Subjects:
“A Doll House,” a play written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879, is considered a landmark in drama for its portrayal of realistic people, human relationships, and situations. It is a feministic play about the development and eventual termination of the marital relationship between Nora and Torvald Helmer. Nora, the play’s protagonist, escapes the traditional gender roles that her relatives and society in general defined for her in order to learn about herself and to achieve true individuality and freedom. “A Doll House” speaks out against the chauvinistic, male dominated world of Ibsen’s time by commenting on the traditional, although thankless and sacrificial role that women held in society during the nineteenth century.
The play shows a sad, yet hopeful world for women, one in which social progress is already under way, and Nora Helmer is just an example of a modern-minded, independent woman that wanted to cast off her chains and become her own woman. She succeeds, although she ends up hurting her children and family in the process. In her progress, she must cast aside the familiar and the expected in order to become a better person.
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Kristine Linde: A foil for Nora, Kristine is a hardworking, independent woman that made the dying years of her parents much easier by providing them with her hard-earned money. Nora also brakes society's expectations of staying in a marriage since divorce was frowned upon during that era. He doesn’t really love Nora, but uses her as a way to continue his line; Nora is also the decorative doll in his doll house. He is very authoritative and dominant, superficially respectful to his wife, and dedicated mostly to his career in banking. In the first secession Ibsen illustrates that despite Nora doing the right thing it is deemed wrong and not allowed by society because she is a woman.
Essay's Topics
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