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Doll House
To what extent do the historical and biographical context necessary or helpful in understanding A Doll House?
The historical and biographical context are helpful in understanding A Doll House because they give outside information that helps to better understand the play. The biographical view helps one understand that many of the themes are taken from real life situations and they are not just made up. An example of this is the sacrificial role of women. In the story Nora sacrificed a lot for her family. She sacrificed everything when Torvald was about to die she took a loan out of the bank and that was illegal at the time. This parallels with the life of Henrik Ibsen because his mother sacrificed a lot for his family. Her father was a successful merchant and she married into a merchant family but her husband made some bad decisions that caused them to lose all of their money. He became abusive and started to abuse Henrik’s mother. She sacrificed time and again for the sake of her family.

What values are shown in A Doll House?
Henrik Ibsen presents values such as gender roles, family, marriage, and social status. The main value that I personally agree with is the idea of gender equality. I believe that men and women are equal and should be treated as such. This has not been reflected in history as men have taken advantage of their leadership roles and extended them into the huosehold. A Doll House presents this value in a subtle manner, but it is prominent. For example, the fact that Mrs. Linde is able to take Krogstad’s former position in the bank shows that the people were chosen based on merit rather than gender. Another example of gender equality is at the conclusion of the play when Nora decides to leave her family and live a life of solitude until she can educate herself. This is a depiction of gender equality because Nora uses the equality

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