Dr Rank character analysis -’A Doll’s House’
Dr Rank is cynical about life, a good friend of Nora and Torvald, explains his condition to
Nora in Act 2.
Foil to Torvald, more careful.
The relationship between Dr Rank and Nora acts as an immense contrast to that of the
ingenuine one between Nora and Torvald. Ibsen places Nora and Dr Rank alone in Act 2
showing their closeness, and Nora in Act 2 talks to her childhood friend Kristine about the
“numerous mistresses” that Dr Rank’s “frightful creature” of a father kept. The intimacy
between the characters is hyperbolised when Nora invites Dr Rank to “look a little higher” at
her “flesh coloured” “silk stockings” and Dr Rank admits that he would “gladly lay down his
life” for Nora. Develops out of secrecy and euphemistic sexuality with “oysters” which reflects
the tone of “faded leaves” and “half a golden chain” in Maude Clare in Rossetti’s collection.
“It is no use lying to one’s self. I am the most wretched of all my patients, Mrs. Helmer.
Lately, I have been taking stock of my internal economy. Bankrupt.”
Dr Rank plays the function of raisonneur as he is a detached observer who helps and
provides advice to the play’s protagonists, not changing the course of action, which was a
common role in well-made plays, often depicted as doctors. He advises Nora not to tell
Torvald the truth about the loans.
Dr Rank is cynical about life, a good friend of Nora and Torvald, explains his condition to
Nora in Act 2.
Foil to Torvald, more careful.
The relationship between Dr Rank and Nora acts as an immense contrast to that of the
ingenuine one between Nora and Torvald. Ibsen places Nora and Dr Rank alone in Act 2
showing their closeness, and Nora in Act 2 talks to her childhood friend Kristine about the
“numerous mistresses” that Dr Rank’s “frightful creature” of a father kept. The intimacy
between the characters is hyperbolised when Nora invites Dr Rank to “look a little higher” at
her “flesh coloured” “silk stockings” and Dr Rank admits that he would “gladly lay down his
life” for Nora. Develops out of secrecy and euphemistic sexuality with “oysters” which reflects
the tone of “faded leaves” and “half a golden chain” in Maude Clare in Rossetti’s collection.
“It is no use lying to one’s self. I am the most wretched of all my patients, Mrs. Helmer.
Lately, I have been taking stock of my internal economy. Bankrupt.”
Dr Rank plays the function of raisonneur as he is a detached observer who helps and
provides advice to the play’s protagonists, not changing the course of action, which was a
common role in well-made plays, often depicted as doctors. He advises Nora not to tell
Torvald the truth about the loans.
