Melodrama & Realism

Lexey Payne

Theatre 358 - History of Theatre 1

Prof. Stephanie Stroud

December 12, 2021

 Payne 2

Melodrama has maintained a strong hold on theatre lovers since the later 19th century,

audience members enjoy the heightened emotions and stakes involved in melodramatic

entertainment. There are many examples of melodrama in contemporary film and television,

including the ABC hit show Grey’s Anatomy, the show follows the lives of a group of medical

students as they finish school and begin their surgical internships. Grey’s Anatomy is best known

for its melodramatic elements of provocative emotion and high stakes scenarios. While the

drama and intrigue of the show is entertaining it is highly unlikely to ever take place in the real

world making the show a very good example of modern melodrama.

For a specific example of melodrama on Grey’s Anatomy I would refer to Season 8

Episode 10 in which one of the main character’s, Christina Yang operates on one of her

colleagues’ husband who ultimately passes away during his procedure. This situation is at first

improbable because the hospital staff worked together to keep the identity of the patient a secret

from Dr. Yang, covering his face the entire time, the patient also receives resuscitation for 20

minutes before his time of death is called.

In addition to these elements of improbability the episode also displays heightened

emotions and musical enhancement. Christina is originally emotionally monotone, not caring

about the lose of her patient and simply carrying on with her day. Once she leaves the OR into

the scrub room she is told the identity of the patient and completely breaks down (got2lovemel2,

2:05, 2011) . Her crying is extremely physical and over the top. There is a score of sad music

playing rather than dialogue as we see Christina break down on the other side of the glass.

(got2lovemel2, 2011). The music playing alone rather than underscore to dialogue makes the
 Payne 3

scene feel even more emotional because we cannot hear what Christina or Owen, the Dr. who

breaks the news to her, are saying we can only observe the physicality of her anguish.

In contrast to melodrama there are other types of theatre that have stood the test of time,

this can include realism. Realism is theatre that is meant to display the real world. Henrik Ibsen’s

play, A Doll’s House, is one of the best standing examples of realism in theatre. The play has a

cast of complex characters that feel real emotion and have depth to their existence. While the

main characters are a married couple Torvald and Nora, there are many other characters worth

mentioning. Krogstad, who could technically be considered an antagonist in the story has an

interesting personality and character arch. Krogstad’s objective in the play is to regain the life he

once had, he wants to prove to society that he is a ‘real man’. Krogstad originally starts to forge

signatures because his love interest left him for a man who made better money and could better

provide for a family. Krogstad wants to prove to society that he is a capable man that can sustain

a woman and all she wants in the world.

Krogstad does not serve time for his crime but he is outcast by his community with the

label of being a criminal. He does not get away from this societal shame, instead he some what

embraces it as he blackmails Nora with his knowledge of her crimes. Krogstad stands within his

own way and keeps himself away from his objective with his own actions. He gives into who

society has labelled him to be and becomes continually immoral as the story developes. We

discover Krogstad’s past follies with love as the story continues and this developes a sensation of

sympathy for him. This sympathy for an immoral character is one of the staple aspects of

realism. We cannot define him as innate good or bad. In Act 2 Krogstad says, "But I tell you this.
 Payne 4

If I get thrown into the gutter for a second time, I shall take you with me.”, in this scene

Krogstad is blackmailing Nora with the information he knows about her crimes. This sub-

contextual dialogue in another reason why we must see Krogstad as on the spectrum of morality.

After A Doll’s House received critique for being a femisit story written by a man Lucas

Hnath wrote A Doll’s House, Part 2 as a reaction piece. In Hnath’s continuation we find Torvald

and the children 15 years after Nora’s departure from the end of part 1. Each of the characters

from Ibsen’s play have gone through different traumas and developed different responses to

them. Torvald, for example, becomes a victim rather than an abuser. We return to Torvald to find

him a ‘widow’ raising his children with the help of Anne-Marie. Torvald was a toxically

masculine character who was the product of his society. While I do not believe that trauma and

societal pressure are an excuse to become a bad person yourself I do feel some sympathy to

Torvald’s situation.

In Hnath’s continuation Torvald is given sympathy because of the attitude that Nora takes

when she returns home to ask for a divorce. In some ways Torvald is a new man and in some he

hasn’t changed. He is still a manipulative man seeing as he convinced all of the community to

believe that Nora had fallen ill and passed away, however, we also see him as a man who was

forced the responsibility of parenthood on his own. I believe that Torvald sees marriage as an

obligation trade off of sex and stability. Man provides woman with a stable place to live and all

that comes with it and in return she sexually satisfies him and cares for the home. Torvald

believes marriage works this way simply because his focus is on what other people will think of
 Payne 5

him at every step he makes. He makes up his entire elaborate lie about Nora’s death simply to

escape the societal judgement of being a man who was left by his wife.

WC 1,070
 Payne 6

Works Cited

got2lovemel2. “Henry Dies - Youtube.” Youtube, 2011,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZxmkY8-ye8.

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Directed by Patrick Garland, 1975. Uploaded by Medi Chi,

March 12, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZo6gL3CwrE

Hnath, Lucas. A Doll's House, Part 2. Dramatists Play Service, New York, 2017.