A Doll's House - Reflective Statement

“A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen is a play based in Norway in the 1870’s. To some extent, time matters to this work because it brings up the issues of roles of women in the 1870’s. Women were not very independent at that time and had to take permissions from a male authoritarian figure to make decisions related to work or finances. This issue is brought up through Nora, when Mrs. Linde is being told her secret of borrowing money. Mrs. Linde is shocked that Nora’s husband is not aware of this and how did she take a loan when it was forbidden in society to do so without the husband’s consent. Women were denoted as the housewives and lower positions than the men. This was not only in Norway but also all around the world. Men had more dominance and power and were superior to women. In my culture, men are more dominant than woman however, in society today, women have started to stand up for themselves, like Nora. An example is my mother, who submitted to a substantial amount of mental abuse from my father. When I was 10 years of age she had decided that she had had enough and left my father, leaving me also. Before I couldn't understand why she had left me and why she didn't take me with her. But after reading A Doll's House, I finally understood that like Nora, she wanted to find herself.

Also the place the play was set in was Norway in the Helmer’s home. The issue that was brought up was that although the setting was at home, the characters didn’t act natural to each other, instead, kept secrets. I saw a contrast to Nora’s character by Mrs. Linde who was working, showing that not all women in those times had to live the same way that Nora was living. Classes played a role in society and defined how hard you had to work. For Nora life was easier and she didn’t have to take many sacrifices like Mrs. Linde. Also in the present day, classes are very important like in Belgium. For the lower and working class, women are expected to work, and funnily, it's mostly the men who stay at home. When it comes to the middle and upper class, society expects the men to go to work, and the women to stay at home and reproduce.

Finally, the interactive oral helped me to understand the different styles that Ibsen used like dramatic irony. We all agreed that it had a really strong effect on us as readers because it built up lots of tension and excitement. For example when we knew that Nora had borrowed money but Helmer hadn't, we were all wondering when and if she was going to tell him.