A Continuation of A Doll's House

 

Ten to fifteen years have past. It is now the late 1880s. We open on the Helmers' residence, now dimmer, lonely and more in shambles. Resting on the large sofa in the center of the room is Ivar Helmer, the youngest of Torvald and Nora's children, now fully grown. He wears a very worn-out but still fashionable green and deep blue suit coat, pants and thick black boots. Slowly, Ivar opens his eyes and sits up, rubbing his eyes and stifling yawns. Suddenly, a knock comes at the door. Ivar jumps up and freezes for a moment, his head darting back and forth before the knock comes again and Ivar dashes over to the door. He fiddles with the old lock, jamming and pulling to get it free. Finally, Ivar manages to undo it and opens the door. In walks Nora, now in her late-30s to early-40s and dressed in a modest cloak more suited to her age. Despite her age, she has a air of refinement and fortitude about her.

 

IVAR: Good day, madam.

NORA: Good day to you, sir. I hope I'm not intruding on anything important-

IVAR: Oh, no, not at all! (Regretful) Nothing much happens round here anymore.

NORA (Curiosity peaked): Might I come in? I feel I might catch a death of cold out here.

 





Ivar is taken off guard, but he steps aside. Nora enters the room, stopping short of the sofa. She approaches it.

 

IVAR: I hope you'll excuse this wigwam I refer to as a home. It's been some time since company has been a regular commodity-

 

Nora silences him with a delicate finger to her lips. She lays her gloved hand on the sofa. She looks up at the walls and the ceiling, all while still holding onto the corner of the sofa.

 

IVAR: I'm sorry, madam, is there something you came for?

NORA (Taken aback): I've come back to see what Torvald's been doing in all these years.

IVAR: Torvald Helmer?

NORA: Do you know of another?

IVAR: Only one. My father.

NORA (Stunned whisper): You never left. My faithful boy.

 

Ivar remains silent as his confused expression transforms into one of realization.

 

IVAR: M-Mother? Mother, is it really you?

NORA (Bringing him into her arms): Ivar, my dear, of course.

 

Mother and son embrace each other, making up for over a decade of separation. They separate once

more and take seats on the elegant sofa.

 

NORA: I have missed you so.

IVAR: Why did you ever leave?

NORA: Ivar...Your father forced me to leave.

IVAR: What? He would never have done a thing like-

NORA: No, no, no, not by his own will. (Referring to the house) I never lived here as anything more than a play-thing. Similar to those wood blocks which so entertained you as a child. Formless and meaningless to a fault. I had to escape, travel abroad, make my own path. This I have done to the best of my ability. I came back in part to see if Torvald had changed in any way... perhaps even moved on.

IVAR (Heart sinking): Mother...Did you-Did you wonder why I was alone here?

NORA (Worried): Why, yes I did.

IVAR (Hard for him to say): Father began his position at the bank after you left. Some years past and all seemed well. But then Father began facing financial troubles. He was always too proud to say what they were. You knew how he was.

NORA: All too well.

IVAR: Debts started flooding in. Soon Father was taken to a debtor's prison. Bob, Emmy and myself worked tirelessly to free him. Our efforts paid off, however briefly. Father slipped in and out of the jails before simply disappearing one day into thin air. We could only assume he was dead.

 

Nora wraps an arm around Ivar, which seems to comfort him somewhat.

 

NORA: Go on.

IVAR: Neither Bob nor Emmy wanted to keep the house as it reminded them too much of Father. I've been the sole owner ever since.

NORA: It must be difficult living such a life.

IVAR: There have been simple days and frustrating days in equal stride.

NORA: Ivar, you've weathered the storm multiple times over. If you can do it that much, you are safe.

 

Ivar embraces his mother once more.

