A DOLL''S HOUSE SAMPLE POWERPOINT

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Welcome!
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Model for Presentation

• A Doll House

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Henrik Ibsens

• A Doll House

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Henrik Ibsen

• "It was a long time before I realized that to
  be a poet means essentially to see, but mark
  well, to see in such a way that whatever is seen
  is perceived by the audience just as the poet saw
  it. But only what has been lived through can be
  seen in that way and accepted in that way. And
  the secret of modern literature lies precisely in
  this matter of experiences that are lived
  through. All that I have written these last ten
  years, I have lived through spiritually."
  ('Speech to the Norwegian Students, September 10,
  1874, from Speeces and New Letters, 1910).

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Realism A Doll House

• Realism Literary technique that attempts to
  create the appearance of life as it is actually
  experienced
• Common Language, NOT Highly poetic language
  formal declarations, asides, or soliloquies
• Everyday people and events, NO heroes or the
  saving a kingdom.
• Opening of the eyes and the minds of an audience,
  NOT melodrama with happy endings.

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Henrik Ibsen 1828-1906Biographical Influences

• Born in Skien, a tiny coastal town in the south
  of Norway
• Merchant father went bankrupt raised in
  poverty.
• Mother was a painter and loved theatre.
• Age 18 fathered and supported his illegitimate
  child through journalism
• Failed his entrance exam to the university where
  he had hoped to become a physician.

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Playwright Historical Influences

• Catiline, a tragedy, which reflected the
  atmosphere of the revolutionary year of 1848
  which sold only a few copies.
• The Burial Mound was performed three times in
  1850.
• The first performance of Cataline did not take
  place until 1881. After successfully performing a
  poem glorifying Norway's past, Ibsen was
  appointed in 1851 by Ole Bull as "stage poet" of
  Den Nationale Scene, a small theater in Bergen.
• During this period Ibsen staged more than 150
  plays, becoming thoroughly acquainted with the
  techniques of professional theatrical
  performances.
• In addition to his managerial work he also wrote
  four plays based on Norwegian folklore and
  history, notably Lady Inger of Ostrat (1855),
  dealing with the liberation of medieval Norway.
  In 1852 his theater sent him on a study tour to
  Denmark and Germany.

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Ibsens best-known works were structured as
social commentary and written in Rome, Munich and
Dresden

• Brand (1866), inspired by Kierkegaard's idea of
  subjectivity as truth. The symbolic tragedy tells
  about a priest, who follows his high principles
  at the cost of the lives of his child and his
  wife.
• Peer Gynt (1867) was a satiric fantasy about a
  boastful egoist, irresponsible young man, an
  Ulyssean figure from Norwegian folklore.
• The Emperor and the Galilean (1873) Ibsen
  believed this to be his most important play -
  heavy drama about Christianity and paganism.
• Pillars of Society (1877) dealt with a wealthy
  and hypocritical businessman, whose perilous
  course almost results in the death of his son.
• A Doll House (1879) was a social drama, which
  caused a sensation and toured Europe and America.

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Is A Doll House a Feminist Text? (Joan
Templeton 1641-1641)

• Templetons critique uses strident quotations and
  a sarcastic tone to imply that Ibsen has been
  saved from feminism by many contemporary male
  critics. Templeton, in truth, calls for feminist
  a re-examination of the character of Nora.
• What does a feminist reading reveal about the
  character of Nora whose life was circumscribed by
  a patriarchal society?
• Could Ibsen have written a play with this theme
  about a man? Who might have been controlling him?

