Production History of A Doll’s House

            In 1878, Ibsen sent a letter to his publisher that he was going to write a four act play- A Doll’s House, and he began working on the first draft of A Doll’s House in 1879 (May through to August) (McFarlane, James Waiter 435).. In September of 1879, Ibsen rewrote the entire play, sending in Act One on September 2nd, Act Two on September 13th, and Act Three a few days later (436). It was published on December 4th, with the first “edition of 8,000 copies,” which sold out quickly. A Doll’s House caused much debate, and conversation that many people read it. There was a second edition released on January 4th 1880, and a third edition released on March third. By the time the first production opened on January 8th 1880, everyone had already read it and had been talking about it for weeks (Shafter xi).

            For the first two years Ibsen’s A Doll’s House was solely produced only in Scandinavia and Germany (Meyer 458). It was not until ten years later that a faithful version was produced in England and America. Then it was not until 1894 that it was produced in France for the first time.

            To satisfy a German actress, Hedwig Niemann-Raabe who was a well known actress at the time, she refused to play the part of Nora because she herself would not leave her children (Meyer 459). To ensure that no one could change his play (there was no copyright protection), Ibsen created a “happy” ending, where Torvald brings Nora to the children’s door and she decides to stay for them. After creating the “happy” ending, Ibsen sent a letter that was published in a Danish paper:

To forestall any possibility, I sent my translator and agent for use in an emergency a drafted emendation in which Nora does not leave the house but is forced by Helmer to the doorway of the children’s bedroom; here a few lines are exchanged, Nora sinks down by the door and the curtain falls. This emendation I have myself described to my translator as a ‘barbaric outrage’ on the play…But if any such outrage is threatened, I prefer, on the basis of previous experience, to commit it myself rather than submit my work to the treatment and ‘adaptation’ of less tender and competent hands.

- February 17, 1880

Niemann-Raabe performed this alternative ending in Flensburg, Hamburg, Dresden, Harpuer and finally in Berlin. Later it was found that this ending was unsuccessful and she “reverted” to the original ending.

Feminism in Norway

            The feminist movement in Norway moved rather rapidly when compared to the rest of the world. Norwegian women gained the right to vote, while other countries were closing loopholes in their laws at home (Offen 222). The feminist movement in Norway began in 1875 when women began to come together, starting small by forming a Woman’s Reading Club, in which prominent women were invited to join (Wergeland 111). The Reading Club had quickly “accumulated a large library including papers and periodicals.” A couple years later a second organization was formed; the Woman’s Cause Association. This organization began to grow and to have affiliation all over the country. In 1885 Gina Krog, who was a leading feminist in the 1880s, founded the Woman’s Suffrage Association, and then two years later the New Land, an opinion changing, periodical (McFarlane, James 91). A new edition of the New Land was out every month, questioning the importance the welfare of women, and posting when other countries’ feminists accomplished a feat.

            The Norwegian women received their rights due to the movement that first was organized by Fru Quam. Quam was seen as the leader of the woman movement and was known as “the little queen of the corridors’ (McFarlane, James 115). Working for the movement was also Gina Krog, Hedvig Rosing, Aasta Hansteen and other well known women. Their hard work was rewarded with the right to vote for women. They first were able to get the bill for woman’s suffrage on the table in 1883, but it was vetoed by the King (Wergeland 113). The bill was on the table again in 1893, when it almost passed the house. The third and final time it was brought to the table in 1901, a communal suffrage was passed. Tax-paying women were given the right to vote. They were able to “sit in the communal council, apportion taxes, look after the support for schools, the poor, the roads and that such matters” (Wergeland 113).

            In 1905 Norway separated itself from Sweden. Feminists used this transition period to help further their cause. Two years later, on June 13th, 1907, the feminists had achieved limited suffrage, granted to women who were over the age of twenty-five and paid a certain amount in property taxes (114). Women, who were in the same jobs and doing equal amount of work as men since the early 1800s, finally received equal pay in 1908 (Wergeland 113 and Durbach 91). Women gained (again) in 1910 general communal suffrage (Wergeland 115). Finally, in 1913, women gained unrestricted franchise (voting), unanimously from the Sorting (Norway’s government). To show far along Norway was nationally compared to other countries; Denmark women did not receive suffrage until 1915, Russia in 1917, America in 1920, Germany and England in 1918, and then France in 1944 (Paletschek 408). One of the last countries in Europe to give women suffrage was Switzerland in 1971.

