language, form, place Flashcards
What is the climax of the play?
The turning point of the pay is not when t discovers the letter, that may well be the climax of the old-fashioned well-made play, full of bombast and excitement as “climax” suggests. Ibsen gives us that moment but then provides an even more electrifying, intense climax: the moment when Nora says that she and T need to talk, a discussion which culminates in the final slam of the door with which the play ends. Ibsen withholds the traditional resolution, spreading the exposition over the play’s duration rather than getting it over with in the first act, as in most dramas of the time. , part of the “retrospective action” of the play.
What is innovative about Ibsen’s use of language?
The play has almost no monologues or soliloquies (except for Nora’s suicide contemplation). The dialogue is spare, uses simple language, interruptions, hesitations, unfinished sentences - all of the things we do when we speak ordinary speech.
What is significant of Ibsen’s use of place?
Ibsen manages to be both local and universal in use of setting. It continues to baffle critics that Ibsen can set play after play in a small, Norwegian town yet appeal to audiences all over the world, both in his time and now. The setting of the plays has astonishing flexibility despite the specificity of place.
