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RELIGIOUS OBLIGATIONS AND MORAL DILEMMAS: A FEMINISTIC PERSPECTIVE OF IBSEN’S PLAY A DOLL’S HOUSE
Corresponding Author(s) : Nosheen Jaffar
Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews,
Vol. 9 No. 3 (2021): May
Abstract
Purpose of the Study: This research paper attempts to examine the play A Doll’s House through the perspective of challenges faced by the protagonist against moral authority and censorship and her resilience in the face of difficulties.
Methodology: The research paper proposes to make use of the secondary data including related articles and web sources. The data collected are words, phrases, clauses, and sentences related to women's problems and their struggles found in the play.
Main Findings: Nora revolts against male-formulated social structure repressing women in the name of religion, conventions, and breaks the framework set up by men and she dashes for a liberated life. The finding of the study is that through the play, we learn how important the interplay of religion and free spirit is to Nora’s evolution.
Applications: This paper can be used by literary scholars and students.
Novelty/Originality of this study: This research paper has used the contrasting forces of moral obligation and the free spirit of Nora to see how they have helped Nora to come out from a rosy-colored view of her dream world. The present study demonstrates how the protagonist feels entrapped and suffocated in her home, forced to live a life of false hope due to the impositions placed on by her husband and the patriarchal society which resultantly creates a feeling of isolation.
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- Ahmad, M., & Akbar, H. (2019). Identity, Illusion and Reality: A Feministic Study of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Asian Journal of Management Sciences & Education, 8(2).
- Arntzen, R., & Braenne Bjørnstad, G. (2019). The Lark’s Lonely Twittering: An Analysis of the Monologues in A Doll’s House. Ibsen Studies, 19(2), 88-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2019.1640928 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2019.1640928
- Askarzadeh Torghabeh, R. (2019). Stylistic Analysis of Characters in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House: Masculinity and Supremacy vs. Femininity and Helplessness. Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 10(2), 91-105.
- Aune, K. (2015). Feminist spirituality as lived religion: How UK feminists forge religio-spiritual lives. Gender & Society, 29(1), 122-145. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243214545681 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243214545681
- Balzer, M. M. (2019). Mystics, Shamans, and Visionary Arts. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.218 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.218
- Bandal, V. (2017). New Woman in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Literary Endeavour, 151.
- Belsey, C. (1985). Constructing the Subject: Deconstructing the Text. Feminisms: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism, 2, 657-673. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14428-0_38 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14428-0_38
- Bialecki, J., & Daswani, G. (2015). What is an individual? The view from Christianity. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 5(1), 271-294. https://doi.org/10.14318/hau5.1.013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.14318/hau5.1.013
- Bradbrook, M.C. (1966). Ibsen the Norwegian: A Revaluation. London: Chatto and Windus.
- Carlisle, J. (2004). Common Scents: Comparative encounters in high-Victorian fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195165098.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195165098.001.0001
- Chen, X. (2020). Ibsen, Power and the Self: Postsocialist Chinese Experimentations in Stage Performance and Film. Ibsen Studies, 20:2, 283-290. https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2020.1823626 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2020.1823626
- Christian, M. (2019). “A Doll’s House Conquered Europeâ€: Ibsen, His English Parodists, and the Debate over World Drama. Humanities, 8(2), 82. https://doi.org/10.3390/h8020082 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/h8020082
- Davis, R. (2004). “The Smiling Ibsen.†Ibsen’s Selected Plays. Ed. Johnston, B. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
- Duzgun, Ş. (2018). A Cultural Materialist Approach to Gender Relations in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 35 (2), 85-94. https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.430480 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.430480
- Finney, G. (1994): “Ibsen and Feminism,†in The Cambridge Companion to Ibsen, McFarlane, J. (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 92. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521411661.006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521411661.006
- Frazer, J. (1993). The Golden Bough. Denmark: Wordsworth Editions.
- Hossain, A. (2014). Re-thinking A Doll’s House: A Study of Post-feminism. Journal of Education Research and Behavioral Sciences, 3(6), 137-142.
- Hossain, A., & Iseni, A. (2015). Symbolic Realism in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House: an overview. ANGLISTICUM. Journal of the Association-Institute for English Language and American Studies, 3(8), 8-17.
- Ibsen, H. (1910). A Doll's House: And Two Other Plays. Book Jungle.
- Ibsen, H. (1966). Four Major Plays. New York: Airmont.
