With Krogstad at end of Act 1 | Beginning of Act 2 |
Confident, feels that she has done nothing wrong (at first). | Afraid, things she has been a bad influence on her children, will make them into bad people. |
Becomes afraid of Krogstad. | Realises that she needs to take matters into her own hands. |
Full of life, happy that her family is well. | “You’ll catch your death of cold,” says the Nurse and Nora replies, “there are worse things than that,” she feels that worse can happen to her staying alive, than dying. |
Nora is ‘acting like a man,’ doing business, having to stand up for herself. | Steps down into mother/wife role. |
Thinks that what Krogstad said is “nonsense... nonsense, there’s nothing in it!” Trying to make herself feel better and that she has done nothing wrong. | After talking to Helmer is subdued, and believes in the negative possible results. |
Is innocent in the ways of business, doesn’t understand the politics involved. Doesn’t understand what the law is based on. “What nonsense! Trying to frighten me like that! I’m not as silly as all that. [She starts to busy herself by tidying the children’s clothes.] But... No, it isn’t possible... I did it for love! | Understands more about it. Realisation just after Krogstad leaves that what she did in the eyes of the law was illegal, but brushes it off as she had what she thought was a legitimate reason. In Act 2, realises that what she did was wrong, and the law won’t accept her motives for doing what she did |
Thinks that Krogstad is a bad man. | Realises that she is not so different. |
Her state is also shown through the Christmas tree as they celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve and therefore at the beginning of act two it is stripped and dishevelled. Nora has lost her secret power as she is found out to have broken a law and has lost her courage as a result. She is quiet, and does what is asked without question- is afraid of being found out as she now knows the possible consequences and know’s her husband’s opinions such things.
When Krogstad first arrives, Nora appears confident, full of life and believes herself to be innocent. Krogstad reveals that he knows that she forged her husband’s signature and becomes afraid. Later talking to Torvald, she follows his beliefs, believing herself to be harming her children whenever she is around them. It is interesting that she believes her husband in this, as Nora is often shown to make her own decisions based on her own judgement (such as whether she should eat macaroons or not). As she becomes afraid of what Krogstad could do to her, she starts to realise that she needs to take matters into her own hands if she does not want her husband to think ill of her. At the beginning of Act 2, the nurse says, “You’ll catch your death of cold,” but after talking with both Krogstad and her husband, she believes that she could easily end up in a situation where “there are worse things than that.” Staying alive, according to Torvald, she can make her children into bad people, and she is afraid of what Torvald would do if he found out that she borrowed money.
When talking with Krogstad she is ‘acting like a man,’ doing business, standing up for herself. She is forced to consider what is being done to her, and knows that her decisions have the potential to greatly affect her life. At the beginning of act 2, she steps back into a mother and wife role, caring about her children, and doing the activities of a wife, not a business person. When she is talking with Krogstad she decides that what he was saying was “nonsense... nonsense, there’s nothing in it!” Trying to make herself feel better and that she has done nothing wrong. As a women at the time, she does not understand the complexities of doing business and the harshness of the laws and the inequalies that she faces as a married women within the law. Nora is innocent in the ways of business, does not understand the politics involved and does not understand how laws work. “What nonsense! Trying to frighten me like that! I’m not as silly as all that. [She starts to busy herself by tidying the children’s clothes.] But... No, it isn’t possible... I did it for love!” She initially dismisses that she could be in trouble, and attempts to distract herself which is shown through stage directions as she settles into her mothery role, but Krogstad has made her question herself. She decides that what she did was fine as she did it for love. Later she talks with Helmer and understands more about this, and the effect that breaking a law, even for innocent loving motives, is dispised by him and ruins one’s social standing. As a result, at the beginning of act 2, she is subdued and now believes in the negative possible results as she is forced to accept that the laws will not let her off due to her motives for doing what she did.
Nora also realises that Krogstad is not so different to her, he to broke a law in order to help his loved ones, and his social predicament shows Nora what could happen to her if she is unable to appease Krogstad. Previously she had thought of him as an evil man, but now she realises that she is ‘no better or worse’ than him.
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