A Doll's House Reflective Statement

Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” can easily be interpreted as a reflection of the author's own family life. Nora is similar to Ibsen’s mother, Marichen, in her previous wealth and artistic hobbies. Similar to Krogstad’s indiscretion, Ibsen’s father, Knud, was required to sell almost all their pieces from previous fortune to cover up his debt from illegal gambling. Ibsen and his wife lived and unhappy life in Norway leading them to voluntarily move to Sorrento, Italy, in 1864. This can be viewed as another parallel to the script, as Nora states on page 152 that her and Torvald spent a whole year in Italy, “That’s right. It wasn’t easy to get away, as you can imagine. Ivar had just been born. But we had to go, there was no question about it. Ah, it was a wonderful trip, and it saved Torvald’s life.”

“A Doll’s House” is set in Norway in the late 19th century. Not only was this a time of significant gender inequality, but also of religious oppression. Up until 1836 women were minors until marriage, and women could still not work without having permission from a male guardian until 1866. Likewise, until 1845 non-Christian organizations were not allowed. This play is set in a key turning point for equality in Norwegian history, and Nora and Torvald’s generation would be the first to have religious freedom, although there were still harsh Christian values and expectations in place.

“A Doll’s House” challenged the expectations of an ideal woman, and Ibsen knew that the controversial ending would most likely be changed in German and Italian theatres. Ibsen believed that the ending of “A Doll’s House” was the most important part of the script, and dreaded the idea of it being changed, but accepted it would be done, and decided to write his own alternate ending. In Ibsen’s alternate ending, Nora imagines her children motherless and collapses, trembling into Torvald’s arms, ultimately deciding to stay. This shows great contrast between the original ending, where Nora is...