A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen :: English Literature

To understand the meaning of A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen we read the whole script. To go deeper into the meaning we used our own drama abilities to explore. To understand the meaning of A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen we read the whole script. To go deeper into the meaning we used our own drama abilities to explore. We used Hot-Seating, Collages, and Still Image. All of these three things helped me understand the meaning of the play and explore the characters further. The script does not tell me everything I need to know, a lot of things are hidden, and techniques are needed to protrude facts. When you begin to understand the play you begin to appreciate what a fantastic play writer Ibsen actually is. We used Hot Seating at first in the exam. The teacher would say a character and the stage the character is at in the play. The character I have chosen to analyse is Nora. Vicki played Nora in Hot-Seating. We all asked her questions to see how she answered her. This helped a lot as we were finding things out about Nora that are not bluntly stated in the script. For example we find out why she has macaroons and how it builds up tension. When Vicki was being Nora it made me realise what Ibsen was doing with the Macaroons. He was building up tension bit by bit. The macaroons were showing the reader of the play that Torvald had some kind of control over Nora and that she had a disobedient side to her. It showed us she would lie to Torvald. Throughout the play this enhances and evolves into something much bigger. Nora has lied to Torvald and this time it is much more serious than macaroons. She has betrayed him and it is close to him finding out. The macaroons were Ibsen's way of showing me that Nora was devious and could undermine Torvald and then it transforms into something much bigger. The reader knows this could happen but when it does it shocks. To show me what I said above someone asked the question "Would you ever lie to Torvald?" Vicki helped me understand that towards the end Nora begins to realise she does not love Torvald and that she decides to leave him. This showed me that Torvald could NOT stop her and shows me how sexism has collapsed socially. Ibsen is trying to show how bad sexism is in this play. , Using Nora and Torvald. I Played Mrs Linde in Hot-Seating, it helped me also being in he position.