A Doll’s House ~ Henrik Ibsen

One of our mini goals for 2020 was to read a play. If I’m honest I am really not an avid play reader and haven’t really picked up a play since I left school. So I did a little research as I wanted to read something that was similar to the play I had loved from my studies. After finding about 6 that I wanted to read I decided to go with Ibsen’s A Doll’s House as its storyline had intrigued me the most. Not to mention I had heard so much about the infamous ‘door slam’ at the end of the pay. I made my Amazon purchase and waited patiently for my copy to arrive.

I knew very little into this read other than that it highlights the gender roles within a family household and the pressures of appearances versus reality. This read took me slightly longer than I had originally thought but I think is because I really had to take in every single thing that was being said. I had forgotten how much you need to concentrate when reading something that is pretty much all speech. Apart from the odd stage direction. I was worried that I would miss something and not understand what was actually going on.

A Doll’s House is set in 1879, Norway. The play opens into a Christmas setting and we see rather quickly that wife Nora is known for spending more money than she should and that she is repaying a secret debt. Ibsen portrayed a scene where women found it hard to strive in a very male-dominated world and is now known as a landmark for the development of female heroines. I particularly loved Nora’s speech toward the end of the play where she refers to herself as her doll that once belonged to her father and now to her husband. That they have both been pulling her puppet strings her whole life. Also, now knowing the context of the whole play the ‘door slam’ at the end has even more meaning.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this read and it was an insight into not only a different era but culture. One thing I will say is that I did struggle to read it without over analysing everything, this due to analysing every detail being engraved into me from school. I gave Ibsen’s A Doll’s House ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️out of 5 star rating.

M🌸