Topic > Audience Reaction to A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

"A Doll's House" Henrik IbsenHELMER: Go then [grabs her arm]. But first you will see your children for the last time! NORA: Let me go! I won't see them! I cannot! HELMER: (drags her towards the left door) You'll see them. (He opens the door and says in a low voice) Look, they're sleeping peacefully and carefree. Tomorrow they will wake up and call for their mother, they will be - motherless.NORA: [trembling] Motherless!HELMER: As you once were.NORA: Motherless! [struggles with herself, drops travel bag and says.] Oh, it's a sin against myself, but I can't leave them. [half-slumps near the door.] HELMER: [happily, but softly] Nora! [curtain closes] Ibsen's play shocked German directors so much that they forced him to write an alternative ending. Ibsen called the changed ending a "barbaric act of violence against the spectacle". The sight was an outrage described by furious Victorian newspapers as "... an open drain" and "a toilet" and welcomed by protesters in several cities. “A Doll's House” was the Passion of the Christ or Fahrenheit 911 of its time. Laden with brutal attacks and angry symbolism towards middle-class audiences, it's no wonder this play has caused so much controversy. Ibsen's audience was the new middle class of the industrial revolution. Before Ibsen's time the theater was only a place reserved for the aristocratic classes. Ibsen wrote for the middle class, choosing themes and language that appealed to and offended them. New middle-class values ​​included hard work, sexual morality, education, thrift, and prudent marriage. Appearance was extremely important, and a happy, healthy, idealized life was required of a middle-class man and his family. Furthermore, the most sacred duties (and the only duties) that women could undertake were motherhood and submission to their husband. The most obvious way in which Ibsen draws class parallels is through the relationships between characters. Christine Linde is more independent than Norah, she was forced to make her own way in life. She practices little to none of the Victorian middle class values ​​(she is widowed, childless, penniless). Norah is the opposite. It has everything Victorian society approves of. However, Christine is the woman who knows what the truth is, knows what is right, and is the voice of reason who believes that the truth is the key to every marriage. Through these characters in this play Ibsen attacks the lifestyle and ideals of his audience..