A DOLL"S HOUSE written by, Henrik Ibsen is recognized as a landmark contribution to modern theater. Ibsen was credited with being the origin of a new modern perspective that was beginning to emerge in the literary and dramatic world, challenging the marriage and gender roles in 19th century Europe.
The play revolves around two characters, Nora and her husband Torvald. Nora is a spirited young woman whose compassion and intelligence must be masked by her childish and supplicating behavior, thanks to the expectations of the society. Torvald on the other hand, plays the patronizing chauvinist whose self-centeredness makes him oblivious to the realities of his world. Despite their unbalanced roles, all is well in their peaceful family until a "crime" from Nora's past comes back to haunt her and a struggle ensues.
Some say what can I do, for I am just one person. In Ibsen's play, A DOLL"S HOUSE, he says what can I not say. With his symbolic writing and bold attack on the conservative ideals of his time, he served as the stepping stone for women of today. The purpose of the play was to provoke thought and incite revolution which is exactly what Ibsen did. He scandalized respectable audiences and delighted independent thinkers. .
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This play was a great start in women's rights. Being on of the most controversial part of the play, the end comes, and with it the doll's house tumbles down, and Nora discards her doll's dress, she shed her skin, as it were. Torvald proves himself a petty philistine, a bully and a coward, as so many good husbands when they throw off their respectable cloaks. When Nora closes behind her the door of her doll's house, she opens wide the gate of life for women, and proclaims the revolutionary message that only perfect freedom and communion make a true bond between man and woman, meeting in the open, without lies, without shame, free from the bondage of duty.