The Relations Between the Theme of Feminism and the Dramatic Structure

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In Ibsen’s play, “A Doll’s House”, the theme of feminism is conveyed through various literary features, one of them being the dramatic structure. In fiction and drama, according to Freytag, the dramatic structure starts with an exposition, followed by a rising action towards the climax, then, a falling action, and finally, a dénouement. Determining the climax depends on the interpretation of the major themes of the play. Since I regard the theme of feminism as the major theme of the play, I consider the climax of “A Doll’s House” the end of the play where Nora decides to leave her husband and pursue her own life. In this essay, I am going to look into how this dramatic structure brings about the theme of feminism in “A Doll’s House”. The dramatic structure of “A Doll’s House” parallels with Nora’s self-discovery, which in turn, helps portray the theme of feminism. Since “A Doll’s House” is set in a patriarchal society where men take the leading role and women are considered relatively inferior, the audience would find it easy to relate to the way Nora behaves and how she interacts with her husband. Nora, the female protagonist of the story has always been seen as a doll her whole life by her father and her husband. “I’ve been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa’s doll-child.” (267) The men in Nora’s life has always treated her like a doll. They enjoy her company and she “do tricks” for them to make them happy. She never had her own opinions on things and is manipulated by these men. “You (Torvald) arranged everything to your own taste, and so I got the same taste as you – or I pretended to.” (267) Also, the way Torvald calls her shows that she is inferior too. He calls her “skylark”, “song bird”, “squirrel” and all sorts of cute names, while Nora calls her husband by his first name. If they are on equal basis, Nora could have names for Torvald or Torvald

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