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"A Doll's house" is a 3 act play written by Henrik Ibsen, published in December 4th, 1879. It later premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen 17 days later. It's one of the most controversial plays dated back in the 1880's.

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Henrik Isben is commonly known for using his plays to advocate  social injustices. "A Doll's House" was one of the awakenings of Women right's back in the 1880's. The play was set in 1879 where women at that time had less freedom and opportunity. Women were expected to become obedient house wives to their husbands and rely on their partner for income. Examples in the play like the nurse having to leave her child to keep her job or Mrs. Linde having to marry to support her family shows the hardships of being a woman at that time.
Link:https://www.cusd80.com/cms/lib6/AZ01001175/Centricity/Domain/963/0%20hour%20DH%20feminism.pdf

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Henrik is said to be one of the first playwright to use a new type of theatrical theatric called "Dramatic Realism." This play successfully gathered awards throughout the years by still showing relevance to todays society. Including a tony award for best revival of a play. This play also made talking about woman right's more relevant and normal.

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It's three days till Christmas and Nara has found herself in a situation. Nara is a dutiful, obedient mother and wife. In her early years of her marriage Trovald, her husband, got so sick that the only way to save him was a expensive trip to Italy. Nara forged a document to give to a clerk named Nils who would lend money for the trip. Years later Nils threatens to expose Nara for her crime if she doesn't persuade her husband to keep Nils job. In the end  Trovald finds out and is outraged what would happen to his status once people find out how his wife forged a signature for his wellness. Basically he is self centered. Nara realizes that Trovald doesn't love her and only toys with her like a doll/housepet. Nara leaves him to learn more about the world that she was hidden from and to learn more about herself..

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The publishing of "A Doll's House" had a uproar of outraged controversy. Since it was the 1880's    many European's thought this play was scandalous. In June 1889, an article about "A Doll's House" in the Daily News said, "but stranger still is the change that comes over her character and her conduct in the end in deserting her home, her husband, and above all her children, simply because she finds that her husband is angry with her, and inclined to take a selfish view of the dilemma when the exposure comes.” Some critics believed that Henrik had a wrong way of ending the play by Nora leaving her family. They thought it showed that women choose things on a whim and are impractical. Others believe that the play was a bad influence towards soon to be

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A Doll's House

Many Europeans found the ending scandalous and inconceivable. One notice from June 1889 in the Daily News read, "...but stranger still is the change that comes over her character and her conduct in the end in deserting her home, her husband, and above all her children, simply because she finds that her husband is angry with her, and inclined to take a selfish view of the dilemma when the exposure comes." (103, Henrik Ibsen: The Critical Heritage) This was a common critique of the play, as the audience felt that Nora's decision to leave was ridiculous and only disproved Ibsen's message, by showing how women are fickle and do things on a whim, rather than thinking things through like their male counterparts. They also saw Nora as a monster and unnatural woman who indulged in -god forbid- her self, rather than considering her family's needs.

The critics also felt that this behavior set a dangerous example for women of the time by teaching that, "marriage must be wholly cancelled, and all the relations it has brought with it must be broken through, if ever the ground is to be cleared for anything better in the future...[and] every imperfect relation should be eradicated in order to make way for a better." (112, Henrik Ibsen: The Critical Heritage) The theatrical reviews posed the question whether Ibsen was trying to tell their wives that they could do better by leaving everything they know, in search of some truth that they have been hidden from. People viewed his play to be a direct attack on the custom of marriage and family life.

