Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Here are discussion questions and a couple of essay prompts. Note that I focus on setting when I
teach this play. We do a great deal on women's issues in Ibsen's time and look at how those are
reflected in the play.
Becci
G2E1 � test
A Doll's House
Choose one of the questions below and write an essay of at least 500 words. You may cite your
examples and quotes from the play by simply noting the appropriate page number in parenthesis.
Question 1:
"Conceptually, A Doll's House is the pioneer in dramatic presentation of women
struggling for independence. It is the pinnacle in a small chain of plays stemming from
Euripedes' Medea, to A Doll's House (1879). This chain presents 2300 years of social
convention being dismantled." (William-Alan Landes)
Assess the validity of Landes' statement. Give specific examples of characters, events,
and/or symbols in the play which contribute to this viewpoint.
Question 2:
Sven Birkerts has outlined what he calls three important functions of setting in works of
fiction. Those functions are:
1. establishing the "impression of verisimilitude�that this really happened";
2. situating "us in space and time so that we can understand the events of the story as shaped by its
specific factors"; and
3. enhancing theme, "either through suggestion or through more direct symbolism" (Birkerts 56-
57).
Analyze how Ibsen in A Doll's House uses Birkerts' three functions of setting to attack the
social conventions of the Victorian Era.