            The first time a woman held a position in the Norway government was 1909 (Weiser 372). Anna Rogstad, an alternative delegate, became the first woman in Norway’s Parliament by taking a male delegate’s seat. When she took her seat in the Parliament “the Speaker of the House proclaimed the day one of the most important in history” (Weiser 372). As time went on, women became more involved in the government. By 1980, four out of sixteen cabinet ministers were women.

            One leader in the feminist movement in Norway was Camilla Collett (Wergeland 65). She wrote the novel The Daughters of the County Magistrate in 1855; due to varying translations this is also known as Sheriff’s Daughters. One section of this novel was a challenge for the fight for women’s rights to begin. She did a lot of work for the women’s rights movement, of which Norway was “under great obligation to her” (Wergeland 66).A poet and an author, Collett was considered a master of language and a statue of her was erected in Christiania.

Ibsen and Feminism

          Ibsen, was linked to the feminist movement due to A Doll’s House, although he claims later in his life to have never supported the woman cause, and to not even know what it was. At about the time that Ibsen wrote A Doll’s House, he believed that everyone should have freedom and be equal- woman and the working man. Ibsen may have claimed not to be a supporter of feminism, women that were close to him were feminists. His wife, Suzannah, and her step-mother, Magdalene Thoresen, were both active feminists (McFarlane, James 90).

Even though he claimed later in his life to not have assisted or knowing what the feminist movement was, there were a few times earlier in his life, where he did help them. In 1879, Ibsen attempted to give women the right to vote and be a librarian at the Scandinavian Club in Rome; he was outraged when they were only given the right to be librarians. After giving himself a few days, he then attended a gala and made a scene, making everyone who attended aware that he was only trying to help the women, “give them progress” (Templeton 126).

A second event that showed Ibsen’s support for the feminist movement was in 1884, with a petition that was in favor of separate property rights for women (McFarlane 90). He wanted to make sure that women were asked in regards to this petition since, as Ibsen states, “to consult men in such matter is like asking wolves if they desire better protection for the sheep.” So this helps to confirm that Ibsen did care about women’s rights, and did approve of the movement, even though later in his life he denied being supportive of their cause.

            Ibsen was often approached by feminists who came to thank him for helping their cause. In about 1891, Viennese ladies thanked him for what he had done for “their sex, and wanted to name him an honorary member of the Society for Extended Female Education” (Meyer 662). By this point he did not feel that he would be successful if he protested that “A Doll’s House was not…about women’s rights but about the rights of humanity in general,” or to explain that “A Doll’s House represented a phase in his work which he had…left behind him.” According to Michael Meyer, A Doll’s House, like Ibsen claimed, is not about feminism, but rather “the need of every individual to find out the kind of person he or she really is and to strive to become that person,” which is the theme that Ibsen used through out this phase of his career (457). Meyer makes the point that this was the only play out of this phase in Ibsen’s work that the public misinterpreted what he was saying. Meyer used An Enemy of the People, and Ghosts to explain how that they are not about public hygiene, or syphilis, but about the characters figuring out and becoming who they are.

On of Ibsen’s seventieth birthday, he was honored at a banquet given by the Norwegian Women’s Right League, founded in 1884. This banquet was one of the only ones that Ibsen’s wife Suzannah attended, since she was a champion of the woman’s right cause (Meyer 774). At the event he made a speech saying, “I thank you for the toast, but must disclaim the honor of having consciously worked for the women’s rights movement…true enough, it is desirable to solve the women problem, along with all the others; but that has not been the whole purpose. My task has been the description of humanity” (Templeton 110).

