Hendrik Ibsen ( Henry Johan Ibsen, 1828-1906) was born in Skien, Norway, 1828. He is the eldest son (initially was the second child as his eldest brother had died in an early age) in the family, following with another 5 siblings. His father, Knud Ibsen, worked as a captain in the seas. His father married to Marichen Cornelia Martie Altenburg, the daughter of a German's merchant, in 1825. Since young, he has been a very introvert person and began to show a sense of alienation after his father was forced to pay off his debt by mortgaging his business to pay off the debts. He was also being accused as an "illeginmate child" due to some unexpected rumors from the people who he knew. Therefore, the central focus of his plays was mostly about illeginmate offspring (source taken from: http://www.gradesaver.com/author/henrik-ibsen/).
Henrik Ibsen wrote his first play Catliline (1849) when he was twenty one years old. The play was about the "failure of "Catiline's conspiracy" and was composed in a form of blank verse. However, the play was not well-received by every theatre Ibsen submitted to be performed. He spent most of his time looking through and comment about the contemporary literature in Norweign. After accepting a new contract in National Theatre in Bergen, he began to continue to produce plays such as St. John's Night (1852). During this time, he began to experiment on "folk songs, folklore, and history" (http://www.gradesaver.com/author/henrik-ibsen/)
In 1858, he began to work in the city of the Norwegian Theatre as a creative director . Then Henrik married to Suzannah Thoreson, and have a son named Sigurd Ibsen. He realized the importance of having an equal relationship with his wife. At the same time, he has also migrated to Italy and Germany after managed to collect some money from his friend. Therefore, he began to write on the issues of love and marriage like "Love's Comedy" (1862), "Brand" (1866), "Peer Gynt" (1867), "A Doll's House" (1879). Most these plays that he have successfully produced were "written to be read than to be used for theatre performance (cited from:http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dollhouse/ & http://www.gradesaver.com/author/henrik-ibsen/). In the 1900, Ibsen suffered from some serious strokes and he was unable to continue his career in the literature field. He died on 23rd May 1906 after living for several more years. His last words were "To the Contrary!" in Norwegian. After his death, Ibsen received a state funeral from the Norwegian government.
Instead of using the previous style of writing, Henrik evolved his writing style into a more realistic approach to let the reader to visualize the situation which is happening in the story especially the scenes in "A Doll's House". By using realism approach, it will bring out visionable thoughts about how was the house looked like and how was the room being arranged based on the extract given.
Act Scene 1
"SCENE. --A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not extravagantly. At the back, a door to the right leads to the entrance-hall, another to the left leads to Helmer's study.
Between the doors stands a piano. In the middle of the left-hand wall is a door, and beyond it a window. Near the window are a round table, arm-chairs and a small sofa. In the right-hand wall, at the farther end, another door; and on the same side, nearer the footlights, a stove, two easy chairs and a rocking-chair; between the stove and the door, a small table. Engravings on the walls; a cabinet with china and other small objects; a small bookcase with well-bound books. The floors are carpeted, and a fire burns in the stove. It is winter."
(Taken from About.com:Classic Litearture (A Doll's House) :http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/hibsen/bl-hibsen-doll-1.htm)
Based on "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen, he also writes about the role of females in Henrik's social context at that time. In the first scene, we can see that the female character Nora, was initially being depicted as a very naive, a spendthrift and a foolish girl by Helmer. And she seemed to be not to worry about how much she spent on buying a Christmas tree. As the story developed, her sufferings have become much more obvious when she was in a very heavy debt and didn't know who to depend on. Hence, she asked for the lawyer's help (Nils Krogstad) to help her to fake her father's signature in order to gain some money to fulfil her daily needs. At the same time, she has also abandoned the poor Torvald for a richer man based on Act 3. As a result, she was being threatened by Krogstad. He said in Act 2 that if she is willing to be in a relationship with him, he will help her to cover up all her actions. Secondly, Mrs. Linde is being displayed as a very timid and helpless woman who couldn't make her own decision as she has lost her husband, leaving three children under her care. It has been clearly clarified that Henrik wished that if a marriage is as equal as the two opposite sexes, the marriage would be a blissful journey for both men and women. Likewise, women wouldn't be suffering from gender inequality as a result of unable to support themselves financially.
