A DOLL’S
HOUSE
AP ENGLISH LITERATURE
REALISM
Attempts to create the appearance of life as it is actually
experienced.
Characters speak dialogue we might hear in our daily lives
(not Shakespeare).
These characters are not larger than life (Hamlet, Julius
Caesar, Romeo), but are rather representative of it.
Realism bring into focus commonplace, everyday life
rather than the extraordinary events that make up works
like Medea or Hamlet.
Realistic characters may be heroic, but, like Nora, they
find that their strength and courage are tested through
events ordinary people might experience.
FOCUS OF REALISM
Work, death, marriage, children, love are often the focus of
realistic dramas.
Conflicts are likely to reflect common problems we face in
our own lives.
• Hence, making “ends meet” is more important than saving the
kingdom
• Realism in the 19th century paralleled the rise of the middle
class eagerly seeking representation in the theater.
• The only genuine comfort is in knowing the truth
THE PROBLEM PLAY
Popularized by Ibsen and his contemporaries.
Represents a social issue in order to awaken the
audience to it.
Usually rejects romantic plots in favor of holding
up a mirror that reflects not simply what audiences
want to see, but what the playwright sees in them
• What social issues are addressed in this play?
• Gender issues
• Rising middle class
• ????
THE PLAY
Dramatizes the tensions of the nineteenth-century middleclass marriage in which a wife struggles to step up beyond
the limited identity imposed on her by her husband and
society.
It affirms the necessity of rejecting hypocrisy, complacency,
cowardice, and stifling conventions in order for life to have
dignity and meaning.
THEMES OF THE PLAY
Marriage
Women and femininity
Men and masculinity
Respect and reputation
Lies and deceit
Money
Love
SYMBOLS IN THE PLAY
• Christmas tree
•Torvald's nicknames
• The dance
•Clothing change
•Time change
QUESTIONS FOR ACT I
Review the opening exchange between Nora and Helmer. . .
How are ideas of marriage different today than during the
time period of the play? How are they similar?
Can the Helmers' marriage be salvaged?
How could the Helmers make their marriage equal?
MOST COMMON
CRITICAL APPROACHES
Feminist
New
Historicism
Archetypal or
Mythological
Marxist
Psychological
or Freudian
A MARXIST
APPROACH
A principal tenet of Marxist criticism is that human
consciousness is a product of social conditions
and that human relationships are often subverted
by and through economic conditions.
• Mrs. Linde has sacrificed a genuine love to provide for her
brothers.
• Krogstad commits a crime to support his children.
• Anne-Marie, the maid, has been a victim of her economic
background. Because she’s a “girl who’s poor and gotten in
trouble,” her economic security has been tested.
• In each instance the need for money is linked with the ability
to survive/exist.
HOW IT AFFECTS THE
PLAY
Krogstad become less a traditional villain when we realize
that he is fighting for his job.
His realization about the senselessness of life is revealed
when he reflects on Mrs. Linde’s past: “all this simply for
money.”
Notice how Dr. Rank speaks of his failing health in financial
terms: “These past few days I’ve been auditing my internal
accounts. Bankrupt! Within a month I’ll probably be laid out
and rotting in the churchyard.”
MONEY=HAPPINESS?
All of these characters serve as foils for the
essential struggle between Nora and Helmer
and highlight the pilgrimage Nora must make
in the play.
At the outset, two things are clear:
• 1. Nora is enslaved by Torvald in economic terms.
• 2. She equates personal freedom with the acquisition of
wealth.
• Notice how happy Nora is at the beginning of the
play—it’s Christmas and Torvald has just received a
promotion and raise.
• “Won’t it be lovely to have stacks of money and not a
care in the world?”
THE RESULT. . .
Nora learns financial enslavement is symptomatic of other
forms of enslavement—master-slave, male-female, sexual
objectification, all of which characterize her relationship
with Torvald; she also learns that money does not bring
happiness.
At the end of the play, she renounces not only her
marriage but also her financial dependence because she
has discovered that personal and human freedom are not
measured in economic terms.
This discovery prompts her to re-examine society and
leads us to consider the ideology of the play.
What change might Ibsen be attempting to bring about?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
To what degree do you agree with the Marxist tenet that
“consciousness is affected by economics”?
CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES
•addresses looking at literature beyond the typical plot-themecharacter- setting studies
•is a way of criticizing or analyzing literature
Literary theories emerged as ways to explain different people’s
views and responses to literature.
• No one view is the best or correct view
• Values all views that are based on a careful study of the literature
The benefit of a critical perspective :
•more than one view gives a deeper understanding and appreciation
READ P. 1762- 1763: NOTES FOR A DOLL’S
HOUSE IN THE BEDFORD
USE THE FOLLOWING CHART FOR JOURNAL #5.
Practical
life:
Morality:
MALE PERSPECTIVE
FEMALE PERSPECTIVE
•
•
•
•
READ P. 1768-1771: “A NINETEENTHCENTURY HUSBAND’S LETTER TO
HIS WIFE”
JOURNAL #6
Analyze this text using the Marxist
perspective. To refresh this concept,
use p. 1771-1773 in the Bedford.