Ibsen's "A Doll's House"

Paper Summary:

Henrik Ibsen entitled his play "dukkehjem", i.e., a doll's home. It is the original anonymous English translator who introduced the "doll's house". This paper argues that both titles were deliberately chosen as a direct indication of the different significance that the author and the translator respectively, wished it to give to the play.

From the Paper:

"Nora is stereotyped to the end, and beyond: she theatrically threatens to suicide, she expects Torvald to "come forward and take everything upon [himself] and say: I am the guilty one" (70) only so that she could make another glorious sacrifice and when he doesn't, she pouts: "I had been living with a stranger and had borne him three children" (70) (not "with him", but "borne him" children). It is also the stereotyped immature-female who just runs away, giving no thought to how she will survive out there but insisting she would "receive nothing from stranger" (71), declaring she'll stay at Christine's (taking for granted she'll accept) then storming out of the house. And storm she did: the final stage direction is "the sound of a door is heard from below" - given that people have been coming and going throughout the play,and not once the door is heard, for Torvald (and the audience) to hear it from below, Nora must have slammed it, highlighting her theatrical exit. "

More papers on Ibsen's "A Doll's House":

• Analytical Essay # 8140 : "Ibsen's "A Doll House"
• Analytical Essay # 64855 : "Marital Relationships in Ibsen's "Doll House"
• Essay # 87734 : "A Doll House and Medea"
• Analytical Essay # 58442 : "Relationships in "A Doll House"

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