What is a universal theme?
One topic of a story is innocence.Which statements are universal themes associated with this topic? Select three options.
Read the excerpt from act 3 of A Doll’s House.Nora: Alas, Torvald, you are not the man to educate me into being a proper wife for you.Helmer: And you can say that!Nora: And I—how am I fitted to bring up the children?Helmer: Nora!Nora: Didn't you say so yourself a little while ago—that you dare not trust me to bring them up?Helmer: In a moment of anger! Why do you pay any heed to that?Nora: Indeed, you were perfectly right. I am not fit for the task. There is another task I must undertake first. I must try and educate myself—you are not the man to help me in that. I must do that for myself. And that is why I am going to leave you now.Helmer [springing up]: What do you say?Nora: I must stand quite alone, if I am to understand myself and everything about me. It is for that reason that I cannot remain with you any longer.
Read the excerpt from act 3 of \A Doll’s House.Helmer: Listen to her, Mrs. Linde! She had danced her Tarantella, and it had been a tremendous success, as it deserved—although possibly the performance was a trifle too realistic—a little more so, I mean, than was strictly compatible with the limitations of art. But never mind about that! The chief thing is, she had made a success—she had made a tremendous success. Do you think I was going to let her remain there after that, and spoil the effect? No, indeed! I took my charming little Capri maiden—my capricious little Capri maiden, I should say—on my arm; took one quick turn round the room; a curtsey on either side, and, as they say in novels, the beautiful apparition disappeared. An exit ought always to be effective, Mrs. Linde; but that is what I cannot make Nora understand. Pooh! this room is hot. [Throws his domino on a chair, and opens the door of his room.] Hullo! it's all dark in here. Oh, of course—excuse me—.
Read the excerpt from act 3 of A Doll’s House.Krogstad [with a searching look at her]. Is that what it all means?—that you want to save your friend at any cost? Tell me frankly. Is that it?Mrs. Linde: Nils, a woman who has once sold herself for another's sake, doesn't do it a second time.Krogstad: I will ask for my letter back.Mrs. Linde: No, no.Krogstad: Yes, of course I will. I will wait here until Helmer comes; I will tell him he must give me my letter back—that it only concerns my dismissal—that he is not to read it—Mrs. Linde: No, Nils, you must not recall your letter.Krogstad: But, tell me, wasn't it for that very purpose that you asked me to meet you here?Mrs. Linde: In my first moment of fright, it was. But twenty-four hours have elapsed since then, and in that time I have witnessed incredible things in this house. Helmer must know all about it. This unhappy secret must be disclosed; they must have a complete understanding between them, which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on.Krogstad: Very well, if you will take the responsibility. But there is one thing I can do in any case, and I shall do it at once.
Which views from the late 1800s does this passage best support? Select two options.
Read the excerpt from act 3 of A Doll’s House.Helmer [walking up and down]: He had so grown into our lives. I can't think of him as having gone out of them. He, with his sufferings and his loneliness, was like a cloudy background to our sunlit happiness. Well, perhaps it is best so. For him, anyway. [Standing still.] And perhaps for us too, Nora. We two are thrown quite upon each other now. [Puts his arms round her.] My darling wife, I don't feel as if I could hold you tight enough. Do you know, Nora, I have often wished that you might be threatened by some great danger, so that I might risk my life's blood, and everything, for your sake.
Read the excerpt from act 3 of A Doll’s House.Krogstad: I will ask for my letter back.Mrs. Linde: No, no.Krogstad: Yes, of course I will. I will wait here until Helmer comes; I will tell him he must give me my letter back--that it only concerns my dismissal--that he is not to read it--Mrs. Linde: No, Nils, you must not recall your letter.Krogstad: But, tell me, wasn't it for that very purpose that you asked me to meet you here?Mrs. Linde: In my first moment of fright, it was. But twenty-four hours have elapsed since then, and in that time I have witnessed incredible things in this house. Helmer must know all about it. This unhappy secret must be disclosed; they must have a complete understanding between them, which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on.Krogstad: Very well, if you will take the responsibility.
How do the stage directions best support the theme that the truth can never be hidden? Select two options.
Read the excerpt from act 3 of A Doll’s House.Helmer: Before all else, you are a wife and a mother.Nora: I don't believe that any longer. I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being, just as you are—or, at all events, that I must try and become one. I know quite well, Torvald, that most people would think you right, and that views of that kind are to be found in books; but I can no longer content myself with what most people say, or with what is found in books. I must think over things for myself and get to understand them.Helmer: Can you not understand your place in your own home? Have you not a reliable guide in such matters as that?—have you no religion?Nora: I am afraid, Torvald, I do not exactly know what religion is.
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