A Doll’s House and Other Plays

Delivering three distinct and powerful visions of characters who choose to defy convention in the pursuit of happiness, Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Other Plays is translated with an introduction by Peter Watts in Penguin Classics. The League of Youth was Ibsen’s first venture into realistic social drama and marks a turning-point in his style. By 1879 Ibsen was convinced that women suffer an inevitable violation of their personalities within the context of marriage. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen caused a sensation with the his portrayal of Nora Helmer, a woman who, gradually arriving at an understanding of her own misery, struggles to break free from the stifling confines of her marriage. Continuing the theme of tensions within the family in The Lady from the Sea, Ibsen put forward the view that freedom with responsibility might at least be a step in the right direction. Peter Watts’s lively modern translation is accompanied by an introduction examining Ibsen’s life and times, with individual discussions of each of the three plays. Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) turned to journalism and playwriting instead of pursuing a university career. Ibsen was one of the earliest writers to dramatise the individual’s alienation from society. Although Ibsen was never fully appreciated during his lifetime, he has since come to be recognised as one of the great dramatists of all time and the ‘Father of Modern Drama’. If you enjoyed A Doll’s House, you might like Ibsen’s The Master Builder and Other Plays, also available in Penguin Classics.