The Earl of Jersey, Governor of Australia and his wife refused to see A Doll's House; she wrote a letter stating, "she had heard too much about Ibsen's play to wish to see one of it, and that she did not think that any actress who would appear in them could be considered a lady." - 1880

For Eleanor Marx, a feminist socialist who translated A Doll's House in 1886, Nora's predicament was a metaphor for the exploitation and oppression of labour where "women are the creatures of an organized tyranny of men, as the workers are the creatures of an organized tyranny of idlers". - 1886

Thanks to A Doll's House, "marriage was revealed as being a far from divine institution, people stopped regarding it as an automatic provider of absolute bliss, and divorce between incompatible parties came at last to be accepted s conceivably justifiable."- August Strindberg (playwright), 1884

"It is long since any new play brought so much that is original to the stage, but it is beyond memory since a play so simple in its action and so every day in its dress made such an impression of artistic mastery . . . Not a single declamatory phrase, no high dramatics, no drop of blood, not even a tear; never for a moment was the dagger of tragedy raised . . . every needless line is cut, every exchange carries the action a step forward, there is not a superfluous effect in the whole play . . . the mere fact that the author succeeded with the help of only those five characters in keeping our interest sustained through a whole evening is sufficient proof of Ibsen's mastery". - Eric Bogh (Danish playwright) 1879

I have never written any play to further a social purpose. I have been more of a poet and less of a social philosopher than most people seem inclined to believe"- Ibsen, in a speech to the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights, 1898

Instead of a drama of action or incident or character [Ibsen] offers us a theatre of monstrous epiphany, a perception of some illuminating truth arising out of dialectical conflict. - James Joyce, 1900

"A room to [Ibsen] is a room, a writing table a writing table, and a wastepaper basket a wastepaper basket. At the same time, the paraphernalia of reality have at certain times to become the veil through which we see infinity."- Virginia Woolf, The Death of the Moth, 1942

"[ A Doll's House does not go deeper than the usual mechanism of intrigue; it does not undercut the assumptions of romantic drama, with its mechanical versions of experience; it merely provides a reversal within the romantic framework; it is simply anti-romantic"- Raymond Williams, Drama from Ibsen to Brecht, 1952

The theme of A Doll's House was the need of every individual to find out the kind of person he or she really is, and to strive to become that person. He knew what Freud and Jung were later to assert, that liberation can only come from within. 'What is really wanted', he declared, 'is a revolution of the spirit of man'" - Michael Meyer, 1965

"Nora confronted every convention and the chivalrous masculine prejudice that caged her within a child's toy structure, hoping to ensure that she would remain a housepet and infant there forever." - Kate Millett, Sexual Politics, 1971,

On the role of women in literature

"But for women, . . . these difficulties were infinitely more formidable. In the first place, to have a room of her own, let alone a quiet room or a sound-proof room, was out of the question, unless her parents were exceptionally rich or very noble, even up to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Since her pin money, which depended on the goodwill of her father, was only enough to keep her clothed, she was debarred from such alleviations as came even to Keats or Tennyson or Carlyle, all poor men, from a walking tour, a little journey to France, from the separate lodging which, even if it were miserable enough, sheltered them from the claims and tyrannies of their families. Such material difficulties were formidable; but much worse were the immaterial. The indifference of the world which Keats and Flaubert and other men of genius have found so hard to bear was in her case not indifference but hostility. ."- Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, 1928

." . . women have burnt like beacons in all the works of all the poets from the beginning of time - Clytemnestra, Antigone, Cleopatra, Lady Macbeth, Phedre, Cressida, Rosalind, Desdemona, the Duchess of Malfi, among the dramatists; then among the prose writers: Millamant, Clarissa, Becky Sharp, Anna Karenina, Emma Bovary, Madame de Guermantes - the names flock to mind, nor do they recall women 'lacking in personality and character.' Indeed, if woman had no existence save in the fiction written by men, one would imagine her a person of the utmost importance; very various; heroic and mean; splendid and sordid; infinitely beautiful and hideous in the extreme; as great as a man, some think even greater. ⁵ But this is woman in fiction. In fact, as Professor Trevelyan points out, she was locked up, beaten and flung about the room.

