A Doll's House: Pace
16 lenses on pace for A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 D10 D11 D12 D13 D14 D15 D16
D1. Chapter length in words, as a chart. Count
3 chapters, median 8,211 words. See the full lens on the book page.
D2. Mean sentence length per chapter. Count
Mean 7.2 words. See the full lens on the book page.
D3. Paragraph length per chapter. Count
Paragraphs average 20 words.
Mean paragraph words, chapter by chapter
D4. Scene against summary: how much is shown live? AI
Nearly all shown live in scenes. Act I opens in Nora's home with immediate dialogue and action. Acts II and III continue in scene with minimal summary, maintaining dramatic immediacy throughout.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3
D5. Action against reflection, per chapter. AI
Act I balances action (Christmas shopping, Krogstad's threat) with reflection (Nora confides in Christine). Act II emphasises action and tension (the Tarantella, waiting for the letter). Act III is almost entirely reflection and confrontation dialogue.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3
D6. Tension score per chapter (1 to 5) as a curve. AI
Peak 5 of 5, mean 4.7. See the full lens on the book page.
D7. Emotional arc of the whole book, matched to the six shapes. Count
Cinderella (rise, fall, rise). See the full lens on the book page.
D8. Chapter endings: cliffhanger, question, reveal or quiet close. AI
3 of 3 chapters end on a hook. See the full lens on the book page.
D9. Chapter openings: in scene, in summary, or after a time jump. AI
All three acts open in scene. Act I begins with Nora entering her home. Act II opens the next day in the same room. Act III resumes after dinner, continuing the same evening.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3
D10. Do chapters and sentences get shorter near the climax? Count
In the last fifth, chapters run at 0.88 times the length of earlier ones, and sentences at 1.01 times. So things speed up near the end.
D11. Dialogue density against pace. Count
Not enough in the text to answer this one yet.
D12. Time jumps and how they are signalled. Both
2 time jump phrases in the narration, such as 'next morning' or 'years later'.
| Where | Phrase |
|---|---|
| c1p136 | a month later |
| c1p404 | three days after |
Time jump phrases, chapter by chapter
Ch 1, para 136: NORA. Yes; you see we had money then, and the doctors insisted on our going, so we started a month later.
Ch 1, para 404: KROGSTAD. The discrepancy consists, Mrs Helmer, in the fact that your father signed this bond three days after his death.
Time jumps are signalled by act breaks and brief stage directions. Act II jumps to the next day. Act III jumps to after dinner. Within acts, time passes through dialogue references and the Tarantella sequence.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3
Five o’clock. Seven hours until midnight; and then four-and-twenty hours until the next midnight. Then the Tarantella will be over. Twenty-four and seven? Thirty-one hours to live. (Ch 2, para 432)
D13. Info dump spots: long runs with no action or speech. Both
7 stretches of 900 words or more with no speech at all. These are where description, summary or backstory pile up.
| Starts at | Words | Paragraphs |
|---|---|---|
| c2p123 | 10429 | 565 |
| c1p407 | 4355 | 206 |
| c1p214 | 3592 | 192 |
| c3p255 | 3079 | 131 |
| c1p1 | 2546 | 123 |
| c1p125 | 1242 | 52 |
| c1p178 | 1103 | 35 |
No long info dumps. Exposition emerges through dialogue naturally. Act I reveals Nora's secret through conversation with Christine. Act III's final confrontation is sustained dialogue with minimal stage action.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 3
D14. Reading time per chapter. Count
About 1.8 hours to read at 250 words a minute. The longest chapter takes 42.3 minutes.
Minutes per chapter, chapter by chapter
D15. Micro tension in quiet scenes. AI
Quiet scenes carry tension through subtext. In Act I, Krogstad's threat lurks beneath Christmas cheer. In Act II, Nora's frantic dancing masks desperation. In Act III, calm conversation masks moral reckoning.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3
My dear darling Nora, you are dancing as if your life depended on it. (Ch 2, para 402)
Five o’clock. Seven hours until midnight; and then four-and-twenty hours until the next midnight. Then the Tarantella will be over. Twenty-four and seven? Thirty-one hours to live. (Ch 2, para 432)
D16. Section breaks per chapter. Count
0 section breaks marked in the text, in 0 of 3 chapters.
Ask A Doll's House a question about its craft (free beta)
Answers cite chapter and paragraph, and every quote is checked against the text. (3 free questions a day).
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