A Doll's House cover

A Doll's House

Original title: Et dukkehjem

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), trans. R. Farquharson Sharp

Original en 26432 words First published 1879 Norway

Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play, in R. Farquharson Sharp's translation. Nora Helmer runs her husband's household, once saved him from a ruinous illness by forging a signature, and has been paying for it in secret ever since; when the secret falls due she meets her husband's panic rather than his rescue. The door that slams at the end of the third act is the most famous sound in modern theatre, and behind it stands Ibsen's question, still being argued: whether a woman owes her husband and children a self she does not own.

Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.

Table of Contents

  1. 001 ACT I _[SCENE.—A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not extravagantly. 2517 words
  2. 002 NORA. _[laughing]_. Yes, that is what Torvald says now. _[Wags her… 2586 words
  3. 003 MRS LINDE. _[rising]_. There is the bell; perhaps I had better go.… 2505 words
  4. 004 NORA. If you speak slightingly of my husband, I shall turn you out of… 2503 words
  5. 005 HELMER. My dear, I have often seen it in the course of my life as a… 2502 words
  6. 006 HELMER. Naturally you are thinking of your father. NORA. Yes—yes, of… 2543 words
  7. 007 RANK. Not a bit. But perhaps I had better go—for ever? NORA. No… 2509 words
  8. 008 NORA. _[takes out of the box a tambourine and a long variegated… 2639 words
  9. 009 NORA. _[in a hurried and breathless whisper]_. Well? MRS LINDE. _[in… 2543 words
  10. 010 NORA. _[coldly and quietly]_. Yes. HELMER. It is so incredible that I… 2510 words
  11. 011 NORA. Yes, it is. HELMER. Then there is only one possible… 1075 words