Read the excerpt from act 2 of A Doll's House . Rank: [leaning towards her] Nora—do you think he is the only one—? Nora: [with a slight start] The only one—? Rank: The only one who would gladly give his life for your sake. Nora: [sadly] Is that it? Rank: I was determined you should know it before I went away, and there will never be a better opportunity than this. Now you know it, Nora. And now you know, too, that you can trust me as you would trust no one else. Nora: [rises, deliberately and quietly] Let me pass. Rank: [makes room for her to pass him, but sits still] Nora! Nora: [at the hall door] Helen, bring in the lamp. [Goes over to the stove.] Dear Doctor Rank, that was really horrid of you. Rank: To have loved you as much as anyone else does? Was that horrid? Nora: No, but to go and tell me so. There was really no need— Rank: What do you mean? Did you know—? [MAID enters with lamp, puts it down on the table, and goes out.] Nora—Mrs. Helmer—tell me, had you any idea of this? Nora: Oh, how do I know whether I had or whether I hadn't? I really can't tell you—To think you could be so clumsy, Doctor Rank! We were getting on so nicely. Rank: Well, at all events you know now that you can command me, body and soul. So won't you speak out? Nora: [looking at him] After what happened? Rank: I beg you to let me know what it is. Nora: I can't tell you anything now. Rank: Yes, yes. You mustn't punish me in that way. Let me have permission to do for you whatever a man may do. Nora: You can do nothing for me now. Besides, I really don't need any help at all. You will find that the whole thing is merely fancy on my part. It really is so—of course it is! [Sits down in the rocking-chair, and looks at him with a smile.] You are a nice sort of man, Doctor Rank! Don't you feel ashamed of yourself, now the lamp has come? Which statement best describes the way this interaction affects the plot?
Read the excerpt from act 2 of A Doll's House . Nora: [glancing at the card] Oh! [Puts it in her pocket.] Rank: Is there anything wrong? Nora: No, no, not in the least. It is only something—it is my new dress— Rank: What? Your dress is lying there. Nora: Oh, yes, that one; but this is another. I ordered it. Torvald mustn't know about it— Rank: Oho! Then that was the great secret. Nora: Of course. Just go in to him; he is sitting in the inner room. Keep him as long as— Rank: Make your mind easy; I won't let him escape. Which statement explains the dramatic irony in this passage?
Read the poem "Sonnet in Primary Colors” by Rita Dove. How does this poem resemble an Elizabethan sonnet?
Read the stanza from "Sonnet in Primary Colors” by Rita Dove. Each night she lay down in pain and rose to the celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead, Lenin and Marx and Stalin arrayed at the footstead. And rose to her easel, the hundred dogs panting like children along the graveled walks of the garden, Diego’s love a skull in the circular window of the thumbprint searing her immutable brow. How does the underlined figurative language contribute to the meaning of the poem?
Read the excerpt from act 3 of A Doll’s House. Helmer: Do you know, you ought to embroider. Mrs. Linde: Really? Why? Helmer: Yes, it's far more becoming. Let me show you. You hold the embroidery thus in your left hand, and use the needle with the right—like this—with a long, easy sweep. Do you see? Mrs. Linde: Yes, perhaps— Helmer: But in the case of knitting—that can never be anything but ungraceful; look here—the arms close together, the knitting-needles going up and down—it has a sort of Chinese effect—. That was really excellent champagne they gave us. Mrs. Linde: Well,—goodnight, Nora, and don't be self-willed any more. Helmer: That's right, Mrs. Linde. Mrs. Linde: Goodnight, Mr. Helmer. Helmer [accompanying her to the door] : Goodnight, goodnight. I hope you will get home all right. I should be very happy to—but you haven't any great distance to go. Goodnight, goodnight. [She goes out; he shuts the door after her, and comes in again.] Ah!—at last we have got rid of her. She is a frightful bore, that woman. How does the conflict between Helmer’s private and public selves develop the theme that appearances can be deceiving?
Read the excerpt from act 3 of A Doll’s House. Helmer: You have loved me as a wife ought to love her husband. Only you had not sufficient knowledge to judge of the means you used. But do you suppose you are any the less dear to me, because you don't understand how to act on your own responsibility? No, no; only lean on me; I will advise you and direct you. I should not be a man if this womanly helplessness did not just give you a double attractiveness in my eyes. You must not think anymore about the hard things I said in my first moment of consternation, when I thought everything was going to overwhelm me. I have forgiven you, Nora; I swear to you I have forgiven you. What evidence from the text best supports the theme that the roles of women are defined by society?
Read the passage from A Doll’s House. Nora: Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it until this evening, when it is dressed. [To the porter, taking out her purse.] How much? Porter: Sixpence. Nora: There is a shilling. No, keep the change. [The porter thanks her, and goes out. Nora shuts the door. She is laughing to herself, as she takes off her hat and coat. She takes a packet of macaroons from her pocket and eats one or two; then goes cautiously to her husband's door and listens.] Yes, he is in. [Still humming, she goes to the table on the right.] What do the stage directions tell the reader about Nora?
Read the passage from A Doll’s House. Helmer: Just think how a guilty man like that has to lie and play the hypocrite with every one, how he has to wear a mask in the presence of those near and dear to him, even before his own wife and children. And about the children—that is the most terrible part of it all, Nora. Nora: How? Helmer: Because such an atmosphere of lies infects and poisons the whole life of a home. Each breath the children take in such a house is full of the germs of evil. Nora: [coming nearer him] Are you sure of that? Helmer: My dear, I have often seen it in the course of my life as a lawyer. Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a deceitful mother. Nora: Why do you only say—mother? Helmer: It seems most commonly to be the mother's influence, though naturally a bad father's would have the same result. Every lawyer is familiar with the fact. This Krogstad, now, has been persistently poisoning his own children with lies and dissimulation; that is why I say he has lost all moral character. [Holds out his hands to her.] That is why my sweet little Nora must promise me not to plead his cause. Give me your hand on it. Come, come, what is this? Give me your hand. There now, that's settled. I assure you it would be quite impossible for me to work with him; I literally feel physically ill when I am in the company of such people. Nora: [takes her hand out of his and goes to the opposite side of the Christmas Tree]. How hot it is in here; and I have such a lot to do. Which statement makes the most accurate inference about Torvald’s character, based on this passage?
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