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Some critics have categorised Ibsen as a feminist dramatist. There is evidence to suggest that he himself did not consider this to be the case. However, what is beyond doubt is the fact that, in creating a characters such as Nora Helmer, Ibsen was imagining a woman for whom marriage and motherhood were not, eventually, to be the only means to personal satisfaction and/or authentic identity. It is therefore useful to think of Nora in terms of the ‘New Woman’.

The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late nineteenth century and had a great influence on feminism well into the twentieth century. The term "New Woman" was invented by writer Sarah Grand in her article "The New Aspect of the Woman Question," published in the North American Review in March 1894.
A New Woman is a woman especially of the late 19th century actively resisting traditional controls and seeking to fill a complete role in the world

In my opinion Mrs Linde should not be viewed as A New Woman because although she has broken the traditional stereotype of being under her husbands control, she has only done this because her husbands death put her into a position where she had to work and be independent in order to survive. Mrs Linde seems to be unforgiving that her husband left her with 'not even a sorrow or grief to live upon' which suggests that she would have happily lived from his will, had he have left her anything. Also when given the chance, Mrs Linde convinces Krogstad that she is once again in love with him after she jilted him when she was younger for a more lucrative man. She does this to put herself back under the traditional control of a man and back into the unfulfilling role of a housewife. She says to Krogstad  'your children need a mother'.

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The Angel In The House- Coventry Patmore 1854

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The Angel In The House- Coventry Patmore 1854

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The popular Victorian image of the ideal wife/woman came to be "the Angel in the House"; she was expected to be devoted and submissive to her husband.
The poem ' The Angel In The House' celebrates the importance of married life and praises the virtues that for Patmore composed the ideal wife. Believing that his wife Emily was the perfect Victorian wife, he wrote "The Angel in the House" about her.

Some say Ibsen’s characterisation of Nora at the beginning of the play owe any debt to the idea of ‘The Angel in the House.’

'Man must be pleased; but him to please
Is woman's pleasure'

'She loves with love that cannot tire'

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-During the 19th century the Industrial Revolution transformed life in Britain. By the end of the century life was becoming more and more comfortable for most women.
-Divorce was made legal in Britain in 1857 but it was still very rare and frowned upon in the 19th century.
-Wealthy women were kept busy running their household and organizing the servants rather than working, they were expected to obey their bill paying husbands.
Mrs. Linde is an unusual example of a woman in the 19th century because she has been forced to work in the 'mans world' after becoming a widow. In contrast throughout the play Nora obeys the social stereotyping of women in the 19th century however the plays controversial ending changes this as she slams the door, taking off to make her own way in the world as a strong independent woman.

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CULTURAL CONTEXT= Looks at the society the characters live in and how their culture can affect their behaviour and their opportunities.

(where and when the text is set, the values and attitudes that matter to these characters and how they formed these beliefs)
Ibsen's alcoholic father and quiet mother influenced him to write plays with the theme of financial problems and suffering women.
His wife was a strong feminist who influenced his writing.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT=Historical context refers to the moods, attitudes, and conditions that existed in a certain time.
In 1879 women were economically, socially, and psychologically dependent on men. the patriarchal ideology underlay the entire social, political, and economic structure, if women were to have more rights, then the whole structure of society would have to be reimagined and the world would have to be 'remade'.

SOCIAL CONTEXT= The indirect and direct influences individuals are in constant communication and Involvement of.
Ibsen was the second of six children. His father was a prominent merchant, but he went bankrupt when Ibsen was only eight years old, so Ibsen spent much of his early life living in poverty. He also spent twenty-seven years living abroad, mostly in Italy and Germany.

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Elements of Naturalism in A Doll's House

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Elements of Naturalism in A Doll's House

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-The conversations between characters are concerned with normal, everyday things and the play is set in a fairly regular family home in present day.

-The plot is obviously contrived. There are devices like top-secret letters, the doorbells ring at convenient times and people entering and exiting just when Ibsen needs to move on to the next scene and bring on new ideas.

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-A Doll's House ends with the slamming of the family homes front door. Nora turns her back on her husband and children and sets off to make her own way in the world.
-The plays ending aroused great controversy at the time as it questions the traditional roles of men and women in 19th-century marriage which to many 19th-century Europeans was scandalous.
-The covenant of marriage was considered holy, and to portray it as Ibsen did was controversial.
-Ibsen was inspired by the belief that "a woman cannot be herself in modern society," since it is "an exclusively male society however very few men shared this idea and feared a world where women had power.
-Actress Hedwig Niemann-Raabe refused to perform the play as it was written, declaring, "I would never leave my children!" so Ibsen was forced to change the ending, which, under pressure, he eventually did. In the alternative ending, Nora gives her husband another chance after he reminds her of her responsibility to their children. This ending proved unpopular and Ibsen later regretted his decision on the matter.

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EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY=
Ibsen was born in Norway in a city know for shipping timber. When he was around seven years old  his father's fortunes took a significant turn for the worse and so the family was forced to sell their major Altenburg building in central Skien and move permanently to their small summer house. At fifteen, Ibsen was forced to leave school and he moved to a small town in order to become an apprentice pharmacist and began writing plays. When Ibsen was age 18, a liaison with a servant produced an illegitimate child, whose upbringing Ibsen had to pay for until the boy was in his teens. Ibsen returned to Christiania in 1858 to become the creative director of the Christiania Theatre. He married Suzannah Thoresen on 18 June 1858 and she gave birth to their only child Sigurd on 23 December 1859. The couple lived in very poor financial circumstances.

DRAMA INFLUENCES=
-Ibsen was fascinated by his parents strange, almost incestuous marriage.
-His father's financial ruin and alcoholism had a strong influence on Ibsen's later work.
-In 1864, he left Christiania and went to Sorrento in Italy. He didn't return for the next 27 years, and when he returned to it he was a noted, but controversial, playwright.
-With success, Ibsen became more confident and began to introduce more and more of his own beliefs and judgements into the drama, exploring what he termed the "drama of ideas".

MAJOR WORKS=
-The Wild Duck (1884) is Ibsen's most complex work.
-Peer Gynt -1876
-Ghosts -1881
-An Enemy Of The People 1882

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THE 'WELL-MADE PLAY'= A strong neo-classical (the revival of a classical style or treatment in art, literature, architecture, or music) flavour, a tight plot and a climax that takes place towards the end of the play. A Dolls House can be seen as a 'well-made play' because it gets most intense at the end of the play and has a tight plot.

NATURALISM= Theatre that attempts to create an illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies.

MELODRAMA= A dramatic or literary work in which the plot is typically designed to appeal strongly to the emotions rather than detailed characterisation. Characters are often simply drawn, and may appear stereotyped.

REALISM= Aims to bring a greater fidelity of real life to texts and performances.

SENTIMENTAL= Many sentimental plays were comical, the characters tended to be dull and moralistic, the plots bathetic and the language unnatural..