A Doll's House and "My Last Duchess" Flashcards
Symbol of Tarantella
The tarantella symbolizes Nora’s act “dancing as if her life depended on it”, “spinning out of control,”
Nora losing her ability to keep up act
Author, genre, and literary movement of A Doll’s House?
Henrik Ibsen, drama, realism
Symbol of the door slam
Nora cutting off from family
Finality of choice
The title, A Doll’s House
Reflects the Helmer’s home and how Torval controls Nora’s life
Torvalds reliance on image
how Nora’s the treated her, how Nora treats her children
A dolls house – ideal representation of a home
Symbol of black cross
Death
Symbol of the Christmas tree
Act one- decorated, pretty
Act two- stripped of decorations, candles burnt to their sockets
Parallel to Nora’s emotional condition and Nora and Torvalds marriage
Light
Symbolizes new truth revealed
Example: as rank reveals his love for Nora, Helen brings in a lamp
Change from costume to every day dress
Costumes hide appearances just as Nora is trying to cloak her issues with Torvald
costume needs to be fixed like the relationship
Nora changes her clothes to symbolize that she no longer needs to hide the truth
Conflicts
- clashing opinions on family values
- lack of truth
- distrust
- superiority complexes
- hypocrisy
- misuse of control
Themes
- Unreliability of appearances
- lack of foundation
- hereditary flaws
- sacrifice
Author and genre of “My Last Duchess”
Robert Browning, Dramatic monologue
Dramatic monologue
Implied audience; speaker assumes another identity (Ferrara)
Irony in “My Last Duchess”
The Duke is telling his story as he arranges a marriage
Symbol of the painting behind the curtain
Shows that the Duke must control who gets to see the Duchess
Symbol of the statue of Neptune
Neptune is exercising control
