Ibsen's A Dolls House

The realistic style that Ibsen perfected in A Doll’s House revolutionized theater throughout Western society. Beginning with the 1877 play The Pillars of Society, Ibsen abandoned the more conventional subject matter and techniques he had previously relied on, choosing instead to delve into topical social issues using an authentic approach that sought to convey the intricacies and rhythms of real human interactions and entanglements.

Rather than continuing to produce the allegorical, affected historical dramas he had written during the earlier phases of his career, Ibsen chose instead to plumb the depths of the social changes that were occurring throughout Europe, using representative situations that were often culled from the actual life experiences of Ibsen and his acquaintances. Through an analysis of Ibsen’s use of language, dialogue, and plot structure in A Doll’s House, the realism of the play will be examined.

Although it is not readily apparent in art essays how to approach A Doll’s House in English translation, one of the chief differences between this play and other productions of the period was the language with which Ibsen brought his characters to life. Rather than filling his characters’ mouths with an overwrought, formal version of the Norwegian language, Ibsen called upon a colloquial, informal dialect as a means of underscoring the realism he hoped to achieve in A Doll’s House. By representing the way that people actually engaged in discourse, Ibsen sought to minimize the distance between lived life and drama as a means of increasing the social significance of the genre of theater.

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