Symbols in A Doll's House - One of the Most Realistic Plays
Henrik Ibsen is a realist writer who uses ordinary characters in his literary works, and the plot talks about the problems of contemporary society. He tries to devote most of his works in serving the issues and problems of the society. Thus, this essay will discuss symbols in a Doll's House - one of the best-known plays by Henrik Ibsen.
Realism is an artistic and literary movement that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This movement was meant to represent reality purely, which means that it is against exaggerated idealism. All the works of this period contained realism because readers wanted to get to know about the world they lived in. Literary works were the means by which they could meet their needs. Realism represented the world through the low class or the middle class that suffered directly from the aftermath of World War. The protagonist may be a farmer working in the countryside, or a salesman or woman describing her daily suffering. There are no characters like fairies or supernatural powers. Often the plot is about a real issue such as money, work or society.
A play divided into three acts, written by Norwegian Ibsen, in 1879. This play drew the attention of many writers and critics, and received a large turnout among the audience. Not only because it described the real problems of society, but because they pointed to break the stereotypes created by society. This story about the family of Nora and Torvald, Nora, who borrowed money illegally to save her husband's life, this loan remained a secret even Torvald did not know about it, and Nora repaid in installments of her personal expenses. It was exposed by Krogstad because he asked Nora to convince her husband to get him back to work, but she couldn't. After Torvald discovered it, He abandoned Nora and did not care that the whole loan for him was. There, Nora realizes that she is worthless and not appreciated by her husband, she left him and left her family to live free and looking for herself.
The main themes of this play are masculinity, loss of identity and self-realization. These three themes are very common in the realist period. First, masculinity, because men controlled the whole family, which means that all decisions made by men even those concerning to women. Also, the loss of identity, Nora was regarded as a doll throughout her life, she was implemented the wishes of her father and then after she married, the implementation of the wishes of Torvald, her husband, throughout her life did not achieve anything according to her wishes. In conclusion, self-realization, this topic may have appeared in the end of the play but it was an important purpose, it asks all people in the community to fulfill their wishes that they want without the pressure of anyone else. These three themes reflect realism, not just to clarify the purposes of the play but they aimed to shed light on major issues of the twentieth century.
George Bernard Shaw is similar to Henrik Ibsen in Pygmalion and A Doll's House in terms of women's characters, Nora and Eliza are both great characters who deserve to live a better life because they always seek to improve their situation and those of the men around them as well as make sacrifices for them. But in both plays, Nora and Eliza are treated very badly by men. The male characters in both plays (Torvald and Higgins), like all men of the 20th century, see women as less than them, weak, and very small. Although both cannot complete their lives without Nora and Eliza. Also, both plays focused on the theme of self-realization, when Nora realizes she has not achieved her own aims any day, and decided to live the future for her own, also Eliza realized that she deserves to be treated with respect.
One of the scenes that illustrates the woman's suffering in the play is when Torvald treats Nora as a child, and sees that she spends a lot of money on Christmas gifts because she has ridiculous interests. In fact, this part reflects the bad situation of women in the 20th century. First, Nora is not independent financially. Trovald also treats her carelessly because she is a woman and does not care if this offends her or not. In conclusion, this scene shows that Nora repays the loan with difficulty, from deducting her personal expenses. This realism in which women live in, under the most difficult circumstances and the pressure of society and family.
In conclusion, from my point of view, this play talks about many problems in society, in the twentieth century. Most important one of them is feminism, which aims through this play to give women freedom to make critical decisions in their lives. Other problems of society, such as self-awareness and the search for identity, are addressed to all the audience, both women and men. They must achieve their personal goals according to their wishes, not the wishes of anyone else.
