A Doll’s House

Learning Stations

Station 1: Background Information

Probable passage:
A husband and wife were being blackmailed for money but did not have enough in their own account.
They found the note stamped with a black cross in their mailbox one morning and were scared out of
their minds. They were asked to bring more money then they could have ever made in 5 years. The
wife’s father was very wealthy though so the wife wanted to forge her fathers signature for a withdraw
from the bank. The Husband was against the idea and would not let her do it for fear of their reputation
within the family. She was not worried about the morality of it as long as it saved her and her husbands
life. The moment she walked through the bank doors there was no going back. She gathered the
money and walked out with a solemn look on her face, she knew what she had done was wrong. The
instructions were to drop off the money in a specific location at a masquerade ball during a specific
Tarantella dance. They were to drop the money off next to the host’s daughter’s Dollhouse.
Station 2: Contemporary Reviews

1. Most people were deeply invested in the plot and were very intrigued with everything that was
happening.
2. The marriage is more platonic love, not meaning that they dont have intimate relationship but
that they have more everyday interactions instead of the longer lasting and more personal
ones.
3. That she falsified her father’s death debts and gave her family more money 7 years ago.
4. She has a good heart but cant see the lines of what is right and wrong in an emotional state,
she tries to justify her actions with a very petty excuse and somehow believes it.
5. He portrays the institution of marriage as a system that can lead to the corruption of
individuals
6. They say that it is because the two characters gain new views on each other that they didn't see
in the beginning of the marriage and relationship.
7. They believe that there was no correct ending to the play and that no matter how good the
talents of the writer, that he should have done better.
8. A home where the husband treats the wife as a child and gives them little to no responsibility
or control.
9. They see marriage as more of a trap and unescapable list of duties that fails when respect is
lost between both parties.

Station 3: Defining Identity

Step 1: Rank and explain

● Beliefs/Morality
 ● Behavior
● Education
● Gender
● Occupation
● Religion
● Social class
● Sexual orientation
● Race or Ethnicity
● Country of origin

Step 2: Group definition of identity

The personal situations and beliefs that shape how someone acts or what they identify as.

Station 4: Heinz Dilemma

Individual Reaction: No, he should keep seeking support and trying to get donations. The drug
does not have a full chance of working so what is the point of putting himself in that situation to be
seen as a criminal if it doesn't work. It is not fair that the medical companies get to do that, but
that is how many people are even today. Many people who are in poverty don't have the kind of
money to even eat, let alone pay for special medical treatment.

Group Discussion:
1. Morality/Legality/weight of greed vs life/possibility of it not working
2. Possibly going to jail and stealing someone else's work. They are not outweighed by the
3. No, find someone else who has a personal attachment to them. The main reason he was doing
it was because it was his wife. I don’t think he should risk it for someone he doesnt know.
4. No, If we was willing to then he should, but if he does not like his wife and wants to move on, it
is still a life.
5. No, finding a new pet is way easier than finding a new wife, especially if the emotional
connection is strong in the mirage

Consequences: He should be punished, but for the same amount of time they took to make the drug,
or 4 years.

Station 5: Essential Questions

1. Sometimes, it depends on what rights are in question but most situations no.
2. Mothers are seen as stay at home and the primary teaching a raising parents and fathers are
seen as the primary financial provider.
 3. Yes, as long as there is one parent or another person who provides for the child then yes. There
could be a tertiary care giver such as a nanny or nurse who does the same and it would not
affect at all.
4. Yes, because if a mother wants to get a full doctorates degree that she cannot juggle school as
well as the given cultural expectations at the same time.
5. yes because it divides the work by gender but no because there needs to be at least one
constant care giver, so as long as we keep the expectations of one person doing it then it would
be okay to change it.
6. Love does require sacrifice. You sacrifice time, energy, you put your emotions and heart on the
line. You can't be in love without having part of yourself being out there.

Station 6: Opening Scene

1. The house seems very nice and well furnished. Their family has enough money for a piano and
many other more “tasteful” things. It gives an impression of comfort and wealth.
2. She is young and lighthearted. The play starts in a happy time with low stress and not much
work to do.
3. This shows that he absolutely loves her but kinda thinks down on him depending on how he
uses them. He says “Come, come, my little skylark must not droop her wings. What is this! Is
my little squirrel out of temper?” in a very loving way as to suggest that she is as intriguing as
nature and as beautiful as wild animals
4. She seems to go with it but does not start it on her own.
5. She would be so grief stricken and mourn to the point where she would forget about about the
money he borrowed.
6. He doesn't like borrowing because he thinks that if you are dependant on other people or have
to pay others back and they can hold it against you that you don't have freedom
7. Money is a sense of freedom that he earned and shouldnt be taken for granted by others who
borrow it.
8. That he trusts her, but does not trust her enough to give her access to all the money. He gives
her that allowance almost as a parent would to their kid.
9. Nora and Torvald are both laid back people with fun personalities that work really well
together. Their relationship seems to be happy, content and stable.
10. Money and trust are immediately introduced into the story so it sets it up well for both of those
to be undermined.