Annotated Bibliography

A Sacrificial Survival:

An Annotated Bibliography

Düzgün, Şebnem. “A Cultural Materialist Approach to Gender Relations in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.” Journal of Faculty of Letters / Edebiyat Fakultesi Dergisi, vol. 35, no. 2, Dec. 2018, pp. 85–94. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edo&AN=135119914&site=eds-live.

Written to outline the female struggle against the patriarch in the 19th century, this scholarly journal article explores how A Doll House is consumed by gender relations and a woman’s willingness to sacrifice in order to escape the hierarchy. The article primarily focuses on the play’s protagonist, Nora and her desire to escape her husband’s domineering household. However, supporting female characters are also discussed.

Touching not only on the sacrifices Nora makes but also on the expenses Mrs. Linde and Anne-Marie forego, this article is beneficial for supporting my paper regarding the costly sacrifices women must endure due to societal expectations. All of these women are subject to the authoritarian patriarchy of the 19th century.

“The female characters in the play appear to be trapped within the authoritarian and manipulative patriarchal system, but Ibsen suggests a potential for change in the condition of women.”

Hov, Live. “Enter Nora: The First Three Productions of A Doll’s House, in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.” Nordic Theatre Studies, vol. 22, Jan. 2010, pp. 30–45. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ibh&AN=58034558&site=eds-live.

This scholarly journal article is an analysis of the first three productions of A Doll House in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The author touches on how the play was originally received and how actors interpreted Ibsen’s work. Moreover, the article suggests that Ibsen wrote his play both for the reader and the theater audience.

This article is useful in its explanation of how 19th century actors portrayed the parts written by Ibsen. It clarifies how realistic Ibsen’s portrayal of Nora was and also how groundbreaking her rebellion was at that time. Additionally, the article shows how details, such as Nora’s age and maturity level, can be interpreted differently by readers and actors.

“No other play by Ibsen had such a profound impact on the contemporaneous discussions about cultural and social values as A Doll’s House.”

Lee, Josephine. “Teaching A Doll House, Rachel, and Marisol: Domestic Ideals, Possessive Individuals, and Modern Drama.” Modern Drama, vol. 50, no. 4, Winter 2007, pp. 620–637. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3138/md.50.4.620.

This academic journal article is intended to assist teachers and/or professors with educating students on the major themes of three plays: A Doll House, Rachel, and Marisol. These plays enlighten their subjects to gender and race relations—topics which can sometimes be difficult to discuss in the classroom setting. The article’s author is experienced with teaching the challenging themes of these plays in order to illuminate contemporary socioeconomic concerns.

Within my paper, I discuss how women are forced to make sacrifices to survive in a male-dominated world. This source supports my argument, and while I will not be using the information provided about Rachel and Marisol, the material offered regarding A Doll House is particularly useful.

“A Doll House leaves open key questions that concern both feminism and liberal humanism. The play identifies inequality under the law with regard to women’s ability to possess property: Nora breaks the law because she is not allowed to borrow without male authorization. It also depicts the particularly gendered nature of sexual possession: that Nora has not been in charge of even her own home but rather has long been Torvald’s ‘plaything.’”

Mazur, Ann M. “Victorian Women, the Home Theatre, and the Cultural Potency of A Doll’s House.” Victorians Institute Journal, vol. 41, Jan. 2013, pp. 10–34. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=96874175&site=eds-live.

In Victorian England, parlor plays were popular among women because they could relate to the characters. Ibsen’s A Doll House provided a realistic and a feminist idealistic view for women of the 19th century. This scholarly journal article explains how women at the time A Doll House was written used the play as a creative outlet to express their views on feminism and traditional home life.

This article will not be extremely useful in supporting the topic of my paper. However, it is beneficial in helping one understand the lives of women during the time A Doll House was written. The author clearly illustrates how plays with a majority of female characters dominated the home theater in Victorian England.

“Ibsen’s A Doll House…highlights what is challenging and perhaps even radical in parlor plays by placing them in a tradition of both feminist thought and establishing the prevalence of realistic private drama before more realist public theater.”

Rahman, Rubina, and Hina Gul. “Conversation Analysis: Speech Acts in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.” Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (Pakistan), vol. 22, no. 1, Apr. 2014, pp. 67–82. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=100755987&site=eds-live.

Conversation analysis is an investigative tool used to bring attention to the impact of the characters’ banter. The authors use this scholarly journal article to analyze the final conversation had between Nora and Torvald in A Doll House. Each line of the conversation is broken down and explained to shed light on how the characters feel about each other.

This information is useful for my paper because it proves that Nora eventually longs for independence, so much so that she is willing to sacrifice everything she knows—her marriage, her religion, her children, and her friends.

“The final action shows the complete shift of control from Helmer to Nora…Her final act is the strongest of the perlocutionary acts which took place in the play. It not only shook Helmer’s life, but it made a mark throughout history for the determination of a woman who takes charge of her life.”