A Doll's House Webquest

Introduction

Ibsen is said to be the greatest playwright after Shakespeare – that is as good a reason as any for studying his famous play A Doll’s House. Our knowledge of this play will be established by what you – the students – bring to class. The class will be split into four groups with each group presenting a seminar on a specific topic related to the play. Your seminar must be research-based. What this means is that you are not to give your opinion on what certain lines from the play mean. You are instead to research the play and find out what others have said about it. Give the class a summary of some of the popular academic theories about the play. You can of course tell us whether or not you agree with them, but please limit these evaluations to marginal notes in your seminar presentation.

Below are websites that have a great deal of information about each topic upon which the seminar presentations will be based. It is your job to sift though the resources provided to you and present what you feel is relevant to your presentation. Your presentation may have slide shows, movies, and other audio/visual material to present to the class as long as it some how ties into the presentation.

First – a free online version of the play:

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/dlshs11.txt

Take a look at the sidebar - you'll find links for each topic of the seminar presentations. Have a quick read through some of the information that you'll be required to know as part of your seminar presentations before you pick a topic. I want you to be working on something that you're interested in! The information provided in the links under each section is important because it's thorough, and most importantly, well researched. It's important for you to realize that there are better sources for information out there than Wikipedia!

Finally, don't forget to check out the rubric for the seminar presentations. You'll want to know exactly what you are being evaluated on before you actually do the presentation.

If you find other links that are relevant to your topic, post a comment in the post page of the topic that you have been assigned. I'll take a look at it and let you know whether it's useful or not. Questions or comments? Leave either in the comments section of this post. Have fun!

New York State Standards Covered by This Webquest

Standard 1: Language for Information and Understanding

Students will read for information and understanding as it pertains to Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. As listeners (of the seminars) and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from electronically produced texts.

Standard 2: Language for Literary Response and Expression

Students will read electronically produced texts and performances from A Doll’s House and develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for self-expression and artistic creation.

Standard 3: Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation

Students will read and listen for critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze ideas, information, and issues presented by others. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.

Seminar Topic #1: Context

Who was Henrik Ibsen? Where was the play written and under what circumstances? Are there any indications that we have about why Ibsen wrote the play and what he thought about it? Was the play well-received? Tell the class about the environment surrounding the writing and subsequent staging of the play. Do you think that Ibsen’s life had a part to play in his writing this piece? Use the following links to guide your research.

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ibsen.htm

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9041947/Henrik-Ibsen

http://www.ibsen.net

http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/digital/2000/c_n_c/c_09_modern_drama/19th_cent_theatre.htm (read the whole chapter)

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/goldman/aando/drama.html

Seminar Topic #2: Characters

Nora, it has been said, is perhaps the first feminist ever to be written. In your seminar give the class a discussion of the character Nora in the play and a little bit about the background in which she was written. Use the following links to guide your discussion as well as the text of the play itself. The idea of marriage would also be a good topic to disucss in this seminar as well as the relationship between men and women.

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/Writings/Drama/doll.html

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/goldman/aando/drama.html

http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/ud/About-the-Ministry/Minister-of-Foreign-Affairs-Jonas-Gahr-S/Speeches-and-articles/2006/Three-Dimensional-Ibsen-Politics-Feminism-and-the-Stage.html?id=420879

Seminar Topic #3: Reception of the Play

It seems that Norway, and even the rest of Europe was not thrilled with A Doll’s House. Why? Find out and tell the class. Use the links below to guide your discussion as well as any hints that you can find in the text and in the previous presentations.

http://www.nndb.com/people/829/000024757/

http://www.theatredatabase.com/19th_century/henrik_ibsen_001.html

http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc5w2.htm

http://department.monm.edu/classics/Speel_Festschrift/urban.htm

http://www.northern.edu/wild/0304Season/DollsHouse/Doll_Nts.htm

http://academics.triton.edu/uc/files/dollshse.html#intro (Focus on the introduction – the play follows).

Seminar Topic #4: The Play as a Whole

Because the play was written so long ago, there have since been reinterpretations of it. Use the links below as starting points on how the play has been changed and re-appropriated for modern-day audiences and provide textual evidence when appropriate. It will be your job to tie together the three other presentations and add to them what you will. This makes your job both easy and difficult but the following links should help guide you in the right direction!

http://www.neveshalom.org/html/arts/art_gallery_dollhouse.htm

http://www.ibsenvoyages.com/e-texts/doll/index.html (please make sure that you read each page)

http://academics.triton.edu/uc/files/dollshse.html#intro (Focus on the introduction – the play follows).

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/introser/ibsen.htm