Dolls house AO5

Caird (marriage)

‘the most hypocritical form of woman-purchase’

Caird (independence)

‘economical independence of a woman is the first condition of a free marriage’

Stutfield

Ibsen’s new woman is mad and ‘does her best to drive others mad too’

Johnson

likens Nora to the Christmas tree ‘prevented from full growth…then prettified and decorated’

Ibsen

worked for the cause of human beings

Millet

‘patriarchy’s chief institution is the family’ as a ‘mirror and connection to larger society’

Dworkin

women who internalise the patriarchy are the first to bring other women down

Moi (melodrama)

Nora and Torvald imagine ‘starring in a idealistic scenario of female sacrifice and male rescue’

Marxist

Nora is working class and becomes ‘class conscience’, leaving Torvald (ruling class) destroyed him

Moi (theatricalise)

play ‘makes us think how we theatricalise ourselves and others in everyday life’

Koht

the ending ‘exploded like a bomb into contemporary life’

Byatt

judges Nora with ‘less and less sympathy’ every time he reads the play

Scott

found Torvald ‘sensual and egotistical’

Wright

Dr Rank’s syphilis acts as ‘a brutal and physical reminder of the consequences of sin’

Tufts

Nora has ‘a self-absorption’