Mrs Linde-Foil character

In what ways is Mrs Linde developed as a foil character* and for what reasons?

*A foil character is a person who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight various features of the main character’s personality: to throw the character of the protagonist into sharper focus.

	Mrs Linde	Nora
Marriage	Husband dead, married him to support her family, not for love	Loving husband
Freedom	Freedom but no money	No freedom in society, has money
Money	Not in debt, not a kroner	In debt, husband has a steady income
Life experiences	Knowledge of the world, realistic. Calm, subtle, honest, outright. Self disciplined, independent. Now has nothing to live for.	A dreamer, little knowledge of how society outside the home works. Self-centred, childish. No self discipline (macaroons). 2 personalities. Depends on Thorvold.
Maturity	Grown up, more masculine role	‘only a baby’ feminine. Frivolous.

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·         Mrs Linde’s dialogue reveals much about her perspective on life and the views of herself

·         Comment on stage directions

o   [Gets up restlessly] always has energy, takes her mind off what she has said, and says after. What she does matches the theme of what she says; she is a restless soul, but has “no one to live for any more.”

·         Nora cuts in to Mrs Linde’s speech, shows the contrast between their characters (foil character). Nora is not fully aware of Mrs Linde’s situation (broke). Nora wants a life of ease (she is much more passive), Mrs Linde is more restless, wants to work. Nora is ignorant to the reality of having to work if you have no money.

·         [walking to the window] breaking eye contact with Nora, she feels anxiety. She would rather be ‘out there’ doing something than sitting chatting. She has a power which Nora doesn’t have, despite having many sources of sadness.

·         Nora rises, Mrs Linde returns. Understands Mrs Linde’s intentions for going to Nora, gone to see Helmer not Nora really for work.

·         Mrs Linde shows how harsh the world beyond is. She is an exemplar character for Nora (at the end).