Role of the Past on Characters in 2 Plays

Both authors rely heavily on significant events from the past in their development of theme and characters. The protagonists Nora and Willy in the two plays are forced to confront the past as it bears its terrible fruit in the present. Therefore, it is crucial for the success of the play and the presentation of its theme that that past is shown to the audience is a way which will unite that audience emotionally and/or psychologically with that past. If the audience does not relate emotionally or psychologically to the past events, then it will be less likely to relate meaningfully to the outcome of those events in the protagonist's present life. Again, in this regard, the argument here is that, overall, Ibsen is less successful than Miller.

To be fair, Ibsen's conventional use of expos

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---the loan, the dependent roles she has played with her father, husband, minister, and male-run society in general. However, the traditional use of exposition minimizes the audience's emotional connection to that past, and thus gives Nora's awakening itself an air of artificiality. The turning point for Nora is when Torvald reads the letter from Krogstad and exposes the utter selfishness at his core. She sees that Torvald does not love her, and realizes in that instant that she does not love him (Ibsen 1365-1368). It is simply too much too fast, and in part the use of awkward, unnatural exposition is at fault. The symbolism of the loan (it is, after all, a sign of Nora's love and sacrifice for Torvald) is also somewhat weakened by the fact that we hear about it in bland, undramatic exposition. Miller, on the other hand, offers a much more dramatic, experimental (for its day), and emotionally involving method and structure in letting the audience in on the past of Willy and his family. The theme of this play, like Ibsen's, is dependent on the past and its impact on the present. illy, like Nora, has long suffered under the illusion that the life he is leading is real and desirable. Like Nora, Willy, in reality, has led an artific
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Howard Howard, Nora Willy, Nora It's, Nora Torvald, Krogstad Nora, Death Salesman, Chevy Miller, , Ben Miller, Chevy Nineteen, past events, portrayal past, theme characters, development theme, development theme characters, nora willy, np np nd, happy ibsen, husband minister, audience past, willy hand, nora torvald, father husband minister,
Approximate Word count = 1668
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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