Similar to Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, and Pushkin, the Norwegian playwright Ibsen is considered a classic of national and world literature. Ibsen, creating an analytical drama, reveals the deep tragedy and cruelty of reality, hidden under external well-being, as well as the ability of a strong-willed person to resist circumstances. The most significant among his works was the play A Doll House – namely, it caused the greatest public reaction in England at the end of the 19th century. In this work, the playwright completely transitioned to a new, realistic drama. It was perceived primarily as a work written in defense of women’s emancipation, however, for Ibsen himself, the essence of his play lies not only in this. In A Doll House, he raises the central issue for him about the liberation of humans in general, about the creation of personality, which is manifested in the very title of the work.
In the center of the play, there is a tragedy of the Helmer family: Nora and Torvald. They have lived together for eight years, they have three children, a cozy home, and prosperity. Nora is passionately devoted to her husband and children and, at first glance, the family is quite happy. However, if to read the play “between the lines” thoughtfully, it is possible to see from the very beginning some kind of artificiality in this house, appropriately emphasized by the author: “Between the stove and the side-door a small table. Engravings on the walls. A what-not with china and bric-a-brac. A small bookcase filled with handsomely bound books” (Ibsen 3). The frequent use of the diminutive-hypocoristic form makes to think: the author wants to emphasize not the good life of this family, but something opposite. Since childhood, Nora dreamed of an ideal family for which she could create comfort. These dreams are reminiscent of children’s games with dolls – everything is as neat and cozy there. Nora herself was such a doll, first for her father, and then for Torvald. Her children also became such dolls, with whom Nora plays now.
Torvald also dreamed of a happy family but saw it from a slightly different angle. He perceived Nora not as a self-sufficient person, but as an integral part of his calm family life. For him, she was his “doll,” “squirrel,” “bird,” but nothing more (Ibsen 5, 9). Consequently, they do not live in this house but only play at marriage, prosperity, love, and even human dignity and honor. There is nothing real here – this is a dollhouse.
Ibsen strove to express problems contemporary to society of his era in the classical form of tragedy. The main character Nora understood the terrible truth for herself: her house is not real, it is a dollhouse. However, life is not a child’s play, and, therefore, she did not want to live in a dollhouse, in a world of falsity: “I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was papa’s doll-child; and here the children have been my dolls … Playtime shall be over, and lesson-time shall begin” (Ibsen 15). Nora wants to take off her fancy dress – she can no longer live in this spiritually empty house and leaves to find herself as a person.
Thus, this is how the content of the title of the play A Doll House is revealed, which expresses the main idea of the work – the image of the house of false values, behind which selfishness and spiritual emptiness lie. In this drama, in all its nakedness and depth, the question of human dignity arose. Ibsen analyzes society contemporary to him, proving that it conceals moral flaws under the illusion of progress and civilization.
Work Cited
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018.