Ibsen and A Doll's House

Ibsen: A Doll's House

In this course, Dr Sophie Duncan (University of Oxford) explores Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, which premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen in December 1879. The course begins by introducing Ibsen's life and times, his inspiration for the plot of the play, and the story of how the play transitioned from the Scandinavian to the British stage. After that, we think about A Doll's House as a work of Victorian drama, focusing in particular on the continuities and discontinuities with other plays of the period. In the third module, we explore the theme of marriage in the play, including the political and journalistic debates surrounding marriage in the 1880s and 90s, before moving on in the fourth module to consider the play's treatment of masculinity. In the fifth module, we think about the influence of Darwin's Origin of Species on the play, focusing in particular on the themes of criminality and inheritance, before moving on in the sixth and final module to consider the theatrical, critical and philosophical readings of the play's stunning and sensational ending.

Ibsen and A Doll's House

In this module, we introduce Ibsen’s life and times, his inspiration for the plot of A Doll's House, as well as how the play transitioned from the Scandinavian to the British stage.