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Summary: Splendid!
Review: "A Doll's House" is a book that should be read by all women, but should also be read by men. The story is so powerful, intriguing, heart wrenching, nail biting, ulcer giving, and just fantastic! For Henrik Ibsen to write this during his time must have sent wives into fantasies and men into worries. While I'm unsure about Nora's final decision, I was positively sure that Torvald was a pathetic husband and didn't deserve a wife. I recommend!
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Summary: Not needed, but still helpful.
Review: "Spark Notes A Doll's House" was helpful in clearing up small, subtly plot facts, but the play is so straightforward, that "Spark Notes" is essentially unnecessary. I "sorta" recommend.
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Summary: Breaking out of the doll house
Review: A Doll's House proves to be a short, yet highly provocative play, nonetheless. Nora, feeling constrained by the Norwegian male-dominated society of the 19th Century, literally - and metaphorically- breaks out of its walls, so to speak. Torvald Helmer, valuing his honor over his love for his wife Nora, galvanizes her to figuratively abandon her doll house - replete with her husband, 2 children, & 2 servants. She, in striking out on her own, concurrently abandons the rigid social class system of the time, as well as the unwritten rules and mores of society.Notwithstanding the final act being a bit less than I had hoped for, and perhaps being less relevant and poignant now than in the 19th Century, A Doll's House was nonetheless an enjoyable and compelling play worth reading.
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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: A brilliant play on Marrige, Supression and Feminisme.
Review: Henrik Ibsen in one of the most famous Norwegian writers thoughout the world. And he is known for his plays where he gives a critical view upon the society.
In this play, everything happens around the main character Nora. She is innocent, naiv and has no education at all, just like most women of her social rank had at that time. Her husband, Torvald, is well known in the city, and his wife is just a "doll". She isn't supposed to have opinions on anything, just smile and look pretty in this male dominated world.
When Torvald Helmer finds out that his wife has "stole" money from her father to be able to pay for a health insitution for him, he's shocked. Nora, not understand what she might have done wrong, was only trying to help her husband, and yet protect her dying father. She wakes up, starting feel independant, wanting to discover herself...
Ibsen was a master of showing different sides of the social levels, and giving a critic view on what he didn't like. He has done it yet again, focusing on the marriage of these two people. Supression and a male dominated world is central aspects, and also the growing feminisme.
The book is worth reading for anyone how loves to read. It is truly one of Ibsen's best plays!
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Summary: Still thinking about it...
Review: I finished Ibsen's "A Doll's House" a few days ago, and it's still haunting me. Well-crafted with interesting (albeit, at times, superficial) characters, it raises questions that still matter today. Nora craves a chance to find herself, yet at the same time, has enjoyed her sheltered life. This contradiction is still central to modern women - how much freedom do we really want? Nora demonstrates this clearly by craving freedom her own life, while also being surprised that her husband didn't stand up for her and defend her honor by tarnishing his own.
Ibsen was one of the first to ask these questions so blatantly and in the theater, but they continue to resonate today. Overall, a great, thought-provoking, quick read that will stick with you.
