A Doll’s House – Ibsen
Quotes
Torvald:
“My little skylark”, “my little squirrel”, “my poor little Nora”
“Has my little squanderbird been overspending again”
“(Goes over to her and takes her playfully by the ear)”
“Oh, Nora, Nora, how like a woman”
“No debts, never borrow”
“Just like your father used to be… it’s in your blood… yes, yes, yes, these things are hereditary”
“(Wags his finger)”
“You’re a widow, I take it, Mrs Linde”
“Little Miss Independent’s in trouble and needs a man to rescue her”
“An atmosphere of lies contaminates and poisons every corner of the home”
“Nearly all young criminals are the children of mothers who are constitutional liars”
“Morally speaking, he is dead” – about Krog
“If the rumour got around about that the new vice president had allowed his wife to persuade him to change his
mind –”
“He thinks it gives him the right to be familiar with me." – T on why he cannot hire K
“I am man enough to bear the burden for both of us”
“You are dancing as if your life depended on it”
“I shall not allow you to bring up the children”
“I have broad wings to shield you”
“I shall watch over you like a hunted dove which I have snatched unharmed from the claws of the falcon”
“Sacred duties… to your husband and your children”
“But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves” Nora responds – “it is a thing hundreds of
thousands of women have done”
“Nora you’re ill. You’re feverish”
"Now you have destroyed all my happiness. You have ruined all my future."
"Empty. She is gone. (A hope flashes across his mind.) The most wonderful thing of all—?"
Nora:
, “You’ve got a big salary now, and you’re going to make lots and lots of money”, “we’re going to have heaps and
heaps of money”
“(Puts her hand over his mouth)”
“(Plays with his coat buttons)”
"You could give me money, Torvald. Then I will wrap up the notes in pretty gold paper and hang them on the
Christmas Tree."
“He’s so proud of being a man – it’d be so painful and humiliating for him to know that he owed anything to me”
“Big secret”
“Sitting there working and earning money. It was almost like being a man”
“You know I could never act against your wishes”
“What do I care about society? I think it’s a bore”
“[They year in Italy] saved Torvald’s life. But it cost a tremendous lot of money”
To Krogstad, “I didn’t care about you”
“Hasn’t the wife a right to save her husband’s life”
“(Tosses her head)”
“How could you bear to give your children away – to strangers?”
"You know how devotedly, how inexpressibly deeply Torvald loves me; he would never for a moment hesitate
to give his life for me."
“Torvald’s so hopelessly in love with me that he wants to have me all to himself”
“It’s much easier for a man to arrange these things than a woman”
"In all these eight years...we have never exchanged a word on any serious subject"
“You never loved me. You just thought it was fun to be in love with me”
"When I look back on it seems to me as if I have been living here like a pauper, from hand to mouth"
“I passed from papa’s hands into yours”
"I have been your doll wife, just as at home I was Papa's doll child"
"I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being just as you are - or, at all events, that I must try and
become one"
“Life between us two could become a marriage”
Nora’s slamming of the door
leaves her stepping into an
Quotes
Torvald:
“My little skylark”, “my little squirrel”, “my poor little Nora”
“Has my little squanderbird been overspending again”
“(Goes over to her and takes her playfully by the ear)”
“Oh, Nora, Nora, how like a woman”
“No debts, never borrow”
“Just like your father used to be… it’s in your blood… yes, yes, yes, these things are hereditary”
“(Wags his finger)”
“You’re a widow, I take it, Mrs Linde”
“Little Miss Independent’s in trouble and needs a man to rescue her”
“An atmosphere of lies contaminates and poisons every corner of the home”
“Nearly all young criminals are the children of mothers who are constitutional liars”
“Morally speaking, he is dead” – about Krog
“If the rumour got around about that the new vice president had allowed his wife to persuade him to change his
mind –”
“He thinks it gives him the right to be familiar with me." – T on why he cannot hire K
“I am man enough to bear the burden for both of us”
“You are dancing as if your life depended on it”
“I shall not allow you to bring up the children”
“I have broad wings to shield you”
“I shall watch over you like a hunted dove which I have snatched unharmed from the claws of the falcon”
“Sacred duties… to your husband and your children”
“But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves” Nora responds – “it is a thing hundreds of
thousands of women have done”
“Nora you’re ill. You’re feverish”
"Now you have destroyed all my happiness. You have ruined all my future."
"Empty. She is gone. (A hope flashes across his mind.) The most wonderful thing of all—?"
Nora:
, “You’ve got a big salary now, and you’re going to make lots and lots of money”, “we’re going to have heaps and
heaps of money”
“(Puts her hand over his mouth)”
“(Plays with his coat buttons)”
"You could give me money, Torvald. Then I will wrap up the notes in pretty gold paper and hang them on the
Christmas Tree."
“He’s so proud of being a man – it’d be so painful and humiliating for him to know that he owed anything to me”
“Big secret”
“Sitting there working and earning money. It was almost like being a man”
“You know I could never act against your wishes”
“What do I care about society? I think it’s a bore”
“[They year in Italy] saved Torvald’s life. But it cost a tremendous lot of money”
To Krogstad, “I didn’t care about you”
“Hasn’t the wife a right to save her husband’s life”
“(Tosses her head)”
“How could you bear to give your children away – to strangers?”
"You know how devotedly, how inexpressibly deeply Torvald loves me; he would never for a moment hesitate
to give his life for me."
“Torvald’s so hopelessly in love with me that he wants to have me all to himself”
“It’s much easier for a man to arrange these things than a woman”
"In all these eight years...we have never exchanged a word on any serious subject"
“You never loved me. You just thought it was fun to be in love with me”
"When I look back on it seems to me as if I have been living here like a pauper, from hand to mouth"
“I passed from papa’s hands into yours”
"I have been your doll wife, just as at home I was Papa's doll child"
"I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being just as you are - or, at all events, that I must try and
become one"
“Life between us two could become a marriage”
Nora’s slamming of the door
leaves her stepping into an
