What is the cultural context of a Doll's House?

Answer 1

A Doll's House was published in Norway in 1879. The first stage production was in Stockholm, in 1880. The play caused an immediate sensation, sparked debate and controversy, and brought Ibsen international fame. It was highly provoking: People tended to respond strongly to it, whether in praise or censure. All around the world, Nora's final door-slam made conservatives rage and liberals cheer, gave anti-feminists reason to fear and feminists reason to hope. The play has less shock-value today, but in the late-nineteenth century, performing it was often, as one critic puts it, "a revolutionary action, a daring defiance of the cultural norms of the time."

What were these cultural norms? Without simplifying too much, we could say that they were the ideals and values represented by Torvald Helmer and his doll-wife Nora, before her great change. These were the ideals that defined what is commonly termed "bourgeois respectability": financial success, upward social mobility, freedom from financial debt and moral guilt (or at least the appearance thereof), and a stable, secure family organized along traditional patriarchal lines. The patriarchal ideal was supported and reinforced by a social structure wherein women had little overt political or economic power, wherein they were economically, socially, and psychologically dependent on men and especially on the institutions of marriage and motherhood. The ideal of bourgeois respectability prevailed in the nineteenth century, but it never went unchallenged, and by the time Ibsen wrote his own challenge to it, at the end of the century, a new era of crisis and uncertainty regarding all things conventional had already begun. The position of women was an especially volatile issue because the patriarchal ideology underlay the entire social, political, and economic structure. If women were to have autonomy, then the whole structure of society would have to be reimagined�the world would have to be remade. It was an apocalyptic idea that thrilled many intellectuals but terrified the ruling and middle classes, so that each move in the direction of autonomy� women's suffrage, revised marriage laws, advances in women's education� felt like the end of the world. The last decades of the nineteenth century had already begun to feel like the end of the world, anyway. The Western world was about to enter a period of unprecedented change-revolutions social, political, economic, cultural, and scientific. No one knew exactly what was coming, but a great many looked toward it with a mixture of hope and dread. When Nora slams the door of her doll's-house, shutting herself out of the only world she has known and stepping into a future that is unknown and therefore both promising and threatening, the sound resonates with the apocalyptic tremors of Ibsen's time. A Doll's House was published in Norway in 1879. The first stage production was in Stockholm, in 1880. The play caused an immediate sensation, sparked debate and controversy, and brought Ibsen international fame. It was highly provoking: People tended to respond strongly to it, whether in praise or censure. All around the world, Nora's final door-slam made conservatives rage and liberals cheer, gave anti-feminists reason to fear and feminists reason to hope. The play has less shock-value today, but in the late-nineteenth century, performing it was often, as one critic puts it, "a revolutionary action, a daring defiance of the cultural norms of the time."

What were these cultural norms? Without simplifying too much, we could say that they were the ideals and values represented by Torvald Helmer and his doll-wife Nora, before her great change. These were the ideals that defined what is commonly termed "bourgeois respectability": financial success, upward social mobility, freedom from financial debt and moral guilt (or at least the appearance thereof), and a stable, secure family organized along traditional patriarchal lines. The patriarchal ideal was supported and reinforced by a social structure wherein women had little overt political or economic power, wherein they were economically, socially, and psychologically dependent on men and especially on the institutions of marriage and motherhood. The ideal of bourgeois respectability prevailed in the nineteenth century, but it never went unchallenged, and by the time Ibsen wrote his own challenge to it, at the end of the century, a new era of crisis and uncertainty regarding all things conventional had already begun. The position of women was an especially volatile issue because the patriarchal ideology underlay the entire social, political, and economic structure. If women were to have autonomy, then the whole structure of society would have to be reimagined�the world would have to be remade. It was an apocalyptic idea that thrilled many intellectuals but terrified the ruling and middle classes, so that each move in the direction of autonomy� women's suffrage, revised marriage laws, advances in women's education� felt like the end of the world. The last decades of the nineteenth century had already begun to feel like the end of the world, anyway. The Western world was about to enter a period of unprecedented change-revolutions social, political, economic, cultural, and scientific. No one knew exactly what was coming, but a great many looked toward it with a mixture of hope and dread. When Nora slams the door of her doll's-house, shutting herself out of the only world she has known and stepping into a future that is unknown and therefore both promising and threatening, the sound resonates with the apocalyptic tremors of Ibsen's time.

Answer 2

A Doll's House was said to have influenced women during the time of 1880 and there abouts. This was because of the shocking message it sent out. Women were seen as having no power so when Nora walked out it shocked many, if, all audiences.

When Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House was first published in 1879, it was a coming of age play that dealt with the lives and anxieties of the bourgeoisie women in Victorian Norway. Feminism is the dominant theme, as Ibsen investigated the tragedy of being born as a bourgeoisie female in a society ruled by a patriarchal law. If examined more closely, one can find traces of Marxist Ideology and other schools of thought.

Norma Helmer is the best illustration of the illusioned woman who lives in a society where the male oppresses the female and reduces to a mere doll or plaything. Nora Helmer is that doll living in her fake doll house, which reinforces the fragile idea of a stable family living under a patriarchal and traditional roof.

Answer 3

The earliest recorded replica of a fully furnished house was owned by Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, in the mid-sixteenth century. It was a copy of his own residence and became known as his 'baby house'. Following his example, many other wealthy people began to commission fine miniature pieces - both doll houses and their contents - to be made by expert craftsmen using all manner of different materials. These were not made for use as children's playthings but were solely a display of taste, wealth and social standing.

This fashion continued throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and gradually the joy of miniatures began to be shared by the children of these wealthy households. Initially they were not so much toys as aids to education in life and household management. Nevertheless by the mid nineteenth century the doll house was at last a plaything, though only for the children of the wealthy, and no well-equipped nursery was complete without one.

The arrival of the Victorian age saw the beginning of mass production. From then on the doll house was truly a toy and it was for this market that the miniature pieces were produced in quantity. The major force of manufacture was Germany, from where doll house items were exported all over the world.

However there were two notable adult exceptions to this new trend. The first was Queen Mary, the wife of King George V of England, who had a strong interest in doll houses. In the early 1920's one of the foremost architects of the day, Sir Edwin Lutyens was commissioned to build a doll house for the Queen's personal pleasure. A model house was designed in the precise scale of one inch to one foot and again, as in the preceding centuries, fine craftsmen of the day were involved in the production of all manner of miniature items.

At about the same time in America, Mrs James W. Thorne, a socialite from Chicago, was collecting miniatures from all over the world. She developed the idea of displaying these treasures in sets of boxes which were furnished in a range of different styles and periods. By 1940 Mrs Thorne had put together over forty individual room settings showing both European and American interior designs and decoration. All of these rooms were completed in exact one inch to the foot scale.

Since then the manufacture of toy miniatures for children's doll houses has continued and, although antique doll houses have long been collected by the enthusiasts it was not until the 1970's that adults again started to collect contemporary pieces and display them in houses or room boxes.

Answer 4

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