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

The Final Conversation in A Dolls HouseThe final scene of A Dolls House is one of the nearly famous and hotly debated moments in modern drama, endlessly argued about. I organise no attempt here to account for all the complexities of this fascinating scene, solely in one case again Id like to offer some observations to fuel hike discussion.Torvalds behaviour once he reads Krogstads letter totally demolishes the illusion Nora has taken refuge in, and the lectures he delivers to Nora at the start of the scene remind us unmistakably of what a total social prig he is, pertinacious to salvage what he can by deception and very uncivilised at Nora for what she has done. We are right to find what he says very offensive, in particular since he makes no sympathetic attempt to talk to her, to explore her motivation, to divvy up the crisis together as two individuals at a critical charge in their lives together.Naturally, the staging of the first part of this scene is absolutely deci sive for shaping our response to what happens later. If, for example, Torvalds angry abuse leads him to hit Nora, the impact of his flier testament be very different indeed from what it would be if we wizard a genuine pain and panic under his insults, if it deflates him rather than energise him to violence against herAt the same time, we need to recognize that much of what Torvald says is right. If this gets out, he will be ruined. We know enough about his society to find out that the slightest accusation 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 graphic symbol is who he is, his entire personal 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 non dismiss the intensity of his feelings or the accuracy of his perception of how society will react. Everything he believes in is in danger 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 joke in the modern theatre (I forgive you everything) he is make (in his eyes) a sincere concession.