"Cliff Notes - Doll's House, A" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

drama unfolds on one set, a "comfortable room" in the Helmers' house
that serves both as a drawing room in which to receive guests and as
a family room where the children play and where the family sets up
its Christmas tree. There is a door to the entryway and another to
Torvald's study.

Ibsen describes this setting in minute detail. About midway through
his career, he adapted a style of drama that has been called
"photographic." Instead of creating various country or city scenes
as background for his characters, he "takes a picture" of one room
they inhabit. Every piece of furniture, every prop reveals the
character of the people who live in this place. For example, in the
Helmers' drawing room there is a "small bookcase with richly bound
books." What better way to describe Torvald, their owner, than as
"richly bound"--someone who looks good from the outside? Also, the
Christmas tree serves to represent various stages in Nora Helmer's
life. When her life appears happy, the tree is beautifully trimmed.
When her happiness is shattered, the tree is stripped and drooping.
Ibsen has described the set and its props precisely, so that every
production will reproduce this same "photograph" of the Helmers'
living room.

Probably the most significant thing about the setting of this play
is that it concerns middle-class characters and values. It takes
place in an unnamed city, where banking and law would be considered
normal and respectable occupations. Banking is the occupation most
closely associated with money, the symbol of middle-class goals, and
the crimes of the characters--Nora, her father, and Krogstad--are
monetary ones. Notice also how Torvald, a lawyer and bank manager,
is preoccupied with Nora's extravagance, or waste of money.

Up until Ibsen's time, serious drama had been almost exclusively
concerned with members of the aristocracy or military heroes. Comedy
had served to depict the lives of the farmers, workers, and lower
class. But A Doll's House is a serious drama about the middle class.
Some might even say it is a tragedy of everyday life. In light of
today's understanding of marital roles and the larger issue of
women's self-awareness, would you call the fate of the Helmers'
marriage a tragedy?


A DOLL'S HOUSE: THEMES

The major themes of A Doll's House recur in many of Ibsen's plays,
including Hedda Gabler.

1. THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY

Ibsen felt strongly that society should reflect people's needs, not
work against them. In A Doll's House, society's rules prevent the