- Ibsen, H. (1978). From Ibsen’s Workshop: Notes, Scenarios and Drafts of the Modern Plays. New York: Dacapo Press.
- Johnston, B. (1999). Ibsen's Cycle as Hegelian Tragedy. Comparative Drama, 33(1), 140-165. https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.1999.0002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.1999.0002
- Johnston, B. (2004). Ibsen’s Selected Plays. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
- Kallenbach, U. (2014). The Disenchantment of the Wonderful-A Doll’s House and the Idealist Imagination. Nordic Theatre Studies, 26(2), 76-87. https://doi.org/10.7146/nts.v26i2.24311 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7146/nts.v26i2.24311
- Karafistan, R. (2003). 'The spirits wouldn't Let Me Be Anything Else': Shamanic Dimensions in Theatre Practice Today. New Theatre Quarterly, 19(74), 150. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X0300006X DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X0300006X
- Kumari, V. N., & Sunalini, K. K. (2017). Women Perspective in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. An International Journal in English, 8.
- Lu, L., & Zhao, Y. (2015). A Feminist Analysis of Jane Eyre & Pride and Prejudice. International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research. https://doi.org/10.2991/ichssr-15.2015.21 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2991/ichssr-15.2015.21
- Mahmood, N. (1999). “A Doll’s House-A Reassessment.†Feminist English Literature. Ed. Bhatnagar, M. K., New Delhi: Atlantic, 189-195.
- Meyer, M. (1971a). Henrik Ibsen: A Biography. New York: Rupert Hart Davis.
- Muñiz, I. (2018). Womanhandling Ibsen’s A Doll’s House: Feminist translation strategies in a Spanish translation from 1917. Meta: journal des traducteurs/Meta: Translators’ Journal, 63(2), 422-443. https://doi.org/10.7202/1055146ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1055146ar
- Nassaar, C. S. (2004). Introduction to the Victorians: A Major Authors Anthology. In Bloom, H. (Ed.), The Victorian Novel, 91-103. New York: Chelsea House.
- Northam, J. (1965). Ibsen's Search for the Hero. Ibsen: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Fjelde, R. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 91-108.
- OrtÃn, S. P. (2017). A Doll’s House: A Victorian or a Present-Day Toy? ODISEA. Revista de estudios ingleses, (10), 131-141.
- Paul, S. (2003). Ephesians. In Kohlenberger, J. R. (Ed.), The evangelical parallel New Testament (pp. 1270-1300). New York: Oxford University Press.
- Pécastaing-Boissière, M. (2014). ‘Wisdom is a gift given to the Wise’: Florence Farr (1860–1917): New Woman, Actress and Pagan Priestess. Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens, (80 Automne). https://doi.org /10.4000/cve.1542 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/cve.1542
- Permata, J., & Chandraningrum, P. D. (2019). Nora's Subjectivity In Ibsen's A Doll's House (1879): An Existentialist Approach (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta).
- Plesch, V. (1999). Killed by Words: Grotesque Verbal Violence and Tragic Atonement in French Passion Plays. Comparative Drama, 33(1), 22-55. https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.1999.0006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.1999.0006
- Räthel, C. (2020). Redecorating A Doll’s House in Contemporary German Theater—Multiple Authorship in Ibsen’s Nora. Ibsen Studies, 20(1), 67-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2020.1757302 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2020.1757302
- Saari, S. (2004). “Female Become Human: Nora Transformed.†Ibsen’s Selected Plays. Ed. Brian Johnston. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
- Åženel, E. (2019). Health and ancient beliefs: a scientometric analysis of health literature related to shamanism, paganism and spirituality. Journal of religion and health, 58(6). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00823-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00823-9
- Shaw, G. B. (1987). “Ibsen and Ibenites.†Critical Essays on Henrik Ibsen. Ed. Lyons, C. R. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co, 25-33.
- Stemberger, G. (2010). The Impact of Paganism and Christianity. In The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199216437.013.0028 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199216437.013.0028
- Tam, K. K. (2018). Law, Ethics and Gender: China’s Quest for a Modern Selfhood as Reflected in its Adaptations of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 11(2), 145-159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-018-0219-x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-018-0219-x
- Templeton, J. (1989). The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/462329?sid=21105343353041&uid=4&uid=2. Accessed on 19 February 2021.
- Wallace, E. K. (ed.) (2009). Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203874448 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203874448
- Valiunas, A. (2019). Ibsen's Soul craft: Algis Valiunas considers one of modernity's great dramatists. First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, (298), 21-27.
