What is the significance of the conversation between Mrs. Linde and Krogstad in act 3 of A Doll's House?
The conversation between Mrs. Linde and Krogstad in act 3 is significant because it it helps Ibsen develop his point about relationships. Mrs. Linde explains to Krogstad that although she did not love her first husband, she married him for practical reasons. She had to financially provide for her family, so she did not marry for love. But now, she is lonely and tells him that she wants to care for him and his children. She tells him,
We two need each other. Nils, I have faith in your real character—I can dare anything together with you.
Both of them are excited about this idea, and it is clear that their relationship will be based on mutual respect and support. This relationship dynamic blatantly contrasts that of Nora and Torvald , which is full of lies and disrespect. Ibsen uses Nora and Torvald’s relationship to show how marriage based on...
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gender inequality cannot have real love and uses Mrs. Linde’s and Krogstad’s relationship to suggest what a better version of marriage would look like.
What agreement do Mrs. Linde and Krogstad reach in "A Doll's House" that affects the Helmers?
In Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, the characters Kristine Linde and Nils Krogstad reunite after many years; they were once in love, but Kristine broke it off and married someone else out of sense of duty to her family. Now they have met again and reconciled and discovered that they are still in love. This makes them both very happy.
Meanwhile, Nils has blackmailed his boss’s wife Nora Helmer out of desperation because he fears losing his job. However, having found happiness with Kristine again, he wants to withdraw the letter he has written to Nora’s husband informing him of Nora’s deceit (she had taken a loan without her husband’s permission, an illegal act at this point in time, but it was for his health). Kristine persuades him to allow things to take their course instead. So Nora’s husband Torvald Helmer finds out about the loan and tells Nora very harshly that their marriage is all but over—until he realizes that the loan does not have to be repaid and relents.
The net result of all this is that Nora leaves Torvald, though, because the nature of their relationship becomes clear to her. She says,
You don’t understand me, and I have never understood you—till tonight.
She realizes that she has only ever been like a doll to him, that he isn’t the person she hoped he was and that she will have to go out into the world and find her own way in life; otherwise, she will not be useful to herself or anyone else. So the renewed relationship between Kristine Linde and Nils Krogstad irrevocably changes the course of the Helmers's marriage and lives.
There are also extensive summaries and analyses of the play on this site, linked below.