1. A Doll
"Ibsen's ars dramatis centres on the way his heroines find that their doll's houses are turning, or have turned, into prisons."" Discuss.
In order to discuss the morphing of doll house' into prison' in A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler one must first examine what makes their domestic situations doll houses' in the first instance.
In A Doll's House Ibsen is quick to present Nora as a playful and almost hysterical child' by having her character move around the stage like much like the "squirrel- or "sky-lark- of Torvald's affectionate flirting. The audience first sees her after an extravagant spending spree and after giving the porter a fifty orë tip (the same amount as the gifts themselves) and then excitedly asking Helene to "hide the Christmas tree away-. More significantly Nora deceptively eats the macaroons before her husband can tell her off whilst "listening- at the door for him. In drama the playwright purposely creates a scene to almost force a certain image or idea onto the audience, Ibsen is no different. Here one is immediately aware that one should not give Nora the respect appropriate to a mature adult. What is more the audience is aware that Torvald in fact encourages this idea with his childish names for her and his banning of eating macaroons. Thus the audience is encouraged by Ibsen to believe that the childish nature in Nora is a result of being treated like a doll.
However such simple interpretations can be dangerous. In order for someone to assume and child-like ethos in adulthood for no other reason than the people in their life treat them thus one must conclude that the person's overall nature is weak and they themselves may not be worthy of adult respect' because of this. Nora is a child because she cannot herself (yet, at least) become an adult. The question one must is then if Nora were a stronger person would she still a doll?' Hedda's character goes some way to answering this.
Hedda's opposition to such norms make her easily comparable to "Nora, the equally infamous heroine of A Doll's House, and many of Ibsen's other heroines, Hedda says no to marriage, motherhood, selflessness, and separate spheres" (Barstow 397). ... Nora Helmer of A Doll's House has faced extreme criticism as a feminist icon. ... Joan Templeton, author of The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen, explores the foundations of such unfair criticism. ... Such a goal is based upon an " overwhelmingly deductive reasoning, while never laid out, is that ...
Nora and Antigone, True Tragic Heroines Sophocles" Antigone along with Ibsen's A Doll's House are plays that place the main characters in tough personal situations which must be overcame by personal strength. ... Both women could be considered as cultural heroines because they overcame family adversities by defying the social standards set for women. ... Nora from A Doll's House also has to decide where the line should be drawn between right and wrong. ... Creon in Antigone and Torvald in A Doll's House act as the antagonist of each play; both are males who are arroga...
Henrik Ibsen's play entitled A Doll's House is very similar to Euripides play Medea. ... The heroin puts her plan into action killing both the king and the princess. ... There are other "parallels" in these plays aside form the heroines and their husbands. ... Both characters have the power to take away from the heroines. ... Both heroines contemplated suicide. ...
Since the majority of dolls in those days were baby dolls, Ruth thought of making an older doll, which young girls could play with and think about what they wanted to do when they grew up, and so she created "Barbie-. ... Millions of people have come to collect this doll in her many styles and themes, all totaling more than 600 dolls. ... The American Doll collection features books, dolls, and accessories based on nine-year-old heroines who lived during the key times in American history. ... Mattel's Girls division houses some of Mattel's best-known and best-loved brands: Barbie,...
Gwen broke down mentally, even as pretending that a Cabbage Patch Doll was her baby son. ... He pulled into his mother's driveway and his mother came out of her house and saw John handcuffed in the back of the cop car. ... The neighbors came out of their house to see what was up, and John prayed his Jeremy will stay asleep. ... But later he found out that his girlfriend shot up heroin and not only that, but she owed a lot of money to the dealers. ... Since he used heroin more than three consecutive days, he got sick. ...
Legend has it that two teens, who would later start the grunge band Mother Love Bone, screamed uncontrollably in a small Seattle coffee house called Java"Tude until the owner removed "hip to be Square" by Huey Lewis from the juke box. ... Heroin was also a prominent part of the grunge way of life, bands like Nirvana, Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots openly flaunted their drug addictions. ... By wearing baby-doll dresses that were too short with fishnet stockings she was making a statement about preconceived girlish innocence. ... The make-up was a direct lin...
This theme is examined in several ways in the heroines' lives. ... At this time, women were finally resisting being viewed as helpless dolls that must be wound up in order to perform daily tasks as house-wives. The Beast introduces the heroine to the wind-up soubrette: "That clockwork girl who powdered my cheeks for me; had I not been allotted only the same kind of imitative life amongst men that the doll-maker had given her"(Carter 63). The doll reminds her so much of herself, she calls it her "clockwork twin"(Carter 60). ... Like a doll, women are also unable to thin...
," with a syringe full of heroin sticking out of her arm was not something mom and dad wanted their daughter to go see on a Saturday night date with the boy from down the block, and the kids loved it. ... While it was open it housed several off-Broadway productions, including Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "The Proposition", a satirical review. It was also the launch pad for bands like the "New York Dolls," "Ruby and the Rednecks," "Teenage Lust," and Wayne County's "Queen Elizabeth and the Harlots of 42nd Street." On many nights painted glitter dolls thronge...