A Doll House

A Doll House

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

A Doll’s House

Introduction

English literature is full of many classical plays and acts. These plays highlight the importance of some specific theme or situation. They have been written on various unique topics and every play holds its own importance. Every playwright has tried their level best to present the topic or the theme of the play in the best possible manner, in which it can be understandable for the audience at a maximum level and the viewers can relate to it.

One of the examples of such a stage play or theater performance is “A Doll’s House”, by Henrik Ibsen. It is a triple-act play written and directed both by the same person. It has been set in the era of 1879 in a Norwegian town. It is a story of a happily married woman who had been living a peaceful life with her husband. Her family consisted of her husband and three kids. The play throws light over the issues of her life and how her life takes tragic turns within a short span of time. The play first premiered on December 21, 1879, at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The following piece of writing provides a detailed account of the play and how it has been rightly planned and written to portray the miseries of a woman in a society.

Discussion

Plot

The tragic story revolves around the life of a married woman Nora Helmer, who has been married to Torvald Helmer. Since the past 8 years. They have three children and seem like a quite happy family. Mrs. Nora Helmer is a homemaker and tries to take as much care of the home and the children as she can. She has also hired a nanny to help them with this. The story reveals that Mr. and Mrs. Helmer were not always wealthy, they had pretty bad times financially where both had to work for long hours but now the conditions have got much better and both enjoy a healthy financial status (Ibsen).

Mr. Helmer has recently got a job as a bank director and he wants his wife to spend money very carefully and wisely. In the meanwhile, the Helmer family gets visitors, Dr. Rank, and Kristine Linde. Dr. Rank is a family friend of the Helmers and often visits them, whereas Mrs. Linde has come to see Mrs. Helmer after a very long time. Mrs. Helmer reveals a secret to her that she her husband had gone to Italy by getting money by a trick from her father. She forged her father’s signature and got the money out of his funds. Mrs. Linde promises to keep this a secret if only Mrs. Helmer helps her in getting a job at Mr. Helmer’s bank. Mrs. Helmer promises to do so.

There is another guy in the play named as Krogstad. Krogstad is a low-level employee at Torvald’s bank. Torvald is not happy with his performance, and his reputation at the bank and decides to kick him out. He holds the secret about Nora’s Fraud. Krogstad even has the contract on which Nora forged her father’s signature. He blackmail’s her that if she did not save his job, he will reveal those papers to Torvald. Torvald finally finds that copy of the contract and gets angry over his wife. Mrs. Nora Helmer gets very offended and says that she only did it for her husband's health and the whole family (Isben). She leaves her husband stating that she had always been extremely sincere to her husband and the family but he only considered him a doll, with whom he could play any time and leave her anytime. She decides to go and find herself instead.

Analysis

In the play “A Doll’s House”, writer and director Henrik Ibsen intends to put emphasis on the issues of the life of a married woman. The story of the play has been set in such an era when the patriarchal supremacy was at the peak and there was a huge difference between both the genders. Women were considered to only stay at home and do household chores and men were supposed to go outside and earn bread and butter for the family.

The story throws light over multiple aspects of the relationship of a husband and wife. Torvald Helmer and his wife Nora Helmer had been married to each since the last eight years but still, Tarvold does not trust him. This becomes evident when he shows distrust over his wife for not spending the money carefully. He watches his wife’s Christmas shopping and exclaims that she spends money too extravagantly, she should be more careful with the money. Moreover, the wife, Nora Helmer, has also been shown deceiving her husband, not a huge level, but in a very sweet innocent way. Torvald abstains him from eating sweet but as he goes out of sight, she starts eating macaroons.

Regarding the settings of the play, it has been set in the living room of a house. The room has been decorated lavishly and shows the taste of the residents of the house. The expensive decoration pieces, the curtains, and the sofas, everything depicts the rich aesthetic sense of the owners of the home. It also depicts the importance of money and status in society, as the director wants to depict that money is the only root of happiness. It is also more elaborated from the example of Nora’s Christmas shopping, which gives her the ultimate pleasure. This shows that happiness has been linked with shopping which cannot be done without money, so happiness in anyone’s life is directly dependent upon money.

The main theme of the play revolves around the sacrificial role of the women in a society and in a relationship. The director lays emphasis over the fact that a woman sacrifices everything in a relationship, especially in marriage but at the end, she gets nothing in return. It is very easy for a man to put all the sacrifices of a woman at a side and stop loving her, but it never occurs to him that how much he is hurting that woman. The same situation has been depicted in the play when Torvald accuses his wife Nora of fraud and cheating him, totally ignoring the fact that whatever she did was for him and the whole family. She did not forge her father’s signature just for herself, but to get afford a trip to Italy, so that his husband’s health can get better. The tile of the play is also perfectly in accordance with this theme of the play.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, it can be concluded that “A Doll’s House” perfectly elaborates the topic for which it was intended. Where at one place, it depicts the problems and miseries of the life of a married woman, on the other hand, it shows the cruel side of the male patriarchal society. The play describes the twist and turns in the life of a woman, and how her world turns upside down with the entry of just a man. The play stresses on the fact that a woman has got her own rights and the society should respect them.

References

Ibsen, H. (2008). A Doll’s House. 1879. Boston: Indy Publish.

Ibsen, H. (2008). A doll's house. A&C Black.