Text analysis, summary and characters of A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. Main themes, narrative techniques, time and space of the famous theatrical text.
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
A Doll’s House (Et Dukkehjem) is a Norwegian play written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879 and first performed on 20 January 1880 in Oslo. It is probably the most famous bourgeois drama in European theatre and represents a biting criticism of the traditional roles of men and women in marriage in the Victorian era. The protagonist, Nora, is the young wife of the lawyer Helmer Torvald, a cheerful, naive and delightful bride for her husband, but who hides a secret that will lead to all the vicissitudes of the plot up to the final decision to abandon her husband and children.
A Doll’s House: Summary
At the end of 1800, Nora and Torvald Helmer live apparently happily in a Norwegian city: they love each other, have been married for 8 years, have three children and he has recently been appointed director of an important bank. Torvald coddles his wife with cute nicknames and considers her incapable of serious thoughts, and she, to please him, indulges him. On Christmas Eve, Nora’s old friend, Kristine Linde, arrives from far away after being widowed following a marriage accepted to save her family. With Nora ‘s help , Kristine immediately gets a job at Helmer’s bank, but unknowingly, she takes it away from Krogstad, a widower, a former attorney who ruined himself for forged signatures and who now, with his small job, wants to regain respectability for the sake of his children.
When Krogstad discovers his dismissal, he blackmails Nora, who not only still owes him much of the money secretly obtained to save Torvald’s seriously ill life, but has also forged her father’s signature to obtain it. Under threat of denunciation, Nora lives in secret anguish without having the courage to reveal everything to her husband, but she is certain that he, to protect her, would take full responsibility for the forgery. Continuing to pretend to be cheerful, she confides in Kristine and would also like to do so with the faithful family friend, Doctor Rank , who is rich and lonely. However, Rank, who knows he is close to death due to a terrible disease, suddenly reveals that he loves her, so Nora can no longer ask for his help. The Helmers attend a masked ball and Nora dances the tarantella in Neapolitan costume, enchanting everyone.
When Torvald returns from the party and reads Krogstad’s letter, he immediately lashes out at his wife in a rage, insults her and orders her to stop taking care of the children. His position is threatened and he knows he is at the mercy of a blackmailer, and he sees nothing but himself. Nora watches petrified as her dream collapses. Meanwhile, Kristine , whom Krogstad once loved, gets him to give up revenge and instead offers to unite their two lonely lives. So Torvald, who has recovered and destroyed the defamatory document and now feels at peace, says he is willing to forgive his wife and forget everything. But Nora , who now knows what kind of mean man Torvald is and no longer loves him, judges his marriage as if it had never existed.
So, after a bitter explanation, she abandons her husband and children (who she feels unable to educate) and goes in search of her own identity, even returning the wedding ring.
Setting
The whole story takes place at the end of the nineteenth century. There are not many temporal indicators in the book, but it is still clear that it takes place in a few days, starting from Christmas Eve .
Being a theatrical drama, A Doll’s House is entirely set in a single room, the living room of the Helmer house.
Personages
The characters of A Doll’s House are:
• Torvald Helmer, lawyer;
• Nora, his wife;
• Doctor Rank;
• Kristine Linde, Nora’s old friend;
• Krogstad, attorney;
• The Helmers’ three children;
• Anne Marie, the nanny;
• A maid;
• A delivery boy.
Narrator
Since A Doll’s House is a theatrical drama, and therefore entirely composed of dialogues, the narrator is absent.
Main themes
The main themes covered in A Doll’s House are undoubtedly the representation of a petty and hypocritical society and, secondly, but not least, the awakening of a woman and her struggle to assert her ideas . In fact, this middle-class family, whose main goal is to achieve a comfortable social and economic position, lives a life of hypocrisy, false smiles and an excessive attachment to money and social position. It is to maintain all this that Nora, cheerful, reckless and superficial, has committed a reprehensible and illegal action in the past. But when her husband, having discovered everything, proves more concerned with saving himself and appearances than with forgiving and protecting her, Nora understands that her marriage was only a long pretense. And it is at this moment that Ibsen makes Nora one of the first literary representations of the modern woman: a pre-feminist .
