A Doll's House: Characters (OCR A Level English Literature)

Characters

Ibsen uses his characters to symbolise various ideas prevalent in his society. He portrays how differences between characters reflect contemporary debates. Therefore it is very useful not only to learn about each character individually, but how they compare and contrast to other characters in the play.

Characters can be symbolic, representing certain ideas or ideals, so it is essential that you consider:

• societal groups or themes represented by characters 

• how characters are established

• how characters are presented via:

  • actions and motives

  • what they say and think

  • how they interact with others

  • what others say and think about them

  • their physical appearance or description

• how far the characters conform to or subvert stereotypes

• the relationships between characters

Below you will find detailed character profiles of:

Main characters

• Nora Helmer

• Torvald Helmer

• Kristine Linde

• Nils Krogstad

Other characters

• Dr Rank

• The nursemaid

Nora Helmer

• Nora Helmer, the play’s protagonist, is a young wife and mother who represents a typical middle-class woman of the time:

  • She is concerned with household matters and is secure in her status as mother, wife and mistress of the house

• Married to Torvald Helmer, a lawyer, she is introduced as happy, enjoying the comforts of her secure lifestyle:

  • Nora appears to revel in her role as a pretty and cheerful object for her husband’s pleasure

  • Her demeanour is childish and coquettish

• Torvald, her husband, addresses her using animal imagery throughout the play to allude to her vulnerability and wild, impulsive nature:

  • He habitually refers to her as “my skylark” or “my little squirrel”

• However, Nora’s character is slowly revealed to be more independent than she first appears, which suggests she adopts a false image around her husband

• Through her character, Ibsen challenges patriarchal attitudes that dissuade females from joining the labour force:

  • She is shown as resourceful and capable

  • Under duress, she tells her friend she has paid for an expensive trip without her husband’s knowledge

  • She works at night and budgets carefully, in contrast to Torvald’s assessment of her

  • She suggests this made her feel like “being a man”

• Her character’s naïve and self-absorbed attitudes are exposed in the rising action

• However, although Nora is portrayed as callous and hypocritical she is presented sympathetically:

  • She is remorseful when she realises she has been insensitive to her friend 

  • She is proud she knows what the word “instalments” means

  • Her motives were noble and she had little choice

  • Her ignorance is presented as the result of her limited experience and agency:

  • She is shown as a sheltered young woman, hidden from the real world:

  • She believes her crime is not wrong:

• Nora depicts conflicts and imbalances occurring within a marriage as a result of laws such as the Napoleonic code

• Nora’s secrecy is portrayed as a consequence of traditional attitudes to marriage and gender:

  • Nora is blatantly aware that her husband will be embarrassed if he learns she has acted on his behalf

  • Her extreme responses to Krogstad’s blackmail present her as vulnerable to her husband’s reactions to the truth

• Ibsen builds tension when Nora’s mental decline becomes apparent after her husband’s inference that she is a bad mother

• Ibsen builds suspense as the audience see Nora’s confused state unravel:

  • At first she is desperately nervous about her husband’s reactions to her secret

  • She hints that suicide is her only escape

• By the resolution, Nora is calm and clear in her intentions

• The influence of her friend, Christine Linde, is evident as she tells her husband she is going to stay with her

• Nora’s attitude changes entirely as she decides to find her own independence outside of her husband’s control 

Torvald Helmer

• Torvald Helmer is Nora's husband, a lawyer and newly promoted manager of a bank

• His traditional attitudes are illustrated through his demeaning comments to his wife:

  • Torvald’s belittling remarks are brushed off by Nora but it appears Torvald intends them to be intimate and loving 

  • However, his routine humiliation of Nora is an uncomfortable depiction of marriage in a patriarchal society

• Ibsen portrays his character as unsympathetic, especially through his sense of moral superiority

• Ibsen’s characterisation of Torvald particularly criticises hypocritical moral superiority:

  • He is presented as cold-hearted and selfish

  • His long-standing relationship with the terminally ill Dr Rank is exposed as superficial:

  • Once Krogstad removes the threat to his reputation, he contradicts his earlier principled stance on crime

• Ibsen’s portrayal of Torvald as a traditionally conservative father is particularly critical:

  • He does not spend time with his children, making a point to exit to his study when they arrive

  • He remarks how the children make the house “unbearable to anyone but mothers”

• Torvald’s pride is depicted as destructive to their relationship:

  • The many secrets Nora hides from him convey the barriers in their communication, as well as an imbalance of power within the marriage

• Torvald’s priorities toward appearances and respectability is shown as damaging:

  • He wishes to dismiss his old friend, Krogstad, mainly because he does not show the appropriate amount of formal respect

  • He becomes distressed when this is compromised, portraying his own pressures of conforming to social expectations

