Summary and Analysis of Act 1

The play kicks off on a Christmas eve, and the image of the house drawn is that of a tasteful and comfortable one, as opposed to an extravagant one. Ironically, however, Nora's extravagance is laid bare for everyone to see, right from the onset when she gives the porter a shilling instead of the six pence he asks for.

The moment the porter leaves, she hands over the Christmas tree she has bought to Helen, the maid, and tells her to hide it so that the children do not see it until that evening when it's dressed. She then eats a few macaroons before asking her husband to come from his study and see whatever she has bought. When he does, he realizes that she has spent recklessly just because he will be getting a salary increment soon. Helmer confirms her extravagance by referring to her as a spendthrift (p. 2). Before this, he calls her pet names: little lark and little squirrel, names that exhibit his belittling of her as will be further discussed in subsequent sub-topics.

Among the things she has bought are a new suit for Ivar, a sword and a trumpet for Bob and a doll's bedstead for Emmy. These play items reveal the difference in gender roles in their community--boys are trained to be soldiers and professionals while girls are taught how to be mothers (to take care of children) right from childhood.

Regarding Nora's suggestion that they borrow money in order to  live a good life, Helmer argues that that would be imprudent as such a survival tactic has no freedom or beauty, and that they would rather continue struggling for a little while longer until the new year, when he will be confirmed as the new bank manager. This suggestion makes Nora 'droop her wings', and when Helmer notices this, he gives her two pounds in an attempt to cheer her up.

Helmer calls her extravagant for yet another time upon seeing what she has bought. He, however, realizes that she has not bought anything for herself and wishes to buy her anything she would like. True to Helmer's observation that she has a great liking for money, she asks Helmer to give her money so that she buys something herself.

A discussion on her extravagance continues. Helmer talks of how incapable of saving she is and that she spends every single penny. In her defence, she argues that it's because skylarks and squirrels have many expenses. On his part, Helmer believes extravagance runs in their blood, and that she inherited it from her father. On the contrary, Nora has a different picture of her father and even wishes she had inherited more of her father's qualities. To this, Helmer says he would not have wished her to be different from what she is.

Helmer then notices that she appears uneasy. He suspects that she must have broken some of his rules. Particularly, he suspects that she must have gone to the confectioner's and nibbled some sweets. She disputes this and assures him that she has not even bitten a macaroon or two.

Helmer encourages Nora to keep her Christmas secrets and reveal them at night once the Christmas tree is lit. Nora then inquires whether he had invited Dr. Rank for dinner but he tells her that Dr. Rank does not need to be invited as he will just come to dinner as a matter of course. Nevertheless, he promises to invite him when he visits this morning.

A bell is heard, and Helmer asks Nora to report that he's not in in case it's a caller. The maid comes in and reports that a lady has come to see Nora and that Dr. Rank has also come but has gone straight to Helmer's room.  He goes to his room to meet the doctor as Mrs. Linde is ushered in.  Nora does not recognize the lady at first but after a short while she does. They sit together by the stove and a long discussion ensues.

In the discussion, it is revealed that Mrs. Linde is now a widow, childless and motherless. She does not even have her brothers to work for any more as they have become independent. Her husband died three years ago and all his wealth just disappeared. Nora reveals that her husband had been made manager of a bank. She's happy that they will now have heaps of money in their house. She promises to ask Helmer to give Mrs. Linde a job at the bank. When Christine appears to be having a superior attitude over her, she makes it known to her that she was the one that saved her husband when his doctor said that taking him down south was what he needed to recover. She tells of how she borrowed two hundred and fifty pounds for this purpose. Mrs. Linde thinks doing this was wrong since its wrong for a wife to borrow money without the consent of her husband. However, Nora reminds her that she had no other option yet her husband was critically ill. She argues that it's not imprudent for a wife to save the life of her husband. She further says that she will only tell her husband about it when she is no longer as attractive as she is today--when her husband has no much interest in her. She believes that telling him now will harm their good relationship because Helmer has a very strong opinion about borrowing money and a manly independence that will not allow him to accept the fact that he owes his wife anything.

Nora also confesses how difficult it has been for her to pay Krogstad the money he lent her. She talks of how she has been saving every penny she could save despite the challenge of having to ensure that her husband eats good food and her children dress well.  This struggle had once in a while driven her to the point of imagining having an affair with a well-to-do rich old man that was ready to help her clear the debt.

 

Krogstad comes in, making Nora tremble because she thinks he has come to reveal her secret. He, however, assures her that he is only interested in talking about his job at the bank. With this assurance, she allows him to go and meet Helmer in his study.  Mrs. Linde reveals to Nora that he once knew Krogstad and that he was once a solicitor's clerk in their town. Nora tells her that he was unhappily married and now has several children to bring up alone after his wife's death.

Dr. Rank comes out of Helmer's study and joins Nora and Mrs. Linde. He shows his contempt for Krogstad by telling the two women that Krogstad is morally diseased. According to him, people that feel wretched and those that are morally diseased should not struggle to prolong their lives as that's tantamount to prolonging their agony. Contrary to Rank's opinion, Mrs. Linde argues that the sick are the ones that need care the most, but Rank goes further to refute this observation by  insisting that that is what has been turning the world into a sick-house.

