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1. How important is cultural or historical context to the production and reception of a text?

2. How do we approach texts from different times and cultures to our own?

3. To what extent do texts offer insight into another culture?

4. How does the meaning and impact of a text change over time?

5. How do texts reflect, represent or form a part of cultural practices?

6. How does language represent social distinctions and identities?

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1. Why and how do we study language and literature?

2. How are we affected by texts in various ways?

3. In what ways is meaning constructed, negotiated, expressed and interpreted?

4. How does language use vary amongst text types and amongst literary forms?

5. How does the structure or style of a text affect meaning?

6. How do texts offer insights and challenges?

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1. How do texts adhere to and deviate from conventions associated with literary forms or text types?

2. How do conventions and systems of reference evolve over time?

3. In what ways can diverse texts share points of similarity?

4. How valid is the notion of a classic text?

5. How can texts offer multiple perspectives of a single issue, topic or theme?

6. In what ways can comparison and interpretation be transformative?

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Henrik Ibsen, in full Henrik Johan Ibsen, (born March 20, 1828, Skien, Norway-died May 23, 1906, Kristiania [formerly Christiania; now Oslo]), major Norwegian playwright of the late 19th century who introduced to the European stage a new order of moral analysis that was placed against a severely realistic middle-class background and developed with economy of action, penetrating dialogue, and rigorous thought.

Why is Henrik Ibsen important?

What was Henrik Ibsen's childhood like?

What was Henrik Ibsen's occupation?

What did Henrik Ibsen write?

Early life

Ibsen was born at Skien, a small lumbering town of southern Norway. His father was a respected general merchant in the community until 1836, when he suffered the permanent disgrace of going bankrupt. As a result, he sank into a querulous penury, which his wife's withdrawn and sombre religiosity did nothing to mitigate. There was no redeeming the family misfortunes; as soon as he could, aged just 15, Henrik moved to Grimstad, a hamlet of some 800 persons 70 miles (110 km) down the coast. There he supported himself meagerly as an apothecary's apprentice while studying nights for admission to the university. And during this period he used his few leisure moments to write a play.

First plays and directing

This work, Catilina (1850; Catiline), grew out of the Latin texts Ibsen had to study for his university examinations. Though not a very good play, it showed a natural bent for the theatre and embodied themes-the rebellious hero, his destructive mistress-that would preoccupy Ibsen as long as he lived. In 1850 he went to Christiania (known since 1925 by its older name of Oslo), studied for entrance examinations there, and settled into the student quarter-though not into classes. For the theatre was in his blood, and at the age of only 23 he got himself appointed director and playwright to a new theatre at Bergen, in which capacity he had to write a new play every year.

This was a wonderful opportunity for a young man eager to work in drama, but it brought Ibsen up against a range of fearsome problems he was ill equipped to handle. In the medieval Icelandic sagas, Norway possessed a heroic, austere literature of unique magnificence, but the stage on which these materials had to be set was then dominated by the drawing-room drama of the French playwright Eugène Scribe and by the actors, acting traditions, and language of Denmark. Out of these materials young Ibsen was asked to create a "national drama."

First at Bergen and then at the Norwegian Theatre in Christiania from 1857 to 1862, Ibsen tried to make palatable dramatic fare out of incongruous ingredients. In addition to writing plays which were uncongenial to him and unacceptable to audiences, he did a lot of directing. He was too inhibited to make a forceful director but too intelligent not to pick up a great deal of practical stage wisdom from his experience. After he moved to Christiania and after his marriage to Suzannah Thoresen in 1858, he began to develop qualities of independence and authority that had been hidden before.

Two of the last plays that Ibsen wrote for the Norwegian stage showed signs of new spiritual energy. Kjaerlighedens komedie (1862; Love's Comedy), a satire on romantic illusions, was violently unpopular, but it expressed an authentic theme of anti-idealism that Ibsen would soon make his own, and in Kongsemnerne (1863; The Pretenders) he dramatized the mysterious inner authority that makes a man a man, a king, or a great playwright. This one play was in fact the national drama after which Ibsen had been groping so long, and before long it would be recognized as such. But it came too late; though the play was good, the theatre in Christiania was bankrupt, and Ibsen's career as a stage writer was apparently at an end.

