Realism
in “A Doll’s House” by, Henrik Ibsen
Kevin McFarland, Shreena Patel, Abigail Peng,
Brianna Steele, Katie Ten Haken, and Cindy Tran
What is Realism?
• Realism is having ordinary, familiar
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aspects of life represented in literature to
reflect how everyday life is presumed to
be.
It is an inclination to literary truth and
pragmatism.
Realism in Drama
• Begins in the last half of the 19th
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century as an experiment to make
theater more useful to society.
Political events prompted different
ways of thinking.
People now did not believe in
Romantic idealism. They realized hard
work, stoppage, and violence were the
true answers to success.
Pragmatism reigned as idealsim began
to fade.
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Basic Aspect of Realism
The characters are real, they are not larger than life
(such as what we see in Greek theater)
A sense of trueness is embedded without extreme
dramatics
A very convincing style of theater, making the impact
on the audience often times greater
Mimic real life- truth and accuracy
Time period can have a big influence since realism
mimics real life, so the life of that time is influential to
the development of the play
Focuses on social importances of the time period and
how they affect others realistically
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Basic Aspect of Realism Cont.
Realism observes that life does not follow patterns events do not magically occur- and so for them, the
same should not happen in the novel.
Instead of grand happenings, tragedies, and epic
turns of events, the realist novel continues on a
seemingly normal path.
Nothing truly earth shattering happens.
The movement was interested in looking at the
complexity of the human psyche and analysing why
humans act the way we do.
The main challenge of the actor was to be as realistic
and as close to life as possible.
Video
Start at 1:34 if need time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IZEpu4Ie88
Characteristics of Realism
● plots are secondary to characters
● characters tended to be from lower of
middle class
● characters spoke as people really did
● familiar everyday people and situations
are represented in an accurate,
unidealized manner
● author’s voice (comments and asides_
rarely heard
● not poetic
Realism in Popular works
● Generally all works of art and literature have
a sense of realism in it in order for readers to
relate and understand it
● The artistic movement didn’t start till the late
1800’s and early 1900’s in America. First
started in France
● Examples:
○ The Human Comedy by, Honore de Balzac
■ series of novels that show lives of every class of people
○ Madame Bovary (1857) by, Gustave Flaubert
■ first major work to fully embrace realistic style
■ portrayed a true-to-life story of a woman seeking to escape her boring
life
Other popular works:
“The Rise of Silas Lapham” by William Dean
Howells
“The Portrait of a Lady” by Henry James
Best representation of realist drama:
“A Doll’s House” by, Henrik Ibsen [Norway]**
“Pygmalion” by, George Bernard Shaw [England]
“The Cherry Orchard” by. Anton Chekhov [Russia]
Realism in A Doll’s House
● A Doll’s House is a realist play that portrays
controversial ideas of the time
● Perfect family: Mother (Nora), Father (Torvald
Helmer), 3 Children
■ Nora: Obedient Wife
■ Helmer: Family Support
● 3 major ideas:
○ Gender
○ Identity
○ Social Expectation
Realism in A Doll’s House
• Gender
o Women:
 Follow husband’s orders
 Takes care of the children
• “Come, Mrs. Linde - this place is unbearable for
anyone but mothers” (2198).
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Sacrifice their own luxuries to help their family:
• Nora borrows money to help save her husband
• Mrs. Linde sacrifice love to save mother and brothers
“My mother was still alive, but bedridden and
helpless...I didn’t think I could turn him down (2191).
o Men
 Dominant gender
• Helmer financially independent & provides money for
his family
Realism in A Doll’s House
● Gender
○ Women:
■ Easily submissive to the man of the house
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“Nora, Nora, how like a woman!... Yes whatever you
say, Torvald.“(2186)
Seen as simple minded and not capable of
handling valuable tasks
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“Now, now, the little lark’s wings mustn’t droop. Come
on, don’t be a sulky squirrel. Nora, guess what I have
here...” (2187)
○ Men
■ Displayed as a brute
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With the opening dialog between Mr and Mrs Helmer
the man was displayed as a brute and accepted his
intense displaying of physical dominance through
grabbing his wife
Realism in A Doll’s House
● Gender
○ Women:
■ Because women in this time period they easily
lost their identity simply hiding behind the men
and following his orders almost blindly
■ The women were also looked down upon if the
got a job, they were not meant to support others,
that the man’s job
○ Men
■ They were the primary breadwinners, and the
only source of income for that family any other
type of help such as asking for the wife to work or
asking to borrow money was often seen as a
weakness and just showed the community that
you could not provide for your family
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Realism in A Doll’s House
Identity
o Beginning: Nora acts like a child and was a doll ordered
around by her father and husband
o Later: develops individualism and no longer listens to
her husband
“Helmer: Before all else, you’re a wife and a mother.
Nora: I don’t believe in that anymore. I believe that, before all else,
I’m a human being, no less than you - or anyways, I ought to try to
become one” (2231).
Social Expectation
o Helmer is the dominant spouse in the family and Nora is
the wife whose sole job is to care for her husband and
children
 Helmer reveal himself when he find out about Nora’s
forgery
Realism in A Doll’s House
• Key Theme:
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o Women’s Rights Movement
o Equal Rights and Liberties
Elements:
o Everyday dialogue
o Simple conversations
Realism Questions
Individually create a thesis based on the passage, then
answer the questions relating to realism.
1. How is Nora’s reaction of wanting to leave her
family a typical or not so typical reaction from a woman
of her time?
2. In what ways is Nora’s and Helmer’s conversation
realistic in the passage?
3. Helmer is outraged by Nora’s request to leave the
house and reminds her of her to her husband and
children. Are Helmer’s demands from his wife realistic?
Is her reaction realistic?
Works Cited
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"American Realism: 1865-1910." American Realism: 1865-1910. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/worksheet on American Realism.htm>.
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"A Doll's House Writing Style." Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. <http://www.shmoop.com/dolls-house/writingstyle.html>.
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"Introduction to Theatre -- Realism." Novaonline.nvcc.edu. NovaOnline, 16 Jan. 2009. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.
"Realism and A Doll House." Ibsen Voyages ::. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. <http://www.ibsenvoyages.com/e-texts/therealist-cycle/the-first-group/realism-and-doll-house/>.
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"Realism (late 1800s-early 1900s)." Scholastic, Helping Children Around the World to Read and Learn. Scholastic, n.d.
Web. 18 Oct. 2013.
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Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll's House." A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen @ Classic Reader. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013