...A Doll’s Transformation: Henrik Ibsen’s feminist heroine in A Doll’s House Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, written in 1879, is often considered one of the first feminist plays ever written, exposing, among other social commentary, women’s oppression and subordination through “the anatomy of a marriage where the wife was no more than a legal infant and her husband’s virtual slave” (Fjelde 475). Through one of history’s first female protagonists, Nora, Ibsen challenges the Victorian ideal of a woman’s role in her marriage and in society, painting a bleak picture of living life as a woman at the time. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen explores the sacrificial role of women in society, women’s oppression, and chauvinistic 19th century marriage customs through the life and transformation of his heroine, Nora. One tool Ibsen uses to present his feminist ideals is the theme of the sacrificial role that the play’s female characters must play. Nora has made a huge sacrifice in taking out a loan in secret and working to pay it back without allowing Helmer to find out; she has become a prisoner of her secret and of her necessity to pay off the loan with what little legal rights she possesses as a female in her society. Mrs. Linde, similarly, has made sacrifices as a woman, having found it necessary to abandon her true love and marry a wealthier man. The nanny, Anne-Marie, who proclaims she is a “poor girl “ and insinuates she had no other options, was forced to abandon her child to support...
Words: 944 - Pages: 4
...inHenrick Ibsen’s Play, “A Doll’s House” Henrick Ibsen has outdone himself in his play “A Doll’s House”. Ibsen has refined and fine-tuned the taste and view of his plays with the use of different techniques, among them being Symbolism. Symbolism is among the most common techniques used in drama. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas and qualities, in an artistic and poetic style. It uses images, and indirect suggestions to express mystical ideas, emotions, suggestions and states of mind. Symbolism adds another layer of meaning to the meaning of script writing. While the clear, obvious meaning lies on the surface, symbolism is mostly hidden from the “front row” and it usually lies deeper than it seems. Ibsen utilizes symbolism in the play “A Doll’s House” with the purpose of revealing a certain character. In Nora’s character, Ibsen says that he used symbolism to develop her character and in the end the character’s qualities were incredibly outstanding that even the critics said it was an outstanding move. The play, “A Doll’s House,” revolves around the life of the two Main characters; TorvaldHelmer and his wife, Nora Helmer. They live in a “Doll looking House”, as it is symbolically represented by Ibsen. The play’ tittle, “A Doll’s House,” also symbolizes that all the people that live in Torvalds residence are “dolls.” Torvald plays with them when he pleases and ignores them when he has work to do or something else in his mind("Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House"). Torvald...
Words: 2290 - Pages: 10
...A Doll’s House – Being More Than Just A Doll June 15, 2015 Dr. Ozichi Alimole A Doll’s House – Being More Than Just A Doll In A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses many literary conventions such as realism and symbolism to convey his message about marital inequality and the rights of individuals. His play is powerful, requiring imagination on the part of both the author and reader to experience wholly. Additionally he very effectively shows the conservative way in which women were treated and expected to behave, as well as the consequences for standing alone or taking action. In addition to feeling that Mr. Ibsen’s depiction of marriage in 1870’s Norway was likely very relatable for women I also agreed with a description of A Doll’s House in his biography where it says: This 1879 play set tongues a-wagging throughout Europe for exploration of Nora's struggle with the traditional roles of wife and mother and her own need for self-exploration. Once again, Ibsen had questioned the accepted social practices of the times, surprising his audiences and stirring up debate. (“Ibsen,” n.d., para. 9) He uses realism in delivering his ideas as evidenced by the fact that there are limited numbers of similes and a dearth of flowery language, and in capturing a subject that is accepted as an every day norm ("Realism," n.d., para. 4). The effect this has is to cast a fairly strict tone, one free from enhancement with a very matter of fact representation. The strong social criticism issued...