"A very queer, composite being thus emerges. Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant. She pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history. She dominates the lives of kings and conquerors in fiction; in fact she was the slave of any boy whose parents forced a ring upon her finger. Some of the most inspired words, some of the most profound thoughts in literature fall from her lips; in real life she could hardly read, could scarcely spell, and was the property of her husband. "- Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, 1928

I"t remains a strange and almost inexplicable fact that in Athena's city, where women were kept in almost Oriental suppression as odalisques or drudges, the stage should yet have produced figures like Clytemnestra and Cassandra Atossa and Antigone, Phedre and Medea, and all the other heroines who dominate play after play of the "misogynist" Euripides. But the paradox of this world where in real life a respectable woman could hardly show her face alone in the street, and yet on the stage woman equals or surpasses man, has never been satisfactorily explained. In modern tragedy the same predominance exists. At all events, a very cursory survey of Shakespeare's work (similarly with Webster, though not with Marlowe or Jonson) suffices to reveal how this dominance, this initiative of women, persists from Rosalind to Lady Macbeth. So too in Racine; six of his tragedies bear their heroines' names; and what male characters of his shall we set against Hermione and Andromaque, Berenice and Roxane, Phedre and Athalie? So again with Ibsen; what men shall we match with Solveig and Nora, Heda and Hilda Wangel and Rebecca West?" - F. L. Lucas, Tragedy, pp. 114-15.

The Alternative ending

Frau Hedwig Niemann-Raabe, who was to play Nora in the Copenhagen premiere of the play, refused to perform the final scene, saying: "I would never leave my children!". Ibsen was outraged, but was forced to write a "happy" ending in which Nora does not leave the house, but is forced by Helmer to the doorway of the children's bedroom; a few lines are exchanged, Nora sinks down by the floor and the curtain falls. This ending was never a success and even Frau Niemann-Raabe was forced to return to the original text.

Reviews of recent productions

The Guardian

The Express

The Financial Times

New York Times Review of a 1997 performance

A Doll's House, York Notes Advanced (ISBN 1405896159) ESSENTIAL

The Cambridge Guide to Ibsen (ed. James McFarlane, Cambridge, ISBN: 052142321X)

The Art of Dramatic Writing (Lajos Egri, Touchstone, ISBN 0671213326)

Overview of Ibsen

Excellent website about Ibsen

Ibsen society

Married Women's Property Act

An overview of the development of 19 th century drama

Ibsen and Realism/Naturalism article

A comic parody of the ending of A Doll's House, written in 1891

A modern take on A Doll's House by director Carrie Cracknell

UCL Academy Eng Dept/A2 Level/ Critical writings and reviews of A Doll's House/TCT

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A Doll's House Many Europeans found the ending scandalous and inconceivable. One notice from June 1889 in the Daily News read, "...but stranger still is the change that comes over her character and her conduct in the end in deserting her home, her husband, and above all her children, simply because she finds that her husband is angry with her, and inclined to take a selfish view of the dilemma when the exposure comes."

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Other critics believed the play was a start of realization about marriage, inequality, individuality, and women right's. Kate Millet, a feminist writer, activist, educator, and artist found Nora to be a role model. She said, "Nora confronted every convention and the chivalrous masculine prejudice that caged her within a child's toy structure". Another critic named Ronald Gray believed that Isban creating Nora  "'Her departure announced a great awakening in European drama as well as in women's egalitarianism".

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The original Broadway cast in 1997 opened with:
Nora Helmer: Janet Mcteer
Torvald Helmer: Owen Teale
Kristine Linde: Jan Maxwell
Nils Krogstad: Peter Gowenhttps://www.playbill.com/production/a-dolls-house-belasco-theatre-vault-0000010766

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Nora Helmer- Nora is characterized as an childish, obedient, and dutiful wife and mother. Her husband, Torvald, is her everything. Whatever he says is the law. She has a secret. in the early years of their marriage Nora commited forgery to save Torvald. When her backer, Nils exposes her secret to Trovald he goes and belittle her with cruel words and dudjment. He was outraged what her crime can do to his social status. After a letter is sent by Nils saying he repents and is sorry for blackmailing, Trovald is overjoyed and forgets the things has ever happened. Nora realizes all this time Trovald has only played with her like a doll to admire and teased. (Ex: Trovald call's Nora "little squirrel" & "Little miss extravagent". He dresses her up in costumes and teach her to dance. He discourages Nora eating sweets like macroons.) They have never talked about serious things. Nora leaves believing that leaving is the best thing for her.

