92
TJ123-8-2009 LK VWD0011 Tradition Humanistic 6th Edition W:220mm x H:292mm 175L 115 Stora Enso M/A Magenta (V)Q What reasons does Nora give Helmer
for leaving him?
Q What is Helmer’s perception of Nora?92 CHAPTER 30 Industry, Empire, and the Realist Style92
Nora:No, only merry. You’ve always been so kind to me. But
our home has never been anything but a play-room. I’ve been
your doll-wife, just as at home I was Papa’s doll-child. And the
children, in turn, have been my dolls. I thought it fun when you
played games with me, just as they thought it fun when I 70
played games with them. And that’s been our marriage,
Torvald.
Helmer:There may be a grain of truth in what you say, even
though it is distorted and exaggerated. From now on things
will be different. Play-time is over now; tomorrow lessons
begin!
Nora:Whose lessons? Mine, or the children’s?
Helmer:Both, if you wish it, Nora, dear.
Nora:Torvald, I’m afraid you’re not the man to teach me to
be a real wife to you. 80
Helmer:How can you say that?
Nora:And I’m certainly not fit to teach the children.
Helmer:Nora!
Nora:Didn’t you just say, a moment ago, you didn’t dare
trust them to me?
Helmer:That was in the excitement of the moment! You
mustn’t take it so seriously!
Nora:But you were quite right, Torvald. That job is beyond
me; there’s another job I must do first: I must try and educate
myself. You could never help me to do that; I must do it quite 90
alone. So, you see—that’s why I’m going to leave you.
Helmer:[jumping up]: What did you say—?
Nora:I shall never get to know myself—I shall never learn
to face reality—unless I stand alone. So I can’t stay with you
any longer.
Helmer:Nora! Nora!
Nora:I am going at once. I’m sure Kristine will let me stay
with her tonight—
Helmer:But, Nora—this is madness! I shan’t allow you to
do this. I shall forbid it! 100
Nora:You no longer have the power to forbid me anything.
I’ll only take a few things with me—those that belong to me. I
shall never again accept anything from you.
Helmer:Have you lost your senses?
Nora:Tomorrow I’ll go home—to what was my home, I
mean. It might be easier for me there, to find something to do.
Helmer:You talk like an ignorant child, Nora—!
Nora:Yes. That’s just why I must educate myself.
Helmer:To leave your home—to leave your husband, and
your children! What do you suppose people would say to that? 110
Nora:It makes no difference. This is something I must do.
Helmer:It’s inconceivable! Don’t you realize you’d be
betraying your most sacred duty?
Nora:What do you consider that to be?
Helmer:Your duty towards your husband and your
children—I surely don’t have to tell you that!
Nora:I’ve another duty just as sacred.
Helmer:Nonsense! What duty do you mean?
Nora:My duty towards myself.
Helmer:Remember—before all else you are a wife and 120
mother.
Nora:I don’t believe that any more. I believe that before all
else I am a human being, just as you are—or at least that Ishould try and become one. I know that most people would
agree with you, Torvald—and that’s what they say in books.
But I can no longer be satisfied with what most people say—
or what they write in books. I must think things out for
myself—get clear about them.
Helmer:Surely your position in your home is clear enough?
Have you no sense of religion? Isn’t that an infallible guide to 130
you?
Nora:But don’t you see, Torvald—I don’t really know what
religion is.
Helmer:Nora! How canyou!
Nora:All I know about it is what Pastor Hansen told me
when I was confirmed. He taught me what he thought religion
was—said it was this and that. As soon as I get away by
myself, I shall have to look into that matter too, try and decide
whether what he taught me was right—or whether it’s right
for me, at least. 140
Helmer:A nice way for a young woman to talk! It’s unheard
of! If religion means nothing to you, I’ll appeal to your
conscience; you must have some sense of ethics, I suppose?
Answer me! Or have you none?
Nora:It’s hard for me to answer you, Torvald. I don’t think I
know—all these things bewilder me. But I do know that I think
quite differently from you about them. I’ve discovered that the
law, for instance, is quite different from what I had imagined;
but I find it hard to believe it can be right. It seems it’s criminal
for a woman to try and spare her old, sick, father, or save her 150
husband’s life! I can’t agree with that.
Helmer:You talk like a child. You have no understanding of
the society we live in.
Nora:No, I haven’t. But I’m going to try and learn. I want to
find out which of us is right—society or I.
Helmer:You are ill, Nora; you have a touch of fever; you’re
quite beside yourself.
Nora:I’ve never felt so sure—so clear-headed—as I do
tonight.
Helmer:“Sure and clear-headed” enough to leave your 160
husband and your children?
Nora:Yes.
Helmer:Then there is only one explanation possible.
Nora:What?
Helmer:You don’t love me any more.
Nora:No; that is just it.
Helmer:Nora!—What are you saying!
Nora:It makes me so unhappy, Torvald; for you’ve always
been so kind to me. But I can’t help it. I don’t love you any
more. 170
Helmer[mastering himself with difficulty]:You feel “sure
and clear-headed” about this too?
Nora:Yes, utterly sure. That’s why I can’t stay here any
longer....