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Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Act One
Explanation and Analysis—No Debts!:
At the beginning of the play, Nora and Torvald have a conversation about how they should go about spending money to celebrate the holidays. Although they speak to each other in a good-natured manner, their dialogue foreshadows a host of tensions and secrets that lie beneath the surface of their marriage:
Nora: Oh yes, Torvald, surely we can afford to be just a little bit extravagant now, can’t we? Just a teeny-weeny bit. [...]
Torvald: Nora! [Crosses to her and takes her playfully by the ear.] Here we go again, you and your frivolous ideas! [...] Just like a woman! Seriously though, Nora, you know what I think about these things. No debts! Never borrow! There’s always something inhibited, something unpleasant, about a home built on credit and borrowed money. We two have managed to stick it out so far, and that’s the way we’ll go on for the little time that remains.
In the passage above, Nora asks Torvald if he might be willing to spend a little more money on Christmas given his recent promotion. Instead, he encourages being a spendthrift, advocating for the avoidance of any and all possible debts. In doing so, he foreshadows the fact that Nora does indeed have a secret debt to pay off that is “unpleasant” and “inhibiting.”
The manner in which Nora asks Torvald to spend money is another clue to the underlying issues in their marriage. Nora playfully and sweetly conveys her wishes to Torvald, combining a cutesy tone with qualifying and minimizing adjectives in order to appeal to his desire to take care of her. She must present her wishes this way because she lacks the economic autonomy to act as she sees fit. Torvald’s reaction further reveals that he does not view her as a whole person, but rather as merely a “frivolous” woman. With this short conversation, Ibsen demonstrates Nora’s lack of autonomy and Torval’s casual disrespect, providing a glimpse of the issues that will eventually cause the downfall of their marriage.
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Explanation and Analysis—Like Being a Man:
In Act 1, Nora reveals to Mrs. Linde that she has been secretly working to earn an income that will allow her to repay yet an even-more-secret loan. Their conversation is full of foreshadowing:
Nora: Oh, sometimes I was so tired, so tired. But it was tremendous fun all the same, sitting there working and earning money like that. Almost like being a man.”
Mrs. Linde: And how much have you been able to pay off like this?
Nora: Well, I can’t tell exactly [...] Many’s the time I was at my wit’s end.
Nora describes working as fun and invigorating, expressing pride in her efforts and even a degree of envy at the autonomy afforded to men, who can work and earn money as they please. The feelings Nora reveals to Mrs. Linde in the quote above foreshadow the depth of her dissatisfaction in her marriage to Torvald.
Continuing their conversation, Nora hints that a life led by her own rules would be the most ideal form of happiness:
Oh God, what a glorious thought, Kristine! No more worries!Just think of being without a care in the world [...] And maybe we can go away somewhere. I might even see something of the sea again. Oh yes! When you’re happy, life is a wonderful thing!
This statement—combined with Nora’s experience competently working and earning money to support herself—foreshadows the fact that when her marriage eventually dissolves Nora will be prepared to survive on her own. Nora’s fantasy of a life lived on her own terms is a clear sign that the stable image she and Torvald present to the rest of the world is merely a front—and a flimsy one at that.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—A Fog of Lies:
In an act of both foreshadowing and dramatic irony, during Act One, Torvald criticizes Krogstad’s forgery and deception, declaring that such acts will inevitably have a poisonous effect on the man’s children:
Just think how a man with a thing like that on his conscience will always be having to lie and cheat and dissemble; he can never drop the mask, not even with his own wife and children. And the children—that’s the most terrible part of it, Nora [...] A fog of lies like that in a household, and it spreads disease and infection to every part of it. Every breath the children take in that kind of house is reeking evil germs.
Despite Torvald’s extreme declaration, what he does not know is that his own wife has also committed an act of forgery and deceit and has been keeping this shameful secret to herself for years. Torvald’s adamant insistence that Krogstad’s actions will have harmful consequences is therefore exceedingly ironic, since, earlier in the very same scene, the audience watches as Krogstad blackmails Nora about her own loan.
Additionally, the seemingly contaminating “fog of lies” that Torvald refers to foreshadows the later revelation of the poisonous effect Nora’s secret has had on her own conscience and marriage. The pressure Nora feels to wear a mask of doll-like perfection while at the same time maintaining the success, health, and safety of her family for no credit or acknowledgement is immense and stifling. With this scene, Ibsen demonstrates how the gendered expectations forced upon women when they are confronted by crises can only lead them to make difficult, sometimes damaging choices.
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Act Two
Explanation and Analysis—All to Himself:
In Act Two, Nora tells Mrs. Linde about Torvald’s possessive, jealous tendencies as though his behavior is romantic and desirable. However, this behavior actually foreshadows the fact that Torvald only sees Nora as a doll, a plaything for him to manipulate as he sees fit:
You see Torvald is so terribly in love with me that he says he wants me all to himself. When we first married, it even used to make him sort of jealous if I only as much as mentioned any of my old friends back home. So of course I stopped doing it. But I often talk to Dr. Rank about such things. He likes hearing about them
Responding to Mrs. Linde’s curiosity regarding both her friendship with Dr. Rank and her relationship with Torvald, Nora blithely reveals that her husband is so “terribly in love” with her that he cannot bear to hear her speak of anyone besides himself. Although she speaks casually, Nora’s words also subtly hint at some of the underlying dissatisfaction she already has in her marriage. Even before she learns that her husband is fickle and will not stand by her during her hour of need (as Torvald’s actions reveal at the end of the play), this conversation reveals that as a married woman Nora finds more companionship and understanding with another man than her own spouse. The fact that Nora can so clearly paint a picture of Torvald’s character at this early stage in the play foreshadows her deeper, darker feelings towards her husband and her situation as a woman in married life.
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