Krogstad and Nora faced a similar moment of decision in the past when they both committed the same crime: forging a signature.
After Torvald (Nora's husband) becomes ill, it becomes imperative that he travel to a location with a fairer climate to recover. The trouble is that the family cannot afford this trip. Desperate to protect the fleeting health of her loved one, Nora chooses to illegally borrow money, forging her father's signature as the...
Krogstad and Nora faced a similar moment of decision in the past when they both committed the same crime: forging a signature.
After Torvald (Nora's husband) becomes ill, it becomes imperative that he travel to a location with a fairer climate to recover. The trouble is that the family cannot afford this trip. Desperate to protect the fleeting health of her loved one, Nora chooses to illegally borrow money, forging her father's signature as the security for the debt. She tells Torvald that she has received the money directly from her father so that he will not fret over their financial concerns. Although Nora faithfully makes payments on the loan, Krogstad discovers that the loan documents were signed by Nora's father three days after his death, an impossibility which leads him to realize the crime Nora has committed.
Krogstad comments quite observantly that Nora's act "was nothing more and nothing worse that made [him] an outcast from society" and that "[t]he law takes no account of motives." Nora shortly thereafter discovers that the deed that Krogstad has been so thoroughly punished for is, in fact, forgery. Torvald claims that, "...Krogstad has been poisoning his own children for years past by a life of lies and hypocrisy--that's why I call him morally ruined." Little does he know that his wife has done the very same thing.
This epiphany at the conclusion of Act One--that she is no better than the man her husband detests most--is what ultimately drives Nora's crisis of self throughout the rest of the play.
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