Life as a Doll

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen is realistic fiction that is very dramatic. It is "Ibsen's best-known play [that] displays his genius for realistic prose drama." (Goodreads). It is a play about women in the eighteenth century and what their lives were like at the time. 

18th century woman

Some of the major points of life at that time were: 

- women were nurtures 

- the men took care of the women

- the men were also considered superior while the women were inferior

- the jobs of women consisted of:

• needlework
• sketching 
• flower arranging

- women also had very few legal rights:

• could not sign contracts
• could not gain custody of children if divorced (made legal in 1857)

- 80% of the population was working class 

- to be considered middle class you had to have a  servant and it was very important to be considered middle class

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major Norwegian playwright. He is considered the father of modern realistic drama. The reason that Ibsen is considered the father of modern realistic drama is because Ibsen introduced a critical eye to the conditions of life and the influences of the environment and inner psychological motivation. Because Ibsen lived in the Victorian age, when they expected the dramas to be moral with a main character that has a battle with someone that is immoral and the main character would be the victor. Ibsen challenged this view and because of it that he was not very popular.

A Doll's House is about a woman named Nora that is married to Torvald (a.k.a Helmer) in the eighteenth century. Nora is seemingly really happy and content with her life. However, as the story continues we (the readers) notice that maybe not all is as it seems in the Helmer household. We see many things that begin to bother us and we find the main conflict in the story. Because of this conflict the whole story falls apart, causing a complete change in the life of Nora.