A Doll's House (Dover Thrift Editions: Plays)

This play was a high school reading assignment lo' those many years ago, and as with some other similar assignments, I've undertaken an initiative to re-read them, and consider how the book (as well as I) might have aged in the intervening decades. If fussy memory serves me correctly, I appreciated this play the first time around, and hopefully incorporated some of its messages into my thinking.Henrik Ibsen was the leading Norwegian playwright of the 19th century. This play was first produced in 1879. It is still one of the most popular, and performed plays in the world today. Certainly tame by today's "shock" standards, purportedly it did shock many in the audience when it was first produced, due to its scathing portrait of the staid bourgeois views of the role of women in society and marriage. In brief, not just subordinate, but rather a mere appendage to their father's, at first, beliefs and actions, which would later prepare them for the same role serving their husband. Scandinavia was, and often remains, in the forefront in terms of progressive social ideas and legislation. As one of my Swedish friends would quip: "Sweden is a moral superpower."The two principal characters are Torvald Helmer and his wife, Nora. There are several supporting characters, including Dr. Rank, a family doctor who is ill, Mrs. Linde an old school friend of Nora's, and Nils Krogstad, a bank employee, who is also much else. Money, and the lack thereof, is the catalyst for much of the action. Just when Torvald's promotion to bank manager seems to resolve the money issue, the "sins of the past" revisit the Helmer's with a vengence.Ibsen's portrait of Torvald is one of a man who is insufferably pompous, with very fixed ideas on propriety, and his wife's role as a helpless, not to bright, child. This is no marriage of "soul mates," as the expression has it, for marriages of more recent vintage. Torvald views Nora as a "doll," hence the title. He is also utterly selfish, viewing events only from his perspective, and not how they might have impacted his wife. The audience plays the part of the ancient Greek chorus, realizing how much Nora has actually done for Torvald, without his knowledge. I still remember this portrait from my high school read, and the vow not to turn out the same way.A few decades after this play was first produced, Virginia Woolf wrote her famous A Room of One's Own which had very similar themes. Ibsen though was the first, and the play's denouement, with Nora proclaiming to Torvald that she "needs a life of her own" and must determine who she really is, continues to resonate, almost a century and a half later. The play remains a 5-star read.

Interpretation:A doll's house follows Nora, the protagonist and mother of three, through her struggle for realization of an identity that is her own. For eight years with her husband Helmer, and many more with her father, Nora has lived as a possession than a character. The title of the play embodies a social expectation that confines her to inferior roles devoid of true satisfaction, a superficial identity defined by her husband that deserves nothing more than a man's affection. The seemingly perfect marriage is broken by Krogstad the "shipwrecked" lawyer who threatens to reveal secrets associated with Nora that would harm Helmer's social standing. However, among guilt and panic, Nora finds peace by discovering herself. She realizes that true love comes from mutual respect, that a life of satisfaction must have room for independence. These revelations come at the cost of her marriage. From Helmer's point of view, Nora is selfish, deserting her family to satisfy her own fancies. Yet, to Nora, her decision is one of self-liberation, of finding the dignity of being human, and ultimate of saving her life.Thoughts:I was supposed to read this for my AP class, but we ran out of time. On whim I picked it up, having heard great reviews. This play is truly ahead of its time. I have a bit feminist so I have tremendous respect for the protagonist. Bravo to Ibsen for having portrayed such an important yet often muted matter with realism. I think I might have read it too quickly, will definitely read again.

From other reviews, or your own familiarity with Ibsen's famous—and in 1879 scandalous—play, you'll know the basic story and characters of "A Doll's House." It remains a classic, well worth being performed by superior actors. The latter are in abundance in this 1959 production: the incomparable Julie Harris as tormented Nora, Christopher Plummer as her self-preoccupied husband, Hume Cronyn (excellent) as Krogstad the catalyst—not quite a villain, but by his own admission a desperate man who takes desperate, damaging measures—Jason Robards, Jr., as Dr. Rank, Nora's unrequited lover, and Eileen Heckart as Nora's friend Kristine, for whose love Krogstad pines. For 1959—for any year, in fact—this is as fine an ensemble as one could imagine. George Schaefer, from television's golden age, produced and directed.Reluctantly I've deducted one star for primitive production values. Viewers should know that this is a live production, videotaped as a kinescope. As a consequence the lovely set design is visually murky, the audio is indistinct, and various technical glitches mar the illusion: boom mic shadows on the set, intrusive cameras whose timings were off, visual compositions and cuts between cameras that are not as sharp as they could have been had the players been able to retake certain scenes. If you can disregard these things, you'll be rewarded by a splendid performance of a play whose issues continue to resonate strongly to this day.