Self-imposed exile: Peer Gynt, A Doll's House, and Ghosts

But the death of his theatre was the liberation of Ibsen as a playwright. Without regard for a public he thought petty and illiberal, without care for traditions he found hollow and pretentious, he could now write for himself. He decided to go abroad and applied for a small state grant. He was awarded part of it, and in April 1864 he left Norway for Italy. For the next 27 years he lived abroad, mainly in Rome, Dresden, and Munich, returning to Norway only for short visits in 1874 and 1885. For reasons that he sometimes summarized as "small-mindedness," his homeland had left a very bitter taste in his mouth.

Universitetsbiblioteket, Oslo

With him into exile Ibsen brought the fragments of a long semi-dramatic poem to be named Brand. Its central figure is a dynamic rural pastor who takes his religious calling with a blazing sincerity that transcends not only all forms of compromise but all traces of human sympathy and warmth as well. "All or nothing" is the demand that his god makes of Brand and that Brand in turn makes of others. He is a moral hero, but he is also a moral monster, and his heart is torn by the anguish that his moral program demands he inflict on his family. He never hesitates, never ceases to tower over the petty compromisers and spiritual sluggards surrounding him. Yet in the last scene where Brand stands alone before his god, a voice thunders from an avalanche that, even as it crushes the pastor physically, repudiates his whole moral life as well: "He is the god of love," says the voice from on high. So the play is not only a denunciation of small-mindedness but a tragedy of the spirit that would transcend it. The poem faced its readers not just with a choice but with an impasse; the heroic alternative was also a destructive (and self-destructive) alternative. In Norway Brand was a tremendous popular success, even though (and in part because) its central meaning was so troubling.

Hard on the heels of Brand (1866) came Peer Gynt (1867), another drama in rhymed couplets presenting an utterly antithetical view of human nature. If Brand is a moral monolith, Peer Gynt is a capering will-o'-the-wisp, a buoyant and self-centred opportunist who is aimless, yielding, and wholly unprincipled yet who remains a lovable and beloved rascal. The wild and mocking poetry of Peer Gynt has ended by overshadowing Brand in the popular judgment. But these two figures are interdependent and antithetical types who under different guises run through most of Ibsen's classic work. Like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, they are universal archetypes as well as unforgettable individuals.

With these two poetic dramas, Ibsen won his battle with the world; he paused now to work out his future. A philosophical historical drama on the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate had long been on his mind; he finished it in 1873 under the title Kejser og Galilaeer (Emperor and Galilean) but in a 10-act form too diffuse and discursive for the stage. He wrote a modern satire, De unges forbund (1869; The League of Youth) and then after many preliminary drafts a prose satire on small-town politics, Samfundets støtter (1877; Pillars of Society). But Ibsen had not yet found his proper voice; when he did, its effect was not to criticize or reform social life but to blow it up. The explosion came with Et dukkehjem (1879; A Doll's House).

This play presents a very ordinary family-a bank manager named Torvald Helmer, his wife, Nora, and their three little children. Torvald supposes himself the ethical member of the family, while his wife assumes the role of a pretty irresponsible in order to flatter him. Into this snug, not to say stifling, arrangement intrude several hard-minded outsiders, one of whom threatens to expose a fraud that Nora had once committed (without her husband's knowledge) in order to obtain a loan needed to save his life. When Nora's husband finally learns about this dangerous secret, he reacts with outrage and repudiates her out of concern for his own social reputation. Utterly disillusioned about her husband, whom she now sees as a hollow fraud, Nora declares her independence of him and their children and leaves them, slamming the door of the house behind her in the final scene.

Audiences were scandalized at Ibsen's refusal in A Doll's House to scrape together (as any other contemporary playwright would have done) a "happy ending," however shoddy or contrived. But that was not Ibsen's way; his play was about knowing oneself and being true to that self. Torvald, who had thought all along that he was a sturdy ethical agent, proves to be a hypocrite and a weak compromiser; his wife is not only an ethical idealist but a destructive one, as severe as Brand.

The setting of A Doll's House is ordinary to the point of transparency. Ibsen's plot exploits with cold precision the process known as "analytic exposition." A secret plan (Nora's forgery) is about to be concluded (she can now finish repaying the loan), but, before the last step can be taken, a bit of the truth must be told, and the whole deception unravels. It is a pattern of stage action at once simple and powerful. Ibsen used this technique often, and it gained for him an international audience.

