IB Interactive Oral: Reflective Statement Victoria West 11B

What have you learnt about the culture and context of the play, A Dolls House?
The play A Dolls House was written and published in 1879 by Henrik Ibsen and is set in 19
th

century Norway. Our first interactive oral surrounding this play took place, having discussed
Norways perception of women, religious beliefs, political and economic development over the
1800s as well as the life of Ibsen himself and his plays influence on feminism in Norway.
Personally, found that I lacked cultural knowledge of women in Norwegian society during this
time whilst reading the play and thereby took the liberty of selecting this topic area to research.
I learnt that women in Norways patriarchal society lived their lives according to the societal
expectations at the time. They were expected to tend to their husbands or fathers needs but
at the same time being solely dependent on these male figures, which Lily explicitly conveyed
by means of drawing parallels to Nora and Torvald in the play. Both married and unmarried
women had gender-specific roles and responsibilities whereby they had little rights to do
otherwise until well into the 20
th
century. This led to the discussion of feminism in Norway.
The subject of feminism was mentioned to have been increasing in popularity since the mid-
1800s. Since Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House was written for the cause of women, it had a huge
influence on progression of feminism into the 20
th
century by raising awareness on
contradicting Norways patriarchal society norms. Subsequently, Ibsens life was important to
the discussion of the culture and context of the play since its plot and premise was based on a
real-life event, whereby Nora was based on a friend of Ibsens, Laura, whose husband sent her
to an asylum following her fall into debt on his behalf.
Political and economic development of the time was discussed since the play has a recurring
theme of money and finance throughout. With Norway having become independent from
Denmark in the early 1800s, it was relatively poor, isolated and still in the process of forming its
unique culture. Norways main religion was Christianity which was referenced in the play. I
learnt that Christianity was introduced into Norway in the 1700s by traders and in the church;
there were organisations that had a conservative influence on society. Beliefs such as that of
morals being hereditary were common around this time, which can also be seen in the play
with Torvald explaining to Nora that he constant lying will have a moral effect on the children.
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