Words: 1016 - Pages: 5
...Ever since the beginning of man in Literature there has been a discussion over appearance vs. reality. The appearance of the apple to Eve was one that it would give her great wisdom as to that of the gods. In reality it did give her wisdom, but with that also came the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The appearance of the apple was good but the outcome was bad so was marriage in the 19th century. In Henrik Ibsen’s play "A Doll's House," where a man treats his wife with inferiority and where to him appearance of things is as water is to life, various symbols are used to express a theme. Three symbols used, a Christmas tree, the title, and the nicknames that Torvald calls Nora emphasize the theme of a comparison of perfect marriage relationship to the reality of their relationship that is an artificial " Doll's house" relationship. Ibsen’s use of a Christmas tree is used throughout the play epitomizes Nora's feelings. In the first act there is a festive tree with "pretty red flowers" and Nora comes into the house acting frivolously. Both tree and the Helmers look very happy. Nora's mood is festive and the tree gives a merry glow to the reader. In the end of Act I, Krogstad has threatened Nora that if she doesn't help him keep his job he will tell Torvald of their illegal loan. Torvald has said that Krogstad "has forged someone's name" so Torvald is going to fire him so in Act II, the tree is "stripped of its ornaments and with burnt down candle-ends." In this act the tree is...
Words: 1144 - Pages: 5
...An Analysis of Act One Nora and Kristine Linde Henrik Ibsen can be considered one the most key influential figures in the development and motivation of theatre throughout history. An “ardent advocate of selffreedom, self-emancipation, and self-control”¹ Ibsen used his plays as a medium to challenge his audience about the flaws in their society, using his characters to mirror it and show the need for change. A Doll’s House is one of the most significant, and arguably the first, examples of Ibsen’s modernism, the protagonist, Nora, journeys throughout the play to become the ‘New Woman’ torn between society’s traditional values and her “duty to [herself].”² Transformation is one of the most important themes within A Doll’s House, and in fact in many of Ibsen’s plays, but for Ibsen to show his audience the benefits of this metamorphosis they must first witness the stages and reasons for development. Nora, the protagonist of this problem play, is the largest, but not only, character to show change and we can see this by contrasting the girlish Nora seen at the beginning of the play to the woman she has become by the end. One of the most important techniques Ibsen uses is that of “parallelisms”³ , each character appears to be paired with another and they have, essentially, a role reversal. For Nora her foil is Mrs Kristine Linde, an old school friend who has turned up on her doorstep out of the blue secretly in search of a job. MRS. LINDE [subdued and rather hesitantly]. How do...
Words: 1540 - Pages: 7
...Realism in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Churchill’s Top Girls Nineteen-century Europe held rigid conventionalisms of class division, social order and gender roles. Society hid behind the mask of hypocrisy in an attempt to preserve bourgeoisie’s position of power. In that concern, conceptions of ‘liberty of the spirit’[1] and ‘liberty of thought and of the human condition’[2] came to question. Thus, Henrik Ibsen drew attention to the threat to ideas of freedom and public opinion by giving life to A Doll’s House (1879). He aimed to critique constraints of Victorian society rather than vindicating the rights of women. In that sense, in a speech given in his honour by the Norwegian Women’s Rights League on 26 May 1898 he stresses: ‘Whatever I have written has been without any conscious thought of making propaganda. […] To me it has seemed a problem of humanity in general.’[3] Ibsen clearly states he strove to expose the manipulation of individuals’ liberties as he worked for the human cause. In Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls (1982) the aim of the play is to reveal how the fulfilment of women’s self-realization needs in the personal and social spheres is achieved by compromising humanity and morality. In the end, what ‘The New Woman’ gets is disillusionment and loneliness as she finds herself in a predicament: mother or career woman, sensitive or hardened. In Top Girls what is represented is the price women pay to go up the corporate ladder in a male-dominant world. Thus, I will...
Words: 2225 - Pages: 9
...Marina Mitrakos Mrs. Johnson AP English 5 Period 1, 21 November 2014 Is “Safe” by Miranda Lambert the theme song for Nora or Hedda? Miranda Lambert’s song “Safe” is a better representation of Nora from Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House than Hedda from his Hedda Gabler. The song begins with, “Just like the fringe on my boots, you move with every step I take” (Lambert). Likewise, Nora and her husband have equal dominance and work together; Torvald refers to them as, “We two…” rather than stating that it is only because of him that they are not in debt (Ibsen 2). In Hedda’s case, she and her husband could not even spend enough time together on their honeymoon, and therefore are not on “the same page”. The next lines, “You walk in front of me to make sure that I don’t fall” also relates to Nora because she confides in Mrs. Linde for advice, has the maid to take care of the children, and Helmer to provide money for the family, meaning she is rather dependent (Lambert). On the other hand, Hedda prefers to have control over everything by threatening and manipulating people and is independent. Additionally, the line, “We get prettier with time” represents how Nora and her family are finally starting to make money and have nice things, while Hedda and her husband seem rather distant, even on their honeymoon (Lambert). Since Hedda prefers to be superior, she would not, “find a way to free [her husband’s] hands [and] wash them clean” (Lambert). However, Nora cares a lot about helping her family...
