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Analysis Of A Doll's House

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A Doll’s House is a famous three act play based in the mid/late 1800s. Written by author Henrik Ibsen, the play focused on the changing times for women of Norway (Ibsen, H, 1992). Throughout the play the typical early 1800s Norwegian family is described - one where the husband is dominant in all aspects, and the wife merely follows his requests and tends to the children (M., M., M., & A., n.d.). From the beginning of the play to the end, main character Nora gradually hints toward being so unhappy with her situation that she would eventually go against social norms and leave her husband and children to make a life for herself (Ibsen, H, 1992). A Doll’s House incorporated several new concepts for that time period such as prose and realism all while employing the themes and structures of a classical tragedy. A Doll’s House is so unique because it was one of the first plays to be written in prose. Merriam-Webster’s definition of prose is, “a literary medium distinguished from poetry especially by its greater irregularity and variety of rhythm and its closer correspondence to the patterns of everyday speech” (Prose., n.d.). Similarly, prose is simply everyday talk. Most plays were not written in this relatable way that we are used to now. For example, in that time it was uncommon for a play to have phrases like, “I am in a silly mood today,” as Nora stated (Ibsen, H, 1992). A Doll’s House’s English was more “dumbed down” than other plays in that time period, which were all

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