References:
1. Henrik Ibsen, Retrieved on 2/11/2013
http://www.gradesaver.com/author/henrik-ibsen/
2. Jan Zlotnik Schmidt & Lynne Crockett, Portable Legacies: Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction, First Edition: Drama, Micheal Rosemberg, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. (2009: 167-231)
3. About.com: Classic Literature
http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/hibsen/bl-hibsen-doll-1.htm
4. A Doll's House - Complete Audio Book, ThinkAgainAudioBook, 22nd December 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvuOj_n0e4s
5. Sparknotes: A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dollhouse/
6. Henrik Ibsen's Biography, Retrieved 28/11/2013
http://www.biography.com/people/henrik-ibsen-37014?page=2
Susan Glaspell (Susan Keating Glaspell,1876–1948) was born in Davenport, Iowa in 1st July 1876. She studied at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and was graduated with a bachelor. In 1899, she started to write for the Des Moines Daily News. She wrote for Harper's and The Ladies' Home Journal. In 1915, she was married to George Cook and began her career as a playwright. Both George Cook and Susan have established the Provincetown Players on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She has published 14 major works in dramas. Most of her major plays focused on the feminism approach, which tackles on the role of women in the society and family. Most of her work displayed how did men perceive and think about women and the relationships between men and women in the society.
Drama
Suppressed Desires (1915), co-written with Geroge Cram Cook
Trifles (1916), adapted into the short story A Jury of Her Peers (1917)
Close the Book (1917)
The Outside (1917)
The People (1917)
Woman's Honor (1918)
Tickless Time (1918), co-written with George Cram Cook
Bernice (1921)
Inheritors (1921)
The Verge (1921)
Chains of Dew (1922), published for the first time in 2010
The Comic Artist (1927), co-written with Norman Matson
Alison's House (1930), winner of 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Springs Eternal (1943), published for the first time in 2010
She has also published two novels like "Brook Evans" (1928) and "The Fugitive's Return" (1929). She has also written the play, Alison's House, which she has won the Pulitzer Prize.
One of her well-known drama plays is "The Trifles" (1916). "The Trifles" is about a one-act play which focuses on "the psychology of crime through the lens of female domesticity" (quoted from http://www.gradesaver.com/author/susan-glaspell/). "The Triffles" (1916) is adapted from a true murder
a murder scene which happened in Midwestern America. The play was based on a real murder scene which was reported by Susan Glaspell in 3rd December 1900 until 19th April 1901. The farmer, John Hossack was reported to be murdered by his wife, Mrs. Margeret Hossack after a fierce argument happened between both of them about their second son. The wife then murdered her husband using an axe to chop his skull while he was asleep. Therefore, this has represented the women at that time was deeply suppressed by men. They did not have financial support to support themselves but to rely themselves to their husband to fulfil their needs. Because of this inequality between men and his wives, Susan Glaspell began to take on this issue by writing "The Trifles" as a way to initiate a feminist approach.
The main setting of the play is in the The Wright's family kitchen and the Minnie Wrights's room. The scene and the narration of the incident were done by Mrs Hale and Mrs Wright, as a way to reflect how insignificant women in speaking for their rights and their roles in the household. The absence of Minnie Wright shows how fragile and invisible she was in gaining her own rights and freedom from her husband's control. Even though the reason to murder her husband was left unknown, the possibilities of her murdering her husband were symbolized as "an empty canary cage", "a dead canary", "ruined fruit preserves" and "an unfinished quilt", as a way to show the reason why did Minnie Wright wanted to end her husband's life. When the two women realized the "canary with a wrung neck inside the box", they realized the Minnie's sufferings due to her husband's mistreatment towards her by constraining her in the farmhouse; just to finish all the daily chores in the house. Mrs. Peter began to soften to her feminine side after remembering the death of her daughter and allow Mrs. Hale to hide the box in her coat pocket.
The pattern of killing her husband is as similar as the murder case of Mr. Hossack and it has also indicated that the overwhelming loneliness and the feeling of wanting to gain freedom from her husband's control had led to her insanity. And the portrayal of men in "The Trifles" has shown how did the Sheriff and Mr. Hale has belittled Minnie Wright and claimed "Woman only worried of trifles." in the dialogue. Because of that time, women don't have the right to vote and to change the ideology of the society. This has eventually led to the emergence of feminism in going against the men for suppressing the women's right as an individual in terms of speech freedom, to elect a president and to protect themselves from gender inequality.
Drama
Suppressed Desires (1915), co-written with Geroge Cram Cook
Trifles (1916), adapted into the short story A Jury of Her Peers (1917)
Close the Book (1917)
The Outside (1917)
The People (1917)
Woman's Honor (1918)
Tickless Time (1918), co-written with George Cram Cook
Bernice (1921)
Inheritors (1921)
The Verge (1921)
Chains of Dew (1922), published for the first time in 2010
The Comic Artist (1927), co-written with Norman Matson
Alison's House (1930), winner of 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Springs Eternal (1943), published for the first time in 2010
She has also published two novels like "Brook Evans" (1928) and "The Fugitive's Return" (1929). She has also written the play, Alison's House, which she has won the Pulitzer Prize.
