A DOLLS HOUSE CHARACTERISATION AND THEMES

A NEW APPROACH

• 'character' in 19th cent=something unchnageable 
• born inot certain traits and defined rigidily 
• young girls sweet and inncoent vs bad villains 
• NATURALISTIC THEATRE WORKED DIFFERENTLY=aware ppl chnage and grow, ADH worked on assumption=ppl can say one thing and then express opposit view
• like nora does with feelings for helmer 
• IBSEN INFLUNCED BY PLAYWRIGHT JOHN GALSWORTHY-WROTE PLAYS 1920S COMMENTED 'A HUMAN BEING IS THE BEST PLOT THERE IS'

CREATING CHARACTERS

• 12 months to plan play 
• wanted to become closely aqauinted with characters 
• expressed wirirng thirs draft 'intimate friends'

THE ACTOR AND THE CHARACTER

• spent many years working with actors 
• =knew importance of creating characters on stage, and important for actor to decside how to show chcracter to audience 

NORA HELMER 

• WIFE OF TORVALD, moneylender krogstad blackmailing her as forged a signiture to get the money 

A STAR ROLE

• early audiences found her hard to undertand due to her complexity 
• expected figures to be consistent 
• rare for a chcracter to be in chrage of their own growth 

AN ACTIVE CHARACTER

• zest for life, takes pleaure in xmas tree, enjoys macaroons, physcially expressive, enthusiastcially plays with children, embrace the nurse, mrs linde etc 
• all this endears her to audience 
• her physical vitality=energy to sustain the diffilcult journey she undertakes

AS AN ACTOR

• tarentella=a natural performer-can express what she cant say 
• she becoming aware of 'performing' the role of wife that society has scripted for her
• she does enjoy being role of 'skylark', 'playing with his coat buttons' but knows this power will be gone when 'im no longer pretty'

CONSCIENCE OR CONVENTION

• ibsen interested in idea of 'two kinds of conscience'-one for men and one for women 
• helmer governed by rules of society and nora follows her heart
• however at beginning neither have a cosncince-as not rationla etc 
• she initially very naive-assumes that…