Act 2

• Engels
• Further Education (Key Stage 5)

Goals today

Consider the symbolism of the Christmas Tree 

Consider dialogue between Nora and Anne-Marie (Nurse)

Consider rising tension and stage direction  

Looking at language in the play 

Rate the word 1 to 4

1. I do not know the word, and I have never seen it before. 

2. I've heard or seen the word before, but I'm not sure what it means. 

3. I know the word and can recognise and understand it while reading, but I probably wouldn't feel comfortable using it in writing or speech. 

4. I know the word well and can use it correctly in writing or speech. 

Abdicate

Word of the day

Abdicate (v) - to renounce or relinquish a throne, right, power or responsibility

Ab- prefix. Dicate is the root left. Dic - is a root that means "speak" = "to speak away". It originally meant to disinherit or disown your children. Around the 1600s it began to be used specifically to refer to giving up a throne or public office. 

The queen was persuaded to abdicate in favour of her son.

Words to use/learn (AWL list 1) 

Assume 

Available 

Consistent 

Identify 

Interpretation 

Occur 

Section 

 

Words to learn/use (terminology) 

Plot 

sub-plot  

Exposition 

complication 

resolution/denouement

Well-made play 

parallels & contrasts 

Write this vocabulary down in their columns 

Tick the words off as you use them in your written and spoken work. 

How is the symbolism of the Christmas tree developed?

Read Act 1 

Read the stage directions at the beginning of Act 2 and up until Mrs Linde enters.  

1. How could the "burned to their sockets" (63) reflect Nora's mood?

2. The stripped Christmas tree shows that time has passed, but it also could have a symbolic weight. What abstract idea could the Christmas tree symbolise? Look back to Act 1 to find references to the Christmas tree. 

3. What are the implications of Nora saying about her fancy dress that she "should like to tear them into a million pieces!" (63)  ? 

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colours used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Christmas tree, a festive object meant to serve a decorative purpose, symbolises Nora’s position in her household as a plaything who is pleasing to look at and adds charm to the home. There are several parallels drawn between Nora and the Christmas tree in the play. Just as Nora instructs the maid that the children cannot see the tree until it has been decorated, she tells Torvald that no one can see her in her dress until the evening of the dance. Also, at the beginning of the second act, after Nora’s psychological condition has begun to erode, the stage directions indicate that the Christmas tree is correspondingly “dishevelled.” 

Note if you notice that the stage direction indicates that a character should move towards or away from the Christmas tree. 

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Rising tension 

1. Look at the exchange between Nora and Anne (the nurse) concerning the children. What sense is there that tragedy may be on its way? 

2. Discuss the methods Nora uses to get her husband to employ Krogstad. How do these contribute to the changing atmosphere in the play? 

3. Once again, darkness falls in the act. What does Doctor Rank reveal  during this conversation with Nora?  Why do you think that Nora responds to him in the way she does? 

Although in the play Dr. Rank's ailment is called "spinal consumption", critics generally agree that the disease is actually syphilis. Ibsen suggests that the Doctor inherited the disease from his father, who was known to have lived a dissolute life with a number of different mistresses.

Find and note quotes that are relevant for these questions. 

1. Nurse " What out again in this dreadful weather? You'll catch a chill, madam" (63)

2. Nora "Yes, but, Anne-Marie, from now on I shan't be able to spend so much time with them" (63)

3. Nora "Do you think so? Do you think they'd forget their mother if she went away from them - for ever?" (64)

4. Nora "Oh if only I dared to go out! If I could be sure no one would come and nothing would happen, while I was away!" (65) 

1. Nora "Wonderful! But wasn't it nice of me to give in to you?" (69) 

2. Nora "If your little squirrel asked you really prettily to grant her a wish -" (69) 

3. Nora "I'd turn myself into a fairy, and dance for you in the moonlight, Torvald." (69)

4. Nora " This man writes for the most beastly newspapers - you said so yourself. He could do you tremendous harm. I'm so dreadfully frightened of him." (70)

5. Nora "Torvald - we could be free from every worry - you I and the children." (70) 

Infantilisation 

loss of social status

Danger to the family. Loss of reputation. 

Flattery

Goals today

You will consider some aspects of Act 2

You will collect some information about a new symbol 

You will compare and contrast two productions 

Word of the day

Superfluous (adj) - beyond what is necessary, excessive

The speaker's explanation of the process was superfluous; the audience already understood the objective. 

Word of the day

Decide whether each word below is a synonym or an antonym of superfluous 

extra   inessential   bare    wasteful     necessary

minimal     extravagant       surplus     sparse   scanty

Word of the day

Decide whether each word below is a synonym or an antonym of superfluous 

Synonyms: extra, inessential, wasteful, extravagant, surplus 

Antonyms: bare, necessary, minimal, sparse, scanty

Add to your AWL list 

obstinate: unreasonably determined, especially to act in a particular way and not to change at all, despite what anyone else says

Narrow-minded = not willing to accept ideas or ways of behaving that are different from your own.

Petty = complaining too much about things that are not important:

Flattery = excessive and insincere praise, given especially to further one's own interests.

1. Rank " These last few days I've been going through the books of this poor body of mine and find I am bankrupt." (74)

2. Rank "I shall know pretty certainly when it will be that the horrors of dissolution will begin." 

3. Rank " To have to pay this penalty for another man's sin?"

4. Rank " My poor innocent spine must pay for the fun of my father" (70) 

5. Nora [looks at him for a moment]. For shame! [Hits him lightly on the ear with the stockings.] That's to punish you. [Folds them up again.] 

Rising tension 

4. Krogstad raises a hideous vision of Nora’s body being found after she has committed suicide. How far does the audience believe this is a likely outcome? 

