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Main Question 1: Is "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen a feminist play and how does it relate to modern day society?

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Nora- The main female protagonist. She is a housewife and mother to three children. Nora has an awakening and ends up leaving her husband.

Torvald- Nora's domineering husband. A self-centered sexist businessman who is very focused on social opinion. He could be seen as an antagonist preventing Nora from living a free and happy life.

Mrs. Linde- Nora's childhood friend who is a widow. She inquires about a job with Torvald, bumping Krogstad out of his employed position. She ends up marrying Krogstad and going from being a tired working woman to a happy wife, after finding real love.

Dr. Krogstad- An employee of Torvald's whose job is in jeopardy. When Nora will not help him convince her husband to reinstate his position, Krogstad threatens to kill Nora, making him an obvious antagonist. The possibility of Nora losing her life by his hand drives her to reflect on her marriage and happiness with Torvald.

Dr. Rank- A dying old neighbor who is Torvald's and Nora's dearest friend. He accepts his fate willingly and is relatively unbothered by social rules, in contrast to Torvald's obsession with being accepted.

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Typical Victorian Home - focused on artifice/outside view

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Typical Victorian Home - focused on artifice/outside view

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Everything is related to prettiness, and how well-kept the wife kept the house was a status symbol.

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There were almost no working women in the Victorian Era. Both Mrs. Linde and Nora did unheard of actions by working as women, and in Nora's case, leaving her husband.

Torvald supports society's view on these controversial issues: "I forbid you... to leave your home, your husband, your family! Have you thought what people will say?"(99).

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Domestic Labor and responsibility for Children

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Domestic Labor and responsibility for Children

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Blame
“Nearly all young criminals are the children of mothers who are constitutional liars”(53).

Husband has NO responsibility
"Nora- Then it must have been the children. Torvald- Well, you'll have to break them of that habit"(91).

Decides custody/overarching power even though didn't raise
"The children shall be taken out of your hands. I dare no longer entrust them with you"(94).

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Henrik Ibsen was born in Norway in 1828. He wrote many plays with A Doll's House , Pillars of Society, Ghosts, and An Enemy of the People being his most famous works. He died in 1906 after becoming paralyzed.

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Another form of sexism from Torvald

"It means she has become his property in the double sense... she is not only his wife but his child, From now on that is what you will be to me, my poor, helpless, bewildered little creatures"(96).

"You're talking like a child. You don't understand how society works"(101).

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Nora and Tess are similar in how they are multifaceted. They both go against social rules and wind up in controlling relationships where they both feel powerless. Both have little perception of true control over their own fates until the end of both works.

This work also includes strong comparisons of women to woodland creatures, specifically birds, like in "Tess of the D'urbervilles" and "Trifles". This symbol was used in past works to describe wives feeling trapped in marriages, but in this play Nora's husband calls her a sweet little bird, like skyward, squander bird, and skylark. This signals to me that Torvald likes keeping Nora as a pet, and affectionately compares her to a weak animal.

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"A pretty little creature, but… it’s incredible what an expensive pet she is for a man to keep"(26). - Torvald about Nora

Torvald's obsession with prettiness and Nora's costume. He is very intent on her looking nice and both of them being accepted by others at the party.

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"Education" for Nora, which Torvald mentions in Act 3, was never supposed to be schooling as we know it. Rather, education for women at this time taught them how to paint, play music, and dance. More "tricks" to please husbands.

Nora points out, "I performed tricks for you... that was how you wanted it"(98).

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The fact that a cover for this play is a bird's cage is another hint that Nora is locked into her marriage, like a caged bird.

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Question 2: How is the Self in Society theme present in Ibsen's play?

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More recent - men are still deciding women's value through their looks rather than what they have to offer intellectually. 

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More recent - men are still deciding women's value through their looks rather than what they have to offer intellectually. 

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Miss Representation Trailer (2011 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection)

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Activists Protest Outside of India Gang Rape Trial. Digital image. ABCNews.net. ABC News, n.d. Web. 1 June 2017.

Chants, Dance, Clashes and Hugs at Women's March in Washington DC. Dir. Shaugn and John. Perf. The Public. Storyful News, 21 Jan. 2017. Web. 1 June 2017.

Final Commencement Speech. Perf. Michelle Obama. Associated Press, 3 June 2016. Web. 1 June 2017.

"Gender Roles in the 19th Century." The British Library. The British Library, 13 Feb. 2014. Web. 01 June 2017.

Greco, Lachrista. Work & Equal Pay. Digital image. Guerrilla Feminism.org. Guerrilla Feminism Nonprofit, n.d. Web. 1 June 2017.

Henrik Ibsen. Digital image. Mind out of Time: What Ibsen Can Tell Us about Today. New Statesman, n.d. Web. 01 June 2017.

A Junior New England High School Class. Grape Expectations. Edu Blogs, 18 Jan. 2016. Web. 01 June 2017.

MissRepresentation2. "Miss Representation Trailer (2011 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection)." YouTube. YouTube, 01 Feb. 2011. Web. 01 June 2017.

"NEN Gallery." Home: NEN Gallery. National Education Network, n.d. Web. 01 June 2017.

Tucker, Greg. "A Doll's House: Covers - Lessons - Tes Teach." Tes Teach with Blendspace. Barnes and Nobles, n.d. Web. 01 June 2017.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/linkableblob/4479458/data/activists-protest-outside-india-gang-rape-trial-data.jpg

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Torvald is extremely proud of his masculinity - what causes  conflict - Nora won't let him know her crime to protect his dignity. 

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Torvald is extremely proud of his masculinity - what causes  conflict - Nora won't let him know her crime to protect his dignity. 

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“He’s so proud of being a man — it’d be so painful and humiliating for him to know that he owed anything to me”(36).

"So, little Miss Independent's in trouble and needs a man to rescue her, does she?"(52).

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Obsession with social view - Torvald greatly cares about how others view him.

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Obsession with social view - Torvald greatly cares about how others view him.

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Always talks about how he acts "among other people," and states after their fight, 'We must appear to be living together just as before. Only appear of course"(94).

Torvald is more concerned about social view of having Nora leave him than actually losing her as a person he is close with.

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Torvald's reason for trying to rape Nora. 

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Torvald's reason for trying to rape Nora. 

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"You stand there young and trembling and beautiful... that was why I seized you and dragged you down here with me... Aren't I your husband?"(88).

Compare to the current rape culture where popular excuses are "she asked for it because of what she was wearing".

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Motivational - still need inspiration to pursue education and be ambitious.

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My favorite speech of Nora's where she reverses the roles and becomes in charge, taking control of her life.

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Chants, Dance, Clashes and Hugs at Women's March in Washington DC

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