A second honor that Ibsen attended for his seventieth birthday was for the Northern Association for the Woman’s Cause, at which he gave a very similar speech (Downs 140). He stated that he did not know what the woman’s cause was, and that they would do best at being mothers and wives. Later in Ibsen’s life he made a similar comment, in which many have believed to mean that women should be mothers: “it is the women who are to solve the social problem. As mothers they are to do it. And only as such can they do it” (McFarlane, James 103). Although it could mean that he felt it was the only ‘job’ that was available to them.

A Doll’s House Terms:

Act One:

ore- a bronze coin of Norway, the 100th part of a krone

macaroon- mac·a·roon (māk'ə-rōōn') n.  A chewy cookie made with sugar, egg whites, and almond paste or coconut.

Scamper- scamp·er / Pronunciation Key- to run playfully about, as a child.

skylark-(/ˈskaɪˌlɑrk/ Pronunciation Key ) the common European lark, 1686, from sky + lark. The verb meaning "to frolic or play" is recorded from 1809, originally nautical, in ref. to "wanton play about the rigging, and tops."

–noun-

1.  a brown-speckled European lark, Alauda arvensis, famed for its melodious song.

–verb (used without object) –

2. to frolic; sport: The children were skylarking on the beach.

fritter -verb (used with object)

1. to squander or disperse piecemeal; waste little by little (usually fol. by away): to fritter away one's money; to fritter away an afternoon.

3. to dwindle, shrink, degenerate, etc. (often fol. by away): to watch one's fortune fritter away.

“purse strings”- “Care or control of the money. Dad holds the purse strings in the family” (Makkai 274).

spendthrift- a person who spends possessions or money extravagantly or wastefully; prodigal.

fritter bird-  A nickname given to Nora from Torvald meaning to foolishly waste money. (“to fritter away one’s money”)

4,800 crowns- the type of money that that was used at the time

rabbiting- this refers to an on and on talking

draught- Dr. Rank is telling Nora to stop talking in that way.

defrauding- To take something from by fraud; swindle

singing bird- Popularly, any bird that sings; a song bird.

            This is one of Helmer’s bird nicknames for Nora

moral rot- Since Krogstad “tricked his way out” of punishment for his forgery, according to Helmer his morals began to rot, and feels he no longer has any.

Act Two:

confirmed- having received the religious rite of confirmation.

tactless (tact)- Lacking or exhibiting a lack of tact; bluntly inconsiderate or indiscreet.

disintegration- Noun:

1.                  The breaking up of the component parts of a substance, as in catabolism or decay.

2.                  The disorganization or disruption of mental processes in mental illness.

3.                  The natural or induced transformation of an atomic nucleus from a more massive to a less massive configuration by the emission of particles or radiation.

Retribution- something given or demanded in repayment, especially punishment.

pate de foie gras  (də fwä grä') -A paste made from goose liver, pork fat, onions, mushrooms, and often truffles. (French)

Hack(s): One who undertakes unpleasant or distasteful tasks for money or reward; a hireling.

bank notes- Paper money.

 “polish it up again”- Practice the tarantella again.

Act Three:

hysterical /- an uncontrollably emotional, and an irrational from fear, emotion, or an emotional shock.

witful- Wise; sensible. [R.] --Chapman.

invisible (dead)- the invisible, the unseen or spiritual world.

sacred duties- the duties that wives/ mothers were expected to do for their husbands and children.

infallible guides- A guide that people live by and are unable to stray from, such as the accepted standard of conduct of the time and culture.

Tarantella

The tarantella is an Italian folk dance that has been around since the time of the Greeks. This is believed due to evidence found on Greek vases and the walls of Pompeii that have been uncovered are believed to depict “movements of the tarantella” (Gurzau 72). Along the many years it has been around, it has been called by different names; Sorrenina, Lucia, Sfessania, and Villsnella, to name a few. The name tarantella has only been around for the past four to five centuries.

The tarantella is said to be from the Naples, Sorrento and Capri area with differences in attitude while they perform the dance. Regarding girls dancing the tarantella of Naples and Sorrento:

She is more free, more sure of herself; she dances with her head up, proud of her appearance, flashing her sparking eyes and abandoning herself to the joy of the dance (74).

