to tell him what she’s done as he will look down on her for her crime. Helmer calls Krogstad by his first name to show that he is of higher ranking and more importance than Krogstad.
Nora tells nurse to keep children away and ponders the effect her crime will have on her family – she has the whole thing about how Helmer will look down on her for what’s she’s done, and how she may end up like Krogstad and looked down on in society and unable to get anywhere with her life.
