Introduction

In A Doll's House Nora is the pampered wife of the bank manager Helmer, who calls her his 'little skylark' and 'little squirrel'. Years before, when he was gravely ill, she secretly forged her father's signature to borrow money and took him to Italy to recover, saving his life. When the secret comes out Helmer flies into a rage and thinks only of his own reputation; once the danger has passed he forgives her as though nothing had happened. At last Nora sees that she was a doll-daughter in her father's house and a doll-wife in her husband's, declares 'I am first and foremost a human being', and walks out, slamming the door; that slam echoed across Europe. In An Enemy of the People Dr Stockmann discovers that the baths on which the town's prosperity depends are polluted; he wants to make it public, but the authorities, the newspaper and the townspeople turn against him and declare him an 'enemy of the people'. 'The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.' This volume contains both plays.