The Still Slamming Door: Relevance of A Doll’s House in the 21st Century

Authors

Hope Morris, Olivet Nazarene UniversityFollow

Document Type

Essay

Publication Date

Spring 2-2-2018

Scholarship Domain(s)

Scholarship of Discovery, Scholarship of Interdisciplinary Integration, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Abstract

The infamous slamming door at the end of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House has been controversial from its beginning, leaving audiences with uncertainties about the meaning of family, morality, and personal responsibility. Written in 1879 when the “women’s issue” was still a relatively new subject, the play was met with criticism for its radical female protagonist and her decision to abandon her marriage. In a society where a woman’s primary role was one of domesticity and subservience to her husband, the ending of A Doll’s House was disquieting to audiences. However, Ibsen’s masterpiece remains just as controversial and important today. The same questions that were asked more than a century ago are asked again: Is the value of self greater than the value of family? Who is the victim, Nora or Torvald? When is it acceptable to leave an unhealthy marriage? The play explores themes that are relevant to every human being affected by the tug of society’s marionette strings. In this project my goal was to explore these universal themes in a modern context through the study, direction, and performance of A Doll’s House. The project aimed to answer the following questions: Is A Doll’s House still relevant to today’s audiences? How was A Doll’s House perceived by audiences when it was written compared to how it is perceived by today’s audiences? Can the play be successfully modernized?

Recommended Citation

Morris, Hope, "The Still Slamming Door: Relevance of A Doll’s House in the 21st Century" (2018). Student Scholarship – English. 1.
https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/engl_stsc/1

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.