 

 

FIN







In Act 2, we learn some more about the characters besides Torvald and Nora. Nils Krogstad, the man employed to Torvald at the bank as a lawyer, is revealed to be directly involved in Nora's secrets. He was the one who helped her obtain the money and now reveals that he also has a document with Nora's father's signature which was forged by Nora. This was the same crime which Krogstad was apparently exposed in committing and it gives him a considerably powerful card to play. I enjoy Krogstad as a character because he comes off as a straight-forward villain, but has some more to him. "Even a mere cashier, a scribbler, a-well, a man like me, has a certain amount of what is called 'feeling', you know." Pg. 197, which is meant to remind Nora that she and Torvald are not the only ones who have to survive and keep their reputations and livelihoods in tact. Nora must find a constant solution of suppressing any knowledge of her actions from reaching him, which proves much easier than you'd imagine. Krogstad is given much more importance throughout the Act as the force to keep Nora on her toes and the story moving. Nora is unperturbed by the end as she soon resolves to end her life out of desperation, which leaves us hanging on the edge.

Having just finished Act 1, I see a many different aspects of the upper and upper-middle class families of the late 1800s. Nora is a character who's plight garners both pity and a roll of the eyes. To me, her actions are a testament to how arrogant and superior she can be, while also suggesting that she wants to be free of her caged life and able to choose her own path. Helmer, on the other hand, is an almost singularly one note character. It is excruciating to have to listen to and accept the way he talks down to Nora and always and expects complete compliance from her. A quote which sums his personality very well, I think, would be "A songbird must have a clear voice to sing with no false notes" Pg. 179. This kind of belittling dialogue makes Helmer an intolerable and instantly unlikable character. There are fixtures of Nora's personality that are unsavory and she can come of clueless, brash or degenerate in how she brags relentlessly and doesn't always when to be gentle with words. However, Helmer has very few bright spots and it is interesting how Ibsen uses dramatic irony to reveal Helmer's annoying flaws. "Many a man can redeem his character if he freely confesses his guilt and takes his punishment." Pg. 179, this quote displays Helmer's beliefs in forgiveness and guilt. This kind of logic and reasoning reminds me of some of the practices of the Catholic faith, such as confessing sins to a priest for forgiveness. It can be relieving to unburden yourself of a dark secret or unpleasant act by simply talking about it, but it also can depend on whether the one you are telling is directly involved and will be understanding and actually forgiving. The relationship between Nora and Helmer does not seem like one where Helmer would necessarily forgive her for what she's done.

Henrik Ibsen was born on March 20, 1828 in Skien, Norway. The oldest of five children, Ibsen's family lived on a farm by the shore until poverty struck when he was eight and they were forced to move. Ibsen dropped out of school when he was only fifteen, finding work as an apothecary's apprentice for six years. It was then in 1849, at the age of 21, when Ibsen wrote his first play, Catilina, based on the style of one of his muses, William Shakespeare.

Ibsen traveled to the town of Bergan in 1851 where he met Ole Bull, a violinist and theater manager who gave the young Ibsen a crash course in everything theatrical and tips on honing his craft. Ibsen even studied abroad before returning in 1857 to manage a theater which proved to be a tiresome and frustrating task. Then, in 1862, Ibsen left Norway and settled in Italy where, three years later, he wrote the first piece which gained him attention, Brand, a five-act tragedy telling of a clergy so devoted to his faith it costs him his wife and children. The play made Ibsen famous in Scandinavia.

Ibsen moved to Germany in 1868, where, in 1879, he wrote one of his most famous pieces, A Doll's House, which stirred up controversy for how it questioned social practices. His next work, 1881's Ghosts, was even more of a shock, tackling themes of incest and venereal disease. The next year, he wrote another well-known play, An Enemy of the People, which was thought to be a response to the backlash he received from Ghosts, as this play was much more relaxed in theme. Ibsen wrote one more play in 1888, The Lady from the Sea, before returning to Norway where he crafted one of theater's most notorious characters in 1890's Hedda Gabler.

Ibsen's final years were spent writing plays involving mature characters dealing with their earlier life choices, such as 1899's When We Dead Awaken. Ibsen experienced a series if strokes in 1900 which left him incapable of writing. His last words, in Norwegian, were to a nurse commenting that he looked much better recently, to which Ibsen responded with "To the contrary!", and promptly died on May 23, 1906 in Oslo, Norway.