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    A Doll's House
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    A Doll's House
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    A Doll's House
    Ebook132 pages1 hour

    A Doll's House

    By Henrik Ibsen

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    One of the best-known, most frequently performed of modern plays, A Doll's House richly displays the genius with which Henrik Ibsen pioneered modern, realistic prose drama. In the central character of Nora, Ibsen epitomized the human struggle against the humiliating constraints of social conformity. Nora's ultimate rejection of a smothering marriage and life in "a doll's house" shocked theatergoers of the late 1800s and opened new horizons for playwrights and their audiences.
    But daring social themes are only one aspect of Ibsen's power as a dramatist. A Doll's House shows as well his gifts for creating realistic dialogue, a suspenseful flow of events and, above all, psychologically penetrating characterizations that make the struggles of his dramatic personages utterly convincing. Here is a deeply absorbing play as readable as it is eminently playable, reprinted from an authoritative translation.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateApr 10, 2012
    ISBN9780486110202
    Author

    Henrik Ibsen

    Born in 1828, Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright and poet, often associated with the early Modernist movement in theatre. Determined to become a playwright from a young age, Ibsen began writing while working as an apprentice pharmacist to help support his family. Though his early plays were largely unsuccessful, Ibsen was able to take employment at a theatre where he worked as a writer, director, and producer. Ibsen’s first success came with Brand and Peter Gynt, and with later plays like A Doll’s House, Ghosts, and The Master Builder he became one of the most performed playwrights in the world, second only to William Shakespeare. Ibsen died in his home in Norway in 1906 at the age of 78.

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    Reviews for A Doll's House

    3.5/5

    1,363 ratings38 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Somehow, I never read this when I was in school. It seems the sort of book that teachers make you read.

      All of the characters in the play are flawed. The way Helmer is so quick to condemn Nora, and then a few minutes later tells her he forgives her. Why would he think she would forgive him for saying so many horrible things? And for so much of the play, Nora seems to delight as being seen as a silly, flighty woman. This makes her speech at the end a little confusing. If she resents being treated that way, why act that way?

      This was a quick read. I read it all in about one hour. I enjoyed reading it. The play gave me a lot to think about.
    • 5/5
      Our home has been nothing but a playroom.


