A Doll’s House

bunch of keys out of his pocket and goes into the hall. Torvald! what are you going to do there? Helmer Emptying the letter box; it is quite full; there will be no room to put the newspaper in tomorrow morning. Nora Are you going to work tonight? Helmer You know quite well I’m not. What is this? Someone has been at the lock. Nora At the lock⁠—? Helmer Yes, someone has. What can it mean? I should never have thought the maid⁠—. Here is a broken hairpin. Nora, it is one of yours. Nora Quickly. Then it must have been the children⁠— Helmer Then you must get them out of those ways. There, at last I have got it open. Takes out the contents of the letter box, and calls to the kitchen. Helen!⁠—Helen, put out the light over the front door. Goes back into the room and shuts the door into the hall. He holds out his hand full of letters. Look at that⁠—look what a heap of them there are. Turning them over. What on earth is that? Nora At the window. The letter⁠—No! Torvald, no! Helmer Two cards⁠—of Rank’s. Nora Of Doctor Rank’s? Helmer Looking at them. Doctor Rank. They were on the top. He must have put them in when he went out. Nora Is there anything written on them? Helmer There is a black cross over the name. Look there⁠—what an uncomfortable idea! It looks as if he were announcing his own death. Nora It is just what he is doing. Helmer What? Do you know anything about it? Has he said anything to you? Nora Yes. He told me that when the cards came it would be his leave-taking from us. He means to shut himself up and die. Helmer My poor old friend! Certainly I knew we should not have him very long with us. But so soon! And so he hides himself away like a wounded animal. Nora If it has to happen, it is best it should be without a word⁠—don’t you think so, Torvald? Helmer Walking up and down. He had so grown into our lives. I can’t think of him as having gone out of them. He, with his sufferings and his loneliness, was like a cloudy background to our sunlit happiness. Well, perhaps it is best so. For him, anyway. Standing still. And perhaps for us too, Nora. We two are thrown quite upon each other now. Puts his arms round her. My darling wife, I don’t feel as if I could hold you tight enough. Do you know, Nora, I have often wished that you might be threatened by some great danger, so that I might risk my life’s blood, and everything, for your sake. Nora Disengages herself, and says firmly and decidedly. Now you must read your letters, Torvald. Helmer No, no; not tonight. I want to be with you, my darling wife. Nora With the thought of your friend’s death⁠— Helmer You are right, it has affected us both. Something ugly has come between us⁠—the thought of the horrors of death. We must try and rid our minds of that. Until then⁠—we will each go to our own room. Nora Hanging on his neck. Goodnight, Torvald⁠—Goodnight! Helmer Kissing her on the forehead. Goodnight, my little singing-bird. Sleep sound, Nora. Now I will read my letters through. He takes his letters and goes into his room, shutting the door after him. Nora Gropes distractedly about, seizes Helmer’s domino, throws it round her, while she says in quick, hoarse, spasmodic whispers. Never to see him again. Never! Never! Puts her shawl over her head. Never to see my children again either⁠—never again. Never! Never!⁠—Ah! the icy, black water⁠—the unfathomable depths⁠—If only it were over! He has got it now⁠—now he is reading it. Goodbye, Torvald and my children! She is about to rush out through the hall, when Helmer opens his door hurriedly and stands with an open letter in his hand. Helmer Nora! Nora Ah!⁠— Helmer What is this? Do you know what is in this letter? Nora Yes, I know. Let me go! Let me get out! Helmer Holding her back. Where are you going? Nora Trying to get free. You shan’t save me, Torvald! Helmer Reeling. True? Is this true, that I read here? Horrible! No, no⁠—it is impossible that it can be true. Nora It is true. I have loved you above everything else in the world. Helmer Oh, don’t let us have any silly excuses. Nora Taking a step towards him. Torvald⁠—! Helmer Miserable creature⁠—what have you done? Nora Let me go. You shall not suffer for my sake. You shall not take it upon yourself. Helmer No tragic airs, please. Locks the hall door. Here you shall stay and give me an explanation. Do you understand what you have done? Answer me! Do you understand what you have done? Nora Looks steadily at him and says with a growing look of coldness in her face. Yes, now I am beginning to understand thoroughly. Helmer Walking about the room. What a horrible awakening! All these eight years⁠—she who was my joy and pride⁠—a hypocrite, a liar⁠—worse, worse⁠—a criminal! The unutterable ugliness of it all!⁠—For shame! For shame! Nora is silent and looks steadily at him. He stops in front of her. I ought to have suspected that something of the sort would happen. I ought to have foreseen it. All your father’s want of principle⁠—be silent!⁠—all your father’s want of principle has come out in you. No religion, no morality, no sense of duty⁠—. How I am punished for having winked at what he did! I did it for your sake, and this is how you repay me. Nora Yes, that’s just it. Helmer Now you have destroyed all my happiness. You have ruined all my future. It is horrible to think of! I am in the power of an unscrupulous man; he can do what he likes with me, ask anything he likes of me, give me any orders he pleases⁠—I dare not refuse. And I