A doll's house / The wild duck / The lady from the sea

by Henrik Ibsen

'That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. We two have kept bravely on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short time longer that there need be any struggle.'

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, Fiction

256 pages, paper

First published January 1, 1888

About the author

Henrik Johan Ibsen was a major Norwegian playwright largely responsible for the rise of modern realistic drama. He is often referred to as the "father of modern drama." Ibsen is held to be the greatest of Norwegian authors and one of the most important playwrights of all time, celebrated as a national symbol by Norwegians.

His plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when Victorian values of family life and propriety largely held sway in Europe and any challenge to them was considered immoral and outrageous. Ibsen's work examined the realities that lay behind many facades, possessing a revelatory nature that was disquieting to many contemporaries.

Ibsen largely founded the modern stage by introducing a critical eye and free inquiry into the conditions of life and issues of morality. Victorian-era plays were expected to be moral dramas with noble protagonists pitted against darker forces; every drama was expected to result in a morally appropriate conclusion, meaning that goodness was to bring happiness, and immorality pain. Ibsen challenged this notion and the beliefs of his times and shattered the illusions of his audiences.

Reviews

[Jaide · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good translation of “A Doll’s House” by R. Farquharson Sharp, particularly where the famous Act III monologue is concerned.

I probably would have been annoyed with Nora if I had gone into reading this play blindly—but since I’d seen the stunning conclusion (done by the Young Vic) I knew there was more to her than what was on the surface.

[Dan Blackley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historical importance is big. Not so good.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one of my Grandfathers books I picked up, and my first introduction to Ibsen. Loved all 3 plays, especially the last one The Lady from the Sea. They were sad, yet often funny and amusing.

[March · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't even read the last play - The Lady from the Sea. I somehow got so angry with Ibsen's characters! I know the plays were written a century and a half ago, when social conditions were really different from today, but I just cannot help it!
I hate the men in his plays for being so self-righteous and thinking the sun shines out of their own asses! For abandoning their children and letting them commit suicide, because they *might* have been from another man. For shoving their wives in the kitchen all the time, and pretending to be some sort of enlightened and idealistic souls all along.
I hate Ibsen's female characters for letting all this happen with a resignation that seems to me to give them sort of pleasure even, for being so meek, spoiled and shallow.
I really don't understand what people find in these unconvincing, far-fetched, often blatantly didactic plays.
And I know plays always feel kind of a little forced to me, but with Ibsen it's just too much!
I had taken on that book to get me away from the long, dialogue-less narratives of Kafka - a play, I thought, with its dynamism and constant talking, would be a nice departure after him. Well, Ibsen just didn't do it for me. I also knew that James Joyce was particularly influenced by Ibsen and even wrote criticism on him, but alas, I hardly finished The Wild Duck and just gave up.
Just two short summaries - A Doll's House is a play about how a terribly spoiled woman, suddenly gets all sensible and smart and serious and decides to leave her husband because he treats her like a.. well, "doll." Only, I felt as if she had been quite happy to be treated just as such for years and years.
The Wild Duck, where symbolism was just too heavy and emphasized for me, is about two families facing their difficult pasts and more generally about truth, trust, and their importance for relationships...

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel as though this collection was intended to showcase one popular play, one respected play and one lesser-known play. Well, they're all good. Ibsen's a master of setting up reunions that allow exposition to unfold organically, even when the story gets a bit mystical like it does in "The Lady From the Sea." I've read these three all before but the only plot I recalled was "A Doll's House," and even that one still had narrative surprises.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

that book was alrite. it taught me how women started to get there independece in away.

[Diana Stevan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely companion to the Feminine Mystique