The copy of A Doll's House that I picked up from the bookstore had a bunch of markings in it from a previous owner. I couldn't help but read all her notes that she had taken while studying the play. They were mainly her reactions to some of the lines stating how Nora was "ridiculous" "ignorant" and "shallow" while Torvald was "sexist" and "demeaning" I don't disagree with these accusations but I don't think that they are completely outdated either.
While we live in a society that supports equal rights and women have the same right as men, there is still a sense of women being weaker in their fields and some still hold the idea that women should always answer to men and for a man to give in to a woman makes him look weak and effeminate.
When I was reading, A Doll's House, this time around, I started thinking about what if you produced it and made it to where there was an underlying sense that Nora was intelligent and was putting on the act the entire time to appease her husband as opposed to just keeping a secret from him. How would the play be different if she was more intelligent than Torvald and was pretending to be the weak feeble minded wife to make him feel stronger and in charge--it would also add a twist to her finally getting up and leaving in the end. Rather than her just leaving to "find herself" she set off to lead a better life without pretending.
Another twist to the ending: I actually found an alternate ending (not sure if it was written by Ibsen himself or not) where Torvald makes Nora see her children one last time and makes her feel guilty for leaving them motherless all leading up to her staying. Imagine how different the play would be if that was the way that it ended.
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3 comments:
Excellent observations, here, Meredith. First of all: the most important part of this play is quite possibly its ending.
Secondly: I love your idea about staging it with a self-aware Nora who is the consummate performer. It would be interesting to see the degree to which she changes when Torvald is in the room, and how the actor allows for that. This play offers a lot of possibilities for nuanced acting. A lot is prescribed, as Melanie pointed out in class, but that paradoxically allows for a lot of significant work to be done in performance that isn't related to the words.
Finally, this is a little passage about A Doll's House from Brockett and Findlay's Century of Innovation:
"A Doll's House was greeted as a scandalous attack on motherhood and the family, the bedrocks of society. Most theatres refused to produce it, and some did, but only after altering the ending to make Nora reconsider her decision. Because copyright laws of the day did not protect the play outside of Norway, Ibsen himself even supplied one alternate ending to prevent others from doing so" (18).
Meredith, I enjoyed reading your Blog! I thought you had a very intersting idea of making Nora aware of what she was doing. Not just keeping a secret because she didn't want Torvald to feel betrayed or emasculated. I think the play would have been way more interesting if she had been saving money for a really long time, preparing for the big finish, the exeunt, at the end of the play. Maybe she got fed up with him a long time ago and made the decisaion to leave. I as a reader or as someone in the audience, it would make it more interesting if we didn't know she had all this planned til the very end and all of it starts making sense; why she did this or said this etc.. But thats not the play was written. The way the play was written back then, the issue of women wanting to be totally submissive to their husbands because they either thought thats how you keep the family together, or thats how they were taught, Or they just don't care to think for themselves. (All these are guesses and not opinions.) SOme Women enjoy doing because they liked to see their mates happy, and children. Even at the expense of their happiness. Working women do that. Women are very strong in that sense. Sometimes its not fair but they know that and accept it. Then again some accepted it and then all of a sudden develop a sense of something missing and that they have sacrificed a large portion of their life to their Husband and family, and Leave. That to me isn't fair to the husband or the kids. (My opinion) You chose to stay in it, and put up with it, and endure it and now all of a sudden you have developed a conscious. If the kids were grown and out maybe it would be ok, but still to leave the husband clueless of where it came from, no matter how much you think you deserve to leave that is wrong. Not saying you shouldn't leave or find a way out but, to bluntly come down the stairs one morning and say I don't love you anymore Im leaving, goodbye. Sucks. But thats only my opinion. That goes for Men as well. Now a days women are much more independent, building a safety net for themselves and their children, and I agree thats the right thing for anyone to do. Call it insurance.
Wow, I think that would be really interesting, Meredith. The ending of the play is what resonates with the audience and reader, therefore I think with this switch of Nora would really throw the audience for a whirlwind. Ibsen obviously viewed women as more capable of the opportunities they were given, so this view of A Doll House would keep true to the suggested meaning of the play. The language, in this day and age, seems so mocking and frivolous, so I think to use Nora as an actor playing a role for her husband and family would not be terribly difficult. The first time I read it, I thought they were joking with each other at the beginning until I realized they really weren't! The only thing that makes me hesitate (although I don't even really think it worries me, it's just an interesting thought), is that Nora has been keeping this game going for eight years when we enter the scene. She has three children, a husband, and many friends. I don't know, it just makes me think "What a bitch! I can't believe she was playing a game the whole time!" The audience might react similarly, and possibly very poorly. Maybe she realized it right before we enter, I don't know. I definitely think this is a really interesting and fun interpretation of this play.
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