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Theme- Marriage only works if it is between people who understand one another and treat each other as equals.
Infantilization of women
Trovald and Nora's marriage was built on control and deception. Trovald treats Nora as a pretty little person that is his alone to be played with. Nora was used to this and thought it was natural because her father treated her also like this. But in the end Nora realizes that her marriage is just a game and ends it.
Infantilizing of women goes back to the 1800's....

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https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1880-1889/
The costumes resemble a lot from the 1880's fashion. The clothing was quite heavy from all of the layers of corests, shirts, and garments back at that time. So the costumes gave the actor a slender and angular shape with the ruffled and overbroad sleeves. The more money you had, the more decorated you were. So an character like the maid will have a simple dress and a white apron. But a character like Mrs. Linde who has social status will have an extravagent back, colorful palette, a decorated dress, and lots of ruffles.  The men had a more quiet costume for they are suppose to look masculine. Character Dr. Rank has a perfect-fitted ,dark colored coat, a top hat. trousers, and a cane.

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I believe Isben wanted the audience to see the stage as Nora's doll house. (It's literally is the name of the play.) So that's why he opened the stage for it can look like a perfect modern 1880 house with doll house like wallpaper and furniture. And as you can see in the picture, everything is wooden because metal and plastic wasn't yet used in furniture or homes. I like how the color palette of the set gives me doll house vibes, which also adds to Isben's idea of "A Doll House".

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I like to imagine that this stage is a doll house and the actors are the doll's playing out a scene. and since it is a doll house, there isn't any real working light fixtures, only the light shining inside the house from the outside. In the photo above you can see the light shinning onto the stage as if a child turned on the lights in her/his room to play doll's.

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I'd imagine the sound of dancing around the stage to be loud with piano music, a tambourine, and the creaks of wood underneath the characters feet when Nora was dancing to distract Trovald. The heels of the actor heels will also create an echo of creaks in the wooden floor like what would happen if you entered a 2nd floor house with old wooden flooring. This creates an effect of being in 1879.

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During 1880-1900, women ideals and rights began to form. The production of "A Doll's House" shines to light onto the taboos of women independence and the social issues of women rights. In "A Doll's House" their are a lot of examples of unequality. (Ex: Torvald uses  childlike and slightly condescending nicknames towards Nora. It shows how men viewed women as inferior. Or how Nora needed her father's signature because women couldn't borrow money without a man's approval.) The fight for women right's were big during this time. Isben was a feminist that believed women have an equal right to flourish individually as a human like men. So he created "A Doll's House" to advocate these problems.

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The Crafts Act of 1839 and the Trade Act of 1842 gave single women in Norway the opportunity to trade and provide for themselves for the first time. According to the so-called women's article in the Crafts Act "feeble women above the age of 40 who are not able to provide for themselves in any other way" were given the right to produce their own goods. Following the Trade Act, they were also given a limited opportunity to trade. Previous to these acts, such rights had been reserved for men belonging to a certain rank.

There was a surplus of women in the cities. Between the years 1801 and 1835, the number of unmarried women rose by 42 per cent on a national basis. Whereas women from the lower classes worked and the peasant women were an important and integrated part of working life on the farm, the unmarried, idle bourgeoisie women could be an expensive burden both for the state and for their providing fathers.

"The new acts were made in order to protect the state and the fathers by giving unmarried and single women the opportunity to provide for themselves through crafts and trade," says historian Eirinn Larsen.

"This is an example of how measures which originally were made for other purposes have promoted gender equality."

Celebrating equality

The three scholars behind the book project "Norwegian history of equality 1814 - 2013" ( Norsk Likestillingshistorie 1814 - 2013) are historian Eirinn Larsen, cultural historian Hilde Danielsen, and philosopher Ingeborg W. Owesen. This is the first and the only coherent representation of Norwegian history of equality thus far.

The history of equality is intertwined with the history of the Norwegian nation, and the scholars have been concerned with both national issues and equality, says Hilde Danielsen, who has been the project leader of the book.

