Analyzing Morality: Ranking Characters in A Doll's House by Ibsen

This assignment analyzes and ranks five characters from Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House'—Nora, Kristine, Krogstad, Torvald, and Dr. Rank—according to their moral standing, as revealed in the first two acts of the play. The student begins by identifying Kristine Linde as the least morally offensive due to her hard work and honesty. Krogstad is then ranked as more morally offensive due to his criminal activities and bitterness, followed by Torvald, who is criticized for his egocentrism and objectification of Nora. Dr. Rank is considered a traitor for declaring love for his friend's wife. Finally, Nora is deemed the most morally offensive character because of her deceitfulness, lies, and pretense. Each character's ranking is supported by specific examples and implied evidence from the text, demonstrating an understanding of their motivations and behaviors.

Surname 1
Name
Institution
Course
Date
Ranking the Characters (A Doll’s House)
Ranking (starting with the
least morally offensive)
Justification Basis/implied evidence to
make this
“judgment”/decision
1. Kristine Kristine Linde is a
hardworking woman and she
seeks a job so that she can
be able to live
independently. She also
believes in honesty which is
a great virtue. Though she
seemingly doesn’t value the
institution of marriage, she
is generally a virtuous
person.
From the text, we learn that
Kristine Linde, who is an
old friend of Nora is finding
a job in town. Instead of
using illegal or unorthodox
meaning of sustaining
herself, she chooses to work
hard. It can also be deduced
that she is an honest person
since she does not agree
with the means that Nora
uses to find money. She
does not like the fact that

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Nora is not straightforward.
The main vice associated
with her in the two Acts is
treating marriage as an
institution for financial gain.
Her marriage with Krogstad
was loveless and she leaves
because her financial needs
are not sustained.
2. Krogstad Krogstad is a criminal. He
has committed several
offences which have ruined
his reputation. He also
appears to be a merciless
individual who does not
have any iota of humanity
left in him.
Judging from the two acts,
Krogstad is a criminal who
uses forgery to trick Nora. In
addition, he has committed a
crime of forgery in the past
which has ruined his
reputation so much that he
can no longer get a decent
job. It is also clear that he is
a bitter man probably due to
the bad things that have
happened in his life. An
example to illustrate this is
when he is guided by his
own bitterness in tricking
Nora to take a loan.

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3. Torvald Although Torvald is a loving
person, he is so egocentric
and concerned about his
own wealth and fame rather
than humanity. He can also
be described as a father who
is uncaring and a husband
who treats his wife as an
object/ pet rather than a
human being.
Based on his character, it
would be just to rank
Torvald as the third most
morally offensive character.
His focus on being seen as a
superior being by such
people as Krogstad portrays
him as a person who is
obsessed with wealth and
appearances. He is
obviously not the best dad as
he claims that the only
people who seem to be
enticed by children are
mothers.
4. Dr Rank Dr Rank could be described
as a traitor. Traitors are
some of the worst characters
since they pretend to be
friends while they are
necessarily not.
Dr Rank is Torvald’s best
friend. In fact, he visits
Torvald daily. Despite this,
Dr Rank declares his love to
Nora, his best friend’s wife.
This kind of behaviour can
be termed betrayal at best.
5. Nora Nora is a pretender and lives
a life that could be described
as ‘fake’. She is also a liar.
Nora pretends to
obey her husband when they
are together but disobeys in

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his absence. For instance,
she obeys her husband’s
directive of not taking
macaroons but takes them
when the husband is away
("A Doll's House, By Henrik
Ibsen"). She can be
described as liar since she
forges her father’s signature
to obtain a loan. She also
lies to Kristine about the
source of her money.
Reference
"A Doll's House, By Henrik Ibsen". Gutenberg.Org, 2020,
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2542/2542-h/2542-h.htm.

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