RESPONSE OF A PLAY

I have analysed a play, A doll’s house, which was written by Henrik Ibsen. The play is

about Nora Helmer, who has deceived her husband, Torvald Helmer, by borrowing money

with forged signatures of her late father without his knowledge to bring him to Italy to cure his

illness. I have observed the elements, features and techniques of the play.

Firstly, I would like to highlight the theme of the play which is the sacrifices of a

woman in marriage. The theme is well highlighted by the main character, Nora Helmer who

struggled to pay her two hundred and fifty pounds debt as she said to Christine, “Whenever

Torvald has given me money for new dresses and such things, I have never spent more than

half of it, I have always bought the simplest and cheapest things. But it was often very hard

on me. Well, then I have found other ways of earning money. Last winter I was lucky enough

to get a lot of copying to do, so I locked myself up and sat writing every evening until quite

late at night. Many times I was desperately tired ….” (Act 1, Page 12). Honestly, it is

amazing for a housewife like her to be able to secretly save money to pay the debt when she

is not the one who earns the money. She could easily live comfortably with all the

allowances. Even though she had to cut her expenses for the debt, she is very proud of that

because she has saved his life. I believe a woman has a superpower to be able to do so

much beyond their ability for the sake of family.

Secondly, one of the features in the drama is soliloquy. In the play, the audiences

can clearly see how Nora Helmer often self-talk loudly about her worries especially when

Torvald said that Krogstad’s wrongdoings will poison his children with lies and dissimulations

as he encountered Nora about Krogstad but Nora was clearly taken aback by his statement

as she also lied to his husband. This can be proven in the play at the minutes of forty-seven,
when she was worried that she had infected her children with the lies as she said with a pale

face, “Deprave my little children? Poison my home? It’s not true. It can’t possibly be true.” It

is clear that Nora has been worried about her secret after Krogstad blackmailed her to

secure his position at the bank. In my opinion, she put too much pressure on herself,

thinking that the lies could have ruined her happiness that had never existed since the

beginning. She even kept the loan to herself because Torvald might feel ashamed if he owed

her anything. The main character should learn to love herself first because I could see that

she keeps putting other people first before herself.

Last but not least, the technique of the drama is voice projection. The cast in the play

did a splendid job in portraying the emotions by adjusting their voice projection according to

the mood of the play. This can be seen at the minutes of one hour and fifty minutes, when

Torvald shifted his dialogue from a serious and angry tone to excited and happy tone. “What

a horrible awakening! All these eight years--she who was my joy and pride--a hypocrite, a

liar--worse, worse--a criminal!” to “Yes, it is true! I am saved! Nora, I am saved!”. It is

impressive that the actor can quickly change his voice projection to truly deliver the feelings

of anger when he discovers the secret loan with a forged signature and suddenly his voice is

shaky out of excitement when Krogstad returns the bond.

Last but not least, the play is worth-watching and has lots of life lessons. I am very

satisfied with the ending when Nora finally realised her worth and left the house after being

treated like a doll for a whole eight years by her husband.