SCENE: Krogstad and Helmer at the bank. They are sitting in Helmer's new office.
KROGSTAD[calmly]: I don't quite understand what you're saying, Torvald.
TORVALD[rising with an angry tone in his voice]: What do you mean you don't understand?! You basically ruined my life! My wife has left me and now you expect me to just magically give you your job back?! Has everyone gone mad, or is it I who have gone crazy? You are an awful man, Krogstad, an awful, wretched, hypocrite of a man!
KROGSTAD: First of all, it was you who ruined your marriage. Second of all, I only ask for my job or any smaller job to support my family. [Offended] And please, tell my why I'm a hypocrite.
TORVALD: I'll tell you why! It's because you told me that you would never do anything against the law, and you should know, being a lawyer, that forgery is, in fact, a crime.
KROGSTAD[rising to leave but still calm]: Look, I'm sorry Nora left you, and I'm sorry that you are depressed and can't find solace in anything else but a mere drink. I'm sorry this happened to you, I truly am, but it is not my fault that it happened. Your wife... well... ex-wife, made a choice and her choice was to break the law. Plus, neither of us can help the fact that she ran off with that Dr. Rank fellow. I must say, she must see a lot in a man who is decrepit and dying. However, this does not mean you can just keep evading your duties to the bank. I'm sorry, Torvald, but all your feelings for Nora need to be suppressed and put on the back-burner for a bit while you try to figure this job out. [He starts to leave out the office door.]
TORVALD[chasing after him and yelling]: You have no right to say what you just said to me! You don't know true love do you! You're lover left you for some filthy rich swine who wound up dying anyway. Do you think she ever really loved you? She obviously did not. She is just crawling back to you now because she knows that your incompetence will fall for her feminine tricks!
KROGSTAD[offended and slightly mad at Torvald, he pauses and says]: Goodbye, Mr. Helmer. [Leaves without looking back.]
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Act 2
"Someone's coming! No - there's no one there" (Ibsen 181).
By the end of Act Two, Nora is being haunted by the mere thought of Krogstad. Nora, unlike her normally spirited self, is now rattled by his words of reproach. Nora's hysterics lead Mrs. Linde to believe that it wasn't actually Dr, Rank who Nora had borrowed the money from, but in reality, Krogstad. Here, we, as readers, experience the change in Mrs. Linde's character. Kristina once seemed like an old friend in search of a job. However, she tells Nora, "There was a time when he would gladly have done anything for me" (Ibsen 202). Does Mrs. Linde have her own little secret? Could she have had something at one point with Krogstad? Alas, we will have to keep reading to find out!
During this act, we also see the reason for society's distrust in Krogstad. Helmer reveals Krogstad's disreputable position and why Krogstad disgusts him. In this moment, we see a genuine moral of Helmer's. This situation is like real life. When you think about it, many people in the office building may not fancy their coworkers. If a boss has a sordid worker, it's not in their best interest to keep the person with a record when they can have a clean person come and work with them. Nora's situation also connects to real life. After hearing her husband admit his feelings about Krogstad's decisions, she realizes that Torvald will never love her. This could jeopardize her relationship. Keeping secrets in a real-life relationship could determine the difference between happiness and divorce. Ibsen's A Doll's House is easy to relate to on many levels, including this one.
Towards the end, Nora starts to doubt herself. Any reader can see this. She has started to become paranoid, doubtful, and scared. She starts to think of ways she might be able to free her family of such a travesty. She thinks that if anyone were to find out, that her whole family would be shamed; especially her. She contemplates leaving... No. She can't do that because she would still have to live without being able to see her children. She thinks about telling Helmer everything... No. It might break his heart. What about...death?
By the end of Act Two, Nora is being haunted by the mere thought of Krogstad. Nora, unlike her normally spirited self, is now rattled by his words of reproach. Nora's hysterics lead Mrs. Linde to believe that it wasn't actually Dr, Rank who Nora had borrowed the money from, but in reality, Krogstad. Here, we, as readers, experience the change in Mrs. Linde's character. Kristina once seemed like an old friend in search of a job. However, she tells Nora, "There was a time when he would gladly have done anything for me" (Ibsen 202). Does Mrs. Linde have her own little secret? Could she have had something at one point with Krogstad? Alas, we will have to keep reading to find out!
During this act, we also see the reason for society's distrust in Krogstad. Helmer reveals Krogstad's disreputable position and why Krogstad disgusts him. In this moment, we see a genuine moral of Helmer's. This situation is like real life. When you think about it, many people in the office building may not fancy their coworkers. If a boss has a sordid worker, it's not in their best interest to keep the person with a record when they can have a clean person come and work with them. Nora's situation also connects to real life. After hearing her husband admit his feelings about Krogstad's decisions, she realizes that Torvald will never love her. This could jeopardize her relationship. Keeping secrets in a real-life relationship could determine the difference between happiness and divorce. Ibsen's A Doll's House is easy to relate to on many levels, including this one.
Towards the end, Nora starts to doubt herself. Any reader can see this. She has started to become paranoid, doubtful, and scared. She starts to think of ways she might be able to free her family of such a travesty. She thinks that if anyone were to find out, that her whole family would be shamed; especially her. She contemplates leaving... No. She can't do that because she would still have to live without being able to see her children. She thinks about telling Helmer everything... No. It might break his heart. What about...death?