Helmer comes in after having released Krogstad. Nora gets Mrs. Linde and him introduced. She goes further to ask Helmer to get Mrs. Linde, who she claims is good at book-keeping, a job. Helmer promises to get Mrs. Linde something to do at the bank. This news makes her overwhelmingly happy. She, Helmer and Rank then leave the house together.

The nurse brings in children, who start playing hide and seek with their mother. A few minutes elapse before Krogstad appears again.  she takes the children to another room, locks them there then comes back to ask Krogstad why he had come back.  He inquires whether Mrs. Linde is to have a job at the bank, and Nora's answer is affirmative. She brags of having been the one that convinced Helmer to find Christine the job. As a result, Krogstad asks her to use this same influence over her husband to keep Krogstad's job at the bank. When she protests by claiming she has no such influence, he tells her that that is only because she does not have the will to influence him. He goes further to blackmail her by reminding her that she had forged her father's signature on the bond he signed with her before he gave her the money. He reminds her that her father had died on 29th September yet his signature on the bond was dated 2nd October, meaning that her father had signed the bond when he was three days dead. She defends herself by saying that she could not have troubled her dying father with news that her husband was seriously ill. She goes further to argue that laws should at least be lenient to people whose motives are as well meaning as hers. Her prostetations notwithstanding, Krogstad reminds her that laws are blind to motives.  Krogstad, after promising to ensure that Nora loses her position if he loses his, leaves, and the children come back into the room, wanting to continue playing with their mother. However, she's so disturbed to play with them. So,  she sends them back to the room and shuts the door.

Helmer comes back with papers under his arm. Nora tries to lie to him that no one had been in the house. She's however, not lucky as Helmer had seen Krogstad on his way back to the house. Surprisingly, he's observant enough to notice that Krogstad had visited in order to convince Nora to say a good word for him and that Helmer was not to know about it. He warns her never to do that again.

Nora is no longer interested in pursuing this topic. She, therefore, tactfully changes the topic by talking about the fancy-dress ball to be held at the Stenborg's in two-days'time. Helmer goes on to make it known to her that he carried his papers in order to make use of the Christmas week so that he puts everything in order before the new year. He suspects that that could be the reason Krogstad is seeing Nora at this time.  Nevertheless, Nora manages to drag him off this topic before he could take it further. She praises him by claiming that no one has a better taste than he when it comes to dressing, and, therefore,  he should help her chose what to wear for the fancy dress ball.  The act ends after Helmer's revelation that his contempt for Krogstad is because he forged a signature. What infuriates Helmer even more is the fact that Krogstad was never remorseful for this deed. Instead, he cleared his name through a cunning trick. Helmer believes that such a person is very harmful to the kids as he is likely to poison their minds with his moral failings.  He takes this discussion further by saying that it's known by all lawyers that every bad person usually has a deceitful mother. At this point, the playwright is hinting at the main conflict of the story as Krogstad's action has a direct bearing on what's going to happen between Nora and Helmer. Helmer leaves to go and work on his papers, leaving a devastated Nora pondering over his assertion that a deceitful mother poisons her children. She's so troubled that she asks the nurse not to allow the children to come be with her.

Analaysis

The act brings Nora's extravagance, Helmer's low opinion of deceitful people, the community's patronizing attitude towards women, Krogstad's use of blackmail in order to get his job back and Ibsen's belief that the sins of the fathers must come to haunt their children to the fore.

Nora's extravagance is evident from the point she gives a shilling to the porter instead of six pence. It's also emphasized by the buying of macaroons even when she clearly knew that they are forbidden in their house. Most notably, when Helmer accuses her of buying more than they needed,  she argues that she has to be extravagant because her husband is soon starting to earn lots of money and so there's no need for limiting themselves.

Krogstad's resolution to use blackmail on Nora is both a show of his desperation and his moral failings as is alluded to by both Helmer and Dr. Rank. He desperately needs to keep his job and must, therefore, use all means possible to keep it. However, since, as confirmed by Helmer, it is not his timeusing tricks to achieve his interests, it is in order to conclude that he's a man of moral shortcomings, and their society firmly detests such people. Dr.  Rank believes that such people should not even be allowed to live while Helmer thinks that they should not be allowed to bring up children because they tend to poison children with their mentality.

Through Dr. Rank's plight, Ibsen drives his philosophy that what parents do today follows their children years later. Nora says that Dr. Rank's ailing is as a result of his father's immorality. Dr.  Rank himself also believes that he's suffering for the wrongs committed by his father.

Ibsen is also able to talk about the low esteem the community has for women through the plight of Nora and the presents she buys for her children. Mrs. Linde says that it's wrong for a woman to borrow money without her husband's consent. This seems to be the norm in this community. Besides, the roles she performs throughout the act are strictly domestic. The message this passes to readers is that women should only bear children and take care of the home. With regards to the presents she buys: a suit for Ivar symbolizes preparing him for a professional job in the future, a sword and trumpet for Bob symbolize a job in the army while a doll's bedstead for Emmy symbolizes the responsibilities of motherhood, mainly taking care of children.