Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A Doll House

I really enjoyed reading the Doll House in class on Monday and the great analysis from Kate Mendelhoff, our guest lecturer. It was the first time I read any drama whatsoever since high school, and hearing the dialogue out lout definitely helped reveal the powerful last scene in act 3. Having Kate there to breakdown the whole play, as someone who has directed in the past was a very cool perspective to see. Nora had seemed to play helpless just to live the life of grandeur given to her by her selfish husband, Torvald. She is almost treated like a child, and in the final act she finally garners the strength to come out of her shell and pursue her own personal interests. She questions her religious and moral duties, claiming "before all else, I am a human being". This was a very strong message to send during this the 19th century, and it seems Ibsen tended to push the limits in his work. I thought it was interesting that he had no intention of promoting women's rights, yet the play still ended up sending a pretty iconic message. I also thought the Germans were huge pricks for completely changing the ending (and in turn his message) without telling Ibsen. If I was a playwright, I would consider something like that as the ultimate insult to my work.

1 comment:

  1. Amen to the comment about the German insult on Ibsen's work. It's hard to believe that people had the audacity to literally rewrite the whole point of the Ibsen's play after it had become such an icon of the time.

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