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A Psychoanalytic Reading of Nora (Carol
Strongin Tufts 1641-1641)

• Tufts asserts an alternative character
  analysis of Nora. Rather than viewing Nora as a
  victim, Tufts frames the psychoanalytic argument
  of Nora as narcissistic Can you find textual
  evidence that reveals
• Grandiose sense of self-importance and uniqueness
  exaggerates achievements and talents, focuses
  on how special ones problems are.
• Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited
  success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal
  love.
• Exhibitionistic requires constant attention and
  admiration.
• Responds to criticism, indifference of others, or
  defeat with either cool indifference, or with
  marked feelings of rage, inferiority, shame,
  humiliation, or emptiness.
• Relationship dysfunctions Lack of empathy,
  Entitlement, Interpersonal exploitiveness or
  vacillating between the extremes of
  over-idealization and devaluation.

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Critical Perspective A Doll House

• Henrik Ibsen's plays anticipate major
• developments of the twentieth and
• twenty-first centuries
• the individual's feelings of alienation and
  actual alienation from society,
• the pressures by which society insures conformity
  to its values and suppresses individuality,
• the barriers which modern life sets up against
  living heroically.

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A Doll House

• A Dolls House (1879) was a social drama, which
  caused a sensation and toured Europe and America.
• A DollHouse is about a woman who refuses to
  obey her husband and walks out from her
  apparently perfect marriage, her life in the
  "doll's house."
• At the turn-of-the-century physicians used Nora,
  whose mood changes from joy to depression in
  short cycles of time, as an example of "female
  hysteria."
• Later, critic, Havelock Ellis, inspired by Nora's
  character, saw in her "the promise of a new
  social order."

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A Doll HouseDiscussion Questions

• 1. How does the character of Nora illustrate the
  alienation of women from the 19th century
  patriarchal society?
• 2. How does the character of Torvald Helmer
  illustrate Torvalds struggle to conform to the
  19th century patriarchal society?
• 3. How does the relationship between Mrs. Lunde
  and Krogstad serve to emphasize certain
  characteristics of the Helmers marriage?
• 4. How would Dr. Ranks relationship with Nora,
  his illness, and his death serve a symbolic
  function in the play?

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A Doll HouseDiscussion Questions

• 1. How does the character of Nora illustrate the
  alienation of women from the 19th century
  patriarchal society?

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A Doll HouseDiscussion Questions

• 2. How does the character of Torvald Helmer
  illustrate Torvalds struggle to conform to the
  19th century patriarchal society?

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A Doll HouseDiscussion Questions

• 3. How does the relationship between Mrs. Lunde
  and Krogstad serve to emphasize certain
  characteristics of the Helmers marriage?

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A Doll HouseDiscussion Questions

• 4. How would Dr. Ranks relationship with Nora,
  his illness, and his death serve a symbolic
  function in the play?

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Works Cited

• A Doll House. Production Pictures. Online
  Posting. 7 Oct. 2004. West Virginia U. 24 Aug.
  2006. lthttpwww.wvu.edu/theatre/gt
• A Dolls House. Dir. Patrick Garland. Perf.
  Claire Bloom, Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Richardson,
  Edith Evans, and Denholm Eliott. Videocassette.
  Metro Goldwin Mayer, 2000.
• A Dolls House. Advertisement. Amazon.com. 24
  Aug. 2006 ltamazon.comgt.
• Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House. The Bedford
  Introduction to Literature, 7th. Ed. Michael
  Meyer. Boston Bedford St. Martins, 2005.
  1584-1633.
• Templeton, Joan. Is A Doll House a Feminist
  Text? The Bedford Introduction to Literature,
  7th. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston Bedford St.
  Martins, 2005. 1644-1645.
• Tufts, Carol Strongin. A Psychoanalytic Reading
  of Nora.The Bedford Introduction to Literature,
  7th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston Bedford St.
  Martins, 2005. 1641-1641.
• White, Samantha. Symbolism in Ibsens A Doll
  House. Journal of World Literature 34
  (2000)443-454. Academic Search Premier.
  EBSCOhost. Lake-Sumter Community Coll. Lib.,
  Leesburg, FL. 24 Aug. 2006 lthttp//www.linccweb.o
  rg/eresources.aspgt.

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