"How far Nora is a tragic heroine in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House"

IB Oral Oral Exposé on - Presentation Date: March 3rd-7th 2003 "How far Nora is a tragic heroine in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" On a frigid April day in 1864, Henrik Ibsen arrived at the docks in the Norwegian capital of Oslo (then called Christiania). The young man was a failure. The theater he'd run had closed, and none of his own plays were successful. Disillusioned by his country and society, Ibsen, together with his wife and son, boarded a ship and left Norway, figuratively slamming the door behind him. Fifteen years later a similarly disillusioned Nora Helmer would slam the door on stage at the end of A Doll's House, helping to change the course of modern drama. Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentleman, today I will be doing an oral exposé on How far Nora Helmer is a tragic heroine in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House". The tragic events in a play enable critics to consider it a "tragedy", one which to some extent follows and diverges from the Aristotelian definition. Aristotle believed that tragedy must revolve around a central character known as "the tragic hero, on whom the plot focuses and who exhibits certain characteristics, which leads to his, though in this particular case, her downfall. A tragic heroine is the female version of a tragic hero and is defined as one who tries to remain true to oneself and will do anything to preserve herself. The use of the

  • Word count: 1806
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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"A Doll's House"

Henrik Ibsen was born in 1828 on the coast of Norway into a middle class family. When he was 6 years of age, due to financial loss, his family were forced to move to a smaller house in the country and his education was disruppted. Ibsen had to work as an apprentice and study in the evening this alienated him from his family and he was never to reunite with them. In 1849 his first play was published and was a disaster. Ibsen altered his style of writing to accommodate the trend of the era which was romanticism. His second play the "The Warrior's Borrow" was a success. Ibsen then acquired a job as "Dramatic Author" at the Norwegian Theatre which included all parts of the theatre production directing, designing sets and costumes as well as financial and business aspects. At this point in time, Ibsen was successful as light comedy, romanticism and melodrama were the main subjects he wrote about. By 1860 he was disillusioned with those and wanted to deal with real issues about everyday life in society, which his middle class audience could relate to. Being a socialist, Ibsen's realistic for of writing made his audiences think and even examine their own life's this made his realistic plays extremely successful with the public but the critics thought other wise. In 1877 "The Pillars of Society" was his naturalistic play but still contained a happy ending. Then only two years later "A

  • Word count: 889
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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"A Doll's House" deals with the position of women in matters of marriage and society in the 19th century. To what extent do you agree that these ideas were ahead of their time?

Scott Francis "A Doll's House" deals with the position of women in matters of marriage and society in the 19th century. To what extent do you agree that these ideas were ahead of their time? The inspiration for A Doll's House came from the tragic events that happened to Laura Kieler a young woman Ibsen met in1870. Laura asked Ibsen to comment on a play she was writing and they became close friends. Some time later her husband contracted tuberculosis and was advised to visit a warm climate. Unfortunately they lacked the financial means so she acquired a loan. Repayment was demanded and Laura had to forge a cheque. This was soon discovered and her husband treated her like a common criminal, despite the fact that she had these actions for his sake. She suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to a public asylum. Eventually she begged him to take her back for the sake of the children. Ibsen then began to write A Doll's House. A Doll's house was first performed in Copenhagen on the 21st of December 1879. From the very start of the play we are introduced to an attentive, compliant and submissive wife, Nora. As the play continues the audience begin to see that there is something more to Nora, she is not simply Torvald's pet, a "little skylark twittering". My essay will attempt to show that the character of Nora was a very bold one that was not easily digested by the general

  • Word count: 1850
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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"A Doll's House" Henryk Ibsen.

