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Summary: one of Ibsen's finest works
Review: Although the subject matter isn't controversial anymore, A Doll's House is still a solid, powerful work. Nora, the "doll" of the title, dominates the novel and is fiercely independent and strong- unheard of personality traits for women of Ibsen's time.
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Summary: not my type
Review: isn't quite my type of story. i think the last act comes too quickly and nora's character isn't developed enough earlier in the play to warrant such a transformation. good idea, great at the time, i'm sure, but not as engaging now.
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Summary: A "House" I Couldn't Wait To Leave
Review: I read Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" in high school, and I remember liking it -- a lot. I finally got around to reading this most celebrated of plays, Ibsen's "A Doll's House," and I was bored, bored, BORED.I read hundreds of plays, for pleasure -- I am not a student, I am not an English teacher, and I am not in or of the theatre -- I just started to love reading plays about a half dozen years ago, and I am trying to make up for lost time. Of the hundreds of plays I've read, this was one of the worst. I know it's considered a masterpiece by "those in the know," but I'm supposed to tell what I think and share MY opinions in this review, and that's what I've just done.
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Summary: unjustified criticism
Review: I've heard a lot of criticism on this play as the one made by the reviewer before me. i do not need to elaborate why i love this play since it has been made eloquently and knowledgebly by others. all i'd like to say is that Ibsen could not foresee the problems of contemporary society (absent parents, teen pregnancy, drugs etc.). When a new idea (like women lib in those times and still in my part of the world)is floated in the beginning it has to be no less than revolutionary to make its place in people's mind. its only now when the women's lib movement has been in vogue for a while that you can give a definite shape to the inital euphoria according to the circumstances. let not the benefit of hindsight breed arrogance in you but try to understand the statement Ibsen was trying to make according to his times.
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Summary: The start of Realism
Review: When Ibsen's "A Doll's House" came out, it would be a start of a new revolution in the theatre. Science and Society was changing so the theatre had to change too. Instead of seeing Kings and Historical figures on the stage, we would see the common person and their role in society and their environment. Everything(Dialouge, props, acting etc.) would be all Real and be as if the audience were looking through a keyhole in these peoples lives and the people unaware of the audience. Audiences now would see a "slice of life." Ibsen's "A Doll's House" along with Strindberg's "Miss Julie" would establish the Realism movement and inspire the future of playwrights such as Chekhov, Shaw, Wilde, O'Neill etc... "A Doll's House" is a play about the role of women in Ibsen's time. Nora who struggles to bring happiness to her family. When her husband Torvald is sick, Nora borrows money from a co-worker(Krogstad) at her husband's bank to pay for a trip to heal her husband. The play takes place after this trip and we see that Torvald is restored to full health. Torvald treats Nora just like a doll and nothing more. We find out that Nora secretly is saving up to pay back the money she borrowed by buying cheaper clothes or not eating. An old friend named Mrs.Linde comes to Helmer's house in search for a job and Nora persuades her husband to let Mrs.Linde have a job at his bank. Meanwhile Krogstad comes to visit and hears this. He is very afraid that his position is at risk and thinks Torvald will fire him. He tells Nora that if she doesn't convince her husband to keep his job, he'll tell her husband of her borrowing money. This sets up the conflict and the way Nora deals with it, is not the traditional way a character like hers might in previous plays. If you have not read the play and don't want the ending spoiled don't read on. After Torvald finds out, instead of Torvald being thankful for his wife for trying to save her husband for a dreadful illness, he is furious and says he will be humiliated and torn by Society when they find out what his wife did. We the audience/reader think that it is all over for Nora, that Torvald will leave her and she will be a cast out. Instead in Act 3, in a moment of epiphany Nora's whole life goes past her. She realizes that her whole life she has just been a doll in a doll house passed down from her father to Torvald. She tells Torvald how hard she has tried to be a good wife and build a family but it won't work. She decides to leave Torvald. This action went against all the traditional values at the time and sparked a revolution. Ibsen showed the world a reality, society didn't want to see. Nora leaving Torvald was unheard of at the time and that is why "A Doll's House" is so important. Ibsen's "A Doll's House" aside from starting Realism, is just a well written piece. Anyone who loves literature or theater must read it. Ibsen from "A Doll's House" would question the role of people in Society and question authority like no other playwright before him had.
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Summary: Nora's Epiphany
Review: In this play by Ibsen Nora loses the ability to make Torvald love her any longer. This is the epiphany. Nora is the protagonist, she is a "doll" living within Helmer's house. Nora is strictly to look good and to keep her husband happy. In this play beauty is the motif that is recognized throughout. To Helmer Nora is an object, a trophy. When Nora's epiphany is finally relized by the reader she is in the middle of her awakening. Here we find the climax of the play. Nora is looking for Torvald to correct her wrong doing, and in doing so Nora sees the failure of her marriage. And now knows she must leave the false society she has know for so long and start a new.
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Summary: Book review on "A Doll's House"
Review: Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" made for interesting reading. It is a stage play so that you can read the stage directions along with the play, giving you an idea of what is taking place. This story is a true-to-life play and allows you to look inside the life of a nineteenth-century household. Nora, a typical wife, must come to terms with herself when faced with a life-altering event. I could not put it down and I plan to read it again really soon. I have always enjoyed time period books and plays. If you enjoy this play then I would also recommend anything by Jane Austen, another author who writes about the trials that women face and one of my favorite authors.
