Doll's House

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

• The play sold out quickly in print before the opening of the play and had to be submitted for second/third releases
• Ibsen had to write a happy ending for the play in Germany. In GB and USA staged a free adapt ending with the Nora’s meek return to home

Question 2

Krogstad and Blackmail

Answer 2

• Blackmailers of the period often demanded large sums of money or sex from the helpless heroine but ironically Krogstad wants respect so he can be like Helmer.
• Hints this by stating that Nora did a crime and that she could’ve done “Nothing more- and nothing worse”

Question 3

Nora and dressing up

Answer 3

-‘I should like to tear it all to pieces’ =Helmer’s choice of costume reflects a sense of social superiority over Nora. The costume is a souvenir for a Italian holiday in which Nora went in debt over.

Question 4

Helmer/Nora and stereotypes

Answer 4

• Nora’s relationship seems ideal to women of that time, but also explores the construction of masculinity
• Helmer is aware of his “courage and strength” shows how he is living out of his stereotype rather than truly knowing himself= overworked, not courageous to deal with the presence of a subordinate (Krogstad)

Question 5

Helmer and Nora, animal symbolism

Answer 5

• Helmer’s use of the “songbird” imagery in Act1 implies that her status is a pet to Helmer, and merely a creature in a cage.
• Nora must be a submissive wife who only works around him and the home

Question 6

Krogstad- Act 3

Answer 6

-Whilst in the previous act Krogstad is more of a classic villain, it could be argued that he entirely moves away from the stock character roles, with his description of Nora’s corpse “ugly, hairless, unrecognisable” = Shocked 19th century audience with the idealist images of women

Question 7

Nora and Helmer - Act 3

Answer 7

• Both are in fancy dress that befits the way both ‘perform’ what society expects of their gender.
• Helmer= His cloak over his evening clothes suggests that he doesn’t want to be seen in childish clothes
• Nora= “capricious little Capri girl”, an child from an alien culture, not apart of the real world of money
• Helmer takes Nora’s shawl off, Nora looses the small independence of buying herself cheap dresses that she talked of in act 1. Helmer has begun to dress her to, like his own doll

Question 8

Nora and Helmer- Act 3

Answer 8

• When Helmer comes from his study, he is cruel towards Nora calling her “shiftless”, literally meaning without resources. Denoting the flighty-child wife that he wanted her to be.
• Locking her in and saying “Here you shall stay until you’ve explained yourself” underlines his part in confining her to the Dolls House

Question 9

Nora and Helmer- Melodrama Act 3

Answer 9

-Helmer’s use of the word “melodrama” implies that the moral codes of previous playwrights no longer stand. Helmer and Nora frequently use melodrama to express their deepest feelings as their relationship isn’t based on sexual stereotypes. Arguably this could be the weakest part of their relationship.

Question 10

Stockings - Nora and Rank

Answer 10

• Important prop in Act 2= Representation of Nora’s debts as they’re apart of the “Neapolitan fisher girl” outfit. Rank chooses the most sexual provocative part of the costume= Actors may choose to add sexual tension in this scene
• 1989 Bergman production, Nora covers Ranks eyes with the stocking before death sentence carried out

Question 11

Ibsen Context

Answer 11

• Took 12 months for Ibsen to write the play, used interesting characterisation methods = Saw himself as spending time with characters rather than writing them
• Criticised the first actress to play Nora as having the wrong shaped hands

Question 12

Nora- Characterisation

Answer 12

• Nora’s tanterlla makes the audience aware of her being a natural performer = Performing the ‘wife’ role which society has played upon her
• She has to perform to ask Helmer for anything = actresses playing Nora need to show how they may interpret this

Question 13

Nora- Characterisation

Answer 13

• Nora is shocked by Helmer claiming that mother’s have a tendency to “lie”, and lacks to realise that this is a part of her act as a ‘performing mother’
• Her upbringing in the ‘dolls house’ has made her see societal norms as a way of making her marriage work. But it never occurs to her that this is damaging her marriage.

Question 14

Helmer- Characterisation

Answer 14

• Helmer’s tragedy is that he doesn’t know himself, he only views himself as a bank manger, solicitor and a man in possession of Nora. He is a conformist: it doesn’t occur to him to question the rules of society
• Helmer also believes that Nora should follow Christian morals but doesn’t let her explain herself once she has messed up

Question 15

Helmer- Characterisation

Answer 15

• Helmer takes on the roles “worker” and “husband”, gives him a wisdom that cannot be questioned.
• Sees him as a man of culture: ordering Nora to do the tanterella and telling Mrs Linde that knitting isn’t ‘ladylike’
• His use of the phrases of “Lets not have any melodrama” are ironic as towards the end of the play he is begging Nora to stay with lots of dramatic melodrama

Question 16

Helmer- Characterisation

Answer 16

• Helmer seen as the least admirable character in the play and often seen as the villain: His male bourgeois role allows him to do as he pleases
• Ibsen doesn’t tell the audience his age but his naivety is shown when he calls Nora “his wife and his child”. This is also reflected as he seizes to ‘grow out’ of his pomposity by the end of the play. Although the audience needs to be aware of the fact that he doesn’t care for his reputation by the end of the play, but whether if Nora loves him.