A Doll's House & Death of a Salesman

Dramatists often criticize society through the characters and situations they depict on stage. When they do so, they may approach the subject by looking through the world in which they live to what they believe the world should be. They may be writing at a turning point, an era in which social change is in the offing but which is being resisted by the dominant order. They may merely be commenting on aspects of the human condition which persist into their age and which they see as detrimental to society. Whatever their particular situation may be, playwrights criticize society by having characters who represent some social class or ideological position and by using symbolism as well as direct statement to make the audience see something they believe to be wrong. The characters are shaped by the society in which they live and then behave in certain ways because of the conflict that develops between their psychology and their personality on the one hand and the demands and strictures of the society in which they live on the other. Both Nora in A Doll's House and Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman are products of their respective cultures. They can also be seen as victims of those cultures in that their lives have been determined and controlled to a degree by those cultures, cultures which contribute to their aspirations, limitations, and attitudes.

Henrik Ibsen is thought of as a social realist who embodied clear and direct criticisms of his society in his plays, and p

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06). This speech says much about the relationship between Nora and Torvald. Torvald says people will think him responsible because that is what he would think--after all, Nora has been the uneducated, foolish, empty-headed wife, which is precisely what he wanted. He has created his own problem and refuses to take responsibility for it. For Torvald, it is the image that is important, and this also means the image he has of Nora is all that has ever concerned him, not her as a real person. At the first sign of scandal, Torvald seeks to punish his wife by casting her from him. The life they would then lead would be a sham: And as for you and me, it's got to seem like everything between us is just as it was--to the outside world, that is (106). In truth, their life together before this was no less a pretense and no less an illusion. Torvald's feelings for his wife are remarkably changeable, depending on what other people might think and on his own pompous sense of self. When she leaves him, it is apparent that he does not understand why. He is left to worry what others will think. Ibsen's approach is social realism, and the play takes place in the home of Nora and torvald, with a realistic depiction of their lives. The t

Category: Literature - A