A Doll's House - Henrik Ibsen

A Doll's House caused controversy when it was first shown because, Heaven Forbid, a woman stood up for herself and said "I want to be my own person". There was an Anti-Ibsen League formed too. Feminism aside, Doll's House is also a story of desire, conjugal rites and rights, and the oppressive nature of upper middle class society in the 1800s. Ibsen manages to create such a claustrophic atmosphere from the outset and builds up to a dramatic climax which has you biting your nails and wanting you to give the husband the biggest slap you could muster. The humour is dark, the plot thick, and the characters superb a randy drunken patronising husband ...

I have studied this play for my A-Level English and it is a great play. It centres upon two characters Nora and Helmer. The play explores commitment and how Helmer sees Nora simply as a 'pretty thing' and a housewife. When she goes behind his back, the consequences are very real. t brings about very real issues, that still occur today and it is wonderful to see that by the end of the play, Nora leaves Helmer and her children for a new life, where she can be independent. Although it was written a long time ago, it is still a wonderful read now. The characters are very well written and it is a very descriptive and interesting play. If you are studying this text or ...

This is undoubtedly one of the greatest play's ever written, Ibsen draw's on what he percieved as the ill's of society in his time and as a result has created a play that is more accepted and appreciated by today's society than it was by his contemporary audience. At the time there was such an outcry about the end of the play (I won't spoil it for you) that Ibsen was eventualy forced into writing an inferior, weaker ending. If however you can get hold of a copy of his re-written finale then it is worth it if you wish to see deeper into his society. Ibsen's time, when public image was everything and real life didn't matter is likeley ...