AO5 Ibsen Rosetti

Marxist Reading

- critique of the bourgeois family structure, T as perpetuating social norms and maintaining financial stability

- commodification of Nora as an object inherited by Torvald from her father

- Nora's rebellion driven by economic conflict, her debt, social reputation ruined by her economic exchanges

- Mrs Linde as representative of another class, financially independent working class, no male provider

Freudian Reading

- Nora as the embodiement of the id, the desires, shown through macaroons, her spending habits

-Torvald as the super-ego, the restrictive repressive force, mirrors societal pressures in a household environment

- Electra complex, T as a father figure to Nora, attempting to educate her, infantalise 'my little squirrel'

- Nora as in neurosis when performing the tarentella, an accumulation of her anxieties, while still in contact with reality

Feminist Reading

-Nora's independence as desirable, her ability to leave the family which society epitomises oroves her strength of character and her desire for self improvement the 'New Woman' movement

- critique of marriage as an unequal partnership, unlike himself and Suzannah

- laws as structured for the benefit of men

- not a self proclaimed feminist but a 'humanist', concern for rights of women 'a woman cannot truly be herself'

Social Darwinist Reading

-1881 play 'Ghosts' also deals with ideas about social darwinism, heritable characteristics which negatively impact the individual

- that Nora's deceitful behaviour will foster a custom of deceit within the household, to 'poison' the home, as a trait which is solely impacted by Nora not T

- Rank represents the physical manifestation of moral corruption, his father's promiscuity

Naturalism Reading

- society as depected as it was, general opinions of the characters as representative of social opinions and standards

- Torvald's behaviours towards Nora, her obedience as expected

- the reaction to the letter from Krogstad, the importance of reputation and social standing

Wilson Knight on relationships and power

'microscopic analysis' or male and female relationships

Nora 'denounces the unreality of their marriage'

'neglected powers are most active'

Ibsen on rights

'not so much about any such general right.. Nora's right to leave Helmer'

Ronald Gray on

Helmer's 'overriding uxoriousness'

Nora as a 'spirited woman beneath convention respecting surface'

'critique of marriage'

Sophie Ellis 1843

'The Women of England' article published in newspapers, women's 'happiest and most beneficial influence is a domestic one'

Saturday review 1877

Claims 'not much thinking in them' in relation to Rosetti's poetry, her voice as restricted and sidelined in mainstream media, women as subjegated

Forward on Nora's behaviour

Nora's ending as 'unnatural' given that she abandons her family in a traditional reading 'undermined and threatened the stability of society'

Moi

'The gazes of men desoul her and turn her into a mechanical doll'

Purchase on desire

describes the 'pre-raphealite obsession with moribund desires'

Purchase on religion

'Victorians seek comfort in religious observance'

Rosetti on women's rights

her religious devotion to the christian idea of the 'unalterable distinction' between men and women in the bible

Avery on Rosetti

'astute questioner and analyst of her contemporary world'