Analysis Of Henrik Ibsen 's ' A Doll House '

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A Doll House is a play that was written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879. Nora Helmer is a wife and mother who secretly loaned money to save her husband’s, Torvald, life. Torvald views and treats Nora has a doll and she goes along with it. As conflict comes and goes Nora decides that her current life is not what she wants for herself. She no longer wants to be anyone’s “doll” and decides to leave her family in search of independence. This play was controversial during the time it was written because of the all the morals it ignored. This piece of literature is well known and has been approached in many different ways of analysis. Because of the plays controversy, using ethical criticism is a great approach because of the morals it went against. The gap of inequality in the 1870’s between men and women was prevalent, and it is evident in Nora’s life. Feminist criticism is an approach that can be used to analyze the actions of Nora. These two approaches are good although, the best way to analyze A Doll House is Marxist criticism because everyone is a part of the economic structure, and can be understood and related too. Ethical criticism is an approach for analyzing whether the literature is morally “right” or “wrong” (Quinn). There is an idea that reading ethical literature will “improve the character of a reader,” and that being exposed to “wrong literature can have a delirious effect on a person’s moral character” (Quinn). This approach can reduce the theme of
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