The form and structure of A Dolls House is much different to anything else that has been written more recently, as it has a whole different structure to anything else around, both a the time it was written and now. The People of the time condemned this play, as it reversed the typical roles of men and women at the time, portraying Nora as very strong, and able to use money and more to the point, deceitful to her husband.
In light of this, the opinion of ‘A Doll’s House’ is that it is nearly a well made play, but it doesn’t have a happy ending, and this doesn’t always go down well with an audience, especially an audience in the days of Henrik Ibsen, as they were used to plays all ending happily, with a solid conclusion being established, so Ibsen’s work was a culture shock to everyone who watched it, but a breathe of fresh air to female viewers, as it clearly supported the feminist idea. The acts are sorted into very strict patterns. There is a distinct beginning, middle and end, one act of each.
For story writers, these are usually just an outline for the story, but Ibsen has used them to a greater effect, to split A Doll’s House up into easy sections for the reader and actor to use. As well as this, he hasn’t placed in any scene splits. Each act is one long scene, with different units for the scene. These units are decided usually by a character leaving or entering, not by actual stage directions written on the page. This way, any scene settings can be chosen at the directors disgression, meaning the play can be performed in many different ways.
These units also allow the play to move with much more fluidity, as the setting doesn’t always change in the units as it would with scenes. Ibsen has also written this play putting a lot of thought into his characters, as the depth of the characters is great, with each one of them possessing a different one of the seven sins, and the couples (Nora and Torvald, and Krogstad and Mrs Linde) are in parallel positions to each other, one relationship is dead as another flourishes, and the plots revolving around these characters show this.
Symbolism is also used in the play, as in some sections of the units, Nora has no words to stop Torvald, and so she starts dancing the Tarantella to distract him. This is used to show her desperation, and then later on her frustrations, as she dances it very rough and unsteadily. The name “A Doll’s House” is also a symbol of the fact that she feels trapped, and that others [Krogstad in particular] is playing with her life, and she is powerless to stop him, as is a doll in a doll’s house.
In ‘A Doll’s House’, given circumstances are often supplied to the viewer/reader, although some things are not given, therefore require the reader/viewer to use their own imagination to come up with their own ideas as to where the story may go next, or what the characters motivation is at the time. Ibsen’s form of theatre is naturalistic, but makes the characters seem real, although the dilemmas faced by his characters aren’t always solvable. This style is an adapted version of Stanislavsy’s form, which asked the actor to become the character through emotion, and to be genuine.
