A Doll’s House or A Woman of No Importance?
Question by albali: A Doll’s House or A Woman of No Importance?
Hello
I am going to be teaching one of these texts next year to Year 12′s. I can’t decide which one to do!! Have you read either of them and what are your thoughts? Any students who have studied them? What did you think? How about teachers; did you find either of them particularly inspiring?
allyum. You don’t say which one!!!!
Best answer:
Answer by allymm
I had to read it in my junior lit class in high school.. and i thought it was very interesting.. several things in it can be inferred as symbols my fav part of a story is the symbols and metaphors.. also, I like how the characters sort of redeem themselves by the end.. it shows that good can come out of any situation.. i highly recommend this one.
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I’ve read both of them. They are nice books but Doll’s House can sometimes be boring and monotonous. If I had to choose, I would personally give the preference to Oscar Wilde. A Woman of No Importance would give you more to discuss with your students. The themes of the play are as diverse as any of his plays. Doll’s House is rather static. There are not as many themes in it as in the other. Doll’s House is enjoyable in a static sort of way. We appreciate the way in which the characters have been drawn mainly. The existence of the main character is rather robotic. In A Woman of No Importance, on the contrary, the woman in question is shown to be of some importance, especially as we analyse her relationship with her son. She is dynamic and likeable, although we might sometimes think her overbearing.
At the beginning of A Doll’s House, Nora seems completely happy. She responds affectionately to Torvald’s teasing, speaks with excitement about the extra money his new job will provide, and takes pleasure in the company of her children and friends. She does not seem to mind her doll-like existence, in which she is coddled, pampered, and patronized.
As the play progresses, Nora reveals that she is not just a “silly girl,” as Torvald calls her. That she understands the business details related to the debt she incurred taking out a loan to preserve Torvald’s health indicates that she is intelligent and possesses capacities beyond mere wifehood. Her description of her years of secret labor undertaken to pay off her debt shows her fierce determination and ambition. Additionally, the fact that she was willing to break the law in order to ensure Torvald’s health shows her courage.
Krogstad’s blackmail and the trauma that follows do not change Nora’s nature; they open her eyes to her unfulfilled and underappreciated potential. “I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald,” she says during her climactic confrontation with him. Nora comes to realize that in addition to her literal dancing and singing tricks, she has been putting on a show throughout her marriage. She has pretended to be someone she is not in order to fulfill the role that Torvald, her father, and society at large have expected of her.
Torvald’s severe and selfish reaction after learning of Nora’s deception and forgery is the final catalyst for Nora’s awakening. But even in the first act, Nora shows that she is not totally unaware that her life is at odds with her true personality. She defies Torvald in small yet meaningful ways—by eating macaroons and then lying to him about it, for instance. She also swears, apparently just for the pleasure she derives from minor rebellion against societal standards. As the drama unfolds, and as Nora’s awareness of the truth about her life grows, her need for rebellion escalates, culminating in her walking out on her husband and children to find independence.
In the other play, the woman of no importance is shown to be more affirmative than Nora ever is and if we, or I were to choose which character I prefer I would say the woman of no importance rather than the one who seemingly has an importance until she realises she is more of a doll than a human being.
Hope this helps!
Well, they are both great plays, but I personally prefer A Woman of No Importance. It has more humour (something I always value in literature) and it also has a spirited American girl as one of the main characters, which I think might make it more interesting to an American class.
I taught English for years, and I assumed when I read your question that you meant the Alan Bennett monologue!
They are so different.
The Female Eunuch is now a set book and at the beginning Germaine Greer writes briefly about Nora and her question to Helmer ‘What do you consider is my most sacred duty?’
I used to consider this with my students, and got some very interesting responses (they were A-level). But the Alan Bennett monologues were also A-level (though not ‘A Woman Of No Importance’) and I noticed that students found it hard to find anything to say about the pieces. I played them the Particia Routledge video once of A Woman Of No Importance but they missed the humour, the pathos, the ‘we laughed’ pieces, and the slow dying, and the sheer intense unrecognised loneliness …
I don’t know what to advise you. Ibsen is still interesting, Alan Bennett is perhaps beyond Year 12s. But who can tell? Once you start to point things out, students can pick up on things you hadn’t noticed yourself.
Anyway I hope I have the right authors! You are very welcome to email me if you would like to. Best wishes.