STAGE 2 ENGLISH LITERARY STUDIES Assessment Type 1: Responding to Texts Drama Text: A Doll’s House (Henrik Ibsen) How does the author of A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen use characterisation and symbolism to explore ideas? Set in Norway in the 1800s, Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, is a memorable text that challenges the patriarchal society of that era. The playwright uses symbolism to represent the complexities of rules that govern behaviour of women in that period, and characterization to contrast the actions of husband and wife, Nora and Helmer. Symbolism and characterization are key techniques Ibsen uses to demonstrate how a person’s entire life can be governed by society’s expectations. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses symbolism to represent…
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen is a realistic prose play set in 1870s Norway. A Doll’s House revolves around Nora Helmer, wife to Torvald Helmer and mother to three children. Nora is described as a living doll. She does as she is told, and makes sure to please her husband. Nora has her secrets though. Torvald is a soon to be bank manager, and cares a lot about how others view him. Nils Krogstad is the antagonist of A Doll’s House. He is a former employee of the bank and soon to be blackmailer of…
purpose was to keep the house clean and rear children. To do anything other than was considered scandalous and unheard of. Henrik Ibsen went against the grain in 1879 and decided to create a play about a seemingly typical mild-mannered housewife who becomes disillusioned and unappeased with her condescending husband and abandons her life in his care. In the play A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses symbolism to portray the overall theme of sexism through the masquerade ball, the use of the word doll, the…
Daisy Drama101 Kreilkamp 10/14/15 In the play, A Doll’s House, there were many uses of imagery and symbols. The symbols that I chose to write about are the use of the Christmas tree, Nora’s tarantella dance, Nora’s costumes, and the macaroons. Each symbol helps move along the story of Nora and Torvald’s relationship and how Nora is treated inside of her home. Her emotions change throughout the play and the symbols help show how she feels. The Christmas tree represents happiness and joy. It’s…
rise over an impediment that society creates to achieve their full potential. Although it is a common view of critics to see A Doll’s House as a play which advocates for the rights of humanity, the play more specifically advocates for the rights of woman. Thus labeling A Doll’s House as a feminist play. A feminist play is one which supports the advocation for the equality between men and woman In the play A Doll’s House, Nora is the main character, a wife that is loved by her husband Torvald.…
Most do not struggle with that, but others do which causes them to suffer through life. In “A Doll’s House”, Henrix Ibsen uses literary devices such as foreshadowing, symbolism, and deception to explain how each character faces the unreliability of appearances. The literary element that Ibsen uses is foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is “to suggest the happening of a future event” that will occur later in the story ("Foreshadow"). In the play, it stated that Nora was lying towards her husband,…
In the story A Doll’s House, Henrik Isben coerces Nora into believing that money is the key to happiness. Money is something that everyone needs in today's world. People can not pay for necessities such as food; thus people would not survive without money. The world is based on money and there are different ways in which money is used. There are the rich who have either inherited their wealth or obtained great jobs that pay well. The rich use their money for things that they need but also they…
Henrik Ibsen’s most famous play, A Doll’s House (also translated as A Doll House from its original Norwegian form) is one of the most controversial plays of its time as it challenges the marriage norms of the late nineteenth-century. The play dramatizes the growth of Nora Helmer from a “trophy wife” to an independent woman who sets out to find herself –an instance that rarely occurred in nineteenth-century Europe. The play delves into Torvald and Nora’s marriage, which, nowadays, would be…
challenge the audience’s expectations of marriage through the supporting characters. Both, Nora and the Narrator, have little control over their lives and the family’s finances due to their dominating husbands whom embody the views and values of the 1800s. Both husbands, Torvald of A Doll’s House and John of The Yellow Wallpaper undermine their wives and patronize them by calling them childish names. John calls the Narrator, ‘blessed little goose’ and similarly Torvald uses many pet names such…
What is the real role that woman played in the family back in the 1800’s? In his play, A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen exposed to this interrogative. Through the movie we can see the protagonist, Nora Helmer, to be blackmailed and force to keep secrets for saving the life of her husband 's by committing counterfeit. Nora seems to have fortunately married to Torvald Helmer. Her husband is a lawyer who had been promoted to a director of prestigious bank. The Helmer family has three little children.…