A Doll House

General Information
 PUBLISHED: Norway, 1879
 One of the world’s most frequently performed plays
 Forced to write an alternative ending for German audiences
 At the time, it was a feminist play

Henrik Ibsen
 His most famous plays showed his discomfort with and disapproval of the empty social traditions
that limited mankind’s success
 Ibsen believed that women should have equal rights with men and that, in fact, women had the
potential to reform social institutions
 Critics often cite Ibsen as the father of modern drama because of his willingness to tackle social
questions from the role of women to the negative role of social conventions
 He wanted to bring social problems to stage and for it to be controversial
 He didn’t just want to entertain, he wanted to make a point
 Ex.: Woman’s role in society

Dramatic Devices
 Ibsen emphasized character over plot
 Ibsen’s use of psychological tension is amply illustrated in A Doll’s House
 Used this play as a mean of questioning the importance – and tyranny- of wealth

Plot
 In a Doll’s House, Ibsen presents surface incidents in a straightforward, chronological manner
 However, he uses his characters to reveal important information about earlier incidents

Conflicts
 EXTERNAL: in a Doll’s House, the central conflict is between two characters, Torvald Helmer and
his wife Nora, so this play revolves around an external conflict
 INTERNAL: the play’s ending is based on Nora’s psychological development in the course of the
story. Helmer, who has neither engaged in internal conflict of his own nor observed the changes in
Nora is stunned by the end of the play

Characters
The main characters. May be
PROTAGONIST Nora
heroes or not

Character whose main role is to Krogstad and Mrs Linde

ANTAGONIST oppose the protagonist. May have Torvald becomes an antagonist
positive characteristics to Nora in the end of the play
 Fully formed characters with an
ROUND CHARCATERS Nora
interior life

FLAT CHARACTERS Limited personalities, predictable Torvald

A character who grows or changes

By peopling the play with more
DYNAMIC CHARACTERS than one dynamic character, Ibsen Nora, Krogstad and Mrs Linde
has added depth and
verisimilitude to his work

Helmer, it is his very inability to

Characters that don’t change or
STATIC CHARACTERS change, that forces Nora into her
grow
shocking decision

Krogstad and Mrs Linde,

A flat or static character that is
used as a contrast to a more
developed, dynamic character.
FOIL
The foil helps make the developed
character’s growth more
noticeable
especially in ACT III when they
decide to get together.
The contrast between their
decision and the sterility of the
Helmer marriage is a strong point
of interest in the play, especially
given Helmer’s absolute inability
to change his understandings of
Nora

Figurative Language
 “Little squirrel” “Little songbird” are examples of terms Torvald uses to describe Nora, suggesting
she is busy but not thoughtful in her actions
 “doll-child” “doll wife” are terms Nora uses to describe herself, suggesting she is a toy, valued only
for her beauty
 Ibsen uses very little imagery in A Doll’s House because it is a realistic play

Symbolism
 CHRISTMAS TREE: symbolizes the importance of appearances in the household. It represents Nora,
who is also an ornament in the house
 CLOTHING: Nora changes clothing towards the end of the play, her dress for the fancy-dress ball is
all about appearances and unreality, for this is a costume to cover up her worries. When Nora
changes into her everyday clothes at the end of the play, she is symbolizing her new life of
plainness, reality, and work
 LETTER BOX: the repeated references to the letter box are important because they remind the
reader that Nora is locked out of the business transactions of the house, having no key to the
mailbox
The Well-Made Play
 A term used to describe a play with the following elements:
o A very tight plot that typically revolves around missing element-letters, a lost or stolen
document, and absent person
o Subplots that are related to the missing element and add tension to the work
o These subplots do not have to be substantial, and they often involve revelation of
information, that is, who knows what at any given time in the story
o A climax or scene revelation, in which the missing element is revealed. This scene often
saves the hero of the play from ruin or embarrassment
o A dénouement, or closing scene, in which explanations are supplied to resolve all the earlier
questions or mysteries in the play. This scene, according to Scribe, is to follow very soon
after the climax

Irony
 In A Doll’s House, Ibsen relies primarily on situational irony, which occurs when the reality of the
situation is not what it appears on the surface. The gap may be apparent to the audience but not to
the characters, or the irony may be recognized by one character but not by another
 Verbal Irony occurs when a character makes a comment that is heard one way but meant another