Compare and contrast the differences of the dialogue between Nora and Helmer and Nora and Krogstad in Act 1.

When Nora speaks with Helmer in act 1, she is annoyingly wheedling, falsely meek, and passive aggressive. She hides nothing in her dialogue with Krogstad and is assertive instead of passive. When the scene opens, Nora and Helmer speak about her expenses for Christmas. In a patronizing way, Helmer refers to Nora in terms that seem endearing but are actually meant to demean her. For example, he calls her "my little squirrel" and "my little...

When Nora speaks with Helmer in act 1, she is annoyingly wheedling, falsely meek, and passive aggressive. She hides nothing in her dialogue with Krogstad and is assertive instead of passive. When the scene opens, Nora and Helmer speak about her expenses for Christmas. In a patronizing way, Helmer refers to Nora in terms that seem endearing but are actually meant to demean her. For example, he calls her "my little squirrel" and "my little spendthrift." When he tells her not to waste money, she answers him in a childish manner: "Yes, Torvald, we may be a wee bit more reckless now, mayn't we? Just a tiny wee bit!" By using words like "wee" and asking his permission to do things, she has turned herself into a child.

Nora is sycophantic and submissive toward her husband. When he insists she not spend too much, she agrees meekly (though she already has spent too much, in reality). When her husband surprises her by giving her money, she claps her hands in delight like a child, not caring that he has teased her and toyed with her before giving her the money. She does not stand up for her dignity; she only cares that she has received money from her husband. She even uses the words her husband chooses for her ("skylark" and "squirrel"). She debases herself by using these words and by not insisting that her husband treat her like an adult rather than a wayward and pampered child. Additionally, she is not open and honest with her husband about her debts.

With Krogstad, however, Nora is quite imperious and forceful. When Krogstad asks her a question about her husband's doings, Nora answers, "What right have you to question me, Mr. Krogstad?—You, one of my husband's subordinates!" She insists that she has the upper hand in their conversation because she is superior to Krogstad socially. As Krogstad presses her about a bond on which she forged her dead father's name, she retorts:

Is a daughter not to be allowed to spare her dying father anxiety and care? Is a wife not to be allowed to save her husband's life? I don't know much about law; but I am certain that there must be laws permitting such things as that. Have you no knowledge of such laws—you who are a lawyer? You must be a very poor lawyer, Mr. Krogstad.

This is a very forceful speech in which Nora puts down the masculine world of law and insists that, as a woman, her need to spare her father anxiety and to care for her husband are more important than the law. In her conversation with Krogstad, she is incredibly assertive, in contrast to the meek way she is with her husband.