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A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

Introduction

"A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen was finished and published in 1897 in the era realism. The play was much discussed and criticized at that time. The reason for this was the subject Henrik Ibsen took up for the play. Doll's House was written two years after the society columns and was the first play of Ibsen which caused a sensation. Today is perhaps his most famous work and is required reading in many schools and universities. When it was published, Dollhouse generated much controversy, as it strongly criticizes the marriage laws of the nineteenth century (Bloom, 80-85). Although Ibsen denied that his work was a feminist, it is still considered by many critics as the first true feminist play. Dollhouse describes the situation where there is the protagonist Nora, who tries to leave home. His husband is a conservative and socially well placed, however treats Nora as if she is her property.

Author

Today he is known as Norway's greatest playwright and a number two in the world. When his father went bankrupt eight years after Henry was born, Henry had to work to earn a living. In between work he studied. His first piece of literature "Catiline," was published in 1858. It was much based on the Latin curriculum. Henrik Ibsen got his big break in Bergen in 1851 when he began working on stage together with Ole Bull. By Ole Bull, he taught theater arts to know, which meant that he was inspired to continue writing (Isaacson, 55-60).

Analysis

In the play, Ibsen speaks out for the oppressed women by bravely and accurately described how women in the nineteenth century were treated by their husbands: as kids with no respect, as dolls that can be called by pet name, and as a dumpster to rid of their anger and frustration. At the very beginning of Act 1 when Nora got home after a Christmas shopping day, she was greeted by her husband Torvald with questions like “Is that my little lark twittering out there?” and “Is that my squirrel rummaging around” (Ibsen 944). Even though Nora seemed to accept being called with these names, as well as her doll-like life, she wasn't happy because it was not her choice to live that way in the first place. It's rather a social norm and concept that women were born to be dependent on men. It's like a game in which Nora was a player, and she had to play by the social rules in order to survive. The rules, however, weren't fair because they set by men to serve their egos. “I find out, for one thing, that the law's not at all what I'd thought † but I can't get it through my head that the law is fair. A woman hasn't a right to protect her dying father or save her husband's life!” (Ibsen 993).  As portrayed in the play, women in the nineteenth century didn't have or weren't allowed to have their ...