"Our point of departure has been that equality is something which is constructed and created, and therefore difficult to define. The term equality may revolve around class, minorities, language and religion. Our focus is on gender, but we are constantly trying to show awareness of the term's ambiguity."

Throughout the book, which covers 200 years of history, the term gender equality emphasises how women differ from men on the one side, and how women and men are alike on the other, and on both these aspects simultaneously.

See also: Feeling gender: from housewife to working mum

Uncultivated but free

The book starts with the Enlightenment. Ingeborg W. Owesen shows how the philosophical ideas concerning likeness and equality reached Norway from Europe. The cultural elite in Norway were highly cosmopolitan and actively participated in the import and export of thoughts and ideas.

An important promoter of the philosophy on equality from the Continent was the writer Ludvig Holberg. Owesen calls him the first Norwegian feminist. In 1745 he published a book on historical heroines, where he claims in his introduction that excluding women from important offices and activities is like prohibiting people with red hear from managing their own income, regardless of their financial insight.

The philosophical ideas from the Continent reached a society in which people at large were relatively egalitarian. Norway had no nobility and there were relatively small class distinctions, and this put Norway in a special position.

Following her visit to Norway in 1759, the British philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft claimed that Norway seemed to her to be the most liberal and egalitarian society she had ever encountered. The Norwegians were, according to her, uncultivated and little concerned with literature, but the press was free, one could express one's opinion without fear of the government's displeasure, and they seemed like the least suppressed people in Europe.

The feminists

Between 1880 and 1900 new women ideals developed and women started to take on new roles in public society. A few women were accepted to the University. Women wrote books and participated in the public debate. And they organised themselves in unions and associations.

Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll's House, Edvard Munch painted sensual women, Camilla Collett initiated a reader's association for women, Aasta Hansteen wrote debate contributions in the papers and Gina Krog founded the Norwegian Women's Association.

Like today, the feminists were not always unanimous. For instance, they did not agree on whether they should fight for immediate suffrage for all, or for a step by step introduction of suffrage. Some thought it would be enough to improve women's financial situation. Krog was radical and wanted immediate suffrage for all women. This led to the division of Norwegian Women's Association, and Krog founded new associations whenever she didn't achieve majority for her view.

See also: Class more important than gender for school performance

Money and politics

The thought that all men should have the right to vote was scary enough. When universal suffrage for men was introduced in 1898, suffrage for women with a certain income level became an issue.

"The inclusion of men who contributed little to the Treasury was associated with dangers such as revolution, mass democracy and a state budget out of control," explains Larsen.

"The initial changes in suffrage in benefit of Norwegian women were made in order to reduce the effects of universal suffrage for men. Suffrage revolved around financial rights rather than the question of equal rights."

The fact that suffrage for women was modified according to women's economy and class undermined the possibility of cooperation between women across classes and ranks. Working class women and the bourgeoisie suffragettes never really hit it off, neither in the 19th century nor after.

Party politics also played an important part. When the Liberal Party (Venstre) gained majority for their proposal concerning citizen rights for all men in 1898, the Conservative Party (Høyre), who had previously been opposed to suffrage for women, started to promote suffrage for wealthy women. They thought that these women would vote for the Conservative Party, and they were right.

"Women's turnout in 1909 was very high," says Larsen.

"Actually, by voting far more conservatively than the men, their turnout was decisive for the election result."

The housewife and the provider

When suffrage for women was introduced in 1913, the major newspaper Aftenposten only mentioned the news in a short notice. The controversies were over long before the act was passed. The women's associations were also reduced.

Due to the transformation from peasant to industrial society, the housewife and the provider became the new ideals for women and men. With this followed different roles and duties in society and unequal pay for equal work. The welfare state was founded on an understanding that the sexes were different but equal.

Both the labour party and the trade union had a conservative effect on the perception of gender roles in society. The child benefit reforms presupposed stay at home mothers, and the marriage act of 1927 facilitated for housewives who were provided for by their husbands.

