Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Portrait of Marriage in Ibsen's A Doll's House, October 1, 1997
The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen subjects his writing to the intricacies of marriage time and time again. He seems to have an omniscient power and ability to observe the sacrament itself, along with the fictional characters whom he creates to engage in these marital affairs. Such is the case with his classic drama, A Doll's House. The play raises questions about female self-sacrifice in a male-dominated world. Nora is a "wife and child" to Torvald Helmer, and nothing more. She is his doll, a plaything on display to the world, of little intellectual value and even less utility in his life. Thus it is logical for Helmer to act so shockingly upon his discovery that Nora has managed financial affairs (typically a family responsibility reserved for the patriarch) without so much as his consent or knowledge. What, then, is the play saying about women by allowing Nora to act alone and independently, all the while allowing her to achieve little success in doing so? Such an apparent doubt by the playwright of the abilities of women is quickly redeemed by Nora's sudden mental fruition, as though she, in the course of a day or so, accomplishes the amount of growing up to which most persons devote years and years. She has developed the intuition and motivation to leave behind everything she has lived for during she and Helmer's eight years of marriage in exchange for an independent life and the much-sought virtue of independent thought. Nora suddenly wishes to be alone in the world, responsible for only her own well-being and success or failure. She is breaking free of her crutches (Helmer, her deceased father, the ill-obtained finances from Krogstad) and is now appetent to walk tall and proud. Through the marital madness of Helmer and Nora, Ibsen is questioning the roles of both husband and wife, and what happens when one person dominates such a relationship in a manner that is demeaning to the other, regardless of whether such degradation is carried out in a conscious, intended frame of mind. Ibsen is truly a master playwright, and his play A Doll's House is truly a masterpiece.
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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
*smashing* play, November 27, 1999
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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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Difficult problems, difficult solutions, May 13, 2000
What I found most remarkable about this play is how much it resonates some 130 years after it was originally written. Nora today would not, of course, face the lies and deceit necessary to pay for her husband's health-giving trip. Still, though, how many wives today feel trapped by their roles as wives and mothers, with no real outlet to discover their true selves, their true strengths? Women may have more freedoms, but how many times, when a mother leaves her husband and children, do we assume something is wrong with her, that she is just being selfish, and not look at what her husband, and society, has done to make her feel she must take this desperate step. I wish I had read this play before I was married. My life choices may have been drastically different. (Then again, maybe not!)
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