Ibsen's next play, Gengangere (1881; Ghosts), created even more dismay and distaste than its predecessor by showing worse consequences of covering up even more ugly truths. Ostensibly, the play's theme is congenital venereal disease, but, on another level, it deals with the power of ingrained moral contamination to undermine the most determined idealism. Even after lecherous Captain Alving is in his grave, his ghost will not be laid to rest. In the play, the lying memorial that his conventionally minded widow has erected to his memory burns down even as his son goes insane from inherited syphilis and his illegitimate daughter advances inexorably toward her destiny in a brothel. The play is a grim study of contamination spreading through a family under cover of the widowed Mrs. Alving's timidly respectable views.

A play dealing with syphilis on top of one dealing with a wife's abandonment of her family sealed Ibsen's reputation as a Bad Old Man, but progressive theatres in England and all across the Continent began putting on his plays. His audiences were often small, but there were many of them, and they took his plays very seriously. So did conventionally minded critics; they denounced Ibsen as if he had desecrated all that was sacred and holy. Ibsen's response took the form of a direct dramatic counterattack. Doctor Stockmann, the hero of En folkefiende (1882; An Enemy of the People), functions as Ibsen's personal spokesman. In the play he is a medical officer, charged with inspecting the public baths on which the prosperity of his native town depends. When he finds their water to be contaminated, he says so publicly, though the town officials and townspeople try to silence him. When he still insists on speaking the truth, he is officially declared an "enemy of the people." Though portrayed as a victim, Doctor Stockmann, like all Ibsen's idealistic truth-tellers after Brand, also carries within him a deep strain of destructiveness. (His attacks on the baths will, after all, ruin the town; it's just that, by comparison with the truth, he doesn't care about this.) Ibsen's next play would make this minor chord dominant.

In Vildanden (1884; The Wild Duck) Ibsen completely reversed his viewpoint by presenting onstage a gratuitous, destructive truth-teller whose compulsion visits catastrophic misery on a family of helpless innocents. With the help of a number of comforting delusions, Hjalmar Ekdal and his little family are living a somewhat squalid but essentially cheerful existence. Upon these helpless weaklings descends an infatuated truth-teller, Gregers Werle. He cuts away the moral foundations (delusive as they are) on which the family has lived, leaving them despondent and shattered by the weight of a guilt too heavy to bear. The havoc wrought on the Ekdal family is pathetic rather than tragic, but the working out of the action achieves a kind of mournful poetry that is quite new in Ibsen's repertoire.

Each of this series of Ibsen's classic modern dramas grows by extension or reversal out of its predecessor; they form an unbroken string. The last of the sequence is Rosmersholm (1886), in which variants of the destructive saint (Brand) and the all-too-human rogue (Peer) once more strive to define their identities but this time on a level of moral sensitivity that gives the play a special air of silver serenity. Ex-parson Johannes Rosmer is the ethical personality, while the adventuress Rebecca West is his antagonist. Haunting them both out of the past is the spirit of the parson's late wife, who had committed suicide under the subtle influence, we learn, of Rebecca West, and because of her husband's high-minded indifference to sex. At issue for the future is a choice between bold, unrestricted freedom and the ancient, conservative traditions of Rosmer's house. But even as he is persuaded by Rebecca's emancipated spirit, she is touched by his staid, decorous view of life. Each is contaminated by the other, and, for differing but complementary reasons, they tempt one another toward the fatal millpond in which Rosmer's wife drowned. The play ends with a double suicide in which both Rosmer and Rebecca, each for the other's reasons, do justice on themselves.

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Henrik Ibsen | Biography, Plays, & Facts

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Henrik Ibsen, major Norwegian playwright of the late 19th century who introduced to the European stage a new order of the moral analysis that was placed against a severely realistic middle-class background and developed with economy of action, penetrating dialogue, and rigorous thought.

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A Doll's House - SuperSummary Study Guide

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In the late 19th century, the playwright Henrik Ibsen completely rewrote the rules of drama with a realism that we still see in theatres today. He turned the European stage away from what it had become - a plaything and distraction for the bored - and introduced a new order of moral analysis.