"The ideologically motivated model which became the norm in the interwar and postwar period is a difference model, where men and women are supposed to have complementary roles and duties in society, though with unequal pay and with the heterosexual nuclear family as the norm," says Danielsen.

Simultaneously, employment outside the home became increasingly important for women, and both the education revolution and contraception was about to make its way.

Rebellion

"We were ahead in terms of suffrage for women, but apart from that Norway hasn't got much to show for," claims Hilde Danielsen.

"The rebellion in the 70s came for a reason," she says.

Katti Anker Møller promoted legal abortion as early as in 1913, but the feminist movement didn't win the battle until 1978. The equality act was passed the same year.

"We've called this disruptive period in Norwegian history "the long 70s" since it includes changes which were initiated in the 60s and consolidated in the 80s," says Danielsen.

"In the period between 1960 and 1990 women start taking university degrees and participate in the workforce - this time as the employees of the welfare state. This led to women's increased participation in politics and to Gro Harlem Brundtland's women's government in 1986."

The equality country

According to Danielsen, the appointment of Brundtland's government, consisting of ten men and eight women was the first occasion in which Norway appeared as gender equal to the world outside since the introduction of universal suffrage in 1913.

The last chapter of the book examines the period from the 90s till today and discusses how the term equality has come to include not only gender but also sexual, ethnical and religious minorities. It also looks at how equality has become a Norwegian value with which the nation measures and compares others against.

The authors emphasise that one of the biggest challenges in the years to come is the perception that Norway is the world champion when it comes to equality.

First version

This could easily have been a multi volume work. More research could also have been carried out, especially on minorities, men and masculinity, says Larsen and Danielsen.

"We wish there was more research on these aspects to build on," says Danielsen.

"This is a real problem not only for Norwegian gender research, but for Norwegian history of equality as well," adds Larsen.

The authors encourage others to write other accounts of Norwegian equality history. The first history of equality has been written, but it by no means wishes to stand alone.

Translated by Cathinka Dahl Hambro

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During the course of 200 years, a European ideal concerning equality gradually became a Norwegian export commodity. The fight for equal rights was not necessarily, however, what led Norway to being at the forefront of equality. The liberalisation of the economy was just as important, according to a new book celebrating Norwegian history of equality from 1814-2013.

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The setting of the play is in late 19th century Norway, in a small town where honor, respectability, and status were valued above happiness, love, bonds, all else. It was like this in many small, suburban towns in late 18-19's. It created many problems for people who didn't hold any status or good reputation. If you didn't have the right clothes, act accordingly, or good connections you were treated like spoiled milk. Your reputation will spread across that small town as a person who creates problems. In" A doll's house" Nils was accused for forgery. The accusation never came to court. They had no evidence or proof but Nils was stamped as a bad person around town. Childhood friends suddenly remember Nils as disturbed. His reputation was ruined and it was hard for him to get a job and live in town with everyone speculating he's a no good person who spread lies to his children.

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Isben covered a few touchy topics which include suicide, illness, manipulation, gender roles, and obsession.
For example, Torvald's obsession over Nora. His love towards Nora was probally real in the beginning. But over time it turned into obsession, romantisiscm, and control. He creates nicknames for Nora that start with "My". Nora doesn't know what is happening and  says to Torvald, "Everything you do is quite right." (Nora is brainwashed in a way.) Torvald also dresses her up in extravagant costumes and dresses for dances he taught her. Throughout the play you find how possesive he is towards Nora with all of his restrictions and opinions. Gender roles might of been the cause. Like how men are suppose to be a pillar of the house and in control. He admires Nora but also laughs at her. Nora realizes that she is being romanticised, not loved and leaves.

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EQ: Do you think what Nils Krogstad did was justified? And in the end did he do the right thing? explain.

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A Doll's House - Official Trailer - Digital Theatre

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Here is a mini preview that shows pretty much the whole plot.

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And this video is a short film "A Doll's House", but modern. It has a different plot but it still has the same themes. I like how this play can turn into something more modern because we still face issues like in the play.

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Nora: a short film responding to Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House