This chapter presents the following content: Plot overview continued, characters and characterization, analysis of major characters (Nora Helmer, Torvald Helmer, Krogstad, Dr. Rank, Mrs. Kristine Linde). | DRAMA II Lecture 4 1 SYNOPSIS I. Plot Overview continued II. Characters and characterization III. Analysis of Major Characters 2 I. Plot Overview continued Act Two opens on the following day, Christmas Nora is restless Mrs. Linde comes over and help Nora prepare her dress for a ball party in the neighbors the following evening Nora’s suspicious behavior leads Mrs. Linde to guess that Dr. Rank is the source of Nora’s loan. Nora denies Mrs. Linde’s charge but refuses to reveal the source of her distress. 3 Torvald arrives, and Nora again begs him to keep Krogstad employed at the bank, but again Torvald refuses. When Nora presses him, he admits that Krogstad’s moral behavior isn’t all that bothers him—he dislikes Krogstad’s overly familiar attitude. Torvald and Nora argue until Torvald sends the maid to deliver Krogstad’s letter of dismissal. 4 Another twist in the plot Dr. Rank arrives and tells Nora that he knows he is close to death. She attempts to cheer him up and begins to flirt with him. She seems to be preparing to ask him to intervene on her behalf in her struggle with Torvald. Suddenly, Dr. Rank reveals to Nora that he is in love with her. In light of this revelation, Nora refuses to ask Dr. Rank for anything. 5 Krogstad arrives and demands an explanation for his dismissal. He wants respectability and has changed the terms of the blackmail: he now insists to Nora that not only that he be rehired at the bank but that he be rehired in a higher position. He then puts a letter detailing Nora’s debt and forgery in the -Helmers’letterbox. In a panic, Nora tells Mrs. Linde everything, and Mrs. Linde instructs Nora to delay Torvald from opening the letter as long as possible while she goes to speak with Krogstad. 6 In order to distract Torvald from the letterbox, Nora begins to practice the tarantella she will perform at that evening’s costume party. In her agitated emotional state, she dances wildly and violently, displeasing Torvald. Nora manages to make . | DRAMA II Lecture 4 1 SYNOPSIS I. Plot Overview continued II. Characters and characterization III. Analysis of Major Characters 2 I. Plot Overview continued Act Two opens on the following day, Christmas Nora is restless Mrs. Linde comes over and help Nora prepare her dress for a ball party in the neighbors the following evening Nora’s suspicious behavior leads Mrs. Linde to guess that Dr. Rank is the source of Nora’s loan. Nora denies Mrs. Linde’s charge but refuses to reveal the source of her distress. 3 Torvald arrives, and Nora again begs him to keep Krogstad employed at the bank, but again Torvald refuses. When Nora presses him, he admits that Krogstad’s moral behavior isn’t all that bothers him—he dislikes Krogstad’s overly familiar attitude. Torvald and Nora argue until Torvald sends the maid to deliver Krogstad’s letter of dismissal. 4 Another twist in the plot Dr. Rank arrives and tells Nora that he knows he is close to death. She attempts to cheer him up and begins to flirt