Without fairy tale figures and unlikely plots, Ibsen brought his audience into regular people's homes, where the bourgeois kept their carefully guarded secrets. He then placed the conflicts that arose from challenging assumptions and direct confrontations against a very realistic middle-class background and developed them with piercing dialogue and meticulous attention to detail.

For this, he has earned his place in history. Next to William Shakespeare Ibsen is undoubtedly the greatest playwright in the universe. So naturally, The International Astronomical Union named a planet after him. Only a minor planet, but still!

Henrik Ibsen's major works include "Brand", "Peer Gynt", "An Enemy of the People", and "A Doll's House", as well as "Hedda Gabler", "Ghosts", "The Wild Duck", "When We Dead Awaken", and "The Master Builder". All of these plays have strong and challenging characters that live on outside of their plays' intrigues.

Most played throughout the world is probably "A Doll's House" which culminates in the character of Nora leaving her husband Torvald and her three children - unheard of in 1879, when it was first performed, and still one of the most famous gender political moments in world literature. The role of Nora even holds an iconic status: Unesco's Memory of the World register calls Nora "a symbol throughout the world, for women fighting for liberation and equality".

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Henrik Ibsen - the Norwegian playwright who changed the theatre

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In the late 19th century, the playwright Henrik Ibsen completely rewrote the rules of drama with a realism that we still see in theatres today. He turned the European stage away from what it had become - a plaything and distraction for the bored - and introduced a new order of moral analysis.

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It can be quite difficult to work out the difference between naturalism and realism. But there are features which can help you understand the terminology. Realism was a 19th-century theatrical movement, seeking to portray real life on the stage. Stanislavski was a committed follower of realism throughout his working life.

Naturalism is often used to refer to the same things but it can also mean the belief that a human character is formed by what they've inherited from their family and environment. The literary naturalism movement is probably most associated with the work of the French novelist, Emile Zola.

Bear in mind that Stanislavski was committed to realism throughout his career and came to stand out against the scientific idea of naturalism. Remember too that experimentation was his key approach to theatre. There may be typical productions of Chekhov plays with extraordinarily realistic sets but Stanislavski also, for instance, explored symbolism . He undertook a much praised production of Shakespeare's Othello , whose verse was, on the face of it, outside the realms of realistic production.

Make sure that you move beyond the broad brush generalisation when you discuss or consider Stanislavski as a practitioner on whom to model your work.

Henrik Ibsen's play, Ghosts is a good example of a play that's both realistic and uses powerful symbols such as the sun. In the play the sun rises and shines and casts an unattainable light on the characters. The characters are destroyed by syphilis , a disease which is in itself a symbolic link to the father's corrupt behaviour in the play. Never try to pigeonhole a dramatist or a theatrical practitioner too narrowly!

Our demands are simple, normal, and therefore they are difficult to satisfy. All we ask is that an actor on the stage live in accordance with natural laws. Konstantin Stanislavski

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Naturalism and realism - Naturalism and Stanislavski - GCSE Drama Revision - WJEC - BBC Bitesize

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Learn about Stanislavski's techniques, emotional memory and the Moscow State Theatre when discussing naturalism and Stanislavski for GCSE Drama.

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Last update: January 16, 2009

Resource: Wilson/Goldfarb, Chapter 14
Objectives for this lesson:
B ackground
Realism in the last half of the 19 th-century began as an experiment to make theater more useful to society. The mainstream theatre from 1859 to 1900 was still bound up in melodramas, spectacle plays (disasters, etc.), comic operas, and vaudevilles.

But political events-including attempts to reform some political systems-led to some different ways of thinking. Revolutions in Europe in 1848 showed that there was a desire for political, social, and economic reform. The many governments were frightened into promising change, but most didn't implement changes after the violence ended.

Technological advances were also encouraged by industry and trade, leading to an increased belief that science could solve human problems. But the working classes still had to fight for every increase in rights: unionization and strikes became the principal weapons workers would use after the 1860s-but success came only from costly work stoppages and violence. In other words there seems to be rejection of Romantic idealism; pragmatism reigned instead. The common man seemed to feel that he needed to be recognized, and people asserted themselves through action.
T he Emergence of Realism
3 major developments helped lead to the emergence of realism:

1. (1798-1857) , often considered to be the "father of Sociology," developed a theory known as Positivism. Among the Comte's ideas was an encouragement for understanding the cause and effect of nature through precise observation.

