A Doll's House: Prose style
17 lenses on prose style 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: H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7 H8 H9 H10 H11 H12 H13 H14 H15 H16 H17
H1. Readability score per chapter. Count
Flesch reading ease for the whole book is about 89 (higher is easier; 60 to 70 is plain English).
Reading ease per chapter, chapter by chapter
H2. Vocabulary range. Count
2,437 different words. On average 43 in every 100 words are new within a 500 word stretch. 1,167 words appear only once.
H3. Signature words: what this author uses far more than others. Count
rank, nora, christine, goes, shuts. See the full lens on the book page.
H4. Adverb and adjective rates. Count
About 12.54 words ending in 'ly' and 7.88 likely adjectives per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
'ly' words per 1,000, chapter by chapter
H5. Share of weak verbs such as "was" and "had". Count
'Was', 'were', 'had', 'is' and 'are' make up 3.4% of all words.
H6. Passive voice rate. Count
About 1.2% of sentences use a passive form such as 'was taken'. (rough estimate from word lists)
H7. Variety of sentence openings. Count
The five most common first words start 40% of sentences: nora, helmer, i, mrs, yes.
| First word | Sentences |
|---|---|
| nora | 607 |
| helmer | 280 |
| i | 272 |
| mrs | 198 |
| yes | 146 |
| krogstad | 137 |
| but | 124 |
| you | 121 |
| no | 106 |
| rank | 106 |
H8. Rhythm: how much sentence length varies. Count
Sentence length varies by 1.07 of its mean on average (higher means a more varied rhythm).
Variation per chapter, chapter by chapter
H9. Similes and metaphors: how many, and of what kind. Both
37 likely similes ('like a', 'as ... as'): 1.38 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Ch 1, para 24: HELMER. That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about …
Ch 1, para 41: NORA. [speaking quickly]. You might give me money, Torvald. Only just as much as you can afford; and then one of these days I will buy something with …
Ch 1, para 52: HELMER. You are an odd little soul. Very like your father. You always find some new way of wheedling money out of me, and, as soon as you …
Ch 1, para 162: NORA. You are just like the others. They all think that I am incapable of anything really serious—
Ch 1, para 193: NORA. There is no need you should. I never said I had borrowed the money. I may have got it some other way. [Lies back on the sofa.] …
Ch 1, para 215: NORA. Good gracious, can’t you understand? There was no old gentleman at all; it was only something that I used to sit here and imagine, when I couldn’t …
The play uses extended metaphors rather than similes. The central metaphor is Nora as a doll in a playroom, representing her lack of agency. The shipwrecked people metaphor appears in Act III when Mrs Linde and Krogstad reconcile, suggesting survival through connection.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 3
Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people could join forces? (Ch 3, para 42)
H10. Senses used: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Both
Share of sense words. sight 60%, sound 25%, touch 9%, taste 6%, smell 0%. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Sense | Words |
|---|---|
| sight | 158 |
| sound | 67 |
| touch | 23 |
| taste | 15 |
| smell | 1 |
Sight dominates through stage action and visual cues like the letter in the box and Nora's wild dancing. Sound appears in dialogue and the final door slam. Taste and smell are minimal; touch is implied through physical presence but not described.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3
H11. Repetition, lists of three and other patterns. Both
13 lists of three in the pattern 'a, b and c': 0.49 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Repetition of the word lie and variations appears throughout to emphasise moral corruption. The Tarantella dance is repeated and intensified. Lists of three are not prominent; instead, Ibsen uses repeated phrases like Helmer's moral lectures to build pattern.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3
H12. Old words that may trip modern readers. Count
Old forms that may trip a modern reader: art.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| art | 1 |
H13. Showing against telling, with examples. AI
The play shows rather than tells through action and dialogue. Nora's character emerges through her hiding macaroons, her frantic dancing, and her final confrontation with Helmer rather than through narration. Her awakening is demonstrated in Act III through her direct speech.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3
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. (Ch 3, para 319)
H14. How much description comes before action. Both
Description is minimal and comes before action only in the opening stage directions. The play is almost entirely dialogue and action; setting is established through brief stage notes, not extended description.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1
H15. Filter words such as "saw", "felt", "heard". Count
Filter words ('saw', 'felt', 'heard' and so on): 2.87 per 1,000 words.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| thought | 28 |
| heard | 19 |
| knew | 9 |
| saw | 5 |
| felt | 5 |
| noticed | 5 |
| seemed | 4 |
| wondered | 1 |
| watched | 1 |
H16. Shifts in tone. AI
Tone shifts from light domestic comedy in Act I to mounting dread in Act II, then to grave moral reckoning in Act III. The shift is sharpest after Krogstad's letter is posted, moving from playfulness to desperation to philosophical confrontation.
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)
H17. How the comedy works. AI
Comedy in Act I comes from Nora's childish deception with macaroons and her playful manipulation of Helmer. The humour undercuts her apparent innocence and foreshadows the darker truth. Comedy fades as the play progresses toward its serious conclusion.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1
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