Introduction

• Engels
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Goals today

Predicting some of the concerns, characters, concepts and themes in A Doll's House

Understanding come context of composition 

Summative on A Doll's House (ADH) 1st December 

Marking expectation - Thursday 16th October 

Rate the word 1 to 4

1. I do not know the word, and I have never seen it before. 

2. I've heard or seen the word before, but I'm not sure what it means. 

3. I know the word and can recognise and understand it while reading, but I probably wouldn't feel comfortable using it in writing or speech. 

4. I know the word well and can use it correctly in writing or speech. 

Artifact

Word of the day

Artifact (n) - an object, such as a tool, that was made in the past

RCELI - unscramble the word to find a synonym 

The museum has artifacts dating back to prehistoric times.

Relic 

A Doll's House 

Bring your copy of A Doll's House to the next lesson. 

You cannot annotate directly in your copy as it must be returned, but please use post-its to annotate important passages or record your thinking. 

Homework - Language & Literature HL

Read in your text book pages 165 & 169 

Take notes in your exercise book for Thursday 

Homework for 9th October 

Words to use/learn (AWL)

Analysis 

Approach 

context 

establish 

function 

indicate 

response 

specific 

Words to learn/use (terminology) 

Dramatic dialogue 

connotative meaning 

denotative meaning 

playwright 

performance 

stage 

speech directions 

Write this vocabulary down in their columns 

Tick the words off as you use them in your written and spoken work. 

01:54

What impression do you have of Nora? What kind of person is she?

03:04

Nora's shoes could be considered to be a symbol. What might they be symbolic of?

04:27

What point could this section be making about the structure of society?

05:36

Shoes 

Notice how the symbolic meaning attached to an object can be augmented through the way they are used and appear in the narrative. 

06:16

The front door also carries symbolic meaning. what might be the symbolic message?

06:29

Music 

Notice how music is used to place emphasis on certain objects, events or actions. How could a playwright achieve a similar effect? What techniques could be available?

06:42

Keys and mobile symbolic? What idea could these symbolise?

07:48

This moment has been foreshadowed. What feeling/idea was triggered in you from the foreshadowed image.

Jot down your thoughts ...

1. Predict some of the ideas and events that might be in the play. 
   
2. What characters could there be and how do they interact with each other? 
   
3. What themes/ main ideas were highlighted in the short film that we watched? 
   

   (2:27) 

Etymology 'playwright'

"writer or adapter of plays for the stage," 1680s (Ben Jonson used it 1610s as a mock-name), from play (n.) + wright (n.).

Old English wryhta, wrihta (Northumbrian wyrchta, Kentish werhta) "worker," variant of earlier wyhrta "maker," from wyrcan "to work" (see work (v.)). Now usually in combinations (wheelwright, playwright, etc.) or as a surname. A common West Germanic word; cognate with Old Saxon wurhito, Old Frisian wrichta, Old High German wurhto.

From: https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=playwright

Concept: Identity 

How one expresses themselves in relation to the context (beliefs/morality, race or ethnicity and gender)

Identity 

A way somebody sees themselves based on experiences, beliefs and origins. 

Beliefs and morality

Race and Ethnicity, Religion, 

Social Class, 

Gender, 

Occupation, 

Education Level, 

Country of origin, Behaviour, 

Sexual Orientation  

Henrik Ibsen 

Born 1828 in Norway 

Died 1906 

A Doll's House 

Written in 1879 

21st Dec 1879 world premier in Copenhagen 

1882 first English translation performed in Milwaukee USA

Context of composition 

The father of realism. 

Context of composition and context of interpretation 

Realism 

Ibsen, established realism as a vital mode in the theatre. Realism for Ibsen is simultaneously a theatrical technique and a philosophical stance. We find realism at work in Ibsen’s dialogue, scenery and characterisation, as well as in the plays’ relentless critique of bourgeois ideals. Ibsen was not the first realist dramatist, but he remains its most influential practitioner. The plays continue to bear witness to realism’s effectiveness, as audiences continue to find themselves represented, in all their faults, in his dramas.

Adapted from Cambridge.org

Well-made play 

 A Doll’s House may be described as a ‘well-made play’: a style of 19th century play with clear-cut protagonists and antagonists, artificially logical plots, often involving some ‘skeleton in the family cupboard', and usually happy endings. Ibsen often used the basic form of the well-made plot, but used more realistic and problematic characters than were previously seen. 

