Confinement and self-liberation in 'A Doll's House'
Setting is used as an immediate representation of the social conventions imposed on the central female characters. In A Doll's House, Ibsen presents the appearance of cosy bourgeois family life through the 'comfortably and tastefully, but not expensively furnished' setting. This is further exemplified through the Christmas tree; a festive season and the synonymous family security and happiness is indicated in order to establish a cosy, middle-class home conforming to religious and social expectations. Nora is seen at times during the course of the play concentrating on its decoration, conveying her involvement in ensuring her family's well-being and in turn, emphasising the strict gender role in which she is restricted to. Despite this, the audience cannot help but feel the setting has been created to suit Torvald's tastes, thus depicting Nora's confinement within her home. For example, Nora rings the bell of the house before her initial entrance, suggesting that she does not possess her own key. This is further emphasised when she 'listens at her husbands door', implying that she does not have full access to the house. Ibsen immediately establishes a typical bourgeois home and the conventions of a patriarchal society through a blend of naturalism and realism to depict the suppression of the central female character and also to create a world instantly identifiable to
My Production Notes on A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen.
My Production Notes on A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen. Plot set in 1879 Nora a typical housewife comes home from Christmas shopping. She has to ring the bell .She is let in and given a hand by the porter and tips him a shilling. This shows that women back in that period where unequal to men. Women never owned a house key only the men would. Also Nora has little knowledge of money and wants to show off her status by over tipping the Porter. Nora then comes in and feels the bag of maroons she has hidden in her coat pocket. This shows she hides things from her husband. Nora goes to her husband's office door and hums outside to gain his attention it works then he invites her in. He then asks her "has my little squander bird been overspending again?" This shows he too knows she has little knowledge of money but has a pet name for her which shows they are much in love and are an affectionate couple. After another conversation Nora asks to have some money and Helmer reminds her that not so long ago they wouldn't have this kind of money to spend if it hadn't been for his new salary. Nora likes to spend and buy pretty things. Where as Helmer is more concerned, as he is the man of the house and in charge of money and manly duties like work. Helmer then asks Nora if she has been into the sweet shop she lies him to him and says no. This shows she is under pressure to be slim for
Confinement and self-liberation in 'Hedda Gabler'
In Hedda Gabler, Ibsen immediately presents the affluent and elegant lifestyle Hedda aspires to through the 'handsomely and tastefully furnished' setting which provides the focus of the dramatic action. This in turn reveals the social conventions of the upper-class imposed on Hedda, of which she feels obliged to conform to in her current middle-class society. Through the setting, Ibsen effectively depicts the synonymous confinement and oppression of Hedda, who is in conflict with the ideals of her society. For example, the first detailed stage direction places considerable emphasis on the 'dark colours' and the uniform décor; the 'dark colours' create a heavy and oppressive atmosphere and the uniform décor leaves little scope for personal and creative expression, mirrored by the 'autumn colours' outside. Also notable is the abundance of furniture, which contributes to the restriction of freedom of movement, thus embodying Hedda's personal confinement in physical terms. Ibsen confines the dramatic action in order to for his characters - particularly Hedda- to emerge in relation to a strictly defined space, imposed upon them by society's conventions, thus depicting her confinement. Also significant in the staging is Hedda's 'old piano' which is included in the description of the setting in the first Act. Typically symbolising creativity and a mode of personal
A Doll's House "Nora's Identity"
Nora’s True Identity Role play seems to be the name of the game in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. The main characters in the play pretend to be someone who others would like them to be, instead of being their true selves. The person that stands out the most as a character whose role play is almost impeccable to the point where it seems she leads two different lives is Nora. She is Torvald’s loving and childish wife, and unknowingly, even to herself, a strong, independent woman. As the play progresses, Nora’s persona shifts from that of the everyday playful, trophy wife seen by Torvald and friends, to that of a self-empowering, willing woman. This is a good, clear opening. As is, you are describing the story. You might close with a kind of thesis statement to indicate what you are going to do with theis information. Nora’s first impression on the audience is of an obedient, money-loving, childish wife. In the first act, Nora seems to just want money from her husband Torvald. In the first encounter with Torvald after showing him what she just bought for their kids, she doesn’t delay [herself] in asking for money. Even when asked what she would like for Christmas, money is her answer. It is impressive how Torvald addresses Nora as she was just a little girl, or even a pet, “my little lark mustn’t droop her wings like that. What? Is my squirrel in the
A Detailed Analysis of the Dramatic Qualities of the Duologue between Krogstad and Nora and the End of Act One
A Detailed Analysis of the Dramatic Qualities of the Duologue between Krogstad and Nora and the End of Act One The very start of the duologue, when Krogstad silently enters the Helmer household, disturbing Nora's innocent game with the children strongly draws on themes from Victorian melodrama, that is to say the 'villain' coming in to disturb the 'perfect family'. This theme of the family being threatened by some external force at first encourages the audience to sympathise with Nora, however as the duologue goes on and more information is revealed, smudging the boundary between the 'evil villain Krogstad' and 'innocent heroin Nora', Ibsen challenges the conventions of Victorian melodrama by allowing the characters to develop, hence reaching a level of complexity where they can no longer be categorised as simply good or bad. Nora greets Krogstad with great hostility, feeling authoritative in the given situation as he has entered her ground, and taking on a rather rude tenor with her first words to Krogstad being: 'Oh! What do you want?' Nora clearly registers surprise at Krogstad's unexpected appearance shown by her exclamation 'Oh!', and doesn't feel she has to hide her disappointment in seeing him as she doesn't believe that Krogstad poses a threat to her. Nora's extensive use of interrogative sentences such as 'You want to speak to me' further proves that she feels
A Dolls house Language
A Dolls house Language For this particular part of my A level drama coursework I have been studying as well as closely analysing the language spoken within the play "A Dolls House", written by Henrik Ibsen back in the 19th century. But many children and students are still reading this well known play, now in this modern day and age, with most if not all of them probably enjoying it. For this coursework I will be mainly looking at the following: * Sub-text * The dialect * The usage of questions * Poetic or finely tuned idiom * The natural/unnatural speech * The employ of metaphors or symbolism * The convolution/simplicity of the language * Sentence lengths, pauses and vocabulary used * Any use of characteristics, phrases or specific words in general * As well as any other lingo linked with the language in the play or used in the play itself. Ever since reading the text in my own time I have, in many of my past lessons been discussing, acting and re-reading parts of the play as well as researching many other aspects to the play. By doing this I discovered things like the play was firstly written in Norwegian and then translated into many languages along with many more complex things. Back in lessons I was doing tasks that specifically looked at the language in the play. For example before rein acting a scene from the play the whole class gathered in a circle to do a
How does the character of Nora Helmer develop during Act Two?