• Ibsen’s decision to show Torvald alone on stage in the final scene is notable:

  • He appears remorseful and distressed, yet unable to resolve his problems

  • His weak, emotional state subverts gender stereotypes 

• Ibsen’s ending suggests Torvald is punished for being ignorant to his own flaws:

  • His final question, “Miracle of miracles?” confirms his lack of understanding as to what went wrong

Kristine Linde

• Kristine Linde represents a typical single woman in 19th-century Europe

• Her arrival at the Helmers’ house is significant in that this is the catalyst for Nora’s transformation:

  • Not only does she encourage Nora to look beyond her own life, but she encourages her to be honest with her husband

  • She convinces Krogstad not to withdraw the letter, insisting that hard truths emerge 

• Her role as an independent woman is not presented positively, challenging the status quo in terms of female security:

  • Dr Rank’s ignorant comments about her circumstances highlight societal attitudes to females and work

  • Her hard and tiring life is a result of the loss of her husband:

  • She highlights the misery of unhappy marriages that are based on financial security 

• Kristine Linde acts as a foil to Nora: she is childless, bitter and astute:

  • She is portrayed as a weary and bitter woman

  • She admits that independence can make one cynical

  • Her comments to Nora suggest envy toward her family 

• Arguably, her traditional views could allude to Christian religious values:

  • Her name implies, perhaps, a close comparison with the word (and setting) ‘Christmas’

  • Her principled views on honesty and the role she plays in Nora’s “awakening” bring an omnipotence to her characterisation 

  • That she is there throughout much of the play, appearing at times of crisis to guide and help Nora, presents her as almost ethereal

• Her proposal to Krogstad shows her as a nurturing, modern woman who is rewarded with love and security in the resolution

Nils Krogstad

• Nils Krogstad, an old friend of Torvald’s, employee at Torvald’s bank and former moneylender, is the antagonist of the play:

  • He applies pressures on the protagonist and exposes the Helmers’ hypocrisies

• His character is introduced by Dr Rank, which is suggestive of the gossip he has been subject to

• He is dismissed by Dr Rank and Torvald as a nefarious and corrupt man

• However, his interactions with Nora, and then Kristine, reveal Krogstad as a victim of circumstance

• His character represents an individual forced into morally questionable actions as a result of a rigid and superficial social code:

  • His actions run parallel to Nora’s own loan and forgery

  • In this way, his character mirrors Nora’s limited choices

  • He was fired for forging a signature, had to support his sons and turned to money-lending:

• Krogstad’s challenges to Nora are initially sinister and disruptive

• However, Ibsen effectively highlights the façade of appearance as Krogstad’s empathetic and noble nature is revealed:

  • His loss of Kristine’s love due to his financial situation is sympathetic

  • He is recompensed in the resolution by her proposal 

  • He cares deeply for his sons and is desperate to earn back respect in the town

• His character explores the idea of mercy:

  • He treats Nora without mercy on the basis that no mercy has been shown to him in life

  • However, after he and Kristine Linde decide to marry, he withdraws his threats to the Helmers, showing regret and remorse

Other characters

Dr Rank

• Dr Rank is a close family friend and doctor who visits the Helmers regularly

• Dr Rank suffers from spinal tuberculosis, a condition he believes was caused by his father’s extravagant and excessive lifestyle

• His ignorance to the circumstances of others, particularly the female characters, is ironic:

  • Audiences know this is what led Nora to take out a secret loan

  • Nora tells Kristine he advised her to take Torvald abroad when he was ill:

  • His callous remarks to Kristine suggest he has little understanding or empathy for the financial hardships of a widow

• Dr Rank’s relationship with Nora initially has a positive influence on her:

  • He speaks to her on a similar level and she can be herself with him

• Dr Rank represents a wealthy single man who Nora sees as an easy escape from her financial burden

• However, once he reveals his love for her and suggests Nora has given him mixed messages over the years, she withdraws from the relationship

• Dr Rank is cynical about life and love and is confirmed correct in the resolution:

  • His pessimistic and morbid conversation as he deals with his terminal illness bores Torvald, who begins to see him as an annoyance

  • Torvald shows no sign of grief when he learns about his friend’s imminent death

The nursemaid

• Anne Marie is Nora’s former nanny, a mother figure who now looks after Nora’s children

• Her intimate and familiar relationship with Nora is presented as comforting to her:

  • She seeks Anne Marie’s advice 

  • She says she would be happy for Anne Marie to raise her children if she were to leave

• Like Nora and Kristine Linde, Anne Marie’s character depicts the necessity of sacrificial acts in a bid for financial security:

  • Anne Marie, audiences are told, had a child out of wedlock, who she was forced to give up in order to support herself