      What a wonderful surprise! I didn't expect to be so moved. The honesty is scalding. My reading as of late has focused on language: an exploration of poetics and the resonance of such. Ibsen acted as a sort of antithesis to that approach and the experience was all the more satisfying. Remarkably modern, We find Nora a wife and mother—who out of interest for her husband she has blurred the lines of propriety. This incident bobs to the surface the trials involved afford her an unexpected perspective.
    • 5/5
      one of the first plays that ever really spoke to me as a modern person. a master work.
    • 3/5
      This is a very interesting drama about the needs of the individual versus the needs of society or family.
    • 4/5
      Well-written dialogue, and a speedy read. I find it cliche because I have been usurped by classic literature with the same theme (or even more modern literature such as [Revolutionary Road].) But, I am sure it was great for its era. I find the main characters a bit dull- though something really intrigues me about the Doctor. A classic for everyone to read.
    • 3/5
      short, deals with inner questioning vs. outward conformity. understandable how hugely controversial this was when it was released. still enjoyable today.
    • 3/5
      I was surprised by this: it was a lot more readable and interesting than I expected it to be. It's also very thought-provoking: I can't decide whether Nora's actions are completely convincing, but I've been thinking about the play ever since I finished it, which must be a sign of an excellent piece of writing.
    • 2/5
      I'm not sure if this is a commentary on women, or how women are treated by society at that time, or just the fact that this particular woman is a dingbat and her husband is a condescending twat.
      Basically she took out a loan (in order to fund a holiday for her husband who was working himself to death) and forged her father's signature on the document (as a woman she could not apply for a loan by herself) she is repaying it fine but the guy who gave her the loan is threatening to expose her lie (pretty dumb move dating the document 3 days AFTER her dad died! - she isn't the sharpest of minds).
      Now her hubby is becoming manager of the bank that gave the loan and wants to fire the guy who gave the loan to her because sometime in the past he did something dodgy along similar lines(the husband even says he does his job fine and if this was done today it would totally be grounds for unfair dismissal lawsuit). She tries to convince hubby to not fire him but hubby goes on a rant of how evil people breed more evil people and it is always because the mother was lacking in morals. She then decides the only option she has left is to kill herself (no overly dramatic of anything - she has the decision making skills of a hysterical 12 year old).
      In the end hubby finds out what she has done and tells her that while he will permit her to live in the house she will no longer be trusted and will not be allowed access to her own children because of the whole moral corruption she will cause them!
      The guy bribing her has a change of heart and gives her the incriminating document. Hubby is happy and suddenly everything is fine! Because NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW and therefore he's suddenly fine with everything.
      Then in the last page she grows a spine and tells hubby to shove it and announces she will be moving into her dad's old house so she can learn to be an adult rather than the child she has always been treated as - the only time I could start to respect her and then it ends!
      I am left confused as to what the point of the whole thing was...
    • 2/5
       This book was alright. I had to read this while studying English for undergrad. It was a required text for my American Lit class that I hated more than anything that year. I was happy that it was short (ha!) and that it was soon over. We got the point that the main character was a spendthrift and after that, I was bored and ready for it to all end.
    • 4/5
      Nora, a stereotypical housewife, is faced with her past secrets being exposed. This forces her to choose between living her same sheltered life, or growing up and becoming strong and independent. Henrik Ibsen's play is full of metaphors that describe Nora's marriage. He uses a variety of characters to contrast the relationship between Nora and her husband. He also does an excellent job of raising moral questions for the reader to contemplate. This book would be well used in a high school English class, because it is simple to read and understand, but it raises a very important debate on gender roles and marriage.
    • 4/5
      Maybe 3½... I found the second act dragged a bit, but the third and final act was amazing. Nora's revolt was tremendously satisfying to me, in particular after Torvald goes into his self-righteous rant.
    • 5/5
      A very subtle, complex play that begins with ordinary everyday events, but slowly secrets are revealed from the past that turns out to threaten the marriage between Thorvald and Nora Helmer. This play have been endlessly analysed and discussed and one can understand why. It challenges the norms and roles of marriage (at least in that day and age) - there are no easy “solutions” and no heroes or villains in this story. Who is right and who is wrong.The main character Nora is “trapped” in a marriage with a husband who doesn’t love and support her the way he should. Yet, Nora herself is a problematic character - her secretive and thoughtless forgery of the signature - the way she pretends all the time - what should we say about her role as a mother? She doesn’t seem to be that connected to her children. How can she leave them - and yet, how can she stay? What will/should Nora do? And are Thorvald really beyond reach? Can we detect a change in him in the last part of the play?
    • 4/5
      It's a pretty good play, I totally get the mixed feelings people get from this play, the people who tend to dislike it are the ones who felt Norah didn't grow in the play, that the ending was a cop-out and she was still being immature. While the people who liked it tend to see that she grew and was able to leave. Either way I think because the ending is so open and not told completely it leaves room for a lot of interpretation and to me that's a good play because it makes you think. It's well written and very dynamic, but not in a obvious way.
    • 4/5
      One of the best-known, most frequently performed of modern plays, displaying Ibsen’s genius for realistic prose drama. A classic expression of women’s rights, the play builds to a climax in which the central character, Nora, rejects a smothering marriage and life in "a doll’s house."
    • 4/5
