The House of Bernarda Alba
analytical Essay
1294 words
“May God strike you dead, you two-faced scorpion! You thorn in my flesh” , “You are out of your mind! I won’t allow it! I forbid you!’ “The House of Bernarda Alba” is a play written at the brink of the 1930s Spanish civil war by Fredrico Garcia Lorca. “A Doll’s House”, is a play written by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in the late 1800s. Both plays portray domination as a contributory of love, predominantly by the heads of households of the respected plays. In both plays “A Doll’s House” and “The House of Bernarda Alba”, domination and love have been key elements in the development of the plays. Characters that are by nature dominating over their family portray love in many different ways. Love is not as easy to interpret from these characters as compared with the straightforward Aunt Polly in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”. Love is defined in the characters of Torvald and Bernarda in the form of domination. Torvald is a lot more subtle about his feelings and more open for interpretation, while Bernarda is more complex and closed in the form of expressing love. In both plays name calling is a defining factor used by the playwrights, Ibsen and Lorca, to ridicule the antagonist’s subjects. For instance, in “A Doll’s House”, Ibsen emphasizes the name calling by creating a dehumanizing tone where Torvald often refers to animals such as ‘skylark’, ‘little squirrel’ and ‘little singing bird’. This is one example of how domination is used to portray his love for his wife, despite forming a sense of constriction; whereas in “The House of Bernarda Alba” Lorca uses a more direct and powerful method of name calling to establish Bernarda’s dominating nature. Through Bernarda, Lorca has used harsh words such as ‘Weakling!’ This part... ... middle of paper ... ...ehold with an iron fist, a sense of affection and love exist in them. Works Cited http://www.enotes.com/dolls-house/discuss/nora-macaroons-63873 http://classiclit.about.com/od/dollshousehenrikibsen/a/A-Dolls-House-Questions-For-Study-And- Discussion.htm http://classiclit.about.com/od/dollshousehenrikibsen/a/A-Dolls-House-Quotes.htm http://www.novelguide.com/ADoll'sHouse/novelsummary.html http://www.shmoop.com/dolls-house/torvald-helmer.html http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dollhouse/section3.rhtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Doll's_House 7/2/2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_Bernarda_Alba 7/2/2012 “A Doll’s House”, Henrik Ibsen, translated by Stanley Appelbaum, Modern Classics first edition “The House of Bernarda Alba”, Fredrico Garcia Lorca, translated by Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata, Dover Thrift Editions
In this essay, the author
- Compares fredrico garcia lorca's "the house of bernarda alba" and the norwegian playwright henrik ibsen' "a doll’s house". both portray domination as a contributory of love.
- Analyzes how domination and love have been key elements in the development of the plays. torvald and bernarda are more subtle about their feelings and open for interpretation.
- Analyzes how ibsen and lorca use name calling to ridicule the antagonist's subjects in "a doll’s house" and "the house of bernarda alba."
- Analyzes how bernarda and torvald have a similar trait, criticism. both playwrights, ibsen and lorca, use it to bring about the concern and love that the antagonists have towards the success of their family members.
- Analyzes how protection comes from the sense of domination in "the house of bernarda alba" and how torvald disallows nora from eating her favorite macaroons.
- Analyzes how domination helps bernarda and torvald protect and secure their respective families from societal aggression. in a doll's house, nora is considered a subordinate to any male figure in society.
- Explains that respect is a requirement to head the household and it is brought forth by the intention of love.
- Analyzes how bernarda alba and torvald are portrayed as tyrants dominating their household with an iron fist but a sense of affection and love exist in them.
- Cites http://www.enotes.com/dolls-house/discuss/nora-macaroons-63873 and https://classiclit.about
Related
- analytical
- Henrik Isben's A Doll's Houseanalytical essayIn Henrik Ibsen’s play, “A Dollhouse”, we learn of a woman who has been repressed almost her entire life. Nora Helmer was treated like a little girl not only by her father, but by her husband, Torvald, as well. Her life is compared to that of a doll’s in the play. In order to get what she wants she dresses and acts as to please Torvald. The two other principle characters in this play, Dr. Rank and Mrs. Linde, help to portray the characters of both Torvald and Nora. More specifically, Dr. Rank can be contrasted with Mr. Helmer, and the same can be done with Mrs. Linde and Nora. This not only allows the reader to understand the characters, but to help bring out one of the central themes of the story: the repression of the woman.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how henrik ibsen's play, "a dollhouse," portrays nora helmer as a doll. dr. rank and mrs. linde portray the characters of both torvald and nor.
- Analyzes how nora helmer is portrayed as a young-hearted, nave housewife, while mrs. christine linde, although around the same age, seems far more mature.
