Doll’s House Criticism

Question 1

Kristin Shepherd-Barr on Ibsen and family

Answer 1

‘he is interested in alternatives to the vice like grip of the nuclear family’

Question 2

Ronald Gray on Torvald

Answer 2

‘[Ibsen makes] Helmer grotesque and reduces the tragic quality of the ending’

Question 3

Anthony Storr on Ibsen and Freud

Answer 3

‘Ibsen anticipated many of Freud’s ideas, especially the idea that we are governed by events from our remote past’

Question 4

Sally Ledger on the upper class in the play

Answer 4

‘[The play shows a] critical scrutiny of the lives and values of the bourgeois class’

Question 5

David Thomas on Torvald

Answer 5

‘Torvald is as much a victim as Nora’

Question 6

Ian Johnston on the ending of the play

Answer 6

‘the ending resists simple moral formulation…Nora is both triumphantly right and horribly wrong’

Question 7

Ian Johnston on Torvald

Answer 7

‘Torvald’s moral code is entirely derived from society’s expectations’

Question 8

Michael Myers on Torvald

Answer 8

‘his security depends upon feeling superior’

Question 9

Ingmar Bergman on Torvald

Answer 9

‘[Ibsen’s play] is really the tragedy of Helmer’

Question 10

Amalie Skram

Answer 10

‘when the woman first has risen, she will never let herself be stopped again’

Question 11

Sally Ledger on the play’s message

Answer 11

‘Ibsen is critically dissecting modern life and all its problems’

Question 12

Sally Ledger on Nora

Answer 12

‘part of Nora desires to comply to patriarchal social arrangements’

Question 13

Shannon Cron on how Nora inspires

Answer 13

‘[Nora’s actions are] a way of reinforcing an individual’s right - regardless of gender - to protect themselves’

Question 14

Balaky and Sulaiman on Nora

Answer 14

‘Nora transforms from a doll, a possession…into an individual human being’

Question 15

Jennette Lee on Nora

Answer 15

‘she herself performs the miracle that sets her free’

Question 16

Polly Teale on the men in the play

Answer 16

‘all the men in the play have a strong association with death…beneath the male facades of male power lies a fragility, a sense of crisis or collapse’

Question 17

Koht on the play’s impact

Answer 17

‘it pronounced a death sentence on accepted social ethics’

Question 18

Michael Myers on love in the play

Answer 18

‘Ibsen shows romantic love to be an illusion, inhibiting the free development of the individual’

Question 19

Bradford on Krogstad

Answer 19

‘Krogstad…does not have the same passion for evil as your typical bad guy’

Question 20

Richard Eyre on Ibsen’s men

Answer 20

‘his men are often weak-minded as well as emotionally, sexually and professionally unsuccessful’

Question 21

Sally Ledger on Nora vs society

Answer 21

‘Nora…finds herself in opposition to the demands of a hostile society’

Question 22

Shannon Cron on the play’s message

Answer 22

‘[the play’s message is] much less political than it is about human nature’

Question 23

G B Shaw on the ending

Answer 23

‘the ending of the play is not…particularly tragic’

Question 24

Garland on Nora and Torvald’s relationship

Answer 24

‘Nora and Torvald’s relationship is an unresolved battle for power’