The delicate equilibrium of societal acceptance and an individual's right to flourish: the severe imbalance of Victorian values as exposed in A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen.
The delicate equilibrium of societal acceptance and an individual's right to flourish: the severe imbalance of Victorian values as exposed in A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen. Henrik Ibsen has elevated theatre from a source of mere entertainment and turned it into a forum for exposing the many critical problems of Victorian society. Prior to Ibsen, contemporary theatre consisted of more shallow subjects such as historical romances or contrived behavior plays. However, with A Doll's House, Ibsen transformed drama into a reputable genre for the portrayal and examination of social issues. In exposing the many flaws within the Helmer marriage, he made what was wrongly private public and in doing so provided a great advocacy for women, which was a rare feat most especially because Henrik Ibsen was a man himself. A prime example of this would be in Act III, when Nora slams the door as she leaves, she is opening a door into the hidden world of the ideal Victorian marriage. In allowing Nora the right to satisfy her need for an identity separate from that of wife and mother, Ibsen is perceived as endorsing the growing question of a woman's role in society, and the freedom of their rights that is much sought after. Although the play ends without offering any real solutions, Ibsen has offered countless possibilities. To his contemporaries, not only was the thought considered near
The roles of men and women are defined by the cultural conventions and expectations of their society, and those who challenge these expectations may face personal crisis - Discuss this statement with reference to Ibsen's A Doll House.
The roles of men and women are defined by the cultural conventions and expectations of their society, and those who challenge these expectations may face personal crisis Discuss this statement with reference to Ibsen's A Doll House. Henrik Ibsen was born in Skein a small Norwegian coastal town, on March 20 1828. In 1838 his father went bankrupt and the family was forced to live in near poverty. Ibsen was a young man of intense democratic ideas. He went against the restraints of society. He was willing enough to behave himself, but he did not want to be required by society to do so. He felt that society was a tyrant requiring the individual to do this or that. Ibsen was at war with the authorities of church, state, and the social government. Ibsen's life greatly influenced his plays. The 19th century society had their own expectations put onto men and women of the time. Men were superior and were the protectors over their wife's. The women were seen as inferior but were what their husbands wanted them to be. They were to be typical house wives if a maid or servant was not present. Society's expectations were what every household took into consideration and strictly followed. If this was not done the family and the family name would be looked upon with shame. In Ibsen's A Doll House the roles of Nora and Torvald are defined by the cultural conventions and expectations of
Analysis of the opening scenes of "A Doll's House."
Analysis of the opening scenes Of "A Doll's House." The very first scene in A Doll's House, opens with extremely precise and detailed stage directions. These stage directions are very important and relevant as they benefit the characters and the directors. This is so that they know the backgrounds to the event of the scene. The stage directions show us as the readers the type of character he/she is. It reflects back upon the characters personality and lifestyle. The play is based in Helmers apartment and goes straight into description. The very first line of the stage directions gives us the impression that the Helmer's are happy, "...room furnished comfortably..." Here we see that the room is comfortably and tastefully but not expensively furnished. Even though it is not expensively furnished we can see straight away that the room is "happy" even though the inhabitants may be poor and unhappy. The structure of the play is a one room tight fitting. The structure of a one-room use is relevant to the play as it shows the restrictions on Nora as women in those days. The layout as a whole and the use of this structure reinforces the claustrophobic emotional nature of Nora and Helmer's relationship. In this scene there is a lot of reference to doors. Many doors are mentioned in the stage directions of the play. The doors are a metaphor in technical language they represent
The portrayal of women as rebels in society, as seen by the characterisation of Nora in Ibsen's "A Doll's House" and Medea in Euripides' "Medea".
