Give specific references to the text in your responses.
1. Who is responsible for the "doll house" condition of the marriage? To what extent is Nora a victim?
2. Rank the characters in order of virtue, explaining which moral quality you think each person embodies and why.
3. How does the play present the idea that moral corruption may be passed from generation to generation. Consider Krogstad and his sons, Nora and her children, Nora and her father, and Dr. Rank.
4. Is A Dollhouse a comedy, a tragedy, or both? Explain.
5. Which characters change in the course of the play? Consider one dynamic character and examine the causes and effects of the change. Also consider how characters act as foils.
6. How does the play criticize society's conventions, such as the patriarchal society and laws concerning loans.
7. Who is the play's antagonist? Explain.
8. Argue for or against Nora's decision at the end of the play.
9. Recreate a chance meeting between Nora and Torvald five years after the play's end.
10. You are the play's director.
Explain how you would coach an actor portraying one of the characters in a
specific scene. Identify the scene and pages. You may also respond as the actor
describing how (s)he will portray the character.
In seeing the play as tragedy consider how the play may portray the four
elements of this genre:
an act of shame or horror
consequent intense suffering
an increase in knowledge or awareness
a reaffirmation of life's value