Context

• Origins of the Tarentella


  Italian folk dance

  The name derives from Tarantism; a form of hysteria (spider bite) and Taranto in Italy.

  It is used as a distraction from the letter in the letter box.

  Symbolically represents the defiance of Nora where she gets into a frenzied state.

  Can be linked to a contemporary context such as Fuseli' s 'The Nightmare' 1781 (overt sexuality of the painting and of the dance) and of the Romantic genre
• Subtle use of Victorian melodrama (despite use of realism)

  Krogstad enters as the villain-type character in a pantomime almost (dramatic device of doorbell ringing)
• Laura Keiler


  Is the inspiration and influence for Nora and was a family friend of the Ibsen's, with Henrik even calling her 'skylark'

  She was born into a wealthy family except her father became bankrupt and they moved from Norway to the Amalfi coast in Italy.

  
  

  Keiler revealed to Suzannah Ibsen that she had secretly taken out a loan when he husband developed TB. She used the money to finance a trip to Italy where he would recover.

  
  

  She later struggled to pay back the loan and forged a cheque and was caught and forced to tell her husband. He demanded a separation and deemed her as an unfit mother. From this she suffered a mental break down and was put into a mental hospital.
• When was A Doll's House written?

  1879
• Retracting from the popular use of Melo-drama (from 1780's until 20th century) to...

  Realism
• Features of Realism (from Stanlislavski's system of acting)

  1) Depiction of ordinary, flawed, every-day people

  
  

  2) Indoor settings 'box set' with invisible 4th wall which is typically bland

  
  

  3) Psychological drama

  
  

  4) Protagonist asserts themselves against injustice

  
  

  5) Rising action to final solution being challenged (E.g. Nora leaving husband and children)

  
  

  6) Authentic costumes

  
  

  7) Vernacular speech (every-day) which is believable

  
  

  8) Popular style as the audience can identify themselves with plot and character to an extent
• Women's Rights in Norway

  Strict laws that restricted the rights of women in a patriarchal society

  Role of being a housewife and a mother

  Women could not vote, file for divorce or take out loans unless with permission.

  
  

  Marriage moved the male ownership of women from Father to Husband. These marriages particularly restricted middle-class women more than lower-class women as poverty forced them to be in the workplace
• Napoleonic code (1804)


  Prevented women from engaging in financial transactions. Essentially made women 'children in the eye of the law'.
• When was the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights created?

  1884
• When was the 1st women worker's union formed in Norway?

  1890
• When was national elections established?

  1913
• What happened to Norway in 1913?

  Became a European country and gained equal voting rights (universal suffrage)
• When was Norway freed from Danish control? By the time of publication, what was Norway a union with? What did this new freedom mean for Norway?

  1814

  Sweden

  New cultural diversity and new political and personal freedom
• What is realism the opposite style of?

  Naturalism
• Well-made play (the 'piece bien faite')

  Is a dramatic 19th century genre deriving from Eugene Scribe (1825)

  
  

  Influenced European and American drama.

  
  

  Popular form of entertainment.

  
  

  Freytag pyramid: Exposition, rising tension, climax, falling tension and Denouement (resolution).

  
  

  Collins sums up the formula as 'make em laugh, make em weep, make em wait'

  Ibsen built from this style but not completely as he does not include a pleasing resolution (E.g. Helmer should have stood up against Krogstad for Nora).
• Problem play


  19th century style which is in the wider movement of Realism.

  Deals with social problems through character debate and conflict accurately

  Ibsen leans towards this type of play more than a well-made play which is more Romantic (French-style)
• Madwoman in the Attic (Gubar and Gilbert; 1979)


  Fundametal literary piece for feminist movement in the 19th century

  
  

  Title comes from Jane Eyre's Bertha Mason who is locked away by her husband in the attic of Thornfield Hall.

  
  

  With the notion that all female protagonists in a male-authored novel can be grouped as an angel or a monster (pure and submissive or rebellious and sensual).

  
  

  Urges females to break away from this patriarchal dichotomy.

  
  

  Other female works such as Jane Austen, Emily Dickenson, Mary Shelley and the Bronte sisters commented on the misogynistic world too
• What genre does A Doll's House fit into?

  Modernism and Realism
• What genre does the play depart from?

  Melo-drama
• When did women over 30 years old gain the vote in England? How does this link to Nora specifically?

  1918 (5 years after Norway did).

  Nora also becomes independent by leaving her husband and her children.
• Which piece of 19th century legislation in England made some women's lives easier?

  The Married Women's Property Act 1858
• What did Ibsen say in a speech for the Norwegian Women Association for Women's Rights for his 70th birthday?


  That he has 'never written to further a social purpose' and that he would 'have to decline the honour of having said to have been working for the Women's Rights movement'.

  
  

  He wanted to be seen as an advocate of human rights instead.
• What concept does Nora seem to embody?

  New Woman (coined by Charles Reade in his novel 'A Woman Hater')
• Ibsen context


  He was born into the upper-middle class and born in Skien, Norway.

  Child of a merchant family.

  In 1850 he moves to Christiania (Oslo) which is Norway's capital.

  Moved to Germany in late 1860's and met Brandes (Danish literary critic) and brought the modern movement to Scandinavia
• 19th century Norway


  Growth and prosperity began in Norway in 1840's and there was a great economic boom until 1875 (E.g. the effects of this can be felt by Nora and Torvald with regards to their lifestyle)

  
  

  Foreign trade, mining and agricultural growth and productivity.

  
  

  Independent nation in 1814.

  
  

  Increasing Upper-class as more jobs were creating new money families (not aristocracy).
• Where did Ibsen write the play A Doll's House?

  Amalfi coast, Italy (1879)
• Where was the Norwegian Women Association for Women's Rights held?

  Christiania
• What was the reaction after the first stage production in Copenhagen (1879)?


  The opinions were divided and caused immediate sensation
• Ibsen's drama is interrogative rather than declarative'


  It raises many uncomfortable questions about society, marriage, masculinity, sex and motherhood, without resolution at the end
• When did Sigmund Freud coin the term 'psychoanalysis' following his research into the unconscious mind?

  1896
• How is Ibsen regarded by a modern audience?

  'Father of Modern Drama'

  Realistic dialogue with characters of psychological depth on the stage

  His use of subtext changed the way modern drama is produced

  Produces relevant, social commentary on modern life