The portrayal of women as rebels in society, as seen by the characterisation of Nora in Ibsen's "A Doll's House" and Medea in Euripides' "Medea". Throughout history, the role of gender equality has been viewed with varying degrees of importance by societies. People are quick to identify and label a 'rebel' as the one who goes against all the moral convictions and different 'normalities' of each society. The definition of rebel is listed as "someone or something that resists any authority or control." In the context of society, the control which is resisted by the rebel can be no other than the stereotypes of that particular society, a feature which can be directly linked to the oppression of women and their desires and aspirations under standardised conditions and circumstances. Can the rebellious attitudes of women be condemned, ignoring the discontent of these women? Also, should their happiness become repressed, giving way to self-sacrifice and the forfeiting of their desires? It is these issues which Medea and Nora are faced with, and in each case we can see that their decision to go against the stereotypes of the eras are perhaps indicative of the predominance of their own desires and dreams over the notion of self-sacrifice. Thus we can see that both Medea and Nora can be characterised as rebels against the societies they live in. To begin with, Nora has fit into her
A Doll House by Ibsen and The Metamorphosis by Kakfa,
WORLD LITERATURE PAPER I Name: Matthew Stanelle Student Number: _____________________________ Date: December 5, 2002 Name of Junior Year English Teacher: Mr. Hajewski Word Count: 1475 Title: Nora and the Samsa Family - Better Off Without Torvald and Gregor Nature of Study: In the Beginning of Both A Doll House by Ibsen and The Metamorphosis by Kakfa, Nora and the Samsa family seem to be overwhelmingly dependent of Torvald and Gregor. However, they both continuously change throughout the play and the novel. And my intent is to examine this change and come to the conclusion that both are better off without the support and guidance they've been given. Strategy Employed: Formal Essay Although Kafka portrays the Samsa family as dependents of Gregor in the beginning of Metamorphosis, and Ibsen also portrays Nora as a wife who depends on the support and guidance of her husband in A Doll House, both the Samsa family and Nora prove they can be independent and happy without him and her husband. In Act One of A Doll House a conversation between Mrs. Linde and Nora reveals that Nora has secretly borrowed money to finance a trip to Italy to save the life of her husband, Torvald Helmer, which she hopes to repay without consequence. In comparison, Kafka begins Metamorphosis presenting Gregor as a giant bug whose family accepts this as a treatable illness anticipating a
Theatre Coursework on 'A Doll's House'
Theatre Coursework on 'A Doll's House' Plot Introduction The story of 'A Doll's House' is very complex, splitting into numerous sub-plots. However, the story in itself is quite linear and not very hard to follow. The only thing that would make this play confusing is the way that Nora changes her character and the way she acts between the different people. Nora's character is the most complex part of the play because of this. Essentially what happens in this play is that, Nora has taken a loan from a lawyer at the local bank. She forged the signature required for security on the loan. This is the suspense of the play and is the reason for the way Nora behaves throughout the play. Nora tries to keep her husband from finding out because he hates the idea of having loans but also because she has committed a crime that would ruin her husband's reputation. Which in the time this play was written, during the Victorian era, was the one of the worst things that a wife could do to her husband because during that time reputation and status was everything. As the play continues there are various sub-plots that break off that could be a story in itself if it was made longer and explored more. All of the sub-plots however effect what happens in the play. Act 1 . It is Christmas Eve, Nora Helmer enters, laden with parcels and tells the maid to hide the Christmas tree so that the
The plays 'Miss Julie', August Strindberg, 1888 and 'A Doll's House', Henrik Ibsen, 1879 are two plays with a variety of themes and different views of life. But both plays have women
