DH2.Questions+1-5

1. What is tormenting Nora as Act II opens? As act II opens, Nora is very Afraid that Krogstad will reveal her secret of lending money without her husband’s permission. She is very tense and nervous, she constantly checks the mail box to see if Krogstad has intended to bring the news to Torvald, while also thinking to herself that maybe his threats aren’t serious, that he can’t really have meant it.

2. What fears does she reveal as she talks to the nurse?

Nora fears that she has to be separated from her children and that there will be no one left to care for them as she does. She mentions “And if the babies didn’t have [a mother]” (73) she hoped Anne-Marie would mother them, and then refutes the statement. This is ironic as later on, she does leave her children to pursue her own goals, leaving them motherless.

3. What is significant about Nora’s account of Doctor Rank’s disease?

4. What has Mrs. Linde concluded about the source of the loan?

At the beginning of Act 2, Mrs. Linde has concluded that Dr. Rank is the source of Nora’s loan. This is because Nora has just mentioned that Dr. Rank is sick with a disease he inherited from his father, which is why she is very upset. However Nora denied the charge that Dr. Rank is the source of the loan.

5. What is Nora’s reaction?

Nora strongly insists that it wasn't Dr. Rank who lended her the money. She emphasizes that Dr. Rank is not the source of the loan, by telling Mrs. Linde that the thought had never even crossed her mind before.