2. published The Origin of Species in 1859, and creators a worldwide stir which exists to this day. Darwin's essential series suggested that life developed gradually from common ancestry and that life favored "survival of the fittest." The implications of Darwin's Theories were threefold:

1. people were controlled by heredity and environment

2. behaviors were beyond our control

3. humanity is a natural object, rather than being above all else

Karl Marx (1818-1883) in the late 1840's espoused a political philosophy arguing against urbanization and in favor of a more equal distribution of wealth

These three stated ideas that helped open the door for a type of theatre that would be different from any that had come before.

Even Richard Wagner (pronounced "Rih-Kard' Vahg'-ner") (1813-1883), while rejecting contemporary trends toward realism, helps lead toward a moderate realistic theatre. Wagner wanted complete illusionism, but wanted the dramatists to be more than a recorder-he wanted to be of "myth-maker."

True drama, according to Wagner, should be "dipped in the magic founding of music," which allows greater control over performance than spoken drama. Wagner wanted complete control over every aspect of the production in order to get a " gesamtkunstwerk," or "master art work."

Because Wagner aimed for complete illusion, even though his operas were not all realistic, many of his production practices helped lead the way for realism. For instance the auditorium was darkened, the stage was framed with a double proscenium arch, there were no side boxes and no center aisle, and all seats were equally good. Further, he forbade musicians to tune in the orchestra pit, allowed no applause or curtain calls, and strove for historical accuracy in scenery and costumes. Therefore, even though Wagner's operas are fantastic and mythical, his attempts at illusionism helped gain public acceptance for realism.
B eginnings of the Movement:
Realism came about partly as a response to these new social / artistic conditions. The "movement" began in France and by 1860 had some general precepts:

1. truth resides in material objects we perceived to all five senses; truth is verified through science

2. the scientific method-observation-would solve everything

3. human problems were the highest were home of science

Art-according to the realist view-had as its purpose to better mankind.

Drama was to involve the direct observation of human behavior; therefore, there was a thrust to use contemporary settings and time periods, and it was to deal with everyday life and problems as subjects.

As already mentioned, realism first showed itself in staging and costuming. Three-dimensional details had been added by 1800. By 1850, theater productions used historically accurate settings and costumes and details, partly as a result of romantic ideals. But it was harder to get realism accepted widely.

The Duke of Saxe-Meiningen helped unify productions; Richard Wagner wanted theatre to fuse the emotional and the intellectual, though his operas were highly mythical and fantastic.

In France, to Playwrights helped popularized the idea of realism but both clung to two inherent traditional morality and values:

(the fils stands for "son," and designates the "illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas") - (1824-1895)

His novel, Camille, was dramatized in 1849. About a "kept woman," the play was written in prose, and dealt with contemporary life. Eventually, he wrote "thesis plays," about contemporary social problems.

Emile Augier(1820-1889) also wrote plays about contemporary conditions.

In Norway: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is considered to be the father of modern realistic drama. His plays attacked society's values and dealt with unconventional subjects within the form of the well-made play (causally related).

Ibsen perfected the well-made play formula; and by using a familiar formula made his plays, with a very shocking subject matter, acceptable. He discarded soliloquies, asides, etc. Exposition in the plays was motivated, there were causally related scenes, inner psychological motivation was emphasized, the environment had an influence on characters' personalities, and all the things characters did and all of things the characters used revealed their socio-economic milieu. He became a model for later realistic writers.

Among the subjects addressed by Ibsen in his plays are: euthanasia, the role of women, war and business, and syphilis.

Later in life, Ibsen turned to more symbolic and abstract dramas; but his "realism" affected others, and helped lead to realistic theatre, which has become, despite variations and rejections against it, the predominant form of theatre even today.

Other writers of realism:

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) - in England

Uncommon for his witty humor

Made fun of societies notion using for the purpose of educating and changing. His plays tended to show the accepted attitude, then demolished that attitude while showing his own solutions.

Pygmalion (1913) - shows the transforming of a flower girl into a society woman, and exposes the phoniness of society. The musical My Fair Lady was based on this play.

Chekhov is known more for poetic expiration and symbolism, compelling psychological reality, people trapped in social situations, hope in hopeless situations. He claimed that he wrote comedies; others think they are sad and tragic. Characters in Chekhov's plays seem to have a fate that is a direct result of what they are. His plays have an illusion of plotlessness.