- Wahla, M., Mamona, M., & Buriro, A. A. (2019). Language and Gender Construction: Stereotypes and Identity Reconstruction in A Doll’s House: A Sociolinguistic Perspective. The Women-Annual Research Journal of Gender Studies, 11(11).
- Weerasinghe, S. P. S. P. (2017). Rethinking Language in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. 6th International Conference of Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (ICSUSL). http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:808 0/xmlui/handle/123456789/1464
- Woolf, V. (1967). A room of one's own (Vol. 481). Prabhat Prakashan.
- Yeasmin, F. (2018). 'A Doll's House' is the Backlash of Feminism. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 3(3), 334-338. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.3.3.7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.3.3.7
References
Ahmad, M., & Akbar, H. (2019). Identity, Illusion and Reality: A Feministic Study of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Asian Journal of Management Sciences & Education, 8(2).
Arntzen, R., & Braenne Bjørnstad, G. (2019). The Lark’s Lonely Twittering: An Analysis of the Monologues in A Doll’s House. Ibsen Studies, 19(2), 88-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2019.1640928 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2019.1640928
Askarzadeh Torghabeh, R. (2019). Stylistic Analysis of Characters in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House: Masculinity and Supremacy vs. Femininity and Helplessness. Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 10(2), 91-105.
Aune, K. (2015). Feminist spirituality as lived religion: How UK feminists forge religio-spiritual lives. Gender & Society, 29(1), 122-145. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243214545681 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243214545681
Balzer, M. M. (2019). Mystics, Shamans, and Visionary Arts. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.218 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.218
Bandal, V. (2017). New Woman in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Literary Endeavour, 151.
Belsey, C. (1985). Constructing the Subject: Deconstructing the Text. Feminisms: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism, 2, 657-673. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14428-0_38 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14428-0_38
Bialecki, J., & Daswani, G. (2015). What is an individual? The view from Christianity. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 5(1), 271-294. https://doi.org/10.14318/hau5.1.013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.14318/hau5.1.013
Bradbrook, M.C. (1966). Ibsen the Norwegian: A Revaluation. London: Chatto and Windus.
Carlisle, J. (2004). Common Scents: Comparative encounters in high-Victorian fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195165098.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195165098.001.0001
Chen, X. (2020). Ibsen, Power and the Self: Postsocialist Chinese Experimentations in Stage Performance and Film. Ibsen Studies, 20:2, 283-290. https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2020.1823626 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2020.1823626
Christian, M. (2019). “A Doll’s House Conquered Europeâ€: Ibsen, His English Parodists, and the Debate over World Drama. Humanities, 8(2), 82. https://doi.org/10.3390/h8020082 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/h8020082
Davis, R. (2004). “The Smiling Ibsen.†Ibsen’s Selected Plays. Ed. Johnston, B. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Duzgun, Ş. (2018). A Cultural Materialist Approach to Gender Relations in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 35 (2), 85-94. https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.430480 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.430480
Finney, G. (1994): “Ibsen and Feminism,†in The Cambridge Companion to Ibsen, McFarlane, J. (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 92. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521411661.006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521411661.006
Frazer, J. (1993). The Golden Bough. Denmark: Wordsworth Editions.
Hossain, A. (2014). Re-thinking A Doll’s House: A Study of Post-feminism. Journal of Education Research and Behavioral Sciences, 3(6), 137-142.
Hossain, A., & Iseni, A. (2015). Symbolic Realism in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House: an overview. ANGLISTICUM. Journal of the Association-Institute for English Language and American Studies, 3(8), 8-17.
Ibsen, H. (1910). A Doll's House: And Two Other Plays. Book Jungle.
Ibsen, H. (1966). Four Major Plays. New York: Airmont.
Ibsen, H. (1978). From Ibsen’s Workshop: Notes, Scenarios and Drafts of the Modern Plays. New York: Dacapo Press.
Johnston, B. (1999). Ibsen's Cycle as Hegelian Tragedy. Comparative Drama, 33(1), 140-165. https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.1999.0002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.1999.0002
Johnston, B. (2004). Ibsen’s Selected Plays. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Kallenbach, U. (2014). The Disenchantment of the Wonderful-A Doll’s House and the Idealist Imagination. Nordic Theatre Studies, 26(2), 76-87. https://doi.org/10.7146/nts.v26i2.24311 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7146/nts.v26i2.24311
Karafistan, R. (2003). 'The spirits wouldn't Let Me Be Anything Else': Shamanic Dimensions in Theatre Practice Today. New Theatre Quarterly, 19(74), 150. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X0300006X DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X0300006X
Kumari, V. N., & Sunalini, K. K. (2017). Women Perspective in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. An International Journal in English, 8.