How does the character of Nora Helmer develop during Act Two? At the beginning of Act Two, Ibsen interestingly uses the "stripped and dishevelled" Christmas tree to reflect Nora's restless, precarious state of mind. From this point onwards, she knows that she must build a façade over the next few days, which is dramatic irony considering that the audience is already aware that the whole marriage is a façade, and that it is Krogstad's actions which are pulling away the illusions surrounding Nora and Torvald's relationship. Nora's first passage, coupled with the stage directions that break up the dialogue, accentuate her troubled mindset very clearly. Ibsen uses short, broken sentences, such as "Nor tomorrow." and "Quite empty." to represent Nora's flow-of-consciousness in contrast to her usually polished dialogue, such as that with Mrs Linde in Act One. The playwright also hints at a slide into madness with the line "Silly, silly." which shows Nora berating herself as if she were scolding a child, also signifying the fact that she is powerless in the face of dominant men, such as Krogstad and Torvald. When Nora says, "Why, I've got three small children", the audience is reminded of Torvald's opinions on criminal mothers and Nora's fearful reaction at the end of Act One, giving Ibsen the perfect opportunity to show how this has developed. When Nora calmly tells Anne-Marie
Social Historical Bacground - A Dolls House
Social and Historical - "A Dolls House" "A Dolls House" was first published in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 1879. The first edition of the play flew of the shelves with 8000 copies sold within the first month. The play was then staged at Copenhagen's Royal Theatre on the 21st of December of the same year. This allowed people who had read the manuscript (men), as well as those people who could not read (women), the chance to see Ibsen's visual representation of his play. Women were less likely to read as they were less likely to attend school. Therefore, when men and women attended theatres a difference of opinion arose. Women were for the independence of Nora whilst men found it scandalous. However, both genders found elements of the play scandalous such as the lack of a happy ending, a sign of naturalistic drama of which Ibsen was a master. Most other playwrights of the time were still writing plays which adhered to the conventions laid out by Ancient Greek tragedy: the play must be in verse and about people of high social status. "A Dolls House" featured simple prose and was about people of different statutory. The Royal Theatre was frequented by both people of high status and low status. This only scandalised audiences even more as the higher status audiences were disgusted whilst lower status audience members applauded Ibsen. "A Dolls House" was the centre of
A brief analysis of 'A Doll's House' By Ibsen
Contextualising the text for "A DOLLS HOUSE" "A dolls house" was written by Henrik Ibsen and produced by famous actors during the time of the 1800's; in fact it was the year of 1879 to be precise. It was around this time that many different Social, cultural and historical moments were changing through time, leaving the end result to change not only one country but had an effect on most of the world. For this section of the work I will be carefully discussing with you the issues of; Social events Cultural events Historical events Social Each of these events all had major issues around during the time; like the peoples views on marriage and the roles of men and women - with or without being married. Views and opinions were vitally important in those days, they had a massive effect on people's lives, as meeting a widowed woman would have been horrific, simply because people saw marriage as such a major obstacle. Marriage was incredibly serious during them times and it was not accepted for people to split up from a marriage. They felt that when getting married they should only accept the other person if they were happy to live with them forever until death as the as the priest when getting married says: "Until death do us part" Each person when in a marriage had there own role; for the women they had to mainly work as housewives (although there were exceptions) and for
Write a Page on Your First Impressions of Nora from A Dolls House.
Write an account of Helen Burns' last night done from her perspective. You should aim to create an authentic voice for Helen Burns which builds upon Charlotte Bronte's presentation of her character and captures aspects of the writer's chosen form, structure and language. Oft have I been on the outside looking in. Dependence is not a trait desirable in life. For years I was looked on with disdain as a woman motherless. The death of my mother only served to remind my father of this fact and soon all memory that we had once laughed in the gardens of our northern manor were fading. a warm gentle voice draws me back into this earthly realm; my eyes open and I can see, for I am engulfed in the shiny white light of the soft gleewing moon that shines through the casements and the small light flame beside my cradle. Through the shadows I fancy I see a banshee, silhouetted by the candlelight, long ago had I shed my need to take comfort from such wild tales of fairies and imps but now anew memory of childhood days enthralled me. 'Helen!' The voice repeats my name. I raise my frail weak body and draw back the curtains and before me is not a phantom but the face of one who brings a smile to my lips and a gleam to my eyes. Ere long, my eyes glistened and became wet and we met in a warm embrace. Long ago I had accepted the fate that awaited me for I saw some profit the fear of death