23rd Annual Student Research Conference
A Marxist Reading of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House
Kristen G. Lilley
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
According to Karl Marx and his Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, society is organized by social rank, and in these varying classes there is the oppressor and the oppressed, the bourgeois and the proletariat. The relationship between a husband and wife in the nineteenth century relates to these opposing forces through oppression. In Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House, published in 1879, Torvald's and Nora's relationship parallels that of the bourgeois and the proletariat. Torvald has the money and the power in the relationship, while Nora is subordinate and is said to have no influence over her husband. Despite being a member of the bourgeois herself at the beginning of the play, Nora's revolting against Torvald by the end of the play causes her to become the proletariat. Karl Marx calls upon the proletariat to revolt against his oppressor, and in the end of the play Nora does this.
Keywords: Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House, Marxist Criticism
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 28-2
Location: VH 1304
Time: 9:45