Again, his realism has affected other Playwrights, as did his symbolic meanings in the texts of his plays and in the titles of his plays.
O ther Movements
Two other "movements" that developed concurrently with realism warrant our attention, Naturalism and the Independent Theatre Movement. Each of these had an influence on the developing realist movement.
N aturalism
While Ibsen was perfecting realism, France was demanding a new drama based on Darwinism:

1. all forms of life developed gradually from common ancestry,

2. evolution of species is explained by survival of the fittest

The implications of Darwin's ideas seemed to be that 1) heredity and environment control people; 2) no person is responsible, since forces are beyond control; 3) the must go to society; 4) progress is the same as improvement/evolution; it is inevitable and can be hastened by the application of the scientific method; 5) man is reduced to a natural object.

France had been defeated in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, ending Napoleon III's empire, and making France a Republic. Attitudes shifted: the working man had few privileges, it appeared, and socialism gained support. By 1900, every major country in Europe had a Constitution (except Russia); there was therefore a strong interest in the plight of the working class. Science and technology became major tools for dealing with contemporary problems.

Naturalism became a conscious movement in France in the 1870's; Emile Zola (1849-1902) was an admirer of Comte and an advocate of the scientific method. Literature, he felt, must become scientific or perish; it should illustrate the inevitable laws of heredity and environment or record case studies. To experiment with the same detachment as a scientist, the writer could become like a doctor (seeking the cause of disease to cure it, bringing the disease in the open to be examined), aiming to cure social ills.

Zola's first major statement came in a novel, Thèrése Raquin, which was dramatized in 1873; his preface states his views. He also wrote a few treatises about naturalism in the theatre and in the novel: he wanted art to detect "a scrap of an existence."

Even though Thèrése Raquin failed to adhere to most of the principles of naturalism, except in the setting (it was mostly a melodrama about murder and retribution), his followers were even more zealous. The most famous phrase we hear about naturalism is that it should be "a slice of life." We often tend to forget what a later French writer stated should be included with that phrase: "... put on the stage with art."

Naturalism, as it was interpreted, almost obliterated the distinction between life and art. As you can imagine, there is a serious lack of good naturalistic plays and embodying its principles, has it is virtually impossible to do. Henri Becque (1837-1899) most nearly captured the essence of naturalism in two of his plays, The Vultures (1882) and La Parisienne (1885), both of which it dealt with sordid subjects, were pessimistic and cynical, had no obvious climaxes, had no sympathetic characters, and progressed slowly to the end. However, Becque refused to comply with suggested changes when the show was first produced in a conservative theatre, so naturalism was still not really accepted.

It would take André Antoine and the Théâtre Libre - the beginnings of the Independent Theatre Movement - to make naturalism and realism more acceptable.

Antoine (1858-1943) has become known as the father of naturalistic staging. He had little acting or theatre Experience-he was a clerk in a gas Co. and work in an Archer theatre-and when he wanted to produce a dramatization of a Zola novel, the amateur groups refused.

So he founded the Théâtre Libre (Free Theatre), first program was a success and by the end of 1887 he was famous, and worked in the theatre till 1914. The Théâtre Libre used a subscription basis-productions were open only two members-so his theatre was exempt from censorship. His theatre did many plays that had been refused licenses other places (for instance, Ghosts had been banned in much of Europe). While some of the plays tended to reverse morality-repelling many and helping to lead to the idea that naturalism was depraved-key paved the way for greater freedom in established theatres. The Théâtre Libre also began producing at least one foreign work per year, introducing a world theatre to France.

Antoine's production techniques were innovative. He had seen the Meiningen troupe and was influenced to produce authenticity: real beef carcasses hanging on stage; the "box set" was used so that "the fourth wall" was adhered to constantly (he popularize the terms and the ideas-legend has it that he arranged rooms as they would be, and then later decided what wall to "remove"); he discouraged declamation in favor of more natural acting; replaced footlights with more natural lighting; emphasized ensemble acting; and adhered to his belief that each play had its own environment.

Antoine had many problems: as actors became well-known, they left the company; his high standards left him always in debt; and his theatre did only three performances of any production. By 1894, he left the Théâtre Libre.

