A Doll s House Prompt

English 2/102 | Fall 2020

Choose one of these essay prompts for Ibsen s A Doll s House.

Choose one of the following essay prompts as your essay topic for this writing project. I will ask you to work with this chosen topic from now through to your ultimate final draft essay. Best answers and essays will demonstrate the fullest use of the rich and varied resources from this course, including the Ibsen script in our Meyer text, the BBC video production (but not as a substitute for the written script in Meyer), Meyer s "Glossary of Literary Terms" in our course textbook, the Zaher, Templeton, Kelly articles and PDF files, any sources found through our college library book catalog or databases (not Internet search engines,) and definitions from the college-level dictionaries ahdictionary.com and etymonline.com. All drafts will use MLA-style in-text citations pointing at specific entries in a Works Cited list to document any and all directly quote or paraphrased borrowings and authoritative information.

1. Which elements or parts present in Ibsen s A Doll s House qualify this drama as a problem play as that literary term is defined in Meyer (862 and 1167)? Name these elements. Choose several specific moments, situations, and characters in the play and show how these illustrate important elements of a problem play.

2. The question of choosing between hope versus despair, courage versus cowardice or fear (both emotional and social) runs throughout all the plots and subplots in Ibsen s A Doll s House. For example, Krogstad and Nora admit to each other that they both lacked the "courage" to commit suicide at their own lowest points of despair (act 2 scene 9. Meyer p.898). Choose several specific moments and situations in the play in which different characters (such as Nora, Torvald, Christine, Krogstad, Dr. Rank, or Ann-Marie) discuss these questions.

3. The question of choosing between forgiving and redeeming (financial, emotional, social) versus judging and condemning runs through in all the plots and subplots in Ibsen s A Doll s House. For example, Krogstad tells Nora in Act 2 scene 9 (Meyer 899) that he will never forgive Torvald for forcing Krogstad into blackmail and yet Krogstad s second letter to Torvald in Act 3 "forgives" both Nora s financial debt and his blackmail power over Torvald. Choose several specific moments and situations in the play in which different characters (such as Nora, Torvald, Christine, Krogstad, Dr. Rank, Ann-Marie) discuss the issue of forgiveness and redemption versus judgment and eternal condemnation.

4. In Act 3 scene 1 in Ibsen s A Doll s House, Christine tells Krogstad that "a woman who has once sold herself for another s sake, doesn t do it a second time" (p. 906). Where does this question and cost of selling oneself, one s true and genuine self, appear in the plots and subplots involving characters such as Christine, Ann-Marie, and Nora?

5. In Act 3 scene 12 at the very end of Ibsen s A Doll s House, Nora tells Torvald that "both you and I would have to be so changed that... our life together would be a real wedlock [e.g. marriage]" (920). What does Nora by the end of this drama imagine a real marriage to be? Compare and contrast the several marriages and extra-marital relationships between characters in this play. Which are examples of what Nora does not mean by a real marriage and which might be examples of a real marriage?

6. Ibsen begins and ends his play s final third act with two scenes that closely mirror each other. Compare and contrast Act 3 scene 1 between Christine and Krogstad with Act 3 scenes 12-13 between Nora and Helmer as long, serious conversations between different couples about the true nature of their relationships. Identify the topics and issues about which each couple discusses and argues. Compare and contrast the conclusions and resolutions at which each couple finally arrive. What realities might Ibsen the playwright be dramatizing for his audience about lasting relationships between adult human beings?

7. In addition to the drama s main plot characters of protagonist Nora Helmer and antagonist Torvald Helmer, Ibsen also creates several subplots involving the secondary characters of Christine Linde, Nils Krogstad, Dr. Rank, and Anne-Marie. Choose one or two of these secondary characters. How does that character s back story (the personal history and biography before the on-stage action begins) connect and explore themes in the play s main plot? Apply Meyer s definition of foil character (1155), plot (1166), subplot (1171), conflict (1155), protagonist (1167), and antagonist (1153).

8. Both Meyer and Templeton (see posted PDF chapter scans) tell how Laura Petersen Kieler s story and life experiences served as Ibsen s real-life model for creating his fictional character of Nora in A Doll House. Compare and contrast the lives and characters of these two women, one real and one a fictional creation. Which important elements of Petersen s real life experiences does Ibsen incorporate into Nora s fictional life and which elements does Ibsen greatly change or leave out for better dramatization in a stage play and for his theater audience? Make use of (and credit) the posted Templeton and Kelly articles (PDF files).

9. In act 3 scene 11 (914-5), Torvald delivers a soliloquy standing in the hallway outside Nora s bedroom as Nora is changing out of her masquerade costume and into her regular street clothes. In his soliloquy, Torvald tries to explain how to him a man forgiving his wife is like giving her a second birth that makes her doubly his own as both wife and child to him. Does Torvald s logic in this speech reveal the deep-seated misogyny (irrational hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women, or prejudice against women dictionary.com) at the heart of patriarchy and the common law doctrine of coverture? Apply Blackstone s definition of coverture and Meyer s definition of soliloquy as a literary term (1170).

10.Nora hopes (and dreads) for "the most wonderful thing" to happen throughout Ibsen s play. In fact, Nora is prepared to sacrifice herself through her own suicide to prevent this "most wonderful thing" from happening. Yet when the time comes for this most wonderful this to occur, Torvald tells Nora that no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves (Act 3 scene 12 Ibsen 919). How does the "most wonderful thing" Nora hopes for connect with Torvald s conception of his own male "honor"? Are these two characters understanding the words honor and honest in different ways? Does the patriarchal system of coverture apply honor differently to men and women? Does the patriarchal system of coverture and male honor protect or exploit Nora Examine all the meanings of �honor� in a college-level dictionary (ahdictionary.com). Illustrate specific meanings with specific moments from the play.

o > "honor" definition: https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=honor

o > "honor" etymology:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/honor#etymonline_v_41064

o > "honest" definition: https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=honest

o > "honest" etymology:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/honest?ref=etymonline_crossreference

11. Torvald identifies "mothers who are liars" as the cause of corrupt and criminal adults (see act 1 scene 11). However, Ibsen as playwright also presents his audience throughout with many examples of fathers behaving dishonestly and irresponsibly in ways that leave a wake of human damage and suffering. Identify some of these fathers and these dishonest and irresponsible acts. Do these examples serve as counter-evidence and counter- argument to Torvald s overt misogyny?

12. Examine closely the relationship between Torvald Helmer and Nora s father. (Examine closely all the details and hints Ibsen gives us in Acts 1, 2, and 3.). Was that relationship based upon corruption and criminality? How does the nature of that patriarchal power relationship between Torvald Helmer and Nora s father connect with and come to affect Nora and other characters in Ibsen s play?

13. Nora s own mother disappears very early from Nora s life. Examine the mothers in Ibsen s A Doll s House and the lives of their children. Why are there so many disappeared or displaced mothers in Ibsen s play?