'A Doll's House' - Critics Quotes

'Nora's final leave-taking...looks too theatrical'

Ronald Gray (Nora's action)

Ibsen makes 'Helmer grotesque, and reduces the tragic quality of the ending'

Ronald Gray (Torvald presentation)

'The play does not succumb to melodrama'

Ronald Gray (melodrama)

'no character or theme is wasted, or unrelated to the total effect intended'

Ronald Gray (use of characters)

'Her flirtation with Rank...is another indication of the more spirited woman beneath the convention-respecting surface'

Ronald Gray (Rank and Nora)

'Krogstad is a mere pawn of the plot'

Eric Bentley (Krogstad)

The play 'might be turned into a very ordinary French drama...'

Shaw (style of drama)

'A Doll's House conquered Europe and founded a new school of dramatic art'

Shaw (Influence of Ibsen's play)

Helmers 'faults are too exaggerated to be fruitful'

Ronald Gray (Torvald's faults)

'Nora shows no sign of having seen the kind of man Helmer is'

Ronald Gray (Nora's ignorance)

'Her departure announced a great awakening in European drama as well as in women's egalitarianism'

Ronald Gray (impact of Nora's actions)

The play is 'crippled...by its conformity to crude through popular standards'

Ronald Gray (how play is presented)

The play is 'a performance which constituted a watershed in the evolution of British theatre'

Sally Ledger (how the play impacted theatre)

The play shows a 'critical scrutiny of the lives and values of the bourgeois classes'

Sally Ledger (what play presents)

Ibsen is 'critically dissecting 'modern' life and all its problems'

Sally Ledger (Ibsen's intention)

'Nora...finds herself in opposition to the demands of a hostile society'

Sally Ledger (society's reception of Nora)

'Christine Linde acts as a catalyst for Nora's rebellion'

Sally Ledger (Linde's role)

'Part of Nora desires to comply to patriarchal social arrangements'

Sally Ledger (repressed desires of Nora)

'Rank symbolises the degeneration of the family'

Sally Ledger (Rank)

'The ending was never a success'

Elaine N.Long (ending)

Nora seen as 'a monster and unnatural woman'

Elaine N.Long (perception of Nora)

Convention 'caged her within a child's toy structure'

Kate Millett

Nora's actions are 'a way of reinforcing an individual's right - regardless of gender - to protect themselves'

Shannon Cron (Nora’s actions)

The message of the play is 'much less political than it is about human nature...'

Shannon Cron (Play’s message)

Nora 'embodies the comedy as well as the tragedy of modern life'

Joan Templeton (embodiment of Nora)

'Torvald...is as much a victim as Nora'

David Thomas (Torvald)

'The ending of the play is not...particularly tragic'

George Bernard Shaw (Play’s ending)

Nora puts 'love before legality'

Sophie Duncan (Nora)