In Naples, the girls dance with tambourines (75). Other than that, the dance does not have a set pattern in which everyone dances. Rather the dance is made up of many different figures, which the mood of the dance dictates (72).

The tarantella has a very specific type of costume. Women are expected to wear long, handmade, pleated skirts, laced aprons (which tend to only be used in these areas of Italy), and long sleeves (Gurzau 38; Fink 15). Men are traditionally in:

close fitting, knee-length pants with buttons near the bottom, white shirts with ties at the neck, long sashes wrapped around the waist, and short decorative jackets (Fink 15).

There are many legends that describe how the tarantella came to be. The most well known legend is that the “tarantella comes from the jumping that doctors once ordered for those bitten by the tarantula spider” (Gurzau 72). This legend was discredited in 1949, at the Venice Congress and Folk Festival, when it was decided that there was some confusion due to the similarity of the names (tarantella-tarantula). A second legend is said that the tarantella was created for mermaids. The mermaids were upset since Ulysses (a ruler of Ithica in Greek legends that was a leader in the Trojan War [Ellingson]) would not respond to their songs and put wax in his ears to ensure that he did not hear them. The mermaids “asked the Graces to teach them something very effective that could help them conquer the King of Ithaca through his eyesight” (Ellingson). As wished, the Graces created the Sorrenina (tarantella), but the mermaids could not dance it due to a lack of legs. So the people of Sorrento and Capri learned the dance.       

The Life of Henrik Ibsen:

1828    March 20, Knud and Marichen, “a prosperous merchant family,” gave birth to Henrik Ibsen in Skien, Norway (Acker and Durbach xiii).

1834    The Ibsen family became bankrupt, living “with poverty and social humiliation” (Durbach xiii). Had Ibsen’s “father had continued on his earlier, prosperous career, Henrik Ibsen might well have been chosen to become a painter” although that career was closed to him since he could not afford to attend a university (Meyer 20).

1844    Ibsen became an apprentice for Reimann apothecary in Grimstad for six years; beginning on Jan third (32). Most of Ibsen’s spare time was spent drawing and painting (33).

1846    Else Sofie Jensdatter, ten years older than Ibsen took care of all of his needs, and had an illegitimate son with Ibsen, Hans Jacob Henriksen. Jensdatter left to Borkedalen to give birth, and Ibsen “assumes partial support…for fourteen years” (Meyer 31 and Mitchell 149).

      Ibsen transfers to Nielsen’s apothecary shop in August, after Reimann goes bankrupt in August.

1849    “Ibsen writes his first play, Catiline, but it is rejected by the Christiania Theatre” (Mitchell 149).

1850    Ibsen publishes Catiline “privately under the pseudonym of Brynjolf Bjarme.”

            On April 29^th Ibsen arrives in Christiania to study at the University (Haugen 127).

“Ibsen finishes his second play, Warrior’s Barrow, which is preformed later in the year at the Christiania Theatre” (Mitchell 149).

1851    Ibsen begins work at Ole Bull’s (Ibsen’s mentor) Norwegian Theatre as a theatre assistant (Meyer 466). This is where Ibsen began his career as a dramatist and publishes articles and poems (Rubin 617 and Mitchell 149). Ibsen began writing articles and poems after working there for six years learning the business of theatre and dramaturgy (Durbach xiii).

1852    The first tragedy that Ibsen saw on stage was Earl Haakon the Mighty and The Vikings in Byzanium in Copenhagen. Oehlenschlager was one of Ibsen’s first influences, but he “discarded” him, like he did with his other influences. Ibsen saw these productions at Copenhagen and Dresden, where he also saw Shakespeare for the first time (Durbach xiii).

1857    Ibsen begins working “at the Norwegian Theatre in Mollergaten,” as the artistic director (Durbach xiv).

            At this point in his life, Ibsen had “assisted in staging 145 plays and had written seven of his own” (Brockett 391).

1858    Ibsen marries Suzannah Thoresen.

1859    Ibsen and Suzannah’s son, Sigurd (who later became a diplomat, a politician and a writer), is born on December 23 (Mitchell and Haugen 127).

