Helmer: It's shocking. This is how you would neglect your most sacred duties.
Nora: What do you consider my most sacred duties?
Helmer: Do I need to tell you that? Are they not your duties to your husband and your children?
Nora: I have other duties just as sacred.
Helmer: That you have not. What duties could those be?
Nora: Duties to myself.
Helmer: Before all else, you are a wife and 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 are 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 myself and get to understand them. 51
Helmer: I would gladly work day and night for you, Nora—bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves.
Nora: It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done. 52