Eventually, he opened the Théâtre Antoine in Paris in 1897, all fully professional company, and then later became the director of all fully-modernized state-subsidized theatre. His influence was undeniable in helping the acceptance of realism/naturalism and in the development of the independent theatre movement.

The Independent Theatre Movement developed in other countries as well. For instance, in Germany, many small theatres had opened up buying 1890 in Berlin, but were severely limited by censorship in their choice of plays. Most had been influenced by the Meiningen troupe-some advocated realism, while others advocated severe naturalism. But these theatres lacked focus until the development of the Independent Theatre Movement.

The Freie Bühne (Free Stage) was founded in Berlin and 1889. Unlike Antoine's theatre, the Freie Bühne was democratically organized, with officers and a governing council. Otto Brahm (1856-1912), a drama critic, became president and guided the group. They gave performances on Sunday afternoons (so that professional actors could be in them), had different performers in each production, and exercised much less control over the theatrical productions. Its major contribution was performing censored plays. The theatre dissolved in 1894, and Brahm was named head of the Deutches theatre.

The Freie Volksbüehne (People's Theatre) was organized by socialist workers in 1890 after a ban on such organizations had been lifted. Using the Freie Bühne as it its model it produced plays on Sunday afternoons and sold its tickets keep.

Shortly after that, another similar theatre was formed; both groups merged before World War I, and had a combined membership of 70,000. The Workers Theatre Movement flourished in Germany and Austria, and built a broad-based theatre audience.

You can take short study quizzes based on textbook materials by going to the Student Online Learning Center page for our textbook...

Next lesson: Early 20th century theatre,

Last update: January 16, 2009

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Last update: January 16, 2009 Resource: Wilson/Goldfarb, Chapter 14 Objectives for this lesson: B ackground Realism in the last half of the 19 th-century began as an experiment to make theater more useful to society. The mainstream theatre from 1859 to 1900 was still bound up in melodramas, spectacle plays (disasters, etc.), comic operas, and vaudevilles.

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Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House explained with section summaries in just a few minutes! Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe explains the plot, char...

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Themes are overarching ideas, beliefs, and debating points a writer presents through his literary work. Ibsen's A Doll's House has themes that are not only relevant to that time but also interesting for the audiences. Some of the themes in A Doll's House have been discussed below.

Themes in A Doll's House

Theme #1
Individual and Social Fabric
This is one of the most important themes of the play. Most actions of an individual are in response to the society or community they live. Nora is a loyal wife and a dedicated mother, but she does not stick to the moral framework of society. She thinks it morally right to deceive her husband about her debt and forgery. Even suicidal thoughts are for her husband, who will ruin himself when protecting her later. Mrs. Linde yearns to be a caretaker and play the role of nurturer. She betrays Nora, which helps her see the true nature of Torvald. Also, Krogstad does not achieve happiness through any means but realizes by the end that he can achieve it through his reformation. He learns that a person must give proper respect to his personality if he wants to win the respect of others in society.

Theme #2
Feminism
Nora, as a character, becomes prominent not only in the world of literature but also in the world of theatre. Her figure as a woman towers than those of men with whom she locks horns. She breaks Torvald's traditional notion of women subservient to men; she still has to find future for herself and support her children when she decides to leave. However, what Torvald fails to understand the value of a woman and the reason for her debt. Nora has secured a bright future for her children and also supported her husband, but she has failed to support her own position. It shows that patriarchal circle has still the same strength as it has before the start of the play. Femininity though tries to break this circle; it seems that it needs more than merely the threat to leave as Nora does by the end of the play. However, she indeed stands in the shadow of her father whenever her husband has some praise for her despite having decision making ability at critical junctures.

Theme #3
Love and Marriage
Another important theme of the play is love and marriage. Nora and Torvald Helmer are presented as a happy couple, leading a blissful married life. The use of pet names by them for each other shows the involvement of love as opposed to Mrs. Linde's life. This marriage proves a contrast to the marriage of Mrs. Linde and Krogstad that happens by the end of the play, which shows that love and marriage are based on realistic expectations. When the reality of the deception of Nora dawns upon Torvald, he reveals the other side of human nature and immediately expels Nora from his life, while she is also ready to go away. On the other hand, Mrs. Linde and Krogstad have never been in love with each other.

