A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen, author of one of the greatest drama plays A Doll House, is said this piece of work is a feminist play. Feminism is defined as a “collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women”, according to Dictionary.com. Did Ibsen produce A Doll House to be a feminist play?

No matter what or how much propaganda feminist have made toward A Doll House, Ibsen, never wanted to produce a play concerning women’s rights, but that is very arguable. R.M. Adams explains, in an article which commemorates the half century of Ibsen’s death, “A Doll House represents a woman imbued with the idea of becoming a person, but it fails to propose anything categorical about women becoming people.” (1773). In fact “A Doll House is no more about women’s rights than Shakespeare’s Richard II is about the divine right of Kings, or Ghosts about syphilis… its theme is the need of every individual to find out the kind of person he or she is and to strive to become that person.” (1772). When Nora decided to leave Torvald at the end of the play she finally will have the opportunity to find the kind of person she truly is, and is no longer trapped by society as a subservient homemaking wife. However Helmer is also alongside Nora in being trapped by society as a dominate provider husband.

To Ibsen, A Doll House is not a feminist but instead he viewed it as a humanist play. Which after reading the definition it is clear that humanist meaning a person having a strong interest in or concern for human welfare, values, and dignity although when looking at the definition of a feminist back at the begging both humanist and feminist almost basically have the same mean...

... middle of paper ...

...ton Anthology. 475-77. Print

"Humanist | Define Humanist at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. .

Shmoop Editorial Team. “A Doll House.” Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 18 Oct. 2011

Templeton, Joan. “Is A Doll House a Feminist Text?” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 1772-73. Print.

Tufts, Carol Strongin. “A Psychoanalytic Reading of Nora” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 1767-69. Print.

Witham, Barry., and John Lutterbie. “A Marxist Approach to A Doll House” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 1767-69. Print.