HENRIK IBSEN
From A Doll's House
Helmer: No, don't go -- What are you doing there?
Nora: Taking off my fancy dress.
Helmer: Yes, do that. Try to calm yourself and get your balance again, my frightened little songbird. Don't be afraid. I have broad wings to shield you. How lovely and peaceful this little home of ours is, Nora. You are safe here; I shall watch over you like a hunted dove which I have snatched unharmed from the claws of the falcon. Your wildly beating little heart shall find peace with me. It will happen, Nora; it will take time, but it will happen, believe me. Tomorrow all this will seem quite different. Soon everything will be as it was before. I shall no longer need to remind you that I have forgiven you; your own heart will tell you that it is true. Do you really think I could ever bring myself to disown you, or even to reproach you? Ah, Nora, you don't understand what goes on in a husband's heart. There is something indescribably wonderful and satisfying for a husband in knowing that he has forgiven his wife -- forgiven her unreservedly, from the bottom of his heart. It means that she has become his property in a double sense; he has, as it were, brought her into the world anew; she is now not only his wife but also his child. From now on that is what you shall be to me, my poor, helpless, bewildered little creature. Never be frightened of anything again, Nora. Just open your heart to me. I shall be both your will and your conscience. What's this? Not in bed? Have you changed?
Nora: Yes, Torvald. I've changed.
Helmer: But why now -- so late -- ?
Nora: I shall not sleep tonight.
Helmer: But, my dear Nora --
Nora: It isn't that late. Sit down here, Torvald. You and I have a lot to talk about.
Helmer: Nora, what does this mean? You look quite drawn --
Nora: Sit down. It's going to take a long time. I've a lot to say to you.
Helmer: You alarm me, Nora. I don't understand you.
Nora: No, that's just it. You don't understand me. And I've never understood you -- until this evening. No, don't
interrupt me. Just listen to what I have to say. You and I have got to face facts, Torvald.
Helmer: What do you mean by that?
Nora: Doesn't anything strike you about the way we're sitting here?
Helmer: What?
Nora: We've been married for eight years. Does it occur to you that this is the first time that we two, you and I,
man and wife, have ever had a serious talk together?
Helmer: Serious? What do you mean, serious?
Nora: In eight whole years -- no, longer -- ever since we first met -- we have never exchanged a serious word on a
serious subject.
Helmer: Did you expect me to drag you into all my worries -- worries you couldn't possibly have helped me with?
Nora: I'm not talking about worries. I'm simply saying that we have never sat down seriously to try to get to the
bottom of anything.
Helmer: But, my dear Nora, what on earth has that got to do with you?
Nora: That's just the point. You have never understood me. A great wrong has been done to me, Torvald. First
by Papa, and then by you.
Helmer: What? But we two have loved you more than anyone in the world!
Nora: You have never loved me. You just thought it was fun to be in love with me.
Helmer: Nora, what kind of a way is this to talk?
Nora: It's the truth, Torvald. When I lived with Papa, he used to tell me what he thought about everything, so that
I never had any opinions but his. And if I did have any of my own, I kept them quiet, because he wouldn't have like
them. He called me his little doll, and he played with me just the way I played with my dolls. Then I came here to live
in your house --
Helmer: What kind of a way is that to describe our marriage?
Nora: I mean, then I passed from Papa's hands into yours. You arranged everything the way you wanted it, so
that I simply took over your taste in everything -- or pretended I did -- I don't really know -- I think it was a little of
both -- first one and then the other. Now I look back on it, it's as if I've been living here like a pauper, from hand to
mouth. I performed tricks for you, and you gave me food and drink. But that was how you wanted it. You and Papa
have done me a great wrong. It's your fault that I have done nothing with my life.
Helmer: Nora, how can you be so unreasonable and ungrateful? Haven't you been happy here?
Nora: No; never. I used to think I was; but I haven't ever been happy.
Helmer: Not -- not happy?
Nora: No. I've just had fun. You've always been very kind to me. But our home has never been anything but a
playroom. I've been your doll-wife, just as I used to be Papa's doll-child. And the children have been my dolls. I used
to think it was fun when you came in and played with me, just as they think it's fun when I go in and play games with
them. That's all our marriage has been, Torvald.
Helmer: There may be a little truth in what you say, though you exaggerate and romanticize. But from now on it'll
be different. Playtime is over. Now the time has come for education.
Nora: Whose education? Mine or the children's?
Helmer: Both yours and the children's, my dearest Nora.
Nora: Oh, Torvald, you're not the man to educate me into being the right wife for you.
Helmer: How can you say that?
Nora: And what about me? Am I fit to educate the children?
Helmer: Nora!
Nora: Didn't you say yourself a few minutes ago that you dare not leave them in my charge?
Helmer: In a moment of excitement. Surely you don't think I meant it seriously?
Nora: Yes. You were perfectly right. I'm not fitted to educate them. There's something else I must do first. I must
educate myself. And you can't help me with that. It's something I must do by myself. That's why I'm leaving you.
Helmer: What did you say?
Nora: I must stand on my own feet if I am to find out the truth about myself and about life. So I can't go on living
here with you any longer.
Helmer: Nora, Nora!
Nora: I'm leaving you now, at once. Christine will put me up for tonight --