Question 1) The relationship between Nora and Torvald is a strange one by our standards but when the play was written it would have been quite usual. In the beginning of the play it seems to be an almost childish relationship in the sense that he uses words like scamper and fritter and calls Nora Squirrel and little bird. He also sees her as childlike and defenceless, a view held by men about women then. He blames women for the morality of the children and for the purity of the world through their influence in the home. She plays along with his games and is a loving wife although later we learn she has an ulterior motive. Nora and Torvald both fell in love with the conceptions of each other, not their real selves. It turns out to be money that drives the relationship especially in Nora's case as she was constantly trying to get money and wishing for a richer lifestyle. It is not an equal relation ship as seen in an idyllic world because Torvald does not see Nora as a equal but as a lesser being, a role to which Nora submits to. Question 2) In the dialogue when Nora plays flirtatiously with Dr Rank we can see her character in more depth and see potential flaws. We can see that she has no regard for others and is only interested in having fun and enjoying life. This is because she has such a sheltered home lifestyle in which she cannot fully accept the reality of the outside

  • Word count: 760
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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"A Dolls House" feminist critics and the social conventions Of marital life.

"A Dolls House" feminist critics and the social conventions Of marital life. In Ibsen's symbolic play "A Doll House", Nora is the bird, and her marriage is the cage. A bird may have beautiful wings, but within a cage, the beautiful wings are useless. Within the cage, the bird is not fulfilling the potential for which it was created - it is merely a household decoration. Externally, Nora is a beautiful creature entertaining her husband with the beautiful images of an obedient wife, but internally, she is a desperate creature longing to explore her potential outside the cage of her marriage. In a society dominated by the expectations of men, Nora must choose between the obligations determined by her role as wife in disagreeing to the obligations of self, in determining her true identity and Christine's identity within the social convention of marital life. Nora's flight to personal freedom is considered useless to some feminist critics, due to the decision of Christine to re unite with Krogstad. However Nora is praised for leaving Torvald. In some ways I agree with this statement though both Christine and Nora's characters differ immensely allowing them to take different actions according to their character. The role of women in late 19th century marriage was very stereotypical, providing your husband with children, and caring for one's family, the perfect mother and wife,

  • Word count: 1236
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Discuss the aptness if the title 'A Dolls House'.

Discuss the aptness if the title The title of the play 'A Dolls House' is fitting, as one of the themes of the play is the treatment of Nora, Nora has been described as the doll and Helmer as the doll master. Ibsen lets us apply this metaphor of a dolls house to the rest of the play, and it is seen how the Helmer household is similar to a game involving a child at play, the child being the doll master and the toy being a doll, their marriage is based on false principle imposed by Torvald in his role as the representative of a masculine society. In the first scene of the play, the setting is described so that the audience will visualise what society would expect to see symbolising feminine existence in a 'dolls house'. During the period in which Ibsen wrote the play, society was dominated by male figures, women took the more nurturing role and so had no concept of business. Nora is naive and this stems from treatment from Helmer, and, previously by her father. Nora is shown to recognise's this at the end of the plat when saying ' I'm your dolly-wife just as I used to be Daddy's dolly-baby'. In 1879 women did not posses the right to vote or own their own property. They also had no legal status and were supervised by their fathers or their husbands, so it was socially expectable for a women to be controlled by her husband. At this time a movement towards liberation of women

  • Word count: 1026
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Character Comparison of 'Antigone' from Antigone and 'Nora' from A Doll's House

Character Comparison of 'Antigone' from Antigone and 'Nora' from A Doll's House. My essay is about the two major female characters from 'Antigone' and 'A Doll's House'. I will compare and discuss the similarities of the two characters. 'A Doll's House is a Norwegian play set in 1877 which is written by Henrik Ibsen. 'Antigone' is a Greek play written by Sophocles in 441 B.C. Both plays are very similar in concept and style in the sense that there are a small number of characters and there is only one scene i.e. the living room in 'A Doll's House' and the palace in 'Antigone'. It is only in 'Antigone' where the scene changes at the end of the play. Another important thing to note about the play is how the story is told to the audience. In 'Antigone' the tragedy is known to the audience in the beginning of the play, but the suspense of the play is brought by the revelation of events that lead to the death of Antigone. In 'A Doll's House' the story is carefully explored giving us reasons for Nora's action. We are only told towards the end of the play the real tragedy of Nora's actions. The purpose of my essay is to compare and discuss the similarities of the two main female characters in 'Antigone' and 'A Doll's House'. I will discuss Nora's character first. The play is set in the 1800s in Norway. Nora is a typical woman living in a male dominated society where the rights of

  • Word count: 1787
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Realizations regarding individual and collective truths permit characters in The Plague and A Doll's House to attain freedom through rejecting past perceptions of their reality.

