Context

Question 1

Childhood

Answer 1

• initially quite prosperous however they experienced a fall from such affluence when he was 6 years old.
• His family attempted to hide/conceal their poverty to some extent, which ultimately had a long lasting effect on him. There was always a sense of family secret and disgrace. Facade of bourgeois respectability and wealth.
• When he was 18 he had an illegitimate child. Though he supported the child financially, he had very little contact with it therefore it remained hidden to come extent

Question 2

Ibsens wife

Answer 2

• His wife, Suzannah Thoreson, was highly educated unlike many women in Norway at that time, therefore she challenged convention
• Ibsen referred to his wife as ‘the bridge of my thought’ in one poem - therefore he valued her intellectualism

Question 3

Political standing

Answer 3

• Claimed not to have any interest in women’s rights in 1898, however critic Kristen Shepherd- Barr argues that this was simply ‘a speech that can be explained by his fear of being affiliated with any one particular group.’

– Ibsen was part of the ‘Modern Breakthrough’ movement,’ one of the big 4 writers in Norway: Bjornson, Kielland, Lie. Spoke for the cause of women.

Question 4

Religious standing

Answer 4

• ‘With pleasure I will torpedo the Ark’ - From poem ‘To my friend the revolutionary orator’ - wants to destabilize religious ideology
• ‘Bigger things than the state will fall, as religion will fall’ - a letter to Gerorg Brandes, 1906

Question 5

Darwinsim

Answer 5

• Writing at a time in which Darwin was very present.
  In 1859, Darwin published ``On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’.
• The book suggested that some species survived by adapting themselves to existing conditions,and that others disappeared as they were less ‘fit’ to do so.
• This undermined the literal interpretation of the Biblical story of creation - questioning religion in its traditional form
• This would have been very prevalent within Ibsen’s life. Indeed, ‘A Doll’s House’ was written just as new Danish translations were being published in 1879

Question 6

Men’s control of women

Answer 6

• Separate Spheres: men and women considered biologically different
• On a woman’s wedding day, she transitioned from living under the authority of her Father, to that of her husband.

Question 7

Men’s financial hold over women

Answer 7

• It was impossible for a woman to control her own finances or enter into any form of legal agreement without her husband.
• It was considered damaging to a man’s bourgeois status if his wife were to engage in work - a woman would have to give up work if she married

Question 8

Women and education

Answer 8

• Women did not gain access to education until the Education Act of 1876.
• It therefore not until 1882 that they were able to attend University also.

Question 9

Women and work

Answer 9

Unmarried women could take on jobs as a ‘white-collar worker,’ however only performing ‘female’ jobs and receiving significantly less pay than men

Question 10

Female hysetria

Answer 10

• Female hysteria: women believed to be more emotional and gentle by nature.
• This perception of femininity led to the belief that they were more susceptible to disease and insanity

Question 11

Rise of the New Woman

Answer 11

• The rise of the ‘New Woman’ evoked a new sense of sexual freedom.
• Encouraged women to be free-spirited, educated, career-minded, disinterested in ‘womanly ideals’ and valuing self-fulfillment

Question 12

Double standard in society

Answer 12

Women were expected to sacrifice themselves for their families and husbands; ultimately men were not expected to make the same sacrifices

Question 13

Female sexuality

Answer 13

• Flesh coloured tights: at this time associated with pornography and the theatre
• The rise of the new woman movement meant that women were able to evoke a new sense of sexual liberation - however was still controversial