Words: 459 - Pages: 2
...characters in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House and Bertold Brecht’s Mother Courage and her Children. Henrik Ibsen’s Nora Helmer and Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage present two strongly defined female heroines whose actions not only adversely affect the other characters’ lives but also suggest a fundamental problem with their societies. Both playwrights establish the macroscopic view of society’s turmoil in the microscopic, individual characters of Nora and Mother Courage. Both characters have an indomitable magnetism that, on the one hand, allows them to control others but, on the other, cause them to make desperate choices that reflect a repressive society. In analyzing the figures of Nora in A Doll House and Anna Fierling in Mother Courage and Her Children, it is important to examine the ways in which they interact with their respective societies, specifically how well they play the roles defined for them. For each play, there exist social structures, as well as exigencies of a given period within those structures, which range from being burdensome to downright inimical to the process of being a good mother. In the case of Nora, the perspective is bleak: due to the oppressively, male-dominated society , not only is she in no position to be a provider or protector for her children, but due to the condescending, patronizing attitudes of her father and husband she has remained in a state of arrested development her whole life. At the end of the play she leaves her...
Words: 2749 - Pages: 11
...While fighting for these rights, women characters in short stories, novels, plays, and even poetry were made to beat the odds of normalcy. In some instances, these women were portrayed as heroines. Three perfect examples of women characters before their time are Nora Helmer from A Doll’s House, Antigone from Antigone, and Emily Grierson from “A Rose for Emily.” These sapid characters, Antigone, Emily, and Nora, step from the normal roles as women and fight against all authority, stand up for what they believe in, and break the laws as they fall. To better understand the character, one must first understand the author and the time period in which the story was written. Sophocles wrote many dramatic plays including, Antigone. Sophocles, like many of his characters in his plays, was a hero of sorts. He held many public offices and was a general during the Samian War and the Archidamian War. “Sophocles was a priest of Halon and helped introduce the cult of Asclepius, god of medicine, to Athens” (Gill). He grew up in a town known as Colonus, but he stayed in Athens most of the time (Gill). His play, Antigone, was written in 441 B. C., in Ancient Greece. (Sophocles 1465) . In the dramatic play, Antigone, Antigone undergoes a deadly battle with her uncle, future father-in-law, and king, Creon. Antigone is considered a princess in the land of Thebes where her father, King Oedipus, once ruled. In this play, Antigone’s two brothers fight to the death for the throne. They kill each other...
Words: 2685 - Pages: 11
...A Marxist View on the charactersof “A Doll house” If you want a literary piece that will surely intrigue your mindset towards your financial status while entertaining you with their different perspective in dreaming of being rich in their society,this is the play for you. In Henrik’s Ibsen’s Marxist novel “A Doll House” the characters suffers from the prejudices and strictures of their capitalists community, this inevitable factors in this kind of society affects their living and they are often undermined by those struggles. The portrayal of the Nora, Torvald, Kristine, Krogstad, Anna-Marie and Dr. Rank shows a Marxist perspective of life. Nora’s way of thinking is predominated by her obsessions to material wealth and her eagerness to be financial stable. The story begins with Nora is just returning home after a shopping trip, she enters the apartment with an “armload of packages”(43) and she is followed by a boy carrying a Christmas tree then, when his husband Torvald enters she immediately asks for money in order for her to “hang the bills in gilt paper” as Christmas tree decorations (45).Nora didn’t want anyone to see their Christmas tree until it is not fully decorated by luxurious presents because Nora wants to boast that his husband found a new stable job. Nora administered the decoration of the tree, she spent a great amount to show to their neighbors that they are now financially stable. Now, that Nora belongs to a higher class of the society she practically throws...