Tim Flynn English 4 Honors Comparative Essay Period 7 Realizations regarding individual and collective truths permit characters in The Plague and A Doll's House to attain freedom through rejecting past perceptions of their reality. Camus and Ibsen, in their respective works, address the discovery of truth and actuality as being a catalyst to bring forth freedom to their imprisoned characters. The delayed realizations exhibited by characters in each work regarding the reality of their situation and the necessity for personal growth through their roles in life allow them to break free from outlooks that have previously restrained them. The consciousness that there is an unreliability in appearances is seen in both works and serves to liberate the characters from their present reality. Over the course of A Doll's House, appearances prove to be misleading facades that mask the reality of the play's situations. Several instances of situational misinterpretation exist between the characters. The seeming hatred or revulsion between Mrs. Linde and Krogstad turns out to be love, Nora's creditor turns out to be Krogstad and not, as inferred by Mrs. Linde, Dr. Rank. Additionally, Dr. Rank, to Nora's surprise, confesses that he is in love with her and the blackmailer, Krogstad repents and returns Nora's contract to her, while the seemingly kindhearted Mrs. Linde ceases to help Nora

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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A Dolls House Use Of Language

A doll's House has alot of qualities about it which most plays often don't have. The sub-text within the play is really intense because characters say one thing yet mean another. This mainly happens with Nora's character as she has alot going on that she doesn't want her husband to know about. Mainly where alot of sub-text is used is at the beginning of act two with Anne-Marie and Nora where they start talking about the fancy dress party and about Nora's dress "I wish I'd torn it to pieces." What Nora could mean here is not that she'd torn the dress to pieces but that she wishes she could tear her life to pieces to start a whole new one without mistakes. The whole conversation between Anne-Marie and Nora consists of sub-text like when Anne-Marie starts talking about her own daughter. "No, No. She wrote to me, when she was confirmed, and when she got married." The audience can see from that sentence alone that Anne-Marie feels lonely because her only child has getting in contact with her twice to tell Anne-Marie of her confirmation and marriage yet, she hasn't let her know if Anne-Marie is a grandma or nanna. Anne-Marie could be thinking I gave her up I can't expect anymore from her but it would be nice to hear from her now and again just so I know how she is doing. Yet Anne-Marie's thoughts are portrayed through other written words. Like when Nora asks "Are the children

  • Word count: 3373
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Henrik Ibsen - A Doll's House - Plot.

Linda Lapina English A1 Analysis Henrik Ibsen A Doll's House Plot Act l It is Christmas evening, and Nora Helmer has just arrived from Christmas shopping. She has a conversation with her husband Torvald that shows that he likes to act as being superior (while Nora obeys) and that for long they have had to struggle to save money, but now Torvald is promoted and they are going to be affluent. Separately arrive Dr. Rank, a good friend of Helmers', and Christine Linde, an old schoolmate of Nora's, who has not met her for many years. While Dr. Rank spends time with Torvald, both women talk about their present prospects and begin to share their experiences about the long time that they haven't met. Christine tells about the hardship that she has experienced- unloved husband's death, her being obliged to take care of her sick mother and younger brothers afterwards. Nora promises to talk to Torvald to procure Christine a place of employment in the bank. Christine feels pre-eminent and proud of her past struggles, and that provokes Nora to reveal that she has something to be proud of as well. Step by step, Nora tells how, when she and Torvald were indigent, Torvald heavily overworked and Nora had to borrow money to pay for a trip to Italy to save her husband's life, without him knowing. Since then, she has been struggling to repay the debt, which is soon going to be

  • Word count: 3164
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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