Impact of 'A doll's house'

When ‘A doll’s house’ was performed it would not have been considered a feminist play, because ‘feminism’ was not a widely used word or well-known concept. We have to be careful when describing Ibsen as a feminist writer because modern terminology cannot be easily applied to older works. 

The impact at the time was that it shocked audiences and challenged the view that women belonged in the house as homemakers and objects to be bartered with. At the time Ibsen’s play was a breakthrough in the political message he was trying to tell. There was a large outcry and people protested the original ending so much that the alternate ending had to be produced. 

His work was so different from the other works at the time because he used his plays to describe the social injustice faced by, in this case, women in 19th century Norway. His contributions made him become known as ‘the father of modern drama. 

This paired with the social context of Norway in the 19th century has meant that modern-day readers have labelled Ibsen as a feminist. Although this is a tricky thing to do and we have to be careful when adding labels to older plays, it shows that the significance and the impact of ‘A doll’s house' has not diminished over the years. Its impact as a form of advocating for women’s rights and the struggles faced by women still has relevance to the modern reader and when read we are given insight into the struggles faced by women, then, and arguably, now.