a doll's house

A detailed Summary of a doll's house

In the play, A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen there seems to include serious social commentary underlying in this piece. This play is obviously critical of the time period, but also presents little or no solutions. The play is critiquing the society of the time for its structured hierarchy of male dominance. The play has placed its blame by skillfully creating characters that bring forth issues of power and control, ignorance and innocence, rebirth, and social status. Throughout the course of the play, each character and their interactions with one another help to reinforce the production's criticism of an unequal society.

A Doll's House created the character of Nora in order to portray how women of his time period are ignorant of their situation in society. The play also attempted to show how women are taught to play ignorant. She does not realize until the end of the play that men have always controlled her. Her ignorance is apparent through everything in her life. She does not even take the fact that she has children seriously. She has a nurse take care of her children and she visits them when she feels like it. Nora plays with her children like they are some whimsical objects that delight her for one moment and bo

Moreover, this major theme of power and control are also apparent in the relationship between Krogstad and Nora. He is blackmailing her in order to try and save his job. Krogstad knows Nora's secret and is using it to control her. Just like the norms of society during Ibsen's time, women have virtually no power. Men who were in superior positions constantly controlled the women of that time period. They have no alternative because society dictates that it must be this way. In the same way, Helmer has influence over Krogstad. In a sense, Krogstad's life is in Helmer's hands. He can fire Krogstad at his whim and send him tumbling down the social ladder again. Only in a few situations is this unspoken law true. For example in the relationship between Krogstad and Mrs. Linde, she has power over him because he is in love with her. She has the ability to control his actions and possibly save Nora by using his love for her against him. This theme of power and control is a major issue throughout the play.

re her the next. She has no concept of how to raise children or how to be a mother at all. At the end of the play Nora admits to Helmer, " . . . how am I equipped to bring up the children" (Ibsen 608). Nora is not allowed to control anything in her life. How can she possibly take care of children if she cannot even take care of herself? Her controlling husband has kept her ignorant in order to have power over her.

A Doll's House criticizes the social structure of this time period through the story. This piece tries to show how ignorant men are to the fact that they control their wives thoughts and actions. They do not even take women seriously. Nora emphasizes this point by saying, " . . . you never understood me. I've been wronged greatly. Torvald-first by papa, and then by you" (Ibsen 608). Again, the point is made that she is not a person but an object. Nora reminisces about how her father, " . . . used to call me his doll-child, and he played with me the way I played with my dolls" (Ibsen 608). Nora and Helmer do not even know one another. Their marriage is fake and mutually beneficial because of their social status. They are not really in love and that is one of the reasons why Nora feels she must leave. Nora tells Helmer, " . . . I'm a human being, no less than you-or anyway, I ought to try to become one. I know the

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Approximate Word count = 1596
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English