The term was coined by the influential French playwright Eugène Scribe (1791-1861)

Title 

What denotative and connotative meanings does the title A Doll's House have for you? 

Jot down your answers...

during the music (2:03)

Draw the stage layout from above. You can also decide to draw it in 3-D. See next slide. 

Why, do you think, that Ibsen gave such a detailed description of the stage directions?

Act One stage directions 

A comfortably and tastefully, but not expensively furnished room. Backstage right a door leads to the hall; backstage left, another door to Helmer's study. Between these two doors stands a piano. In the middle of the left-hand wall is a door, with a window downstage of it.Near the window, a round table with armchairs and a small sofa. In the right-hand wall, slightly upstage, is a door; downstage of this, against the same wall, a stove lined with porcelain tiles, with a couple of armchairs and a rocking-chair in front of it. Between the stove and the side door is a small table. Engravings on the wall. A what-not with china and other bric-a-brac; a small bookcase with leather-bound books. A carpet on the floor; a fire in the stove. A winter day. 

Goals today

Homework check 

Consider characterisation and language usage in Act 1 

Learn about play structure and the plot and sub-plot

Act 1 analysis and consideration 

Rate the word 1 to 4

1. I do not know the word, and I have never seen it before. 

2. I've heard or seen the word before, but I'm not sure what it means. 

3. I know the word and can recognise and understand it while reading, but I probably wouldn't feel comfortable using it in writing or speech. 

4. I know the word well and can use it correctly in writing or speech. 

Facetious

Word of the day

Facetious (n) - not serious about a serious subject, in an attempt to be funny or to appear clever or to trick someone:

tongue-in-cheek (adj)

We were having a useful discussion in spite of the fact that it is tempting to be a little facetious on this issue.

"not to be taken seriously," 1856, from phrase to speak with one's tongue in one's cheek "to speak insincerely" (1748), suggestive of sly irony or humorous insincerity, perhaps a stage trick to convey irony to the audience.

Words to use/learn (AWL list 1) 

Assume 

Available 

Consistent 

Identify 

Interpretation 

Occur 

Section 

 

Words to learn/use (terminology) 

Plot 

sub-plot  

Exposition 

complication 

resolution/denouement

Well-made play 

parallels & contrasts 

Write this vocabulary down in their columns 

Tick the words off as you use them in your written and spoken work. 

Reading the play

We will assign readers. Read until

Mrs Linde enters 

Highlight all  the endearments that Torvald (Helmer)  uses for Nora.

Endearments

(little) Skylark         little bird

Squirrel 

Sweet-tooth 

featherhead 

(little) spendthrift 

sweet little skylark 

Squanderbird

my darling 

poor little girl 

extravagant little person 

Songbird 

What connotations do you have with some of these endearments?

Endearments 

Pet names 

diminutives 

edu.digitaltheatreplus.com

Play structure 

Exposition: Introduction to the characters, background information and 'sets up'  the situation which usually presents the central characters with some kind of change or challenge. 

Turn and talk ... 

Who are our central characters and what is the change or challenge that they are being confronted with? 

Play structure 

Complication: The middle part of the play develops the initial situation showing the consequences of change and how characters respond to their altered circumstances. 

Resolution /Denouement: Some kind of resolution of order or equilibrium and characters come to terms with what has taken place. 

Plot and sub-plot 

Plot = storyline 'what happens'

A sub-plot = is a secondary plot which runs alongside the play's main plot. It may involve characters who rarely encounter the characters who feature in the main plot. 

Sub-plots will often feature parallels and contrasts with the main plot. Usually the sub-plot will mirror the themes of the main plot, but present them from a different perspective. 

Timeline 

There are two plots in the play:

1. the main plot involves Nora, Torvald and Krogstad;
   
2. the sub-plot involves Krogstad and Mrs Linde.

Sometimes these plots converge and sometimes they diverge.

Ibsen uses the two plots to show how time and events affect the situation in which Nora finds herself

Staging 

We will watch the opening moments of two productions. One staged and one filmed production. Answer these questions: 

1. What atmosphere is established in the opening moments of each production? 

2. How does the production achieve this atmosphere? Describe evidence. 

3. To what extent are the stage directions adhered to? Describe evidence. 

4. Look carefully at how Nora moves. How does the actor establish character through physicality? 

Write these questions down. 

https: