Film Accounts - Part Three
So we are currently picking up from the beginning area of the second act. Nora has spoken to Torvald regarding Krugstad keeping his job and Christine Linde not getting it but he dismissed it and sent Krugstad a letter regarding his dismissal, Krugstad then comes and visits Nora by surprise.
The realisation of what Nora has done has finally come to surface and even Mr Krugstad can realise as he states that she has 'a little clearer idea, than you [she] had yesterday of what it is you [she] has done?'. The dramatic tension is built and the audience is constantly anticipating whether Torvald and Chrstine will find out what Nora has done and just how far Krugstad can threaten and control her. Nora is still naive though regarding money and tries to tell Krugstad that she'll pay him more money in due course, Krugstad explains how he wants to 'rehabilitate myself [himself]' - this contrasts with Nora's obsession for money which is shown in the beginning of Act I as she constantly discusses spending money and being given a Christmas present of money from Torvald. This highlights how not everything can be bought and just as Nora's freedom cannot be bought nor can her place in society as an independent and free thinking woman. Krugstad posts a letter to Torvald explaining everything that has happened; Christine finds out as she sees him leaving and suspiciously comments that she will help Nora as 'there was a time when he wold gladly do anything' for her. Showing that there is an unknown relationship that the audience is unaware of.
Nora uses her womanly and wifely ways to try and entice Torvald into not reading the letter later on in the night. Torvald looks at her in a sympathetic manner and says that 'this evening I [he] will be wholly and absolutely at your [her] service, you helpless little mortal'. The fact that her husband is calling her these things makes her seems like she cannot live without him and that she serves no purpose in life but to please him, making her appear worthless and invaluable. Nora is subject to whatever Torvald wants as she dances the tarantella for their party that evening she says 'criticise me, and correct me as you play' showing how she will mould herself to fit the perfect image that Torvald has in his mind for her - his little song bird. The irony when she is dancing is when Torvald says 'your dancing as if your life depended on it' - little does he know the entire audience realises that she literally is dancing for her lfe, as it is symbolic of the rest of the time left she has to reveal what she has done, stop Mr Krugstad's letter reaching her husband or stopping him accusing her of fraud.
Torvald continues to demoralise Nora, explaining how naive and young she is by constantly referring to her being a child. He discusses that 'the child will have her way' and 'it is simply nothing more than the childish nervousness I was telling you of' to Dr Rank. If Torvald merely sees her as a child and therefore not an equal he is subjecting her to the stereotypical image of women that they had in the late nineteenth century in Norway.
Good, thoughtful writing and reflection. Excellent stuff. The phrase "womanly and wifely ways" is nicely alliterative, but are you using it ironically? Are there nuances of behaviour to pick out here? Good to pick up on ironies (dramatic ironies in a play?) and to talk about the response of the audience. I wonder if it might be worth commenting on the ways in which the actors on stage interpret the parts and the lines and to what extent your experience of the play is shaped by Ibsen's (translated) language and/or the performances and/or the direction? Don't be tempted to be too glib with context; things are rarely as simple as they seem. I look forward to the final post on your experience of this production.
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