A Doll’s House
KATIE HOWSER
DYLAN STOFFER
AMANDA SHILPEY
JESS THURMAN
NICOLE MANN
Henrik Ibsen
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Born March 20, 1828
His plays were considered scandalous in much of
society at the time.
When he wrote his plays, Victorian values of family
life and propriety were still very much the norm, and
any challenge to them considered immoral and
outrageous.
Ibsen's work examined the realities that lay behind
many a facade, which the society of the time did not
want to see.
He was born into a relatively well-to-do family in the
small port town of Skien, Norway, which was
primarily noted for shipping timber.
Shortly after his birth, however, his family's fortunes
took a significant turn for the worse.
His mother turned to religion for help, while his
father declined into a severe depression, his
characters often mirrored his parents state.
Ibsen left home, became an apprentice druggist at
fifteen, and began writing plays.
His first play, Catilina, was published when he was
only 20 (in 1848) , but was not performed.
His first play to see production was The Burial
Mound in 1850, but it did not receive much
attention.
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His first play to see production was The Burial Mound in 1850, but it did not receive much attention.
Still, Ibsen was determined to be a playwright, even though he was not to write again for several years.
He spent the next several years employed at the Norwegian Theater, where he was involved in the
production of more than 145 plays as a writer, director, and producer.
He returned to Oslo in 1857, where he lived in extreme poverty
Through the poverty, he managed to marry in 1859.
He became very disappointed with life in Norway, and left for Italy in 1864.
His next two plays, Brand (1865) and Peer Gynt (1867), was to bring him the critical acclaim he
sought, along with a measure of financial success.
His next series of plays are often considered his Golden Age becoming the center of dramatic
controversy across Europe.
His next play, A Doll's House (1879), was a scathing criticism of the traditional roles of men and
women in Victorian marriage.
He has his protagonist, Nora, acting behind her husband’s back. Her role in the marriage was that of a
doll, her house a "Doll's House“.
Her husband Torvald refers to her incessantly as his little "starling" and his "squirrel".
She was not even permitted a key to the mailbox.
When she is blackmailed due to committing a crime in order to save her husband's life, forging her
father's name on a note, her husband declares that he will put her away.
His only concern is his own reputation, despite the love for him which motivated her to it.
 His next play Ghosts, pushed that already shocked crowds even more.
 Probably Ibsen's most performed play is Hedda Gabler (1890), the leading
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female role being regarded as one of the most challenging and rewarding for an
actress even in the present day.
There are many similarities between Hedda and the character of Nora in A
Doll's House.
Ibsen had completely rewritten the rules of drama with a realism which was to
be adopted by Chekhov and others, and which we see in the theater to this day.
Finally, Ibsen returned to Norway in 1891, but it was in many ways not the
Norway he had left.
Indeed, he had played a major role in the changes that had happened across
society.
The Victorian Age was on its last chances, slowly being replaced by the rise of
Modernism not only in the theater, but across public life.
With a steady career behind him, the likes of which few authors or playwrights
ever see, Ibsen died at 78 in Oslo in 1906.
Victorian Social Conventions
 In the Victorian Era it was illegal to marry your dead
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wife’s sister
Women were expected to marry within their social
class
The man controls on financial matters
Women weren’t formally educated thus they relied
on the marriage of someone who could provide
Victorian women could not divorce as easily as a
man for adultery, because females were expected to
be the loyal to their “care takers”
Social Drama
 The content and context of this genre of drama
contends with social relationships, on many levels,
and the conflicts and contrasts that characters and
personalities enter.
 This applies to A Doll’s House because the play looks
at the relationship between Torvald and Nora, and
how their ideas and beliefs conflict with one another,
although they don’t show this outwardly.
Act I Discussion Questions
 How does Torvald treat Nora?
 How does Nora react to the treatment her husband gives her?
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(i.e. pet names, rules, etc.)
In what ways does Nora represent the society she lives in and
its views of women?
How does Nora react to seeing Christine again?
Why does Christine come to visit Nora?
How do Nora and Christine interact?
What is the secret that Nora tells Christine?
How does this secret go against the norms of society?
How does Nora react to the arrival of Krog?
What does Krog accuse Nora of doing when they are talking
about the bond?
Act III Discussion Questions
 What kind of relationship did Mrs.Linde and Krogstad have?
 Why does Mrs.Linde want Torvald to know Nora’s secret?
 Why did Mrs.Linde propose instead of Krogstad?
 Does Nora like her dress?
 Why doesn’t Nora just tell her husband the truth?
 Why does Nora get made when Torvald tells her his feelings?
 Is Nora okay with her husband calling her friend a ‘frightful
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bore’?
Does Torvald really love his wife?
What does Rank do when he leaves the Helmer’s home?
Why didn’t Nora take her children?
What does Torvald mean when he said “the most wonderful
thing of all”?
Bibliography
 Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. New York: Dover
Publications, 1992. Print.
 Ziegenfuss, Jen. "Marriage in the Victorian Era."
Marriage in the Victorian Era. University of Florida.
Web.
 "Film Glossary: Social Drama." AllMovie. Web.
<http://www.allmovie.com/glossary/term/social
drama>.