Which phrase in this excerpt from act 1 of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House suggests that Krogstad is prone to engage in crime and may, in fact, be a criminal? RANK: Certainly. However wretched I may feel, I want to prolong the agony as long as possible. All my patients are like that. And so are those who are morally diseased; one of them, and a bad case too, is at this very moment with Helmer— MRS. LINDE (sadly): Ah! NORA: Whom do you mean? RANK: A lawyer of the name of Krogstad, a fellow you don't know at all. He suffers from a diseased moral character, Mrs. Helmer; but even he began talking of its being highly important that he should live. NORA: Did he? What did he want to speak to Torvald about? RANK: I have no idea; I only heard that it was something about the Bank. NORA: I didn't know this—what's his name—Krogstad had anything to do with the Bank. RANK: Yes, he has some sort of appointment there. (To MRS. LINDE) I don't know whether you find also in your part of the world that there are certain people who go zealously snuffing about to smell out moral corruption, and, as soon as they have found some, put the person concerned into some lucrative position where they can keep their eye on him. Healthy natures are left out in the cold.
Answers
The phrase in the above excerpt from Act 1 of Henrik Ibsen's “A Doll's House” which suggests that Krogstad is prone to engage in crime and may, in fact, be a criminal is:
"He suffers from a diseased moral character ."
In the first act of “A Doll's House,” Henry Ibsen introduces the main characters of the play and gives a gist of their attitude towards things. Nora has been presented as a housewife who wants to give all the pleasures to her family and herself but is unable to do so because of the lack of money. She feels very excited to buy presents for her children and for the family during Christmas. Though they lack money, still she buys things through credit. Her husband Torvald asks her not to spend too much and calls her a spendthrift. While conversing to her friend Christine, Nora says that after a few years she would not be as beautiful as she is now and she fears that her husband would leave her. she talks about the importance of money in any persons' life. she says that she needs to look after all the requirement of the family and on another side has to think about the savings too.