little skylark, your doll, which you would in future treat with doubly gentle care, because it was so brittle and fragile.
Getting up. Torvald—it was then it dawned upon me that for eight years I had been living here with a strange man, and had borne him three children—. Oh, I can’t bear to think of it! I could tear myself into little bits!
Helmer
Sadly. I see, I see. An abyss has opened between us—there is no denying it. But, Nora, would it not be possible to fill it up?
Nora
As I am now, I am no wife for you.
Helmer
I have it in me to become a different man.
Nora
Perhaps—if your doll is taken away from you.
Helmer
But to part!—to part from you! No, no, Nora, I can’t understand that idea.
Nora
Going out to the right. That makes it all the more certain that it must be done.
She comes back with her cloak and hat and a small bag which she puts on a chair by the table.
Helmer
Nora, Nora, not now! Wait until tomorrow.
Nora
Putting on her cloak. I cannot spend the night in a strange man’s room.
Helmer
But can’t we live here like brother and sister—?
Nora
Putting on her hat. You know very well that would not last long.
Puts the shawl round her. Goodbye, Torvald. I won’t see the little ones. I know they are in better hands than mine. As I am now, I can be of no use to them.
Helmer
But some day, Nora—some day?
Nora
How can I tell? I have no idea what is going to become of me.
Helmer
But you are my wife, whatever becomes of you.
Nora
Listen, Torvald. I have heard that when a wife deserts her husband’s house, as I am doing now, he is legally freed from all obligations towards her. In any case, I set you free from all your obligations. You are not to feel yourself bound in the slightest way, any more than I shall. There must be perfect freedom on both sides. See, here is your ring back. Give me mine.
Helmer
That too?
Nora
That too.
Helmer
Here it is.
Nora
That’s right. Now it is all over. I have put the keys here. The maids know all about everything in the house—better than I do. Tomorrow, after I have left her, Christine will come here and pack up my own things that I brought with me from home. I will have them sent after me.
Helmer
All over! All over!—Nora, shall you never think of me again?
Nora
I know I shall often think of you, the children, and this house.
Helmer
May I write to you, Nora?
Nora
No—never. You must not do that.
Helmer
But at least let me send you—
Nora
Nothing—nothing—
Helmer
Let me help you if you are in want.
Nora
No. I can receive nothing from a stranger.
Helmer
Nora—can I never be anything more than a stranger to you?
Nora
Taking her bag. Ah, Torvald, the most wonderful thing of all would have to happen.
Helmer
Tell me what that would be!
Nora
Both you and I would have to be so changed that—. Oh, Torvald, I don’t believe any longer in wonderful things happening.
Helmer
But I will believe in it. Tell me! So changed that—?
Nora
That our life together would be a real wedlock. Goodbye.
She goes out through the hall.
Helmer
Sinks down on a chair at the door and buries his face in his hands. Nora! Nora!
Looks round, and rises. Empty. She is gone.
A hope flashes across his mind. The most wonderful thing of all—?
The sound of a door shutting is heard from below.
Colophon
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A Doll’s House
was published in 1879 by
Henrik Ibsen.
It was translated from Danish in 1910 by
R. Farquharson Sharp.
This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Asher Smith,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2001 by
Martin Adamson and David Widger
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Internet Archive.
The cover page is adapted from
Dolls’ House of Petronella Oortman,
a painting completed around 1710 by
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