Critical viewpoints on A Doll's House Flashcards
(9 cards)
The Danish People’s Paper, review of the 1879 premiere: Nora’s actions cannot be justified
“There is not […] a single point which justifies her action”
William Archer, 1894: contemporary critics misunderstood Nora
“The critics who […] drive home the poet’s irony fall into the very same misunderstanding of Nora’s character which makes Helmer a byword for masculine stupidity and are no less flabergasted than he when the doll pulls out of her masquerade dress and turns out to be a woman after all. And Nora is not really childish, still less she is ‘neurotic’.”
Muriel Bradbrook, 1948: the true nature of Nora and Torvald’s marriage
“Nora’s marriage becomes eight years’ prostitution, as she gradually learns the true nature of her relations with Torvald and the true nature of Torvald’s feelings for her”
Muriel Bradbrook, 1948: what Nora freeing herself from her marriage represents
“In leaving her husband, Nora is seeking a fuller life as a human being. She is emancipating herself.”
Egil Tornquist, 1995: parallels between Nora and Dr Rank
“Nora and Rank… are linked by the fact that they are both victims of their father’s frivolity”
Joan Templeton, 1997: Nora breaks free of societal expectations to pursue a life of self-discovery
“Ibsen’s most explicit treatment of the women question. The conflict is between society’s demand that Nora embrace the women’s role that it has determined for her […] and her refusal in the name of her own autonomy […] Nora does not leave the doll house to find some other role in society, but, on the contrary, to discover the self she refused in living a role.”
Joan Templeton, 2004: what Nora embodies as a character
“Ibsen’s Nora is not just a woman arguing for female liberation […] She embodies the comedy as well as the tragedy of modern life”
Guo Yuehua, 2009: how Torvald perceives women
“He [Torvald] sees women as both child-like, helpless creatures detached from reality and totally dependent on men for support. His attitude towards his wife is a mixture of a sense of possession and sexual passion.”
Theodore Dalrymple, 2005: Torvald’s patronising treatment of his wife
“Helmer treats her [Nora] like a little girl, sometimes chiding and sometimes indulging her, but never taking her seriously as an adult; and she plays along, acting the featherbrained young woman to almost nauseating perfection.”
