The play - A Dolls House Essay Example for Free

The play A Dolls House Essay This play is about a womans marriage and how it is altered by the lie she has told. The supporting characters in the play enhance the emotional effect of the play and cause us (the reader) to have various emotions which, range from annoyance to sympathy for all characters in the play. The play is about relationships in particular a picture perfect marriage, which is not all as it seems. From a more social point of view it is about womens role in society during Ibsens (the author) lifetime. The play is a reminder to modern day women that the things we take for granted now (our independence i. e. taking out a loan without father/husbands authorisation. ) were very difficult if not impossible to achieve then. The play reaches its climax in three acts, and uses its acts to get the point of the story across. Act one is the introduction to the story. It is where we (the reader) find out about Noras (the main character) secret. It sets the scene very well, as this is where we really get to know Noras personality, which is not at all as it first seems. Act two develops the story, this is where the supporting characters really add their personalities to the play and bring another image of Nora to the forefront and also add more depth to the story. Act three is the conclusion. This is where all the drama from the first two acts is thrown together to form a very dramatic end. A Dolls House builds up tension and atmosphere like a pressure cooker. Towards the end of the play it explodes into a surprising but excellent finale, but although it has a dramatic end it is not frantic or hurried, it is actually rather to the point. Torvald is married to the central character of the play, Nora. Torvalds complete ignorance of his wifes true nature only builds up the tension and atmosphere once you begin to understand Nora. Torvald is a petty and arrogant man; this contributes towards the tension for the reader because we soon begin to dislike his character. He appears to be very patronising and sexist and treats his wife as a possession, cant I look at my most treasured possession? At all this loveliness thats mine and mine alone, completely and utterly mine. However in Ibsens time (1879 the Victorian period) this was the acceptable, if not expected behaviour of a husband. Torvald thinks that the more unintelligent a woman is the lovelier she is. But do you think I love you any the less for that; just because you dont know how to act on your own responsibility I wouldnt be a proper man if I didnt find a woman doubly attractive for being so obviously helpless