Ibsen gives us a look into the framework of the Victorian era and invites the viewers into a more equal world.
On a writing level, with the absence of stage direction, it seems the play leaves a lot to the actors’ interpretation to portray the desired end. As a reader, the play did not seem to contain the subtlety necessary to tell the proper story. Hopefully, I will be able to see a production to give the play a proper chance at telling its story.
With A Doll’s House Isben creates an anthem for human equality. A clear look into the brokenness of his society provides the backdrop from which the protagonist flees to learn as an individual. Isben sought to elucidate the equality of all people. And he seems to point to education as a remedy in the effort.
In the final act I was struck by some of the final words spoken by Nora, the play’s heroine,
“I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being, just as you are--or, at all events, that I must try and become one. I know quite well, Torvald, that most people would think you right, and that views of that kind are to be found in books; but I can no longer content myself with what most people say, or with what is found in books. I must think over things for myself and get to understand them.”
She calls for the ability for all to think on their own. I agree with the beginning of her sentiment and extend it to the idea that we must all be taught how to think. She seems to be saying that we can, solely internal introspection, see how things are. My extension would be that we should each be given the tools to think and understand because they are not innately within us without cultivation.
Considering the method by which one “becomes a rational being,” I land on some version of classical teaching by which people are given the tools of learning. It is not enough to be told, “this is good and this is beautiful, this is true and this is broken.” We must be taught how to investigate them, prod them, dive into them. When that has been given to us we can feel and know, by our earnest investigation, the nature of things.
It is wrong to relegate anyone to an ignorant station. It is also wrong to “educate” someone but only teach them how to do things and not how to truly learn and understand things. We have perpetuated a problem of equality when we churn out workers but tell them we have given them education. All should be given the chance to truly engage with the history-long conversation and understand their relationship to this great thing we call life.
Education is not the sole answer. We remain in a broken world with broken people who will supplant the weaker or malign the different. But education is a gift that should be handed to everyone. And by that gift they can see what is inequitable and where righteousness and justice can be wrought. Whether they accept the gift is their decision.
With Ibsen I can take up the call for human equality. Each person is innately valuable. Give everyone the tools to investigate this world, the relationships to truth, and the values that stand timelessly. Using those tools they can gain understanding and each can make their way because they have plumped the depths on their own and learned what is good.