Moreover, Dr. Rank, too, has loved Nora for years though he has never married. Nora and Torvald show that their marriage is subject to social rules, conventions, and customs. When this rule is broken, the marriage stands canceled. Krogstad and Mrs. Linde's marriage show that this is not always the case.

Theme #4
Deception
Deception is another major theme of the play. Nora's action of borrowing debt and then forging her father's signature show that she has deceived her husband. Although Krogstad blackmailed her several times on account of this forgery, she has never disclosed it to her husband. She then shares this deception to Mrs. Linde, who advises her that she should inform her husband. She believes that such marriages based on deceptions do not have a chance to succeed, and she proves right. Krogstad also suffers from a bad reputation as he is with Nora in forging the signature of her father and using her a ploy to get a promotion. Therefore, such frauds and deceptions have been presented in the play as corrupting forces that not only destroy the very foundations of the society but also ruin blissful married lives.

Theme #5
Materialism
Materialism is an essential thematic strand that runs throughout the play. Stress upon money is the specific focus of the married couple Nora and Torvald Helmer. Financial autonomy and success are the central points of Torvald's point of view about success, whether it is in marriage or business. His refusal to take cases that do not give him satisfaction is the primary reason for his financial success. Nora, too, thinks that by providing material comfort, she can win her husband as well as her married life. However, expectations of the material success of Nora and Torvald dash to the ground by the end of the play when they come to know the truth.

Theme #6
Upbringing Children
Although Ibsen has not given children of Nora and Helmer any space in the play, it is also a thematic strand that runs parallel to the truth of marital love. Emmy, Ivar, and Bobby show how parents are bringing them up and how they should be treated. Nora has a little time for them as she brings toys, but father never appears to have any time except for his financial career. However, in another way, he has time to call his wife with names such as "little person" or "little woman" or "little songbird" and other such names reserved for children. This shows that both of them are bringing up their children as their possessions instead of human beings, which is proved wrong by the end.

Theme #7
Parental Obligations
The play shows that parents are responsible for bringing up their children with the right moral values. For example, Nora is accused of following her father's profligacy and money-making drive. Dr. Rank seems to have inherited disease as well as moral flaws from his father. Torvald, too, holds this idea that parents determine the moral character of a child as he states when Nora is with him that criminals always have mothers who lie in their lives.

Theme #8
Religion
Although religion does not directly appear in the play, it has some importance. For example, the events of the play occur around or on Christmas. While the events of the first act take place in the evening, the second on the day of Christmas and third on Boxing Day. The arrival of Christmas Tree in the first act also shows this occasion. Secondly, there is much stress on the morality that is undoubtedly Christian morality. However, it is interesting that it has not been directly mentioned. Only Torvald accuses Nora of having "no religion" and that his father does not have any principle. Nora too admits by the end that she does not know the reality of religion and that she is not sure about the clergy as well.

Theme #9
Corruption
It is a minor theme but plays an important role in the progress of the play. Dr. Rank is an epitome of corruption and has inherited tuberculosis along with moral degradation from his father. In the same way, Torvald accuses Nora of inheriting moral ineptitude about money and financial matters from her father. In other words, it is suggested that such corruption, whether it is physical, or moral is a curse for the society.

Theme #10
Lies in Life
Lies and their importance in social life is another minor theme. Nora is living in a delusional world that by lying to her husband, she can save her marriage. However, it dawns upon her by the end of the play that lies complicate and even sometimes destroys very strong relations. Her married life, which seems quite happy, was built on lies and comes to an end.

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Themes in A Doll's House with Examples and Analysis - Literary Devices

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Themes are overarching ideas, beliefs, and debating points a writer presents through his literary work. Ibsen's A Doll's House has themes that are not only relevant to that time but also interesting for the audiences. Some of the themes in A Doll's House have been discussed below.

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Some Authorial Choices for Paper 2 to ponder on...

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Some Authorial Choices for Paper 2 to ponder on...

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Quotes in A Doll’s House with Examples and Analysis - Literary Devices

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Famous quotes from AUTHOR NAME’S BOOK’S NAME with literary analysis and interpretation.

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A DOLL'S HOUSE (Full Play) Ibsen - performed live and uncut (2021) (Subtitled)

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Film Study "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"

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Film Study "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"