How does A Doll's House exploit and subvert the well-made structure? What is the effect?
What will be an ideal response?
A Doll's House follows a climatic structure and uses many of the devices of the well-made play until its final scenes in which Ibsen subverts the structure in order to thwart audience expectations and present a social message. For most of the play, Ibsen uses the climatic structure of the well-made play. For example, in the play, a visit from Nora's old friend Kristina Linde provides an opportunity to present exposition about the Helmers's past. Krogstaad threatens to reveal Nora's forgery, the play's inciting incident. Eventually Krogstaad uses a letter, another device common to well-made plays, to reveal Nora's secret to her husband Torvald, the play's crisis point. When Krogstaad agrees to keep the crime a secret, Torvald forgives Nora—which, in a well-made play, would move the action toward resolution. Instead, Ibsen thwarts audience expectations and has Nora undergo a transformation that leads her to leave her husband and children. By leaving Nora's fate unresolved in the final scene of the play, Ibsen indicts society and its treatment of women.