Jurrine Malasig
12/15/10
IB English, Period 4B
Two stories that “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen and “Blood Wedding” by
Lorca were entertaining using middle class language and adding ironic humor in some
ways. “A Doll’s House” is about a housewife who tries to create the picture perfect image
to others in the community and uses lies (the double life) to cover up the imperfection.
And “Blood Wedding” is about a love triangle separating love and passion ending up
with death. Both use middle class language but Ibsen uses dramatic irony while Lorca
uses poetic imagery. These stories are composed of middle class language and used
certain devices like poetic imagery and dramatic irony to set the stories apart.
Henrik Ibsen’s use of dramatic irony gave the play some of its humor. The two
main characters used pet names to address each other. The names Nora (the wife) used
did not compare to the names Torvald (the husband) used. The time of this story had
some effect on the names being that woman did not work and were the caretakers while
the men were the main providers for the family. Those names were little squirrel, bird,
and many others. All the names included were either wild or domesticated animals,
which is ironic because Nora is actually smart. Torvald also says “lil” in front of the pet
names and that made her seem small and weak, which she clearly is not because she was
the one that left at the end. That strong and smart side of Nora does not show when her
husband is around and that gives off her double life, one that her husband and others see
(the perfect wife) and what no one sees (only the audience). The side that no one really
knows about is her broken side. She sort of shares that with Mrs. Linde. Little things that
Nora does gives a little hint to what comes or will come next and cause a sense of Nora
losing everything. Certain objects stood as symbols for something that Nora had like the
macaroons (lies) and the dress (imp arable marriage). At the same time that Nora was,
losing things Mrs. Linde was gaining things. While Mrs. Linde knew who she was, Nora
was still searching to find herself. That is why she covered up her imperfections and did
not let people know that she was breaking inside which leads to the ending of her leaving.
Lorca’s use of poetic imagery created a picture of what was happening. His use of
colors determined the characters moods and as a motif in the story. There was a repetition
of the dark colors recalling to the title like red and black. At certain time that the Moon
was talking he used colors like blue and silver to give off a more subtle and calm mood.
Lorca describes things and relates them to the characters . One great example for poetic
imagery was the orange blossoms although the orange blossoms were part of a happy
scene it gave a sense of fakeness because the orange blossoms that were talked about in
the story were fake. There are ups and downs to fake flowers. If a flower is fake then it’ll
never go bad and will last forever but at the same time the realistic part is missing and the
whole experience is lost. As opposed to a real flower where the whole affect is there, the
only thing is that it’ll eventually go bad. Orange blossoms are considered happy and
peaceful but the “wax orange blossoms” perceive a sad and unhappy(fake) attitude. The
Bride is stuck between two men. One who she had a history with and was once engaged
to and one whom she’s marrying. One thing that I thought about was the color of the
orange blossoms being white. When the color white is thought of it symbolizes purity(the
Bride). The name orange blossom gives a totally different color which could symbolize
passion(the Wife). So not only does orange blossoms signify the attitude of the Bride but
Leonardo’s life too. He has two people in his life that mean a lot to him but both are
different parts of his life. Both are women(orange blossoms), but both are used for two
different things(the different colors) and gives off irony in the colors used. Like the
orange blossoms, Lorca also includes many motifs such as the moon, water, the horse, the
beggar woman as death, and the black dress. Another example would be the moon. The
moon spoke in poetic song and in those poems the moon includes many motifs and gives
not only hints to what’s next but also an image. The moon was a contradicting character
to the beggar woman and Lorca probably wanted a balance in his play. That’s why he
doesn’t only fill the story with dark and mysterious colors but he balances that out with
calm and cool colors as well.
Both authors use middle class diction for the characters in their plays but they
both use certain devices in their plays that make them different. Ibsen’s use of middle
language diction in his play is more colloquial, realistic and straight forward
conversations. The tones in the play set up the mood. The Christmas tree was the mood
because Nora tried to make it perfect at the beginning and it resembled fakeness. Lorca
went a different path. He used a more poetic diction and had his characters be motifs
instead of piling a bunch of little symbols like Ibsen did. Lorca’s mood was very
mysterious and his colors helped set up the tone. The tones in Ibsen’s play set up the
mood. The Christmas tree was the mood because Nora tried to make it perfect at the
beginning and it resembled fakeness. In the end both plays have many similarities but it’s
the different devices they use that sets them apart.
In conclusion both Ibsen‘s and Lorca‘s writing had many similarities. Looking
deeper into both of their plays and trying to figure out why the authors did certain things
was lie a puzzle piece. Comparing certain things that didn’t seem like they would have
anything in common was a complete surprise, like the fakeness in the orange blossoms
and the fakeness in trying to be perfect. I think there is more to be said about these cool
comparisons but that’s going off topic. The one similarity talked above was that both use
middle class language but Ibsen uses dramatic irony while Lorca uses poetic imagery.
***Notes to add to next draft: -rearrange the thesis a little bit
-change the topic maybe( comparing similarities and differences and how they all fit somehow)
-quotes
-revise and come up with different ways to say sentences
Name ________________________________________________________ Period ____
Comments: (An X indicates
_____ (20) Word Choice
___ Lively Verbs
need for improvement.)
_X__ Expanded Vocabulary
__X_ Academic Voice
Avoid contractions in
___ Avoids Cliché
academic voice.
___ Absence of Redundancy
_X__ Precise Words/Phrases
_X_affect/effect
__real/really
__its/it’s
__fewer/less
__further/farther
__have/of
__if/whether
__use/used
_X_that/which/who
__imply/infer
__accept/except
__a lot
__can/may
__good/well
__lose/loose
__than/then
__their/they’re/there
__to/too/two
__whose/who
__your/you’re
_____ (20) Organization
___ Indented Paragraphs
__X_ Hook
___ Intro author/title/brief summary
_X__ Focus
_X__ Coherence
_X__ Balance
___ Unity (Strong Closer)
_____ (20) Sentence Fluency
__X_ Sentence Combining
__X_ Sentence Variety/Openers
___ Parallel Structure
___ Transitions
__X_ No run-ons/fragments
_X__ Agreement -- Tense, S/V
_____ (20) Idea Development
___ Evidence of Prewriting
_X__ Clear, effective thesis
_X__ Sufficient supporting details/evidence
_X__ Demonstrates critical thinking skills
___ Length
_____ (20) Process and Presentation
___ Evidence of Revision
___ Format
___ Correctness/Conventions
__colons
_X_commas
__quotations
__semicolons
__apostrophes
__capitalization
__citations
__end marks
Your paragraphs lack focus
when you try to take on too
much. Focus on one aspect
per paragraph and provide
more DEPTH.
Awkward syntax in opening
sentence.
Prove all claims with
evidence and analysis (claims
about symbols, for example).
Be SPECIFIC and CONCISE.
Don’t attempt to include too
many symbols/motifs.
Narrow your focus to the most
relevant.
Titles