- Analyzes how dr. rank, on the other hand, is helpful in understanding mr. helmer. torvald plays a controlling husband, who treats his wife like his little "doll"
- Analyzes how mrs. linde and dr. rank helped to bring out the plot and assist the reader in understanding the character's actions.
- Analyzes the role of dr. rank and mrs. linde in the plot of the play.
923 wordsRead More - The House of Bernarda Alba and A Doll's House, by Frederico Garcia Lorca and Henrik Ibsen respectively, are two similar plays written at different times. In 1964, Frederico's The House of Bernarda Alba debuted in Madrid Spain, thirty-one years after it's birth in 1933. It pioneered the style of surrealistic imagery, popular folklore and was written in prose. A Doll's House was published in 1879 and appeared on stage that year in Copenhagen. Originally written in Dano-Norwegian known as Riksmal, its read in translation almost exclusively. It was released with a cast of male and female performers, in opposition to The House of Bernarda Alba with only female characters. Although these stories were written in two completely separate eras, they depict similar scenarios. They each reveal a dominant character pitted against a female character who is rebellious to the traditional social order. In A Doll’s House, Torvald is the dominating character manipulating his wife and treating her like a doll. In The House of Bernarda Alba, Bernarda is the dominating figure in charge of bossing her daughters around, and, more importantly causing the downfall of her youngest daughter Adela. Thus, both stories have a single figure in charge of pushing the less powerful woman or women around. In addition, both stories show broken relationships, and the downfall of main characters. However, the underlying theme, which ties these two plays together, is pride. Pride is both the root of social order and the cause of downfalls. It breaks relationships and splits families in one case, while restoring life in the other. Pride is an ever-present force in both of the plays, The House of Bernarda Alba and A Doll’s House, affecting the details, characters, and even the outcomes.
In this essay, the author
- Compares frederico garcia lorca and henrik ibsen's the house of bernarda alba and a doll’s house.
- Analyzes how pride drives adela onward in her battle for freedom and portrays her as a woman ahead of her time.
- Analyzes how the atmospheric pride in the two plays, changes the women into characters ahead of their times. adela's pride refuses to let her back down from bernarda, and she becomes rebellious.
- Analyzes how torvald's family is ripped apart by the departure of his wife, while nora and adela are changed by pride.
- Describes alba's the house of bernarda alba: a drama about women in the villages of spain.
- Analyzes how the dominant characters in a doll's house are rulers of their domain. bernarda rules quick and harsh, while torvald is the ruler of a smaller household.
- Analyzes how ibsen and lorca develop pride as an elusive device, changing the character’s lives in permanent ways. both plays have a unifying aspect in pride.
1567 wordsRead More - The Impact of Marriage in "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel and "The House of Bernarda Alba" by Federico Garcia Lorcaanalytical essayMarriage is an important theme in the plays, ‘A Doll’s House’ written by Henrik Ibsen, and ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ written by Federico Garcia Lorca. Though the concept of marriage is two people living together through love and companionship, it revolves around the duties and principals put up by the society. Both of these books share anachronistic views of marriage where marriage is not an emotional attachment between two entities but a social engagement between two entities of similar wealth and power.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that marriage is an important theme in the plays, "a doll's house" written by henrik ibsen, and "the house of bernarda alba".
- Analyzes how the setting of the play "a doll's house" is 19th century norway and the norms and beliefs of this era play a huge role in defining the role of torvald and nora as husband and wife.
- Analyzes how the drama, "the house of bernarda alba", has a similar idea of marriage as the "a doll's house".
- Analyzes how torvald, in "the doll's house," obliviously addresses his wife with childlike names to establish an air of superiority and dominance over her.
- Analyzes how the climax of "the house of bernarda alba" is the culmination of repressed desires that are the fault of the 20th century spanish society.
1243 wordsRead More - Personal Liberty In A Doll's House And The Fatheranalytical essay...ationship with their plays, by exploring the idea of patriarchy and disproportional power in a marriage. The Doll’s House questions gender roles, specifically motherhood. Marriage to Torvald was no different than living with a stranger. By walking out of her relationship for her own liberty, Nora sends a message that the rights of a woman are often wronged, and women should not be expected to conform to society’s expectation of duty. The Father questions patriarchy by illustrating the struggle between husband and wife. In an exaggerated approach, the play reveals that both husband and wife are equally vital in a marriage. Both plays show the power and potential held by woman in their struggle for personal liberty. By depicting realistic situations and the wives’ reactions, both playwrights offer their progressive commentary of gender roles and power in marriages.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how ibsen and strindberg's respective plays, a doll’s house and the father, depicted traditional middle-class life and explored the relationship between gender and unequal power in marriages.
- Analyzes how the protagonists of both plays are oppressed by their husband and stripped of personal liberties in their oppressive, male dominated society.
- Analyzes how the settings of both plays reflect scandinavian middle-class rooms, with tables, sofas and pendulum clocks, but they are also subtly stylized to reflect this patriarchy.
