A Doll’s House: Significance and Meaning

Erin McGaw, Brian Sisco, and Teresa Wang

Brian Sisco’s portion

Why did Ibsen write A Doll’s House?

• To make the private public• Point out the errors of society• Provide an advocacy for women• Show the dichotomy between ideology

and practice

The reaction to the initial performance

• The ending shocked audiences• He had to write an alternate ending

because his ending was found unacceptable.

Impact• "More than anyone, he [Ibsen] gave theatrical art

a new vitality by bringing into European bourgeois drama an ethical gravity, a psychological depth, and a social significance which the theatre had lacked since the days of Shakespeare. In this manner, Ibsen strongly contributed to giving European drama a vitality and artistic quality comparable to the ancient Greek tragedies." - Professor Bjørn Hemmer, University of Oslo

• Women’s rights movement

Sources• http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/DollHouse.html• http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?

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• http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?YBE=A.D.&locID=hhslibrary&srchtp=advathr&c=6&NR=ibsen&stab=512&ai=U13005070&docNum=H1420004208&bConts=16047&vrsn=3&OP=contains&YDE=A.D.&DYQ=is&ca=1&ste=16&BYQ=is&tab=2&tbst=arp&n=10&GD=any