5. How are blackmail and manipulation used to dramatic effect in this act? 

Find and mark quotes that are relevant for these questions. 

1. Krogstad "If you stood there with ever so much money in your hand, I would never part with your bond."

2. Krogstad "Or even something worse --" 

3. Krogstad "I'm not asking your husband for a penny." 

4. Krogstad "I want to rehabilitate myself "

 5. Krogstad "get into the Bank again, in a higher position. Your husband must make a place for me." 

Krogstad "Under the ice, perhaps? Down into the cold, coal-black water? And then, in spring, to float up to the surface, all horrible and unrecognisable, with your hair fallen out--" 

Act 2 

1. What was in Krogstad's letter to Helmer?

2. How does Mrs. Linde plan to help Nora?

3. By the end of Act Two, Nora has come to a decision. What is it?

Goals today

Sit with your chosen partner 

You will collect some information about a symbol 

You will compare and contrast two productions 

You will consider the system in which our characters are operating 

You will look closely at an extract and prepare a structure for a guiding question

Word of the day

Emulate (vb) - to try to equal by imitating. 

Use emulate in your own sentence that shows your understanding of the word. 

Many teenagers try to emulate their favourite influencers by copying their fashions. 

Tarantella

is a folk dance of Italy characterized by light, quick steps and teasing, flirtatious behaviour between partners; women dancers frequently carry tambourines. The music is in lively 6/8 time. The tarantella’s origin is connected with tarantism, a disease or form of hysteria that appeared in Italy in the 15th to the 17th century and that was obscurely associated with the bite of the tarantula spider; victims seemingly were cured by frenzied dancing. All three words ultimately derive from the name of the town of Taranto, Italy. Tarantellas were written for the piano by Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Carl Maria von Weber.

Read Act 1 

Comparative 

What are the differences and similarities between the two productions of the Tarantella in A Doll's House? 

similarities Young Vic 2012 BBC 1992	Differences Young Vic BBC 1992
Mood/atmosphere
Concept(s)
Physicality
Development Nora's character
Free choice

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Act 1

Concepts HL lang & lit 

A Doll's House 

Concepts we generated: 

Identity, (marriage) relationships, ethics, gender roles, money 

Act 1

Concepts HL literature 

Concepts we generated: 

Identity, (marriage) relationships, power dynamics, society, deceit

Read Act 1 

Patriarchal society 

What are the parts of the system?

Who are the people connected to the system?

How do the people in the system interact with each other and with the parts of the system?

How does a change in one element of the system affect the various parts and people connected to the system?

Discuss these questions with your partner

Read Act 1 

Read the extract from the end of Act 2 

1. Where does this extract appear in the play? What happens before and after it? Think of the position it takes in the narrative arc or in Freytag's pyramid. 

2. Annotate all stage and speech directions. How do these convey information about the mood and tension in this part of the play? How do they convey information regarding symbols in the play? 

3. Look closely and annotate the diction choices that Ibsen gives to each character. How do these choices reflect their position in the system and their relationship to other characters? 

Read Act 1 

Guiding question 

How does Ibsen convey a sense of Nora’s desperation? How does each of the other characters react to the signs of it?

Make a plan for a one or two paragraph response. The number of paragraphs is dependent on the number of main points that you wish to make. 

Read Act 1 

-Construct a topic sentence that can be debated and include the topic, thesis or theme of this extract and why Ibsen includes it in the play. 

- short summary of the content of the extract. 

- two, three or more quotes from the extract to support your TS.

- analysis of the the reason why Ibsen included these techniques in this extract. 

-Link to your TS

What you should include in your paragraph 

Write your paragraph(s) and put them in your class notebook portfolio.

Share your topic sentence

Read Act 1 

Write your paragraph(s) and put them in your class notebook portfolio.

Read Act 1 

In this extract taken from the end of Act 2, Ibsen successfully conveys Nora’s desperation and increases the tension in the play. In the extract Nora practices dancing the Tarantella to distract Torvald from looking at the letters in the letter box and thus discovering Nora’s secret. Dr Rank and Mrs Linde act as onlookers and are witnesses to the conflict in the Helmer’s relationship. Ibsen employs stage directions to reveal the integral use of symbols which support the concept of marital relationships. The several doorways are blocked by the male characters as Dr Rank stands initially “in the doorway” and Torvald moves “towards the hall door” allowing Nora no escape from her situation. She is forced to play the “first bars of the Tarantella” to stop Torvald “in the doorway”. Nora’s feelings of entrapment are thus highlighted for the audience through the character’s physical confinement on the stage as all the exits are barred. Whilst dancing Nora’s “hair comes down and falls over her shoulders”; however, she pays no heed to this. This stage direction adds to her loss of control and her anxiety. Her carefully constructed exterior pose is starting to unravel and, similarly to the Christmas tree become dishevelled. 

Read Act 1 

Furthermore, Nora’s despair is highlighted through her interaction with Torvald, Dr Rank and Mrs Linde. Ibsen uses specific diction choices to illustrate a change in Torvald and Nora’s relationship. Whereas Torvald referred to Nora using pleasant endearments in Act 1, he now reveals his frustration with her and tries to exert his control again by using extreme infantilizing and demeaning phrases. For example, “you helpless little mortal” and “The child shall have her way”. The relationship with Dr Rank has also changed during Act 2. When he states, “Let me play for her”, the audience understands how poignant his role has become as supporter and secret admirer. Torvald’s cry of “this is sheer madness” reveals how Nora is viewed by the two male characters, and Mrs Linde stands “spell-bound in the doorway” and only utters Oh! This confirms for the audience that Nora has become isolated from these characters and is starting to feel that her position is hopeless. All her tricks to manipulate the other characters appear to no longer be working.