A Doll's House

A short play with one room and a ticking clock. The first act is playful, and the last scene is a long, plain argument that still lands. The characters are sharp; the 19th-century money and law are the only dated parts. Four and a half out of five (draft). Read it if: you want a short classic you can finish in one sitting; you like plays built on one secret and a deadline; you are curious why this ending became so famous. Skip it if: you dislike reading dialogue with stage directions; you want a twisty plot: the story is simple and the final scene is a conversation; you want the full ending without spoilers.

Our ending explained covers the final chapters in full, with spoilers. A Doll's House ending explained: the wonderful thing that never happens, the doll-child line, and the three reasons Nora gives for leaving. Full spoilers. A Doll's House Ending Explained →

A Doll's House summary, act by act, following Nora's clock from Christmas Eve to the night of the ball: the debt, the letter-box, the Tarantella and the ending. Full spoilers. A Doll's House Summary: Act by Act →

Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House is a play in three acts set in one sitting room over Christmas. Nora Helmer, who seems to be her husband's carefree pet, is hiding a secret debt, and a visit from the man she owes pushes it into the open. It is about marriage, money and who a wife is allowed to be.

It is a play. It was written to be performed, in three acts with one setting, but it reads quickly as a book. We used the Project Gutenberg text, ebook number 2542, in R. Farquharson Sharp's English translation.

By our count the play text, stage directions included, is about 27,000 words, split into three acts. Act One is about 10,600 words, Act Two about 8,000 and Act Three about 8,200. It is a short read.

There are five main speaking parts: Nora Helmer, her husband Torvald Helmer, her old friend Christine Linde, Nils Krogstad, and Doctor Rank. Smaller parts are the children Ivar, Bob and Emmy, the nurse Anne, the maid Helen and a porter.

Over three days around Christmas in one sitting room: Christmas Eve in Act One, Christmas Day in Act Two, and the night of a fancy-dress ball in Act Three.

R. Farquharson Sharp's English translation, from Project Gutenberg ebook number 2542. Its money is in pounds and shillings. Other translations word things differently.