1. How do the following contribute to the characterizations of Nora at the beginning of the play: (a) her husband's nicknames for her, (b) her fondness for sweets, (c) her games with her children, (d) her prodigality with money, and (e) her deceptions? What evidence is there that these characteristics may reflect both her own nature and conformity to her husband's expectations of her? What definition of marriage does she imply in her remarks to Mrs. Linde about how she may continue to act as long as she remains "young and pretty" (page 1089, Act I)? It was socially proper at the time of the play for Norwegian wives to address their husbands by their last names; what does Nora's use of Helmer's first name suggest about their relationship?
2. What are various functions of Nora's conversation with Mrs. Linde in Act 1? Consider it from these perspectives: (a) the exposition of prior events and the definition of Nora's dilemma; (b) further revelations of Nora's character, both in the past and during the conversation; (c) the insight into herself that Nora gains from Mrs. Linde's history; (d) definitions of legal and moral standards of the time indicated by the prior actions of both women.
3. What are the symbolic meanings of the title? Why is it more appropriate than A Doll's House? Is Nora the only "doll" in the play?
4. How much time passes during the present action of the play, from the opening of Act I to the final curtain? What events that occurred before the first act may be considered causes for the present action? What events that take place during the present are reported rather than dramatized on the stage?
5. What is the significance of Mrs. Linde's former and present relationship to Krogstad? To what extent can Krogstad be labeled "villain"? Compare his motives and actions (in the past and in the present) with those of Helmer; with those of Dr. Rank.
6. Characterize Dr. Rank. What are his strengths? His weaknesses? Structurally and morally he may be contrasted to Krogstad--but is he a model of virtue?
7. The major characters can be described thus: Nora and Helmer are protagonist and antagonist; Mrs. Linde is a foil to Nora; and both Krogstad and Dr. Rank are foils to Helmer. By evaluating the actions and motives of the foil characters, locate Nora and Helmer on a scale of human value. To what extent do they offer them examples of actions to be avoided?
8. What positive gains does Nora make in the course of the action? What must she learn in order to perform her final act? Is that act a triumph or a failure, or some of both? (For the play's first performance in Berlin, Ibsen was pressured into creating a conventionally "happy ending"--Nora is persuaded by Helmer not to leave him for the sake of their children, and so sacrifices herself to their need for a mother. Why is the present ending truer to the themes Ibsen presents?)
9. Compare Nora and Helmer as developing characters. What opportunities for change does Helmer have? How does he respond to them? Consider the extent to which Nora and Helmer share the responsibility for having created a "doll house" of their marriage. Evaluate Nora's leaving him as an opportunity for Helmer.
10. From the first moments of the play, money is a recurring topic. Consider the importance it has in the motivations and actions of the five major characters. Can you establish a rank-order of more or less admirable attitudes toward it? Can you separate examples of genuine need from examples of desire for gain? Is the influence of money on the lives of these characters limited to the time and society in which they lived, or are there parallels to our time?
11. Consider the ways in which the marriage of Nora and Helmer is typical rather than uniquely theirs.
12. Assess the thematic importance of deception and honesty, of self-deception and self-discovery.
13. Explore the implications of this interpretation: "All Doll House represents a woman imbued with the idea of becoming a person, but it proposes nothing categorical about women becoming people; in fact, its real theme has nothing to do with the sexes. It is the irrepressible conflict of two different personalities which have founded themselves on two radically different estimates of reality" (Robert M. Adams, "Ibsen on the Contrary," in Modern Drama, ed. Anthony Caputi [New York: Norton, 1966], 345).