Question

read the excerpt from act 2 of a doll’s house.
mrs. linde: goes on sewing. a short silence does doctor rank come here everyday?
nora: everyday regularly. he is torvald’s most intimate friend, and a great friend of mine too. he is just like one of the family.
mrs. linde: but tell me this—is he perfectly sincere? i mean, isn’t he the kind of man that is very anxious to make himself agreeable?
nora: not in the least. what makes you think that?
mrs. linde: when you introduced him to me yesterday, he declared he had often heard my name mentioned in this house; but afterwards i noticed that your husband hadn’t the slightest idea who i was. so how could doctor rank—?
how does the conversation between mrs. linde and nora affect the plot?
○ it has no impact, because doctor rank is a minor character in the plot and is not involved with nora.
○ it has little impact, because nora and doctor rank only interact with each other in one scene.
○ it has an important impact, because nora decides that she should leave helmer for the doctor.
○ it has a major impact, because it hints at the doctor’s feelings for nora and her attempt at manipulation.

Explanation:

This conversation hints that Doctor Rank has been paying close attention to Nora (since he knew Mrs. Linde's name from Nora, not Torvald), which reveals his hidden feelings for her. Mrs. Linde's observation also sets up tension around Nora's relationships and foreshadows later plot developments involving Doctor Rank, making this exchange impactful to the story's progression. The other options are incorrect: Doctor Rank is not a minor, uninvolved character; Nora and the doctor interact in more than one scene; Nora never decides to leave Helmer for the doctor.

Answer:

It has a major impact, because it hints at the doctor's feelings for Nora and her attempt at manipulation.