The Importance of Scenography in Miss Julie and A Doll's House
The Importance of Scenography in Miss Julie and A Doll's House The work of a playwright is customarily evaluated in terms of the interaction between the elements of literature such as setting, character, theme, plot, and style. Scenography, which deals with the physical materiality of a production, is probably the farthest away from the literal and abstract contents of a drama - elements which have traditionally gained the most attention and appreciation from audiences and critics alike. It is an aspect often undermined upon reading a play, despite its importance in enhancing dramatic effect and capacity to generate and convey ideological ideas to the audience. Both Strindberg and Ibsen wrote carefully visualized, highly charged mise-en-scene into their plays that serves a double role - on one hand, it is a functional construction assisting the actor's work, while on the other hand, it is aimed at concretizing the psychological states and spiritual conditions of the characters. The arrangement of space and visual environment around the characters, as well as the use of props in both A Doll's House and Miss Julie can be seen as metaphoric parallels into Nora's, Miss Julie's and Jean's emotional struggles. Miss Julie takes place over a very short time interval in the kitchen of the Count's country house. Although the kitchen is the only room visible on stage, there are
Nora Helmer vs. Miss Julie - the Role of Women being Degraded by Man
Nora Helmer vs. Miss Julie - the Role of Women being Degraded by Man "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen and "Miss Julie" by August Strindberg are two plays, the first from 1879 and the latter from 1888, which portrays the life and role of women at their time in society, as both have as their main characters two women - Nora Helmer and Miss Julie. Still, the role of women in the two plays is shown to be different. Strindberg, in one hand, conveys in "Miss Julie" that women are inferior in the society, as he pictures them as a less important form of human beings. In the other hand, Ibsen portrays Nora, at a first look, to be a standard innocent wife - showing women to be plain wives, mothers and working at home at the eyes of society. In order to show the need for change, Ibsen illustrates and emphasizes the subordination of women in the social pyramid. The purpose of this essay is to make a comparative analysis in order to understand the lives of these two women and the roles they've taken up in each play. In "A Doll's House", Nora is a housewife married to Torvald Helmer, and she stays at home with her children and managing the household. This is the typical life of a standard wife at that time. Ibsen leads on the play, penetrating and unveiling Nora in a subtle way conveying a huge effect. At the beginning he illustrates Nora to be taking the most normal life, and Torvald to
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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,
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
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
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