1862    Ibsen loses his job at the Norwegian Theatre, due to it going bankrupt. Ibsen recovers a year later when he is “appointed the literary consultant to the Christiania Theatre” (Mitchell 150).

1866    “Ibsen’s financial situation improves due to a lifetime annual government grant for his writing” (Mitchell 150).

1868    Ibsen and his family move to Dresden permanently; after traveling Europe for two years.

1875    Ibsen moves to Munch for three years; which marks the change in Ibsen’s style of writing from “saga plays, historical epic and verse allegories” to contemporary realism (Durbach xv). Afterwards, Ibsen moved to Rome where he remained for five years.

1879    In the spring while writing/planning A Doll’s House Ibsen submitted “two proposals, filling over seven book-sized pages, to Scandinavian Club in Rome: that the post of librarian be open to woman candidates, and that women be allowed to vote in club meetings” (Templeton 125). Ibsen was successful in his proposal of allowing women to become librarians, but they were denied the right to vote at club meetings by one vote.

                        A few days later Ibsen attended a gala evening, into the evening Ibsen made a scene, which he had been planning. Ibsen stopped the orchestra, facing the couples explained his reasoning for what he had done at the Scandinavian Club. He shouted to them that “he had tried to bring them progress…but their cowardly resistance had refused it” (Templeton 126). He was more upset with the women then the men, since it was for them that he was fighting for. He caused a Danish Countess to faint, who had to be later removed, but that did not stop Ibsen; his rage kept increasing. When Ibsen felt that he was done, “he went out into the hall, took his overcoat, and walked home.” It was two months later when Ibsen began writing A Doll’s House.

1880    “An adaptation of Pillars of Society is performed in London, the first Ibsen play on an English stage” (Mitchell 151).

1889    “A Doll’s House is performed in London; it is the first non-adapted production of Ibsen in England” (Mitchell 152).

1898    “Ibsen receives many honors on his seventieth birthday; festivities take place in Christiania, Copenhagen, and Stockholm in the spring” (Mitchell 152). (The section later on Ibsen and Feminism, discusses two banquets that were held in his honor.)

1900    Ibsen suffers his first stroke and is unable to continue writing (Bryan xxix).

1901    Ibsen suffers his second stroke, leaving him barely able to walk (Bryan xxix).

1906    Ibsen suffers a third stoke which “debilitates him;” by May 16 he is “comatose,” then on the 23 Ibsen passes away at 78 years old (Bryan xxix).

Ibsen’s Work:

Catiline (1850)

Works Cited:

Acker, Helen. Four Son’s of Norway. New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1948.

Brockett, Oscar G. and Franklin J. Hildy. History of the Theatre. Ninth edition. Boston: Pearson Education Group, Inc., 2003.

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Dictionary.com. 2008. Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 2007 <http://dictionary.reference.com/>.

Downs (M.A.), Brian W. A Study of Six Plays of Ibsen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1950.

Durbach, Errol. A Doll’s House: Ibsen’s Myth of Transformation. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991.

Ellingson, Leif. “Ulysses.” 03 March 1997. 16 September 2007. http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/roman/articles.html.

Fink, Doug; Christy Lane, and Susan Langhout. Multicultural Folk Dance Video. Multicultural folk dance treasure chest. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics, 1998.

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Haugen, Einar. Ibsen’s Drama: Author to Audience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesoda Press, 1979.

Makkai, Adam. “A Dictionary of American Idioms.” New York: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., 1975. (page: 274)

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McFarlane, James (ed). The Cambridge Companion to: Ibsen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

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Meyer, Michael. Ibsen: A Biography. Garden City: Doubleday and Company Inc., 1971.

Offen, Karen. European Feminists 1700-1950: A Political History. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000.

Paletschek, Sylvia and Bianka Pietrow- Ennker (eds). Woman’s Emancipation Movements in the Nineteenth Century: A European Perspective. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004.

Rubin, Don. The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre. Vol. one. London: Routledge, 1994.

Schafer, Yvonne (ed). Approaches to teaching Ibsen’s A Doll House. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1985.

Templeton, Joan. Ibsen’s Women. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

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