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Summary: From a Doll's House to a Doll's Shack: The Soap Opera Within
Review: "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen is a wonderful book. I recommend it to anyone who loves mystery, intrigue, romance, and climactic scenes in movies. This book has all of that. This book doesn't deal with the usual romantic drama subject matter. This tells about the ins and outs of marriage, love, and money. It also makes the reader think about today's views of marriage, love, and money. Let me introduce you to the main characters of this book. Nora and Torvald Helmer are the married couple in the book. They are joyous in the beginning, because of Torvald's new job, but they end up bittersweet in the end. What made their relationship so bittersweet? Well you, the reader, are going to have to figure that out yourself. Krogstad is another player in this tale of love and deceit. Who is Krogstad you might ask? Well, let's just say he is similar to the Big Bad Wolf in the Three Little Pigs. He is definitely not a nice guy. He threatens to huff and puff Nora and Torvald's doll house down. Mrs. Linde is Nora's old friend that shows up on her doorstep after years and years. Is she looking for a job, looking for the love of her life, or destined to ruin Nora's life? You, the reader, have to figure that out for yourself. Another character to look for in the story is Dr. Rank. He's Torvald's best friend. He found out that he is dying. Before he dies he wants to leave a letter to his dear friends, Nora and Torvald. Does the letter tell about how he thought Torvald and him are really enemies, how he has been stalking them, or his love for Nora? I know, I know. You can't take it anymore. You want to know the answers to these questions. Well the only way you're going to get the answers is by reading the book. One thing that I like about this book is how it's a play in a book. That makes it really easy to read. This doll house is not like any other doll house, this one may be pretty on the outside, but it is a festering pot of deceit on the inside.
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Summary: A Doll's House
Review: A Doll's House Reviewer: Karen Weatherspoon-Eaton from U of H Clearlake Henrik Ibsen (1829-1906), A Doll's House (1879). The story of a woman's impulsiveness of the heart, which causes her to journey into a society which she has never before dared to enter, until a near fatal tragedy occurs. This adventure will grant her, her freedom and her life. The play takes place in the home of a middleclass 19th century woman's home whose marriage is an hypocrisy that is concealed with emptiness. Nora is considered by her husband to be naive and childlike. Torvald Helmer, Nora's husband, sees her as nothing more than a trophy that he can pull down from the shelf and show or use at his leisure. Torvald treats Nora as if she has a brain the size of a pea. He feels she has little intellectual conversation of value so therefore she is unable to comprehend any philosophical conversation on his level although it is Nora who comes to Torvalds rescue when he becomes stricken with a life-threatening illness. Through her desperate concern for her husband's life Nora calls on a man that her husband despises for financial help. Nora's entire mission throughout the play is to continue concealing her lie from her husband as to where the money came from. She finds that the man (krogstad) whom she borrowed the money from is demanding the money from her in full payment in order to keep her secret hidden from her husband. Nora of course is unable to pay him and pleads for Krogtads to keep her secret. Krogstad threatens Nora, that he will inform Torvald of their business transaction if she doesn't make some sort of plea on Krogstads behalf to keep his position at the bank. Nora attempts to use her feminine ways to distract Torvald form reading the mail, which contains a letter from her lender informing her husband of her secret. Torvald, who sees his wife as a frivolous modern day (Edith Bunker), calls Nora his pet to come to him and explain the letter that he's discovered in the mail box which he had earlier accused someone of tampering with. In my opinion Henrik Ibsen has done a remarkable job, unveiling how a male dominated society influences deviant behavior of an innocent being. Nora is constantly fighting against her controlling husband Torvald. The Title A Doll's House is nothing more than the ideal title which describes in a nutshell the reality of Nora Helmer a woman who appears to be weak, and childlike to her husband, but also beautiful and charming. Nora brings you into her world, by having you sitting on the edge of your seat with an antagonizing, anxious feeling inside of you, waiting for Nora's rebellion to occur. Nora has a penetrating affect on the play that makes her struggle ever so convincing. The play creates a realistic dialogue that climaxes to several episodes throughout.
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Summary: Victorian Conventions
Review: The setting of Ibsen's play, A doll's House, is the confines of a middle class Victorian parlor. The markers indicate everything that is traditional and stereotypical of the period. Rocking chairs grace the room in a quaint depiction of comfort. A piano decorates the room as a testament to middle-class dignity and convention. A fire burns while husband is busy in his home office, and wife returns from shopping. All of these elements are a bold statement by Ibsen, and he is determined that his intent will not be misunderstood. The Victorian conventions continue as prevailing ideologies are revealed. Torvald is depicted as a man who wears a mask of principles, and who literally covets his lifestyle, as well as his wife and children, for their ornament. Nora's distinction comes verbally from Torvald through his terms of endearment for his wife. She is alternately a twittering lark, a squirrel, a featherhead, and a skylark, all during the opening pages. The other significant characters, Christine (the widow), Krogstad (the foil), and Dr. Rank (the ear of compassion), are equally as transparent in Ibsen's presentation. The power of Ibsen's play comes in the dynamic characterization of Nora. A character who moves from idealism, imagination, fantasy, wishes, and good intentions, through an awakening and on to the point where she is willing to take decisive action, would be difficult to present believably in the short span of the few days in which this drama unfolds. Ibsen does it powerfully. At first, Nora only suspects that something is missing in her marriage. She intuitively recognizes that perhaps she has more substance than her husband who pushes papers and presents his family as a picture of content. Her awareness is forced somewhat by the appearance of Christine and Krogstad, but may have happened soon anyway, in the natural course of events. Nora's realization of her responsibilities to herself propels her to challenge what she has always accepted to be true. Once, she thought she was a helpless woman, powerless and lucky to have found such an ideal life for herself. Then she began to see that she was oppressed and sought to reconcile the situation on her own terms. Finally she dynamically grows to the point of taking on responsibility for her own circumstances, given that what she once thought was true has now been shattered.
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