It is later in the same day. Nora has avoided her children, fearing to pollute them. In a conversation with her old nurse, she tells the servant that the children will have to get used to seeing less of their mother from now on. This is Nora’s first suggestion of withdrawing from the life she has lived up until now.
While Nora unpacks her costume from the box—the Italian fisher girl dress which reminds Torvald of their Italian honeymoon trip—Christine enters and busies herself in sewing a tear in the garment. They discuss Dr. Rank, and Christine is shocked by Nora’s knowledge of inherited disease, a subject usually shielded from innocent ears. Being herself far from naive, she reproaches Nora for having borrowed the money from Dr. Rank to pay for Torvald’s rest cure in Italy. Emphatically the girl denies it, for, she says, she would never allow herself placed in such a “horribly painful position” toward their old friend.
Torvald’s appearance interrupts the conversation. Nora goes to greet him and then, very prettily, coaxes her husband once more to allow Krogstad to keep his position in the bank. Nora says she is afraid he might write malicious slander about Torvald in the newspapers, threatening his new position just as her father had once been threatened. This is the part of their dialogue which illuminates the character and circumstances of Nora’s father, who was once a government official. Sent by the department to investigate the truth of the newspaper charges against her father, Torvald cleared his name; as a conquering hero, he then married the grateful daughter.
Torvald admits that Krogstad’s moral failings can be overlooked, but he is most annoyed at the moneylender’s embarrassingly familiar manner toward him when there are other people around. Because they were once intimate friends, Krogstad presumes familiarity, and by this attitude, Torvald says, “he would make my position in the bank intolerable.” Nora is surprised and insults Torvald by remarking how unlike him it is to take such “a narrowminded way of looking at things.” He is so peeved at her estimation that he calls the maid to immediately post the letter of Krogstad’s dismissal.
“Call her back, Torvald. Do you hear me, call her back,” Nora pleads in panic. Taking her in his arms, he says he is not afraid of a “starving quilldriver’s vengeance.” Whatever happens, Torvald declares, “you may be sure that I am man enough to take everything upon myself.” Nora reads much more meaning into this. “You will never have to do that,” she vows. Alone onstage, Nora desperately thinks of some way to pay off the last part of the debt and free herself from Krogstad.
At this point, Dr. Rank arrives. He has come, he says, to tell her that he has one more month left to live. When the final “horrors of dissolution” begin, he will send her a card marked with a black cross, for he intends to remain alone like a sick animal when it is time to die. A victim of tuberculosis of the spine, Rank denounces the “inexorable retribution’’ that innocent children must pay for their parent’s excesses, and Nora covers her ears to prevent hearing the references to her own life and her own children.
To avoid the serious talk, Nora chatters about her dress, flirtatiously showing Rank her silk stockings. The doctor becomes serious again, expressing sorrow at being unable to leave her a token of gratitude for the friendship he enjoyed in this house. Nora, about to ask him to lend her money as a “big proof of friendship,” never makes her request, for Rank responds to her hint with a passionate declaration of love. Nora rises and quietly calls the servant to bring them more light.
