A remarkable trait in which literature embodies is the ability to capture and preserve cultural and societal beliefs. One may read a literary work published in the 1800’s and observe how society has evolved since then, or in contrast observe how society has digressed since then. Regardless of the genre and content, one may still infer when the piece was produced based on the diction and syntax of said piece. This is possible because literature is essentially written picture- it is a time machine for your conscience, a window to the past. This beautiful quality can be exemplified through analyzing “A Doll’s House,” a play written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879 that portrays a Marxist view of society and oppresses women unreadily seen today.
One of the key principles of Marxism is the belief that human thought is the result of a person’s financial and social conditions, their associations with others are regularly undermined by said conditions, and that the less-fortunate are constantly abused by the wealthier bourgeoisie (Woods). A reoccurring theme within the play is the exploitation of the poor and weak by the rich, and the fixation on material goods. All the characters within the play are affected by the need or procurement of money, and their whole lives revolve around their mindset of obtaining it. Consequently, a Marxist theme is prevalent through a majority of the play and is observable through the perspectives of the main characters.
Nora, our protagonist, has become intoxicated with money ever since Torvald, her husband, announced he was receiving a promotion with a salary raise in three months. She begins the play returning from a shopping trip with an “armload of packages” (785) accompanied by a boy holding a Christmas tr...
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...ppreciated workers of the world overthrowing the capitalists who took them for granted. Ibsen’s play was one of the greatest of its time, reaching all the way to our own just as Borges does through his stories, both with relevancies that will always be valid and true.
Works Cited
Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll's House." The Norton Introduction to Literature. 11th ed. N.p.: W. W. Norton &, 2013. 784-843. Print.
Borges, Jorge L. "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius." Collected Fictions. N.p.: Penguin, 1999. 68-81. Print.
Templeton, Joan. “Ibsen’s Women.” Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Woods, Alan. "Women and the Struggle for Socialism." In Defence of Marxism. N.p., 18 July 2001. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Frisch, Mark F. You Might Be Able to Get There from Here: Reconsidering Borges and the Postmodern. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 2004. Print.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House (1879). Trans. Rolf Fjelde. Rpt. in Michael Meyer, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 5th edition. Boston & New York: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 1999. 1564-1612.
Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll House." The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, and Writing. By Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2011. 1709-757. Print.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth Mahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 2002. 916-966.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Bedford/ST. Martin’s, 2001. 659 – 688.
Simonds, W. E. "Henrik Ibsen." Dial 10.119 (Mar. 1890): 301-303. Rpt. in Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Mar. 2011.
Rogers, Katharine M. (1985): ‘‘A Doll House in a Course on Women in Literature,’’ in Approaches to Teaching Ibsen’s A Doll House, Shafer, Yvonne (ed.). New York: Modern Language Association, p.82.
A man, intoxicated and impoverished, lay on the dirty streets of patriarchal Norway, and as the jeering citizens sauntered by, they could have never guessed that this man, Henrik Ibsen, would be the Prometheus of women’s rights and the creator of the modern play. Having been born in 1828, Ibsen lived through various examples of the subjection of women within the law, such as Great Britain allowing men to lock up and beat their wives “in moderation” (Bray 33). Therefore, Ibsen was known for his realistic style of writing within both poetry and plays, which usually dealt with everyday situations and people (31). Focusing on the rights of women, Ibsen’s trademark was “...looking at these problems without the distortions of romanticism” and often receiving harsh criticism for doing so (31). In an attempt to support his family, Ibsen became a pharmaceutical apprentice, but after three years he abandoned this profession and began writing poetry. After an apprenticeship in the theater, he began writing his own plays, including a drama in verse, Peer Gynt (31). While working and writing in Norway, Ibsen and several social critics observed “...the penalty society pays when only half of its members participate fully as citizens”, deciding to flee Norway in hopes of finding a more accepting social environment (33). Ibsen wrote A Doll’s House, his most famous work about women suffering through the oppressive patriarchal society, while living primarily in Germany and Italy where he “...was exposed to these social norms and tensions to a much greater extent than he would have been had he remained solely in Norway” (32). While Sweden, Norway, and Denmark began to grant legal majority to women, Ibsen understood the legal improvements f...
Ibsen also uses Rank as a symbolic tool, enabling the reader to look deeper into the plot. Dr. Rank is used as a symbol of a dying society as the main characters in the play ...
Ibsen, Henrik. “A Doll’s House.” Literature for Composition. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, and William E. Cain. 9th Ed. New York: Longman, 2010. 792-841. Print.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House. Lives Through Literature: A Thematic Anthology. Ed. Helane Levine Keating et al. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1995. 782-838.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Trans. William Archer. Boston: Walter H. Baker & Co., 1890. Gleeditions. Web. 12 April 2014
Nora Helmer, the main character, has a seemingly unfulfillable need for money and a high social status. A good example would be how the play begins with Nora returning home from shopping for the Christmas season. She has many items and even bought a Christmas tree. Nora then tells one of the maids to hide the tree so that she can decorate it be...
and do things themselves. One of the women gets her own job and the other leaves her daughter for adoption. Thus showing they are making their own decisions in life. This is unheard of in the 1800's and shows Ibsen trying to have a society in which women do have an identity in society and can be heard. Throughout the play, a women is shown doing her own thinking and not listening to what men have to say even though that is not how it used to be. Ibsen creates this new society in which anyone, no matter the gender, should be able to make their own decisions about life and how to live it.
Ibsen writes his play A Doll House to explain the life of a housewife and her struggles with her own actions. Ibsen examines the emptiness in the lives of Nora and Torvald as they lived a dream in a Doll House. Both awaken and realize this emptiness and so now Torvald struggles to make amends as he hopes to get Nora back possibly and then to restore a new happiness in their lives. Ibsen examines this conflict as a rock that breaks the image of this perfect life and reveals all the imperfections in the lives of those around.
Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll House." Ibsen : Four Major Plays - Volume 1. Trans. Rolf Fjelde. New York: Signet Classics, 1992. 43-114. Print.