- Analyzes how nora and laura have distinct attitudes and actions in their personal struggle for liberty.
- Analyzes how laura, on the other hand, is introduced as being independent and intelligent, while understanding strategically what she has to do for personal liberty.
- Analyzes how both plays end with the psychological breakdown of the men in a female dominated space.
- Analyzes how the playwrights explored the idea of patriarchy and disproportional power in a marriage. the doll's house questions gender roles, specifically motherhood.
945 wordsRead More - A Doll's House Marriage Analysisanalytical essayA doll may look like a beautiful figure, but within a doll’s house, the beauty is sealed within the inside of the house, which the beautiful doll is useless. Within the doll’s house, the doll is not fulfilling its potential for why it was created, to be attained to- it is merely a household decoration. In Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, Nora is the doll, and her marriage is enclosed in the doll’s house. As a person, Nora is considered to be a beautiful creature who entertains her husband within the beautiful images of a docile wife. However, she is not who she seems to portray as. There is a dark secret within her. She’s a desperate creature longing to explore the outsides of her marriage outside of the doll’s house. In a society that is dominated by men, the expectations that Nora must handle, she must choose between the obligations that is determined by her role as a wife in opposition to the obligations of self, by focusing in her true identity. Divined with the context of her love, she commits forgery, and through the hardships and deception that she goes through, she realizes that her marriage is nothing more than an illusion, and she is nothing more than a doll within Torvald’s house.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how in henrik ibsen's play, a doll’s house, nora is a beautiful creature who entertains her husband within the beautiful images of docile wife.
- Analyzes the game of hide and seek between nora and her children, as well as her husband, and torvald.
- Analyzes how nora hides the fact that she borrowed money from krogstad in order to save her husband's health from torvald.
- Analyzes how nora has hidden a huge fact that she has done something illegal from her husband. she doesn't want torvald to find out and fire krogstad because he writes in the most scurrilous newspapers.
- Analyzes how nora hides her own actual strength. she is a doll towards torvald than someone who can handle life by herself.
- Analyzes how nora has been hiding the fact that she knows how to handle money, but she doesn't tell torvald she's entirely capable of handling their debt.
- Analyzes how nora hides from her children and her job as their mother. she dismisses her motherly actions and responsibilities when the timing becomes inconvenient.
- Analyzes how torvald hides information from his wife, nora, and tries to talk to her about money, but gives up quickly because he thinks she's a careless spender.
- Analyzes how nora is aware that both she and her husband are hiding things from each other, but she also seeks the truth.
953 wordsRead More - Nora Helme: Transgression towards Realizationanalytical essayA modern play that demonstrates the transgression of a woman from the conflict she experience is in “The Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen wrote this particular work while living in Italy, which became a cornerstone in ‘realism’. It also brings ...
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how nora's devious deed led her to a conflict with krogstad, who threatened to blackmail her if she didn't get his job back.
- Opines that damrosch, david, and pike l. david. the longman anthology of world literature.
- Explains that the victorian age revealed that women were faced with many adversities that appeared to have delayed their true aptitudes.
- Analyzes how torvald's fantasy of gazing upon nora from across the room at a party and pretending that she is something exotic led to her changing and losing her mind.
- Analyzes how nora and torvald's relationship seems to be a father-daughter relationship. the conflict between them stems from pride, unrequited love, and betrayal.
1158 wordsRead More - The Practices of Dr. Rank in A Doll's Houseanalytical essayIn the play A Doll House, by Henrik Ibsen, the convention of marriage is examined and questioned for its lack of honesty. The play is set in the late 1800s, which provides the backdrop for the debate about roles of people in society. Ibsen uses the minor character, Dr. Rank, to help develop the theme of conflicts within society. This, in turn, creates connections with the plot. Dr. Rank's function in the play is to foreshadow, symbolize, and reflect upon the truth of life and society and to break down the barrier between appearance and reality.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how henrik ibsen uses the minor character, dr. rank, to help develop the theme of conflicts within society and create connections with the plot.
- Analyzes how dr. rank's introduction in act i provides the reader with insight into the conflict nora will face with krogstad.
- Analyzes how ibsen uses dr. rank as a symbolic tool, enabling the reader to look deeper into the plot.
- Analyzes how dr. rank's friendship with nora and torvald is thought to be the same, yet they are independently different.
- Narrates how torvald loves them beyond words, and he'd like to keep them all to himself. he would be jealous if i mentioned any of my old friends back home.
- Analyzes how ibsen uses rank to make these truths about nora and torvald's personalities evident to the reader.
- Analyzes how ibsen's role of dr. rank in a doll house is crucial in understanding the plot, adding connections that force the reader to think about the appearance and reality of the characters' personalities.