Lu, L., & Zhao, Y. (2015). A Feminist Analysis of Jane Eyre & Pride and Prejudice. International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research. https://doi.org/10.2991/ichssr-15.2015.21 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2991/ichssr-15.2015.21
Mahmood, N. (1999). “A Doll’s House-A Reassessment.†Feminist English Literature. Ed. Bhatnagar, M. K., New Delhi: Atlantic, 189-195.
Meyer, M. (1971a). Henrik Ibsen: A Biography. New York: Rupert Hart Davis.
Muñiz, I. (2018). Womanhandling Ibsen’s A Doll’s House: Feminist translation strategies in a Spanish translation from 1917. Meta: journal des traducteurs/Meta: Translators’ Journal, 63(2), 422-443. https://doi.org/10.7202/1055146ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1055146ar
Nassaar, C. S. (2004). Introduction to the Victorians: A Major Authors Anthology. In Bloom, H. (Ed.), The Victorian Novel, 91-103. New York: Chelsea House.
Northam, J. (1965). Ibsen's Search for the Hero. Ibsen: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Fjelde, R. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 91-108.
OrtÃn, S. P. (2017). A Doll’s House: A Victorian or a Present-Day Toy? ODISEA. Revista de estudios ingleses, (10), 131-141.
Paul, S. (2003). Ephesians. In Kohlenberger, J. R. (Ed.), The evangelical parallel New Testament (pp. 1270-1300). New York: Oxford University Press.
Pécastaing-Boissière, M. (2014). ‘Wisdom is a gift given to the Wise’: Florence Farr (1860–1917): New Woman, Actress and Pagan Priestess. Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens, (80 Automne). https://doi.org /10.4000/cve.1542 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/cve.1542
Permata, J., & Chandraningrum, P. D. (2019). Nora's Subjectivity In Ibsen's A Doll's House (1879): An Existentialist Approach (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta).
Plesch, V. (1999). Killed by Words: Grotesque Verbal Violence and Tragic Atonement in French Passion Plays. Comparative Drama, 33(1), 22-55. https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.1999.0006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.1999.0006
Räthel, C. (2020). Redecorating A Doll’s House in Contemporary German Theater—Multiple Authorship in Ibsen’s Nora. Ibsen Studies, 20(1), 67-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2020.1757302 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2020.1757302
Saari, S. (2004). “Female Become Human: Nora Transformed.†Ibsen’s Selected Plays. Ed. Brian Johnston. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Åženel, E. (2019). Health and ancient beliefs: a scientometric analysis of health literature related to shamanism, paganism and spirituality. Journal of religion and health, 58(6). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00823-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00823-9
Shaw, G. B. (1987). “Ibsen and Ibenites.†Critical Essays on Henrik Ibsen. Ed. Lyons, C. R. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co, 25-33.
Stemberger, G. (2010). The Impact of Paganism and Christianity. In The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199216437.013.0028 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199216437.013.0028
Tam, K. K. (2018). Law, Ethics and Gender: China’s Quest for a Modern Selfhood as Reflected in its Adaptations of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 11(2), 145-159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-018-0219-x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-018-0219-x
Templeton, J. (1989). The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/462329?sid=21105343353041&uid=4&uid=2. Accessed on 19 February 2021.
Wallace, E. K. (ed.) (2009). Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203874448 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203874448
Valiunas, A. (2019). Ibsen's Soul craft: Algis Valiunas considers one of modernity's great dramatists. First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, (298), 21-27.
Wahla, M., Mamona, M., & Buriro, A. A. (2019). Language and Gender Construction: Stereotypes and Identity Reconstruction in A Doll’s House: A Sociolinguistic Perspective. The Women-Annual Research Journal of Gender Studies, 11(11).
Weerasinghe, S. P. S. P. (2017). Rethinking Language in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. 6th International Conference of Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (ICSUSL). http://repo.lib.sab.ac.lk:808 0/xmlui/handle/123456789/1464
Woolf, V. (1967). A room of one's own (Vol. 481). Prabhat Prakashan.
Yeasmin, F. (2018). 'A Doll's House' is the Backlash of Feminism. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 3(3), 334-338. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.3.3.7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.3.3.7