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Summary: Powerful play with a lot of meaning about human rights
Review: I read this play first for pleasure and years later for a English composition II class several years ago and as I read some of the reviews before writing and posting this one I can see that a lot of reviewers that came before me didnt understand the play at all. This play took place over a hundred years ago. The choices for women then were limited plus Nora and Tovald lived In Norway whose laws are sgnificantly different from ours due to time and culture. Nora certainly had her faults but sometimes we are just found stuck in roles society gives us. And what would take more courage to remain in a bad role after a moment of self discovery is made or to walk out of that role and try to grow as a person and discover things about yourself on your own? Nora's choices were very limited. It was stated in the play that by walking away from the marriage she would also have to disclaim any rights to her children in Norway. She had no choice but to give up the rights to her children. Neither Nora nor Tovald knew who she was very well. Sometimes it is much better for the children if a marriage ends because it is bad and has no foundation. But Nora is a very strong and determined character. She forged a bank note to save her husbands life when no one else could. She saves and earns money to pay back the loan. But also she is trapped in the facade of her marriage with Tovald who neither respects her or knows who she really is. Lies beget lies and it is out of the lie of the marriage she is in that she is made to conceal what she did to save her husbands life and tell lies herself. Finally after her husband finds out and is so consumed with how it will look to others that he tells her that the marriage for now on will just be a cover for the benefit of the outside world but he can no longer trust her nor shall she be trusted with her children etc a self discovery moment occurs. Nora and Tovald didnt really know each other nor was the marriage real in any meaning of the word. But when something happens and he has a change of heart about Nora in the blink of an eye Nora realizes that the whole marriage was a lie and in a moment of strength and determination she decides to leave the situation to find something better and grow as a person. But here is the rub Tovald said that she can not be trusted after what she did was revealed to him and that she has lost his respect but this is just a circumstance we are made well aware of in the play . Tovald shows us that he never did trust or respect Nora in the first place so what she is rejecting is a fruadulent marriage. She refused to go on living in that lie any longer. And that decision takes more courage , strength and determination than anyone who has never been in that place will know. I say three cheers for Nora for finally waking up and doing what she had to do!
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Summary: *smashing* play
Review: Ibsen himself said that this play was about human rights, not womens rights, and i think that this is true. Nora was constantly belittled by Helmer and had never been given the chance to grow up. She had been treated like a doll in a dolls house, first by her father and then by her husband, who she had been passed on to. Although it seems trivial, even the mere fact that she was forbidden to eat macaroons is significant. People may well say that a womans first responsability is to her family, and children especially, i think that it is ultimately to herself. Nora closing the door at the end of the play is very significant - she is closing the door on that part of her life. Torvald realised what he had done in the end, but by that time it was far too late for anything to be changed. Although i studied this play in school, i really enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who will listen. Nora managed to break out of the life she had been confined to, that many of the women of her time were confined to. (i studied this play for a-level and wrote, like 100 essays on it, can you tell?)
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Summary: An intriguing 3-act play!
Review: Major playwrite, Norwegian Henrik Ibsen, was born in 1828 and wrote Doll House in 1879. It was performed in London 1889 and Paris 1894, Ibsen died in 1906.
The twisting and advancing plot revolves around several themes, illusion in marriage, conflict with society, feminism, wealth, betrayal, family, and intrigue.
The dramatic play is rich in symbolism, but the most profound is the title, A Doll House, which exemplifies the nature of the relationship that Nora and her husband Torvald have long since demonstrated; she is his little doll.
Torvald portrays the "man" in control of finances and the home; he conducts his life the way society dictates. Nora is the sweet submissive wife who plays along with her husband dominant role, just as was the relationship with her father. Torvald 's endearments of Nora are belittling, "little squirrel", little spendthrift, little lark."
But their illusional marriage takes a turn, Through a past incident for the love of her husband, Nora's secret is about to be divulged. Through that experience she no longer functions in submissive role and makes a grand stand. During this, Torvald is driven to a wimpering soul.
The story is in three acts and each act reveals different character attitudes and Nora's fight and progression. The interesting story culminates with a dramatic twist.....MzRizz
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Summary: This book was way before it's time - Ibsen was a genius!
Review: The Norwegian author Henrik Ibsen wrote an insightful play about marriage and the role of women in Ibsens time (19th century Europe). I am sure that "A dolls house" must have been a shock to the European society when Ibsen first published this book. He criticised the system that demoted women to mere property and this must have been an outrageous statement in a society where women didn't even have the right to vote! The author himself said that this play was about human rights, not women's rights. While I believe this to be true, I still have no problems understanding why the female rights groups says that "A dolls house" is about women's rights. Whilst this play was written over a hundred years ago, many of the issues about women discussed in "A dolls house" are still applicable today. I think Nora is a *great* role model for a woman of the new millennium! If you, like me, had to read this as a part of your college literature requirements, give it another try! It is a wonderful book.
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