      A good play, fun to imagine as a play instead of how I usually handle books.
    • 4/5
      Read for school in my World Lit class. But I remember loving it from my high school drama class. I loved Ibsen even then. Coming back to to this play years later was wonderful, because I got to examine it from an adult perspective. I will always defend Nora and her decision. She is a victim of her time period, yet she is not to be pitied.
    • 5/5
      A woman, Nora, borrows money to save her husband's life without his knowledge. Later, the man she borrowed from blackmails her and she is terrified that her husband will discover what she's done. Nora is a fascinating character. She is clever and resourceful and at the same time she seems desperate to please her husband, no matter what it takes. She hides her unhappiness from everyone, even herself. She likes to encourage his believe that's she's a frivolous creature. Her husband, Helmer, is condescending and pious. He has fury inducing lines like, "I should not be a man if this womanly helplessness did not just give you a double attractiveness in my eyes." There marriage is more a playful charade than a partnership. When circumstances push her to step out of her comfort one she finds a strength she didn't realize she had.
    • 1/5
      The good thing was...it was VERY quick to read, other than that...who cares about the story. It was lame. I can't believe people paid money to sit through that on Broadway. There was no excitement what so ever. It was like watching what goes on in many households on stage. Evidently the big deal was that it happened in an earlier time period when it was less socially exceptable...big deal.
    • 5/5
      When I was a student at BYU in my last semester I took an American Lit class. Looking back, I should have taken almost any other class available. I was a newlywed when the semester started, and by the end I was expecting my first baby. So what did we study that would go along with my life's lessons I was learning at the time? Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper. Edith Wharton. Sarah Orne Jewett. Just about any depressing story written by American women, we read it. That class was not a lot of laughs.The play, A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, would have fit right in with those writers if only he had been American. It's got all the right elements. Restricted setting - check. Slice of middle class family life - check. Deceptively innocuous beginning - check. Desperate woman struggling with her own identity against a tightly ordered society and family life - double check. The difference is that for me, 18 years after the first class, is that now instead of making me depressed, it made me angry to read this. Angry with Nora, and the way it took her so long to protest the way she was treated. Angry with Helmet, for treating his wife as an inferior creature he had to humor. Angry with Christine, for putting up with years of unhappiness just so she could devote her entire self to taking care of someone. And then going after what she really wanted only because she was helping her friend, and further, because she set up the expectation that she would again be 'taking care' of someone. Most of all, angry with society, that this was accepted as normal. I read that when this play was first performed, the audience was shocked. But not because of any of the reasons I mentioned. No, because women were generally supposed to be perfectly content to be treated in such a way.Looking back at that class, I am not a bit surprised that I found it so troubling. There I was, just barely started on this marriage thing and shortly about to take on motherhood. And what did I get to read about? Any healthy models of what family life could be like? No. Literally, everything we read that dealt with marriage or motherhood was telling me how restrictive it was, how demanding, how degrading to my personhood, how I would have to sacrifice my very self to be successful in my new roles. No wonder I had a hard time!So a little perspective is valuable now that I read this play. I know from my own experience that marriage does not have to be like that, and that motherhood is a source of great joy and fulfillment, as well as a challenge. Yes, I know that society was different 100 years ago, but I have to believe that even then, not every marriage was one of dominant/submissive. There must, even then, have been relationships that were based on a more equal footing. There must have been women who ENJOYED being a wife and a mother, and didn't just do it because they needed security.And maybe I'm just a little spoiled, because I am living in the 21st century, when women are busy in so many different things. Maybe. But to say that I can't judge people from that era means that I'm supposed to accept that they are not as capable as I am of fixing things that don't work, and that they are not as bright at seeing what makes them unhappy. I don't believe that. Yes, it must have been more difficult for women of that time to express their true selves, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't get angry when I read about a woman who is a doormat, and ask myself why she put up with that.What did I think of this play? I can't say I loved it. But it sure brought out a strong reaction in me. On that basis alone, I have to give it 5 stars. I think that every couple ought to read this play, or even better, see it together. And so should every therapist or clergyman. Single people too should read this and learn from it to set up some solid boundaries before they form a partnership.I think that so far this year, this is the book that got me the most emotionally involved with what I was reading. So I have to give it 5 stars. However, read or see this with the knowledge I didn't have as a newlywed. Not every relationship demands this self sacrifice from the woman. This is how it is NOT supposed to be. Once you know that, you can ask yourself if you need to adjust anything in your relationships so this doesn't happen.
    • 4/5
      We read this sophomore year of high school, and I very much enjoyed it. We had a debate over whether Nora was good or bad in my class- all the girls sided with her, and all the boys but one against. I'm with her! I felt like she wasn't really a person while she was with her husband and she had to leave to become one. Never stay with a man who won't let you eat cookies!
    • 4/5
      I'm currently working my way through a good deal of the theatrical canon and this play was up next. An intriguing study, still at times rooted in the melodramatic. I wasn't too impressed with the character of Nora, even after extensive discussion. She confused and baffled me the majority of the time, and not in a particularly good way.
    • 3/5
      A play better worth seeing.

