Journal #4 Revised

http://www.seattleshakespeare.org/8-reasons-why-a-dolls-house-rocks/

I know we all make comparisons of books to movies and what they did similarly and what they changed, but this one is different. This is a comparison of reading a play to one of its many performances.

This comparison of A Doll House is a very detailed one about very little differences between the two. After watching the final scene of the play, my views on both Nora and Torvald have changed. One major thing that stuck out to me and many others while watching the performance is how much older Nora looked than we would have expected. She has such a childish mindset during the reading that would make you think she is in her twenties. When reading the play, Nora didn't seem very upset about leaving Torvald and her family, but watching the film she is the exact opposite. You can see in the film that Nora is very upset about everything that Torvald says to her and overall you can see the emotion in her eyes and face. Also, when reading the play, I never had any idea that she was thinking about leaving since they got back from the party, but in the film, you see how upset she is once they get back.

In the production of the play, I noticed how much Torvald wanted Nora to stay and how he was willing to change to make that happen. He seemed very shocked by Nora saying she is going to leave. In the reading, he did not seem like he cared one way or another if Nora stayed or not so that was a big difference in my opinion. However, there was a moment that made me believe Torvald did not care if she stayed or left. That moment was when Nora asked for her ring back and he just threw it on the ground like it meant nothing to him. Then at the end of the film, we hear Nora leave and then Torvald yells her name, and that does not happen in the reading.

After watching this film, I have a better understanding as to why Nora did what she did. She left her family because she needed to find herself. She wasn't being selfish or anything, she just needed to know that she doesn't need to rely on a man to get her through life. I give Nora a lot of credit for leaving her family because not many women in that time period would leave their husbands and their perfect life just to learn to work and do things on their own.