What the exam asks
In Paper 2 (25 marks, closed book), the general questions often ask how two works use an opening, make a place central to meaning, use a recurring object, present a character who conceals the truth, or set one character against another. The opening of Act 1 answers all of these. Because Criterion B is split into B1 (analysis and evaluation of textual features and broader authorial choices, 5 marks) and B2 (comparative analysis, 5 marks), you cannot merely retell the plot of Nora’s secret loan. To reach the top band in B1, you must analyse how Ibsen’s stage directions, offstage voices, props (like the macaroons and coins) and syntax construct meaning on stage, and evaluate how effectively they set up the play’s structural arc.
Core ideas
The realist box set, winter and the first word
Ibsen abandons the palaces and castles of older drama for a middle-class drawing room: “A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not extravagantly.” Every detail in this opening stage direction signals middle-class respectability and enclosure. “The floors are carpeted, and a fire burns in the stove. It is winter.” The warmth inside contrasts with the freezing Norwegian winter outside, making the room feel like a sanctuary—until we realize how many doors monitor Nora’s movements (the hall door, Helmer’s study door, the nursery door).
Nora enters “humming a tune and in high spirits”, carrying parcels while a porter brings in a Christmas tree. Yet her very first word in the play is a command of concealment: “Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it until this evening, when it is dressed.” Even in an innocent holiday ritual, Nora’s instinct is to stage-manage appearances until an object is decorated for viewing.
Money, macaroons and performance
Before Torvald Helmer even appears, Ibsen uses two small props to establish Nora’s dual life:
- The shilling: Nora overpays the porter (“There is a shilling. No, keep the change.”), acting with careless generosity moments before her husband lectures her on thrift.
- The macaroons: Alone for a second, Nora “takes a packet of macaroons from her pocket and eats one or two; then goes cautiously to her husband’s door and listens.” Eating forbidden sweets in secret—and lying about them moments later (“Not even taken a bite at a macaroon or two?”)—establishes that deception is already a daily habit in this house.