Well Made Play Analysis

A “Well-Made Play”

In Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, Ibsen conveys the idea of women equality. Women equality, where women would have the freedom that men had and would be able to enjoy and relish in a world where their true potential was not forcibly pushed inside of them. In 1879 most women were still confined to the home solely as of mothers and wives. Ibsen, being raised mostly by his mother, saw the truth of being a women from a man’s eyes and decided to show the rest of the world that same enlightenment. In this enlightenment Henrik Ibsen's use of the "well-made play" illuminates the developing strength of the protagonist Nora Helmer to help the social status of women in a male dominated world.

First, in order to see if A Doll’s House uses a “well-made play” to follow the developing strength of the protagonist Nora, it must be understood the characteristics of a “well-made play”. “The idea of a “well-made play” came from Eugene Scribe, who as a playwright “called for complex and highly artificial plotting, a build-up of suspense, a climactic scene in which all problems are resolved, and a happy ending”(Well-made play). The majority of these plays consisting of women stuck in a love triangle between men of polar opposite situations (Well-made play), or in Nora’s case between Torvald Helmer and the metaphorical man, her freedom from “doll” (3.51) hood. A “well-made play” is essentially derived from a neoclassical style; where it has three main subplots and one small one, consisting of missing papers, normalcy, pre-play actions, and a dominated protagonist (Well-made play). These subplots work around a tight plot to help motivate and focus the play on the missing element (i.e. the missing papers) (Well-made play), all ...

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...nder Torvald’s nose and do things for the good of herself and her family. It is also seen through Torvald’s attitude that Nora found she was “lucky enough” to do something on her own (1.10), which purposely contradicts Nora’s strength but becomes useful in the end to reveal her hidden strength to Torvald and the audience.

The developing strength of the protagonist, Nora, is all due to Ibsen adhering and departing from the structure of a “well-made play”. In taking the protagonist Nora and dissecting every part of her character, Ibsen was able to portray to the audience his true purpose of writing the play, which is the belief that women should be treated as equals and be given the freedom that men received at the time. Through each successful use of each subplot, Ibsen was able to create a microcosm of the world as it was for women and how that world should be.