Henrik Ibsen’s A Dollhouse

Henrik Ibsen’s A Dollhouse

Ibsen … • Brought realism and social concerns to European theater, which had been limited to romanticism, seen as a place for amusement • Made drama serious, experimental

Shakespearean Romantic Comedy Fast forward 280 years….

Henrik Ibsen1828-1906 Known as the father of modern drama

Born in Skien, Norway (in Telemark) Born to wealthy parents

What happened next? • Father went bankrupt when he was 6 • Grew up in poverty. • Worked as a pharmacist’s assistant • Fathered an illegitimate child through a liaison with a servant woman 10 years older than he • Attempted to obtain entrance to university, but failed • Began writing.

Norway’s History in a Nutshell • 400 years (since the Plague) under Danish rule: no printing press, no university, capitol named after Danish king, language printed to look like Danish. Poor. Rocky, mountainous, fjords, isolated. • Napoleonic Wars: taken from Denmark and given to Sweden. 1830s • May 17, 1814: Eidsvoll, Constitution Day.

Norwegian Golden Age • Ibsen one of the Norwegian Golden Age artists who defined a modern, independent Norway (National Romanticism) • Offered a job with the Norwegian Theater in Bergen; first theater in Norway to employ Norwegian actors and put on plays in Norwegian, not Danish, speech • Studied theater in Copenhagen • Spent nearly 30 years abroad in Italy and Germany, where he wrote A Dollhouse

Norwegian Golden Age: Ibsen and Bjørnsen

Edvard Grieg Christian Krohg

Early Period • Romantic plays, primarily in verse. Influenced by Shakespeare. Drew on folk tales and Norse sagas, and collaborated with Grieg, who drew on Norwegian folk music. • Example: Peer Gynt

Middle Period • Realistic prose dramas on social concerns which defined modern drama and for which he is famous. • Example: A Dollhouse

Final Period • Increased use of symbol/metaphor to delve into/create a mystical insight into human psychology • Example: HeddaGabler

Characteristics of Ibsen’s middle period • Modern, natural dialogue • Retrospective exposition: gradual revelation of past events leading to a climax • Increased emphasis on set, props, mise-en-scène: supplements his text with complex visual imagery to reinforce his key themes • Universality of themes

Important to Note When Reading • Relationships between characters: truth and illusion • The world of the work: the environment the action takes place in • The relationship between characters and props: props convey personality, concerns, personality • Contents of the stage become metaphors: costumes, properties, lighting, décor = diction of his drama, a poetic language

A Dollhouse • Ibsen stated he sought to portray “the problem of mankind in general” • At the time, the play was seen as a shocking commentary on the institution of marriage • Also shocking due to Ibsen’s dramatic method and technique

“Nora’s revolt is the end of a chapter in human history.” • George Bernard Shaw

Controversy • Treating topics such as the tragedy of inherited venereal disease (Ghosts) and the collapse of a middle-class marriage (A Dollhouse) was scandalous/shocking, yet demonstrated his power as a playwright • “Ibsenism”: term coined by George Bernard Shaw to mean a critique of contemporary morality in dramatic form

The Translation Issue • Norwegian title, “Et dukkehjem,” means A Dollhouse • Translated as “A Doll’s House” • Implications?

Clement Scott, in The London Daily Telegraph (1891) • “The old theory of playwrighting was to make your story or study as simple and direct as possible. The hitherto accepted plan of a writer for the stage was to leave no possible shadow of a doubt concerning his characterisation. But Ibsen loves to mystify. He is as enigmatical as the Sphinx. Those who earnestly desire to do him justice and to understand him keep saying to themselves: granted, all these people are egotists or atheists, or agnostics, or emancipated, or what not, still, I can’t understand why he does this or she does that.”

At the time this is what theater looked like… Every character was clearly labeled as a villain or a hero Characters constantly informed the audience, through soliloquies, asides, or confessions to a confidante, of their secret motivations Audience did not have to deduce the motivations

With Ibsen… • The demand for realism closed these windows into the inner world of the characters • Audience had to figure out motivations of characters’ unexplained actions for itself

More Context… • Ibsen’s drama coincided with the discovery of the unconscious portion of the human psyche: recognizing most people don’t even KNOW their inner motivations • What was new: audience had to perceive the characters’ unconscious motivations through the spaces between the most trivial everyday exchanges of small talk

And More Context… • Decline of strength of religious belief led to a problem of human identity. When eternity was no longer a certainty, human identity became a problem. Was man a chance product of inheritance or environment? If so, what constituted the self? • The existentialist dilemma: disappearance of a notion of a God-centered and preordained life plan

Controversy • Treating topics such as the tragedy of inherited venereal disease and the collapse of a middle-class marriage was scandalous/shocking, yet demonstrated his power as a playwright • “Ibsenism”: term coined by George Bernard Shaw to mean a critique of contemporary morality in dramatic form

Henrik Ibsen’s A Dollhouse