A Doll's House Analysis

The play is set during the holidays. Yes, it's Christmas time for the Helmers and New Year's is swiftly approaching. Chances are that this isn't random. Christmas and New Year's are both associated...

George Bernard Shaw said that A Doll's House is set in "every suburb in Europe" (source). You could probably tack America and a good portion of the rest of the world onto that as well. Though the p...

Though all works of literature present the author's point of view, they don't all have a narrator or a narrative voice that ties together and presents the story. This particular piece of literature...

It's a drama because it's a play, a piece of literature that's never fully realized until it's put on stage in front of an audience. We call it a family drama for the obvious reason that it concern...

In the beginning, the play seems to be biased toward Nora. We're definitely asked to sympathize with her. It's pretty hard to get on Torvald's side. From the moment he gets on her case about eating...

Ibsen is often thought of as the founder of realist drama. Other playwrights who wrote in this genre include Chekhov, Strindberg, Shaw, and O'Neill. In realist drama, the characters talk in a close...

Not long before her famous door slamming exit, Nora has a little something to say to her husband, Torvald: "Our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll-wife" (3.286). With state...

A Doll's House ends with the slamming of a door. Nora turns her back on her husband and kids, and takes off into the snow to make her own way in the world. It's a pretty bold decision, to say the l...

A Doll's House is written in a straight forward realist style, which makes it really easy for a modern audience to get into. There's no thick Shakespearean poetry to wade through here. The play is...

The Helmers have a seemingly perfect happy home. In the beginning, all seems well. Nora and Torvald Helmer appear to be the perfect happy couple. Torvald is getting a new job, managing the bank. Th...

Nora has a secret. At first the Nora and Torvald Helmer appear happy. Their troubled friends, Dr. Rank and Mrs. Linde, envy their seemingly perfect live. When Krogstad shows up, however, we find ou...

At first Nora and Torvald Helmer seem happy. Torvald is overbearing, but Nora doesn't seem to mind. They're both really happy because Torvald will soon start a new job as bank manager. The only gre...

Ibsen flunked two of his entrance exams for the University of Christiana. (Source)As Ibsen lay on his deathbed, he managed to sputter, "On the contrary" just before he gasped his last breath. (Sour...

There's not a whole lot of sex-talk for most of A Doll's House. This isn't particularly surprising, since it's set in the Victorian era. We get one pretty flirtatious scene between Dr. Rank and Nor...