A Doll’s house part 2

1. A Doll’s house part 2 By Bentley Mercer and Paige DuMond

2. Basic Information! • Author: Lucas Hnath • FUN FACT: It is written as a sequel to the play A Doll’s House, written by Hendrik Ibsen • Date of Publication: April 14th, 2017 • Awards: Nominated for 8 Tony Awards, and Laurie Metcalf won Best Actress for her role as Nora

3. Title and Settings! • The title of the play, A Doll’s House Part 2, is significant because the original play was about Torvald treating Nora like a little playing doll, and it showcases the ’not so perfect’ life that it appears to be. Part 2 of this play is showing the affect on the ‘doll house’ after Nora left. Setting: It is set in Norway inside the Helmer house, 15 years after Nora left Torvald

4. Themes! A Doll’s House Part 2 has many serious themes, one of the main ones is trying to do what you think is right and being perfect in a non-perfect world that is constantly putting you down. • This is shown throughout the play by Nora trying to figure out the perfect solution to a very messy, non-perfect problem. When Nora left Torvald at the end of A Doll’s House to be independent and do what makes her happy, she ended up creating a chain-reaction of problems that didn’t have one easy solution.

5. Conflict and Characters! • The central conflict of this play was Nora coming back after 15 years. She was forced to come back and see Torvald and her old life after a judge who disliked her books threated to expose that she was still married. Nora didn’t know Torvald never filed for divorce, and has to beg for her freedom from him once again. • Protagonist: The protagonist in this play is Nora, because the play centers around her life and story, and shows the most character development throughout the story. • Antagonist: The antagonist is Torvald because she comes back wanting freedom and a divorce, and he is the one standing in her way.

6. Summary! • The play starts off with Nora’s return after 15 years of being absent from the Helmer House. She speaks with her old housekeeper Anne Marie, who ended up raising her young kids after Nora left. Anne Marie catches Nora up on everything she has missed in the past decade and a half. • Nora ends up speaking with Torvald and her daughter, Emmy. She tells them about how she needs to get a divorce, but both are hesitant to provide that simple of a solution. • In the end, Torvald ends up seeing that the best solution was for him to give Nora what she wants, so he filed for a divorce. When he tells Nora however she rejects his solution to her problem, and goes back to the life she has created to face the judge who made all the problems start to spiral in the beginning of the play.

7. Play Parts! Inciting Incident Climax The climax of the play is when Torvald is screaming at her because he had just destroyed his life and reputation by getting a divorce, Nora says she doesn’t want him to solve all her problems, so she rejects it. • The Inciting Incident of the play is when Torvald refuses to just go and file for divorce when Nora comes back to ask. Because he refuses, it sets the whole conflict of the play into action

8. Main Characters! Nora Torvald Torvald is Nora’s “ex-husband”, who was a respected banker that was completely blind-sided when Nora finally spoke her mind all those years ago. Torvald was very hurt, so when she comes back, he is very hesitant, and straight up refuses Nora when she asks for a divorce. He still wants to do everything for Nora, even 15 years later. • Nora is an independent, hard-working women, but doesn’t always think about how her actions affect other. She becomes a successful, yet controversial writer in her 15 year absence. Her family, as well as Anne Marie, hold a grudge against her for leaving, but overall want the best for her.

9. Quotes! • “I mean, I think there is something in our time and place and culture that teaches us to expect and even want for women who leave their families to be punished” -Nora • “We fail to be faithful because deep down we ache for more, because this ache is in the core of who we are– but we stomp it out, and we beat ourselves up for failing to be something we never were to begin with.” -Nora • “You say you’ll ruin me. You already did that. Except it happened while you were far far away. This time if you're going to do it, you’re going to have to be a part of it.” -Torvald

10. Personal Opinions of the Play PAIGE’S BENTLEY’S I thought this play had a powerful message to women everywhere. The fact that Nora comes back to the life she ran away from and has to fight for her freedom again send a message to all women that they are strong and independent. Although Nora is the protagonist of the play, I thought she was mean and insensitive to her children. I thought leaving her children to be raised by Anne Marie was a bad motherly choice. • I had mixed feeling about the play. I personally loved Hendrik Ibsen’s A Dolls House, so had very high hopes going into this play. I did enjoy the writing style of the first play more, and I thought Nora had much more character development and redeemable moments. I was happy when she left in the end of the first play, and felt it was very girl-power. This one showed the affect of Nora actually leaving, which was interesting, but also somewhat depressing.

12. Bibliography • “A Doll's House, Part 2 (Play) Plot & Characters.” StageAgent, stageagent.com/shows/play/8801/a-dolls-house-part-2. • “A Doll's House, Part 2.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Aug. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Doll%27s_House,_Part_2. • Vine, Hannah. “A Doll's House, Part 2 Celebrates Tony Nominations.” Playbill, PLAYBILL INC., 3 May 2017, www.playbill.com/article/a-dolls-house-part-2-celebrates-tony-nominations.