Unfortunately, it is simply beyond the scope of this paper to analyze the entirety of these two productions of A Doll’s House. As a result, three scenes will be compared, contrasted, and analyzed through Butler’s theory in order to examine these gender performances. The three scenes chosen for this endeavor are as follows: Nora’s discussion with Torvald in the very beginning of Act I, Nora practicing the tarantella dance before the party in Act II, and Nora and Torvald’s final confrontation in Act III. These scenes have been chosen due to the subtle and layered motivations present in these two characters in their interactions with one another, as well as the tangible performances that occur in the first two scenes. Though there is not an actual
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She is in good spirits and seems to be close to dancing at times. When she enters Torvald’s office, she leans against the door and hides part of her face in her muff sheepishly. Nora then moves to sit on Torvald’s desk and talk to him, and she does so with the energy and pleading temperament of a young school girl. Particularly, when Torvald chastises Nora for her spending habits, Nora sits up straight and repeats after him, as though she is his child and he is scolding her. When Nora is disappointed by Torvald’s answer to her requests, Torvald attempts to cheer her by referring to her as his squirrel. In response, Bloom’s Nora uses two fingers to stroke her nose and makes a small, high pitched …show more content…
Using these philosophers’ ideas as well as her own, Butler proposes that in “the discourse of sexuality, itself suffused by power relations, becomes the true ground of the trope of the prediscursive maternal body” (Butler 92). She takes this idea further, claiming that “the clearly paternal law that sanctions and requires the female body to be characterized primarily in terms of its reproductive function is inscribed on that body as the law of its natural necessity” (Butler 93). It is clear that society in the world of the play, as well as in the worlds of Garland’s film and Mabou Mines’ production, that this is the lens through which women and men are seen. Even more so, this is the lens Nora is accustomed to and must later
She is in good spirits and seems to be close to dancing at times. When she enters Torvald’s office, she leans against the door and hides part of her face in her muff sheepishly. Nora then moves to sit on Torvald’s desk and talk to him, and she does so with the energy and pleading temperament of a young school girl. Particularly, when Torvald chastises Nora for her spending habits, Nora sits up straight and repeats after him, as though she is his child and he is scolding her. When Nora is disappointed by Torvald’s answer to her requests, Torvald attempts to cheer her by referring to her as his squirrel. In response, Bloom’s Nora uses two fingers to stroke her nose and makes a small, high pitched …show more content…
Using these philosophers’ ideas as well as her own, Butler proposes that in “the discourse of sexuality, itself suffused by power relations, becomes the true ground of the trope of the prediscursive maternal body” (Butler 92). She takes this idea further, claiming that “the clearly paternal law that sanctions and requires the female body to be characterized primarily in terms of its reproductive function is inscribed on that body as the law of its natural necessity” (Butler 93). It is clear that society in the world of the play, as well as in the worlds of Garland’s film and Mabou Mines’ production, that this is the lens through which women and men are seen. Even more so, this is the lens Nora is accustomed to and must later