      This was one of those books/plays that I was told was on a top 100 list, and so I decided to finally give it a try this time. Plus, it's been so long since I read a play, I figured, "Why not?" It's a short read, and I probably would have been finished with it in less than a day if I had the time. The characters are easily introduced, and the plot speeds along and thickens at a moment's pace. Needless to say, you'll go through the whole roller coaster of emotions that the characters go through at a much quicker pace than them.

      Plays sometimes read well, but I felt that this one could have been much more enjoyable if I were to watch a stage adaptation of it. There are many more nuances that can be expressed by the actor, and simple stage directions simply don't do it for me when reading. I'll try to add my own artistic interpretations of what the actors would do in my head, but then I'm preoccupied with that instead of focusing on the story at hand. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

      There are great themes within the play, but the most obvious was the focus on feminism and our character's struggle for identity, and the disillusionment of marriage on both parties. Should I desire, I could write a lot more about the themes, provide some quotes, and have an essay ready for a future class. But instead I will end my review here.

      An easy yet in-depth read, best for lovers of plays.
    • 5/5
      This is, in my opinion, one of the most important women's rights books ever written. I am by no means a modern feminist, but I really did enjoy this book back when I read it in high school. I liked the ending climax, though it was quite a bit bittersweet.
    • 1/5
      The only redeeming quality about this book is that it is short. I really didnt enjoy the writing style, the characters, or the plot. It was one of those books that you are forced to read, and simply suffer through it while never feeling like you could connect with it. I cant stand it when people assume that just because something is popular or old, it has to be good. This book just wasnt good.
    • 4/5
      I actually read an online version of this text provided by my teacher as part of my Introduction to Drama course, so this is not the same version I'm writing about, but is the same work. This is probably the most famous Problem Play ever written, and is a rather fun read as well. It definitely deals heavily with the position of women in society at the time, and offers a great glimpse of society in general at the time the play was written.
    • 4/5
      Ibsen's novel is a critique of the 19th century marriage norms. Nora lives to serve her husband, Helmer, however, she resorts to deceit in order to help him and then lives in fear of Torvald's negative judgment of her actions. Torvald controls every aspect of Nora's life; what she eats, what she buys, how she raises the children, what she thinks, and what she does. Nora dutifully complies and denies her own desires. Torvald uses demeaning nicknames for his wife, and treats her as if she were a child. Nora seems disinterested in her children who are cared for by a nanny. Through the characterization and dramatic action, Ibsen creates a picture of the Helmer household as one of dolls in a doll's house. Torvald views his wife and children as possessions that serve to elevate his ego and reputation. Christine serves as a foil for Nora and Christine becomes Nora's model modern woman. Throughout the drama, Nora is blackmailed by Krogstad so that she will convince Torvald to keep Krogstad employed at the bank. When Krogstad is fired, he reveals that he will send Torvald a letter that explains the loan that Nora took out in order to pay for a trip to Italy. Eventually, Torvald reads the letter and harshly admonishes Nora. Nora prepares to leave the house and Torvald immediately forgives her and explains that a man forgives when he truly loves a woman. Nora maintains her resolve to leave and find out her own identity. Torvald and some readers cannot fathom why Nora would not take her children along with her. This resolution makes the drama controversial in Ibsen's day and still in modern society. Nora can be compared and contrasted to Chopin's characters Mrs. Summers in "A Pair of Silk Stockings" and Mrs. Mallard in "The Story of an Hour." I also like to discuss how a marital relationship can confining for men. Both Rip Van Winkle and Walter Mitty are husbands who have much in common with Nora Helmer.
    • 5/5
      I really, really enjoyed this play. Though it does border on the melodramatic at times (understandable, given that the world was just beginning to move out of the romantic period and realism still hadn't fully taken off), the heartbreaking realizations Nora makes and her ultimate decision regarding her future mark a change in the Western canon from the generic 'wife/mother' archetype to living, breathing, viable characters. Her journey from inactive doll to a decisive thinker is just startling, even when read now without the proper repressive context.
    • 2/5
      Well that was ugly.
    • 3/5
      Nora a woman who comes to understand that her marriage wasnt as she supposed it to be , an illusion, and that her husband is a very different person from she once believed him to be..when he cant undergo one of the hardships in their life for her sake ....

      She leaves her husband and her children because she feels it is for their benefit..
      her husband accused her of being a "child-wife"she feels that he was right, that she is a child who knows nothing of the world. Since she knows so little about herself or society, she feels that she is an inadequate mother and wife.....

      her last words was that they could become a man and wife once again, but only if a miracle occurred.......

      i liked the last scene....
    • 5/5
      I read this with interest as a bachelor. After 22 years of marriage rereading it convinces me that it is an inspired masterpiece. I hope my children will read it at some point- preferably before they marry!