- Analyzes how henrik ibsen's play, a doll house, examines the convention of marriage for its lack of honesty. he uses the minor character, dr. rank, to help develop the theme of conflicts within society.
- Analyzes how dr. rank's introduction in act i provides the reader with insight into the conflict nora will face with krogstad.
- Analyzes how ibsen uses dr. rank as a symbolic tool, enabling the reader to look deeper into the plot.
- Analyzes how dr. rank's friendship with nora and torvald is thought to be the same, yet they are independently different.
- Narrates how torvald loves them beyond words, and he'd like to keep them all to himself. he would be jealous if i mentioned any of my old friends back home.
- Analyzes how ibsen uses rank to make these truths about nora and torvald's personalities evident to the reader.
- Analyzes how ibsen's role of dr. rank in a doll house is crucial in understanding the plot, adding connections that force the reader to think about the appearance and reality of the characters' personalities.
1741 wordsRead More - Torvald Character Analysisanalytical essayIn the dramatic play, “A Doll House”, Torvald comes across as an over controllable and degrading husband towards his wife, Nora. He becomes more overbearing throughout the play, thus treating his wife more as a child than a woman. Interactions between Torvald and his wife are displayed more as a father talking to his child. In his head, Torvald believes that he is better than the rest and his mentality is easily displayed through his actions towards not only Nora, but others as well. Torvald is depicted as a moralistic being who has a mindset that a husband must hold the most power within a marriage.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how torvald is depicted as an over-controllable and degrading husband towards his wife, nora, in "a doll house".
- Analyzes how torvald dehumanizes his wife with pet names in act i and shows signs that his work is more important than nora's demands.
- Analyzes how torvald stereotypically describes women as frivolous money spenders in act i.
- Analyzes how torvald cares more about his reputation than his wife's desires.
- Analyzes how torvald coaches nora for the tarantella, which is a dance used to get rid of poisons.
- Analyzes how torvald pushes himself upon nora after they find time to be alone, expressing his love for her in a sexual manner in order to get more intimate.
- Analyzes how torvald is conveyed as a character who believes his purpose within his marriage is to guide his wife, nora.
- Analyzes how ibsen's play, "a doll house," was influenced by the gender roles of the twentieth century, when he chose to write the play itself.
789 wordsRead More - The A Doll House by Henrik Ibsenanalytical essayThe A Doll House is a play written by Henrik Ibsen and was based on the life of one of his really good friends named, Laura Kieler. Since Ibsen wrote the play in 1879, A Doll ’s House has been constantly re-interpreted in large and small theaters, on film and TV throughout the world. It has become of the most famous European plans and in less than 130 years it has acquired a rich and controversial afterlife (Siddall 75). This play is about a woman that leaves her husband and children behind to discover who she really is in life and what “she” wants as an individual woman. This play was written in the late 1800’s and was written based on the critical views of what a marriage was based on. The themes that are reflected in this play are about marriage and what it was based on and viewed as in that specific time period, lies and deceit, and the roles that men and women played.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that a doll's house is a play written by henrik ibsen and was based on the life of one of his really good friends named, laura kieler.
- Explains that marriage was sacred and personal in a doll's house. the 1857 matrimonial causes act allowed ordinary people to divorce.
- Explains that divorce was unheard of, but was frowned upon back in the 1900's. women were expected to get married and have children; if they weren't married, they were looked upon as not being good enough.
- Analyzes how nora illegally borrowed money from her father to help improve torvald's health when they traveled to italy when he got desperately sick.
- Analyzes how the roles of women and men in a doll's house have changed from the 1900’s and even before that.
- Concludes that the themes reflected in this play are about marriage and what it was based on in that specific time period, lies and deceit, and the roles that men and women played.
626 wordsRead More - The Breaking of a Family in A Doll House by Henrik Ibsenanalytical essayIbsen writes his play A Doll House to explain the life of a housewife and her struggles with her own actions. Ibsen examines the emptiness in the lives of Nora and Torvald as they lived a dream in a Doll House. Both awaken and realize this emptiness and so now Torvald struggles to make amends as he hopes to get Nora back possibly and then to restore a new happiness in their lives. Ibsen examines this conflict as a rock that breaks the image of this perfect life and reveals all the imperfections in the lives of those around.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how henrik ibsen's play, a doll house, describes the perfect family and the conflicts within. he examines the normal lives of the helmer family through the eyes of nora.
- Analyzes how ibsen opens the play with the perfect home where nora is planning every detail with no concern for her own needs.
- Analyzes how nora's life begins to fall apart with the arrival of krogstad as she becomes fearful of him.
- Analyzes how nora's fears for her family life are exemplified in her own worries as she convinces torvald to not look at the mail.
- Analyzes how ibsen writes a doll house to explain the life of a housewife and her struggles with her own actions.
738 wordsRead More