Mrs Linde Thoughts on a character Jonathan Peel

Mrs Linde Thoughts on a character Jonathan Peel JLS 2016

Initial impression As a contrast to Nora she seems old and comparatively frail Act 1 p 39 “stairs tire me, I have to take them slowly” to Rank, a dying man… Shows a truly hard life of loneliness and work Clearly accepting of the marriage of necessity Dull? Helmer is certainly not interested in her and Rank is jealous of her intrusion. Jonathan Peel JLS 2016

Kind? Does she look down on Nora or does she envy her life? P 33 Act 1 “those bits of fancy-work of yours”. N takes this as a challenge… Engages with Nora’s story as an anxious friend. Seems genuinely concerned for her moral welfare – dramatic function here is a CONFIDANTE who allows plot information to emerge Cares for the “moral cripples” in discussion with Rank in Act 1 p 39 ff Jonathan Peel JLS 2016

Another side Independent and hard working Authentic against pre-determined roles: she travels to find Krogstad and also tells him upfront what she has decided about their future. Nora starts on this road at the end of the play. Christine is some form of role model. Longs to be a mother: “I need someone to be a mother to; and your children need a mother” p 83 Act 3 Has sacrificed happiness before when dropping Krogstad for a wealthier suitor and will not make Jonathan Peel JLS 2016 same error again.

Attitude to the IOU She is a clear thinking and determined woman who feels that she has benefitted from the clarity and openness in her life Wants to break Nora and Helmer of their dependency and passive assumption of societal roles Is she jealous of the pair? You need to decide. Her refusal to allow Krogstad to remove the letter destroys the relationship. Did it need to be destroyed? If we read it as a symbol for a complacent bourgeois society, yes it did. Cruel to be kind? Jonathan Peel JLS 2016