A Doll's House | Feminist Criticism

A Doll’s House

By Henrik Ibsen

Hello everybody, nice to see you again. For today we have a feminist criticism about “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen.

In this play, Ibsen shows how women were treated back then. Society has changed in a high percentage of those retrograde thoughts. Nowadays, women have equal opportunities as men. Women study and are well-prepared. We are allowed to work and earn our own money. Of course, when I say “allowed” does not mean we were not able to do it back then. When Ibsen wrote this play, he was sure about the fact that Nora represents a real life situation. If you have not read the play yet, I recommend you to do. Otherwise, you might have some misunderstandings with entry. In A Doll’s House you can see that Nora’s life is not free of choices and personal opinions. Her decisions are not important as his father or husband. They take the control of her life. She is always at home taking care of her three children, with no money to do something that she desires.

From my personal point of view, Nora projects the life of many women back then. She sacrifices herself to get money and help her husband recovering from his sickness. She does this action, keeping it as a “big secret”. There is no way to justify it. She knows that it was “a bad action” and the only ones that are “able” to take decisions are men. Besides that, Nora is a good example to see how women were seen as puppets for men. Long time ago, a woman should be at home, taking care of children, with no social life and were not allow to express opinions. That’s why, throughout the play, Nora realizes she will never be happy. Because she is full of debts and she is like a puppet. She has no a normal life. Besides that, there is not anything that can fulfill her heart and happiness. She is living a torture and a stressed life.

Nora is not allowed to take decisions by herself. But, at the end of the play, she takes one final decisions and for me, the most important. Of course, it is not simple, but she has no choice. She decides to leave her house and family. We are not talking about her husband only, but her three children. She has a little baby who needs her. Back then, this situation was not a common thing. It was rare to happen. She discovers that her life is more important than anything else. And “life” is not living. Life is being happy, loved, satisfied and thankful for everything we have. Clearly, Nora lacks of “life”. She is very brave to take that important decision, but she deserves happiness.

Now, I want to know what is your point of view about the situation presented in the play.

1.     What would you do if you were in Nora’s position?

2.   Is happiness important to survive in this life?

Attached a link to a website with a detailed summary about the play A Doll's House

If you want to watch the movie, here I attach a link to a movie of the play.

See you guys!

-Bell Solís