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Act 1
Here we come to the conclusion of Act 1, a sad, sad time for any audience of a play. However, there's still two more acts to go! At the top of the act we meet the lovely couple Nora and Torvald Helmer. They have a very... interesting relationship. Nora, being the gutsy character she is, doesn't show this side to Torvald. His demeaning character makes her take on the role of a frivolous wife; always asking him for money, playing like she's beneath him, and telling him that she can't manage without him. In one part she even says, "Yes, Torvald, I can't do anything without you to help me" (Ibsen 178). Alas, her squandering has reason behind it. When trying to save her husband though, she makes the brave action of forging her father's signature. This is where Krogstad comes in. Krogstad has a blistered past as well and is trying to recover his image. Nonetheless, he also holds a false facade. His sneaky personality gives him the power to come into contact with the thing that could ruin Nora's marriage. He knows about her forgery and comes back at her with, "The curious thing, Mrs. Helmer, is that your father signed this note of hand three days after his death" (Ibsen 174).
Another character we meet in Act 1 is Mrs. Linde. Looking for a job, Mrs. Linde comes to Nora for help after hearing that Torvald is being promoted to bank manager in the new year. With his new advancement, Mrs. Linde hopes he can land her a job at the bank. If you were in Torvald's position, would you succumb to your wife's influence in letting her friend join the bank? Dr. Rank, another man we meet along the way, is a doctor with tuberculosis of the spine. The poor man is holding on by a string. Out of the blue he professes his love to Nora. She is shocked by this and tells him that she must be faithful to her husband who loves her dearly. This reminds me of a TV show called The Office. On this sitcom, the boss Michael always flirts with his young receptionist Pam and tells her frequently how attractive she is. This reminds me of old Dr. Rank hitting on Nora...yuck!
Another character we meet in Act 1 is Mrs. Linde. Looking for a job, Mrs. Linde comes to Nora for help after hearing that Torvald is being promoted to bank manager in the new year. With his new advancement, Mrs. Linde hopes he can land her a job at the bank. If you were in Torvald's position, would you succumb to your wife's influence in letting her friend join the bank? Dr. Rank, another man we meet along the way, is a doctor with tuberculosis of the spine. The poor man is holding on by a string. Out of the blue he professes his love to Nora. She is shocked by this and tells him that she must be faithful to her husband who loves her dearly. This reminds me of a TV show called The Office. On this sitcom, the boss Michael always flirts with his young receptionist Pam and tells her frequently how attractive she is. This reminds me of old Dr. Rank hitting on Nora...yuck!
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Henrik Ibsen
Welcome to my blog! My name is Michaela Ryan and I've learned a lot of interesting things this year in Mrs. Santos' English 2 class. Two of my favorite readings this year were "All" by Bei Dao and "Also All" by Shu Ting. These ones struck me in particular because they reflected two different ways of viewing the world around you. "All" is a very glum and almost depressing piece, while "Also All" shines a positive light on these situations.
Today we are talking about Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen was actually very interesting. He was from Norway and was the oldest of five children in his family. At a young age, he showed interest in the arts, however he didn't express any theatrical genius. After having to give up an affluent lifestyle, he and his family (mom, dad, and four younger siblings) moved to a farm where he spent much of his time painting and reading. At fifteen, he stopped school to become an apprentice at an apothecary. There he wrote poetry and painted still. He was largely influenced by William Shakespeare. This later resulted in many pieces of literature including Brand which he wrote during a self-exile period in Italy. He had left his family in hopes of fulfilling a financial crisis that plagued them back home.
The title of A Doll's House may pertain to the play in different ways. For example, if you see a child playing with figures in a doll house, you see that the child can easily change who the character is from day to day or from time to time as they play with the set. These characters can change just like people can. In the play, one of the themes is identification. People in A Doll's House misidentify characters and how they truly are to be. This is how the play's title relates to the story and themes/ symbols of the play.
http://www.famousauthors.org/henrik-ibsen
http://www.biography.com/people/henrik-ibsen-37014#synopsis
Today we are talking about Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen was actually very interesting. He was from Norway and was the oldest of five children in his family. At a young age, he showed interest in the arts, however he didn't express any theatrical genius. After having to give up an affluent lifestyle, he and his family (mom, dad, and four younger siblings) moved to a farm where he spent much of his time painting and reading. At fifteen, he stopped school to become an apprentice at an apothecary. There he wrote poetry and painted still. He was largely influenced by William Shakespeare. This later resulted in many pieces of literature including Brand which he wrote during a self-exile period in Italy. He had left his family in hopes of fulfilling a financial crisis that plagued them back home.
The title of A Doll's House may pertain to the play in different ways. For example, if you see a child playing with figures in a doll house, you see that the child can easily change who the character is from day to day or from time to time as they play with the set. These characters can change just like people can. In the play, one of the themes is identification. People in A Doll's House misidentify characters and how they truly are to be. This is how the play's title relates to the story and themes/ symbols of the play.
http://www.famousauthors.org/henrik-ibsen
http://www.biography.com/people/henrik-ibsen-37014#synopsis
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