Aquino 1

Areli Aquino

Ms. Franklin

English 10H

25 November 2019

Ibsen Through the Eyes of Theatre

Theatre is an intention that will lead to purpose. In the play, A Doll’s House, Henrik

Ibsen writes about rights and priorities by using the life of Nora and Torvald, two of the main

characters, as examples. To comprehend why Ibsen chose to write A Doll’s House, as a play we

need to first understand the meanings of some main props used, such as the costumes, the room

setups, and the objects in the rooms. Being able to see the costumes, sets, and props allows the

audience to understand the themes and ideas more precisely than if they couldn’t visualize this

story as a play. 

In a play, costumes are often overlooked and an unimportant aspect of a play, but it is the

complete opposite. Costumes as such a wonderful part of a play, they help tell a story. On page

37 Nora says, “…To-morrow evening there is to be a fancy-dress ball at the Stenborgs’, who live

above us; and Torvald wants me to go as a Neapolitan fisher-girl, and dance the Tarantella that I

learned at Capri.” When you first see or hear the word Tarantella, you think of a tarantula. In this

part of the play she, like a tarantula, is weaving her own web of lies. It would be great to be able

to see the beauty of Nora in this dress. How she easily and innocently covers everything up with

Torvald and this fancy costume, instead of uncovering everything. Throughout the whole play,

the maid has been in uniform and in her costume the whole time till we get to act 3. On page 73

it says, “maid: (half-dressed, comes to the door). A letter for the mistress.” We would have a

better comprehending of what was going on if we could see this because the same thing was
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happening to Torvald. He had his house all in uniform and control, till act 3. His house wasn’t

under his control anymore and Nora was “rebelling”. After the fancy-dress ball at the Stenborgs’,

Torvald and Nora went home and Nora changed back to her everyday clothes. “Nora: (in

everyday dress). Yes, Torvald, I have changed my things now.” This is a really important and

impactful scene that would have been better seen than read. In this part, you can see that she

uncovered everything. She finds the strength to release herself from the monopolistic control of

Torvald. You see that she is know herself. She’s not hiding in a fancy dress of lies anymore. Not

only are costumes important but in the setup those costumes are being used in.  

The stage set is more important in a play than in any other genre. When reading or seeing

a play, some ideas or themes are implied rather than spoken by the characters. In the first act, the

room set up was a comfortable set up. “A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not

extravagantly. Between the doors stands a piano. The floors are carpeted, and a fire burns in the

stove.” If you see a nice normal, living place you know everything if under control in that house.

Torvald had a nice under control home. In act 2 it said, “A Christmas tree is in the corner by the

piano, stripped of its ornaments and with burnt down candle-ends on its disheveled branches.”

With this set up you can see that things are starting to get messy. Everything is starting to make

sense to Nora, and Torvald is kind of losing control of the order in his house. In act 3 we see an

almost empty room. “The table has been placed in the middle of the stage, with chairs around it.

A lamp is burning on the table. The door into the hall stands open.” The perfect life that Nora

and Torvald had was now over. The door to liberty was wide open and Nora took that

opportunity to leave. Being able to see that, we would most likely make a connection with the

scene and feel the loneliness and emptiness of the room at the time. The lack of props

contributed to the emptiness of the room which leads to the next point.
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Props are really important to captivate the audience's attention. They help engage the

audience and make fantastical settings come closer to reality. A main prop in the first act were

the macaroons. Torvald prevented Nora from eating them because they would damage her teeth.

The macaroons represent her independence. She eats one even when Torvald forbids them. On

page 9 Torvald says, “Hasn’t Miss Sweet-Tooth been breaking rules in town to-day?” Seeing this

would let the audience see the “rebel” side to her, which would make the scene a bit more

interesting. Another prop used was a tambourine. Torvald tells Nora to go practice the tarantella

dance and play the tambourine. It is known that if you dance to the tune of a tambourine, there

will be a calamity that will befall that house. Seeing her with the tambourine will make the

audience kind of think of what the calamity would be. Another prop used was some papers. On

pages 40-44 Torvald does some motions with his papers. He first shows her the papers, then

looks among his papers, puts his papers together and takes his papers with him. This scene would

be a great scene to see as a play because you could see what his priority at the time was. Nora

was talking to him but the wheel time Torvald was focused on his papers, his job. 

In, A Doll’s House, Ibsen intended to promote the rights of all humans. For this to come

to life he needed to have costumes to tell a story, a good room set up to imply some ideas and

themes, and props to make the setting more realistic. 

Work Cited

Ibsen, Henrick. Four Great Plays. Trans. R. Farquharson Sharp. 1958. New York; Bantam Dell,

2005. Print.