A+Doll's+House-+Naturalism+in+Drama

==**Naturalism, in literature.... is the return to nature and to man, direct observation, correct anatomy, the acceptance and the depiction of that which is. The task is the same for this scientist as for the writer. Both have to abandon abstractions for realities, ready-made formulas for rigorous analysis. Hence no more abstract characters in our works, no more mendacious inventions, no more absolutes, but real people, the true history of everyone, the web and woof of daily life. It was a matter of a totally new start, of getting to know man from the every wellspring of his being, before reaching conclusion in the manner of the idealists who invent their types. Writer from now on are constrained to build from the foundation upward, by bringing us the largest number of human documents, presented in their logical order.**==

==Henrik Ibsen inherited the conventions of “the well-made play" when he came on the scene of modern drama. Ibsen’s naturalism was largely in terms of theme rather than of technique. J.L.Styan makes the following observation regarding Ibsen’s naturalism: “In Ibsen the Norwegian background is increasingly present, ...and each small town managing its own problems, giving local politics and social mores an unusual prominence ... The time had come for the stage to be peopled with creatures with genuine roots and authentic backgrounds. Causes and effects in society waited and honest treatment, and vast new territories of theme and content lay open to the scientific explores.”[6] The plot of “the well-made play” is still the structure on which the tale hangs. The characters and dialogue are modified in the direction of the new goal that Ibsen had set for himself.==

==While Scribe and Sardou catered to the entertainment of the audience, Ibsen endeavored to present the truth of human relationships. But this truth was difficult thing to define as with the progress of the nineteenth century the transcendent frame of reference for truth disappeared. Science claimed that human reason can explain everything. Evolutionary theory and relativity began to replace the transcendent and the absolute, libertinism and moral nihilism began to question moral standards and codes. Utilitarianism and the principle of expedience ruled human behavior so much that it has been said of Norway: ”Three million different Norwegians, three million different opinions.”[7] F.W.Kaufmann makes the following observation in his essay “Ibsen’s Conception of Truth”:==

==This truth is more than a mere logical agreement of thought and fact; it is rooted much deeper, since it originates in their interpenetration of life and thought, and involves the total personality. .... Ultimately, such organic truth is to be found in the appropriate response to a given situation, based on an intelligent and sympathetic examination of all factors involved and carried out with the will to assume fullest responsibility for the decision. .... his (Ibsen’s) somewhat elusive term “truth” and its opposite, “life lie.” The problem of truth is most intimately related to Ibsen’s struggle for self-realization. ... the authenticity which he was seeking also accounts for his choice of truth in the existential sense of the word.[8]==

==From an examination of Ibsen’s letters F.W.Kaufmann concludes: “(Ibsen) knows that truth never is a possession, but a constant effort to find the appropriate response to every situation which demands a decision, and that truth, once it is generalized and accepted as valid without reexamination in the light of the new situation, is already disintegrating and in danger of becoming a falsehood.”[9] Thus truth and falsehood become paradoxical and can be defined only in relation to a particular situation.==

==It was A Doll’s House which made Ibsen well-known all over Europe. From 1879 when it was produced first, it took ten years or more for England, France and America to receive the impact of this play and Ibsen was no longer a playwright confined to Norway but belonged to the whole of Europe.==

==In this third act of //A Doll’s House// a new truth begins to dawn on Nora, as Krogstad’s letter about Nora’s forgery in an I.O.U. reaches her husband, Torvald Helmer. Nora had borrowed money from Krogstad to finance the family’s travel to Italy as her husband was seriously ill and he had been advised living in a warm climate. Nora had forged her father’s signature as security as she had wanted to save her father (who was also seriously ill and he had died a little later) from the painful knowledge of the condition of his daughter’s family. This had happened eight years ago, and Helmer knew nothing of it. Now Krogstad threatens and blackmails Nora (with the letter) to Helmer revealing Nora’s forgery, as Krogstad is dismissed from a bank job and Helmer is the new Manager of the same bank. Krogstad hopes to gain power over Helmer, and not only get back his job but climb up in the bank. Even as Helmer disappears, and the I.O.U. is returned with apology and Helmer wants Nora to continue to live with him as his “songbird,” ”skylark,” “squirrel,” etc.==

Nora tells him :
==You don’t understand me. And I’ve never understood you-until this evening ... You and I have got to face facts, Torvald ....Does it occur to you that is the first time we two, you and I, man and wife, have ever had a serious talk together ?...A great wrong has been done to me, Torvald. First by papa, and then by you....It’s the truth, Torvald.[10]==

==And she goes on to comment how her father treated her as a doll: “He called me his little doll, and he played with me just the way I played with my dolls”(p.96). Then she “passed into” her husband’s hands. With inexorable logic Nora’s speech continues:==

=="... our home has never been anything but a playroom. I’ve been your doll-wife, just as I used to be papa’s doll-child. And the children have been my dolls. I used to think it was fun when you came in and played with me, just as they think it’s fun when I go in and play games with them. That’s all our marriage has been, Torvald."(p.96).==

When Torvald wants her to stay on to educate the children, she tells him:
==I’m not fitted to educate them. There’s something else I must do first. I must educate myself. And you can’t help me with that. It’s something I must do myself. That’s why I’m leaving you...but must stand on my own feet if I am to find out the truth about myself and about life. So I can’t go on living here with you any longer.(p.97).==

The question that has been troubling her: “Has a woman really not the right to spare her dying father pain, or save her husband’s life?” needs to be answered.
==No appeal to books, religion, sanctity of family, or question of conscience can stop Nora from seeking her freedom and truth. She has a duty towards herself: “I believe that I am first and foremost a human being, like you (Torvald) –or anyway, that I must try to become one... I must think things out for myself, and try to find my own answer”(p.98). Shortly Nora leaves, slamming the door on Torvald’s home. This preoccupation with the truth of human relationship that constitutes marriage is the aspect of Ibsen’s naturalism revealed in //A Doll’s House.//==