JULIE X NORA - THE ROLE OF THESE WOMEN VIS-À-VIS MEN The plays 'Miss Julie', August Strindberg, 1888 and 'A Doll's House', Henrik Ibsen, 1879 are two plays with a variety of themes and different views of life. But both plays have women as their major characters: Julie and Nora Helmer. The role of women in both plays is shown to be different. In "Miss Julie", Strindberg shows women as inferior in society, as he believed that they were a secondary form of humans. In "A Doll's House", at first, we think that Nora is a typical innocent wife. This leads Ibsen to relate women seen by society, as wives, mothers, and working at home. Ibsen wants to reinforce the subordination of the role of women to show the need for changes. A comparative study will be made of the lives of these two women and the role they occupy in each play. Julie is the mistress of the house, with Jean, the valet and Kristin, the cook. All the events and problems happening in the play could be a result of certain circumstances: first, her feminist mother's primary instincts about men made her disgusted and horrified about them. The absence of her father leads to an incomplete rising of herself. She had just broken off her engagement and her ex-fiancé had an influence on her depravation. Also, it was in Midsummer Eve, she was in her period; she loved dancing, and was influenced by the flowers. Julie starts as
Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House' - review
A play serves as the author's tool for critiquing society. It is rare that a person encounters the ability to rise above accepted social beliefs. Some plays help to reflect controversial issues that the audience can relate to because they interact in the same situations every day. Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian writer who was known for his critical view upon society. 'A Doll's House' was written in the late 19th Century, this era and its traits are echoed in his play in many ways. Ibsen provides unique analysis and reflection on issues his culture never thought as wrong. In the play he tackles women's rights as a matter of importance being neglected, acknowledging the fact that in 19th Century European life the role of the women to stay home, raise the children, and attend to her husband was unfair. Ibsen shows us this in 'A Doll's House' constantly when Nora is being dominated and controlled by Helmer. Nora is called a number of names by Helmer throughout the play. These include "little songbird", "squirrel", "lark", "little featherhead", "little skylark", "little person", and "little woman". Helmer seems to be particularly consistent about using the modifier "little" before the names he calls Nora. These are all usually followed by the possessive "my", signalling Helmer's belief that Nora belongs only to him. Analysing this type of language you could say that not only is it
An Oppressing Society
Luciana Machado Drama An Oppressing Society In the society portrayed by Henrik Ibsen in the play Hedda Gabler, social problems display their important role in the outcome of the text. This is one of the main characteristics of Modern Drama, in which Ibsen is known to be a pioneer. The author shows how social issues affect the main character of the play, Hedda, and how she ends it all with suicide, the most powerful form of her self-destruction Society forces a certain conduct upon people in which many cannot deal. Thea, a docile but ardent woman who went to school with Hedda even though they were never friends, is actually the real courageous character because she faces her troubles instead of running away from them, like Hedda does. The society of nineteenth century idolizes the image of submissive, passive and pure women. Typically, this kind of play contained the same collection of characters-including the overbearing father, the innocent woman in distress, the jealous husband, the loyal friend, the cruel villain who underwent predictable crises involving lost letters, guilty secrets, and mistaken identity, but Ibsen changed this technique. Instead of being superficial types, they are complicated people whose problems the audience can identify with. The reader can learn something about himself through the intrigue and tension onstage. In addition, the way the play is
A Doll's House Context
Ibsen's A Doll's House was written in a time when theatre was changing, and Ibsen was one of the creators of this new style of writing. Henrik Ibsen was born in Norway in 1828. During Ibsen's childhood his father encountered many financial difficulties and in 1835 the family was forced to move because their property was seized for payment of debts. Ibsen had an unhappy childhood due to rumours that Knud Ibsen was not his father, and despite the physical resemblance Ibsen believed these rumours to be true. Ibsen moved away from his parents in 1844 and during his early adult years Ibsen befriended members of the socialist movement and a left wing politician. This then led him to write for a radical magazine, where police raided the offices. Two of his co-workers were imprisoned for three years but Ibsen didn't speak out. Before A Doll's House Ibsen wrote many plays, but up until 1864 most were unsuccessful but he made his break when he started writing plays designed to be read, the first of which was Brand. This play created an immediate sensation and established Ibsen's reputation in Scandinavia. In 1869 Ibsen's A League of Youth was performed at the Christiana Theatre, it caused controversy because of it's characterisation of progressive personalities. One of the characters complains: 'You dressed me up like a doll; you played with me as one plays with a child.' In George