The Final Conversation in A Dolls House :: Dolls House essays

The Final Conversation in A Dolls shackThe final scene of A Dolls House is one of the most notable and hotly debated moments in modern drama, endlessly argued about. I make no attempt here to account for all the complexities of this fascinating scene, but in one case again Id like to offer some observations to fuel further discussion.Torvalds behavior once he reads Krogstads letter totally demolishes the illusion Nora has taken hangout in, and the lectures he delivers to Nora at the start of the scene remind us unusually of what a total social prig he is, determined to ease what he can by deception and very angry at Nora for what she has done. We are right to find what he says very offensive, especially since he makes no sympathetic attempt to talk to her, to explore her motivation, to share the crisis unneurotic as two individuals at a critical point in their lives together.Naturally, the staging of the first part of this scene is absolutely crucial for make our response to what happens later. If, for example, Torvalds angry abuse leads him to hit Nora, the impact of his tirade entrust be very different indeed from what it would be if we sense a genuine pain and panic under his insults, if it deflates him rather than energizing him to wildness against herAt the same time, we need to recognize that overmuch of what Torvald says is right. If this gets out, he pass on be ruined. We know enough about his society to understand that the slightest care of criminal conduct will destroy them both (and that, we know, is so much more than just losing a job). And we have seen that for Torvald his social role is who he is, his entire identity. He has no conception of himself outside that role. So, in effect, Nora has, in his eyes, destroyed him. We may deplore the shallowness of his character, but we should not disband the intensity of his feelings or the accuracy of his perception of how society will react. Everything he believes in is in endange rment of being taken away. And thats why, once the danger has passed, he can instantly become himself again his identity has been restored.So when he utters (and keeps repeating) that line which so often earns a laugh in the modern theatre (I forgive you everything) he is making (in his eyes) a sincere concession.