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English Literature Essay

Hendrik Ibsen successfully through the characters of his play, A Doll House, portrays the shackles of the society of the time, and in doing so he imposes the message upon individuals that one cannot truly be free unless they fulfil the obligation we all have to ourselves, and break away from the rest of the conforming society so as to achieve a life of independence. Although the idea of freedom seems to go hand in hand with happiness, Ibsen proves through Nora's actions that this is not always the case, yet it is still necessary to fight for your own freedom despite what you have to give up.

A Doll house was inspired by a woman by the name of Laura Kieler, a women who secretly borrowed some money to pay for a trip to a warmer climate that doctors recommended for her husband, who was ill at the time. She secretly worked to pay off her debt but when her husband found out, he demanded a divorce. Laura suffered a nervous breakdown and was later committed to a mental asylum. A Doll house is set in a 'tastefully but not expensively furnished' Bloomsbury drawing room, in the house of Torvald and Nora Helmer, and their three 'doll' children. Torvald is the recently appointed bank manager, who loves Nora dearly but in a paternal manner, as he feels as a husband and a man it is his obligation to protect, and make decisions for Nora because he feels she is incapable of doing so. Nora however seems aware of this, as she plays along, "I never get anywhere without your help" , to her this is the only way she can 'penetrate his rigorous middle-class code of proper conduct'. As Nora is based on Laura Kieler, in the same circumstances as Laura, Nora took out a loan, forging her father's signature as women could not take out a loan without her husband or father's permission. The only person who knows, Krogstad, uses her secret as blackmail in order for him to keep his job. Nora fights to keep this a secret but when Torvald finds out, instead of Nora's miracle where Torvald takes upon himself the full responsibility of her actions, he is outraged at this social disgrace, and only forgives her when he feels he is free from his good image in society falling apart. This reveals to Nora that Torvald's love for her is conditional; he can only love her when she is socially acceptable, along with her actions, despite the motifs behind her actions. Despite beliefs that A Doll house is only about the subjection of women, Ibsen wrote this play not to protest for women's rights but to show the different types of self-imprisonment due to society's conditioning, and Nora depicts the struggle one goes through to break free of this conditioning.

In order to fully appreciate a text, one must not only be aware of context, but they must be able to grasp the ideals, beliefs and happenings of the society of the time in which the text was written, otherwise every word of the text is meaningless, and the reader does not understand the significance of the text. Ibsen's childhood very much influenced his later writings, as the relationship between Hendricks's Parents, 'His domineering father was an alcoholic, while his quiet mother found comfort in religion' This ideology of the domineering husband and the marginalised wife can be seen in hie above plays. After living a well off life (Ibsen's father was a wealthy merchant who ran a general store) when Hendrick was only 8 years of age, the Ibsen's came close to bankruptcy, and all the friends who eagerly ate at their table when they were wealthy completely abandoned them. They were considered a 'social disgrace' and Ibsen became bitter towards a society infatuated with appearance. Hendrick wished to pursue a career in medicine but as his family could not afford to send him to medical school, at the age of 16 he moved to the fishing town of Grimstad where he lived 6 years as a pharmacists' apprentice. These 6 years he lived anything but a life of luxury, and this gave Ibsen the insight into hardship, this hardship can be seen in characters such as Krogstad and even Nora having to earn what she can to pay off debt. As Ibsen progressed through his life so did the way of life in Europe, the Revolutions of 1848 was a wave of change. In politics, both bourgeois reformers and radical politicians were wanting change in their nations' governments. Technological change was making life easier for the working class , and new values and ideas such as liberalism, nationalism and socialism started to grow. 'The spark that lit the fire was a series of economic downturns and crop failures that left the peasants and the poor working classes starving'.This lead to a series of republican revolts against European monarchies. During this period of revolutionary exhilaration, Ibsen became politically active with his friends, but he rebellions collapsed within a year along with the idealism of 'Artists and politicians alike'

and It was during this year that Ibsen wrote his first play Catiline which was accepted then rejected by the Christiania theatre. Ibsen's first phase was his Romantic period,(1850-1973) where he wrote a lot of poetry and 14 plays. After this phase, Ibsen's writing career progressed, with failures and successes, but in 1866 he published Brand, which was his first real success, and after followed other successes such as A Doll house, Pillars of Society, Ghosts and Hedda Gabler. These plays were written during his realistic Period (1877-1890) and were followed by his symbolist period, his third and final phase of plays. Ibsen died in Norway in 1906 after suffer a stroke he never fully recovered from. He died a man of exemplary talent, everything he had learnt during the course of his life no matter how painful it was to withstand, Ibsen used this knowledge in his plays and this is what made him the father of modern theatre, his knowledge and understanding of the lives many had to live. This was his motivation to inspire others to live lives for themselves.

It is in the nature of human beings, to want to do as others do, to want blend in, and to want to belong, however this is only to a certain extent. Society often takes advantage of the human instinct to want to fit in, as we become unnaturally conditioned to behave a certain way in order for the greater powers to have complete control over the majority. In the society of the 19th century, when A Doll house was written, society (without having to actually declare it a law), demanded that the roles of society were to be upheld with the upmost diligence. The man's role was to provide for his family, to look after his wife and provide for her, as she being a women was completely incapable of doing so herself, and

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