The Ritual Master It’s been a while since I last read drama, but I couldn’t let my Scandinavian Advent Calendar finish without diving into the work of Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen. A major figure of universal drama writing, and one of the most well known Norwegian authors, Ibsen is considered the “father of realism”, influencing writers such as Chekhov, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde or Marguerite Yourcenar. Nominated for three years in a row for the Nobel Prize in Literature, he sadly never received it.
“A doll’s house” is one of his most controversial plays at the time it came out, in 1879, and I am glad it was my choice since it takes place around Christmas.
Nora and Torvald Helmer are happily married with two children, living in a small Norwegian town. When Nora is blackmailed by a bank employee about a loan she took from him to cure her husband’s illness years back, she is faced with the ultimatum of admitting to her morally rigid husband, an illegal doing she has been hiding for years.
The play focuses on the condition of women in a society dominated by men, and is considered profoundly feminist, even if Ibsen himself denied any intention in that direction. I had forgotten how fascinating drama is for a reader. The fact that a writer cannot rely on descriptive passages in order to paint the picture in which the characters are performing… With the exception of a few stage directions, the words of the characters are the only directives we have while reading. And I always end up hearing their voices while reading. Nora started with the high pitched joyful voice of a frivolous woman in my head, just so she could end up with the graver, more pensive voice of a woman who’s had an immense revelation.
Under the cover of a simple domestic quarrel, there is a multitude of social conflicts, some of them specific to the 19th century, but others still as present in today’s society. The ending however left me optimistic, as if Ibsen knew that the times he was living in were only the beginning of women’s journey towards emancipation.
I’ll leave you with Nora’s wise words, an incentive to find our own path in life :
I believe that I am first and foremost a human being, like you – or anyway, that I must try to become one. I know most people think as you do, Torvald, and I know there’s something of the sort to be found in books. But I’m no longer prepared to accept what people say and what’s written in books. I must think things out for myself, and try to find my own answer.
Until tomorrow, enjoy your reading !
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