One of her well-known drama plays is "The Trifles" (1916). "The Trifles" is about a one-act play which focuses on "the psychology of crime through the lens of female domesticity" (quoted from http://www.gradesaver.com/author/susan-glaspell/). "The Triffles" (1916) is adapted from a true murder
a murder scene which happened in Midwestern America. The play was based on a real murder scene which was reported by Susan Glaspell in 3rd December 1900 until 19th April 1901. The farmer, John Hossack was reported to be murdered by his wife, Mrs. Margeret Hossack after a fierce argument happened between both of them about their second son. The wife then murdered her husband using an axe to chop his skull while he was asleep. Therefore, this has represented the women at that time was deeply suppressed by men. They did not have financial support to support themselves but to rely themselves to their husband to fulfil their needs. Because of this inequality between men and his wives, Susan Glaspell began to take on this issue by writing "The Trifles" as a way to initiate a feminist approach.
The main setting of the play is in the The Wright's family kitchen and the Minnie Wrights's room. The scene and the narration of the incident were done by Mrs Hale and Mrs Wright, as a way to reflect how insignificant women in speaking for their rights and their roles in the household. The absence of Minnie Wright shows how fragile and invisible she was in gaining her own rights and freedom from her husband's control. Even though the reason to murder her husband was left unknown, the possibilities of her murdering her husband were symbolized as "an empty canary cage", "a dead canary", "ruined fruit preserves" and "an unfinished quilt", as a way to show the reason why did Minnie Wright wanted to end her husband's life. When the two women realized the "canary with a wrung neck inside the box", they realized the Minnie's sufferings due to her husband's mistreatment towards her by constraining her in the farmhouse; just to finish all the daily chores in the house. Mrs. Peter began to soften to her feminine side after remembering the death of her daughter and allow Mrs. Hale to hide the box in her coat pocket.
The pattern of killing her husband is as similar as the murder case of Mr. Hossack and it has also indicated that the overwhelming loneliness and the feeling of wanting to gain freedom from her husband's control had led to her insanity. And the portrayal of men in "The Trifles" has shown how did the Sheriff and Mr. Hale has belittled Minnie Wright and claimed "Woman only worried of trifles." in the dialogue. Because of that time, women don't have the right to vote and to change the ideology of the society. This has eventually led to the emergence of feminism in going against the men for suppressing the women's right as an individual in terms of speech freedom, to elect a president and to protect themselves from gender inequality.
References:
1. Susan Glaspell, Retrieved on 2/11/2013
http://www.gradesaver.com/author/susan-glaspell/
2. What So Proud We Hail: Making American Citizens Through Literature (Author: Susan Glaspell), Retrieved on 2/11/2013
http://www.whatsoproudlywehail.org/authors/susan-glaspell
3. Susan Glaspell. Susan Glaspell: The Complete Plays (Paperback). United States: McFarland Co Inc. (2010), Taken from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved on 3/11/2013
4. The Trifles by Susan Glaspell, Retrieved on 3/11/2013
http://plays.about.com/od/plays/a/trifles.htm
5 American Literature: Research and Analysis Web Site- The Trifles by Susan Glaspell, Retrieved on Retrieved on 2/11/2013
http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/glaspell.htm
6. Susan Glaspell: Reprinted from The True Crime: The American Anthology, Retrieved on 3/11/2013
http://www.loa.org/images/pdf/Glaspell_Hossack_Murder.pdf
7. Trifles by Susan Glaspell, a d'moiselles production in NYC, 12th January 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1LGwPFeSz8
8. Susan Glaspell : Biography, Retrieved from 28/11/2013
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jglaspell.htm
1. Susan Glaspell, Retrieved on 2/11/2013
http://www.gradesaver.com/author/susan-glaspell/
2. What So Proud We Hail: Making American Citizens Through Literature (Author: Susan Glaspell), Retrieved on 2/11/2013
http://www.whatsoproudlywehail.org/authors/susan-glaspell
3. Susan Glaspell. Susan Glaspell: The Complete Plays (Paperback). United States: McFarland Co Inc. (2010), Taken from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved on 3/11/2013
4. The Trifles by Susan Glaspell, Retrieved on 3/11/2013
http://plays.about.com/od/plays/a/trifles.htm
5 American Literature: Research and Analysis Web Site- The Trifles by Susan Glaspell, Retrieved on Retrieved on 2/11/2013
http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/glaspell.htm
6. Susan Glaspell: Reprinted from The True Crime: The American Anthology, Retrieved on 3/11/2013
http://www.loa.org/images/pdf/Glaspell_Hossack_Murder.pdf
7. Trifles by Susan Glaspell, a d'moiselles production in NYC, 12th January 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1LGwPFeSz8
8. Susan Glaspell : Biography, Retrieved from 28/11/2013
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jglaspell.htm
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