Words: 914 - Pages: 4
...Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House is one play that led Ibsen to be the father of modern drama. Ibsen creates the theme of falseness of appearances through Nora’s contentment, Torvald’s supremacy, and Dr. Rank’s health. In the opening of the play, Nora and Torvald appear to be in boundless love with each other, and Dr. Rank is concealing his sickness from Torvald for he does not take well to any kind of ugliness. To begin, in the start of the play Nora seems to be content in Torvald possessing control as well as pleasing his every desire. She appears content in molding herself into whatever Torvald wants her to be. Torvald often refers to Nora as his “little squirrel” as well as other insulting names; regardless, Nora does not seem to mind this. At this point in the play, Nora does not yet realized she has a self; she merely plays the role she is expected by society to play. Nora, raised by her father, immediately moves in with her husband. She has not experienced anything more than being treated like a doll. Nora and Torvald’s home not only appears to be the perfect marriage by being in love but also by being debt-free. This is until she reveals a secret to her friend Christine Linde that she illegally borrowed money from a source that she will not reveal to her friend. She is concealing this fact from Torvald to prevent him from feeling any humiliation. She lies to Torvald by telling him that the money came from her father. As the play progresses, Nora’s secret is revealed...
Words: 716 - Pages: 3
...The “explorer” and the “escapist” 3.1.2 Migration seen as sacrifice 3.2 Preconditions for migration 3.2.1 Preconditions for migration on a structural level 3.2.2 Preconditions for migration at a family level 19 20 21 23 31 32 34 Part IV How they actually go – the broker 4.1 The patron and the compadre 4.2 The returned migrant 4.3 The private recruiter 4.4 The broker – some general and concluding remarks 38 40 43 45 52 Part V Life at sea 5.1 What characterizes a ship in the merchant marines? 5.2 The seafaring experience 5.2.1 The ship seen as a prison 5.2.2 The total institution 55 57 66 67 72 5.2.2.1 A total institution is a secluded place 75 5.2.2.2 A total institution follow a certain pace 77 5.2.2.3 Some running themes in the inmate culture 86 ii Part VI Cultural repercussions caused by the life at sea 6.1 The seafarer sees as a local, technical expert 6.2 The seafarer sees as a local cosmopolitan 100 101 107 Part VII Economic repercussions caused by overseas employment 116 7.1 The migration industry 7.2 Effects on a family and individual level 7.2.1 Gifts from the “outside” – pasalubongs 7.2.2 Long-term investments in family welfare 7.2.2.1 Education 7.2.2.2 Housing 7.2.2.3 Small-scale business 117 126 128 152 154 161 169 Part VIII The Filipino seafarer – a life between sacrifice...
Words: 82194 - Pages: 329
...Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 i RTNA01 1 13/6/05, 5:28 PM READING THE NOVEL General Editor: Daniel R. Schwarz The aim of this series is to provide practical introductions to reading the novel in both the British and Irish, and the American traditions. Published Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel 1890–1930 Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Daniel R. Schwarz Brian W. Shaffer Forthcoming Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel Paula R. Backscheider Reading the Nineteenth-Century Novel Harry E. Shaw and Alison Case Reading the American Novel 1780–1865 Shirley Samuels Reading the American Novel 1865–1914 G. R. Thompson Reading the Twentieth-Century American Novel James Phelan ii RTNA01 2 13/6/05, 5:28 PM Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Brian W. Shaffer iii RTNA01 3 13/6/05, 5:28 PM © 2006 by Brian W. Shaffer BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Brian W. Shaffer to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and...
Words: 123617 - Pages: 495
...Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Bloom's Classic Critical Views alfred, lord Tennyson Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens edgar allan poe Geoffrey Chaucer George eliot George Gordon, lord Byron henry David Thoreau herman melville Jane austen John Donne and the metaphysical poets John milton Jonathan Swift mark Twain mary Shelley Nathaniel hawthorne Oscar Wilde percy Shelley ralph Waldo emerson robert Browning Samuel Taylor Coleridge Stephen Crane Walt Whitman William Blake William Shakespeare William Wordsworth Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Edited and with an Introduction by Sterling professor of the humanities Yale University harold Bloom Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: William Shakespeare Copyright © 2010 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data William Shakespeare / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom : Neil Heims, volume editor. p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views) Includes bibliographical references...
Words: 239932 - Pages: 960
