Student Question

How does Ibsen elicit sympathy for Krogstad in A Doll's House?

Quick answer:

Ibsen elicits sympathy for Krogstad by revealing his past hardships and emotional vulnerabilities. Krogstad's heartbreak from losing Christine Linde, who married another for financial reasons, evokes empathy. His description of feeling "shipwrecked" after losing her highlights his despair. Additionally, Krogstad's fall from grace due to forgery, an act similar to Nora's, underscores his suffering and societal judgment, further humanizing him and garnering audience sympathy.

Expert Answers

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Yes, it is certainly possible to feel sympathy for Krogstad. For example, we know that he was once in love with Christine Linde and that she married another man who was more "well off" because she had a sick mother and two younger brothers to support. When she and Krogstad finally speak, alone, together, he tells her how it all seemed to him then: "a heartless woman jilts a man when a more lucrative chance turns up[.]"

Certainly, we can sympathize with him for the way his heart was broken as a younger man and the direction his life seems to have turned since then. Christine says that she felt it was her duty "to put an end" to Krogstad's feelings for her, and this makes it seem as though she must have told him that she did not love him, all those years ago, in an effort to free him from regret and longing by convincing him of this.

Now, he says, "When I lost you, it was as if all the solid ground went from under my feet," and now he feels as though he is like a man who has been shipwrecked and clings to a small piece of refuse to stay afloat. He blames her for speaking with Nora and taking his position at the bank.

Further, Krogstad has told Nora that the action that cost him his reputation with people like Torvald was "nothing more or nothing worse" than what Nora did: forging a signature on a loan document so that she could get money. It seems that Krogstad has actually suffered a good deal.

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