A Doll’s House – Henrik Ibsen (1879)
The play’s main critique is the fact that in the era’s culture, men treat women as doll’s that are there only to play a role. Women are not seen as autonomous beings, rather they are seen as one part of a general stereotype to which they are forced to adhere. The world of the play is one in which feminism as a movement has not quite started – it is on an individual basis. For certain women, there is a great dissatisfaction they feel with their roles in life, and they have decided to stop putting up with it. The protagonist, Nora, gives up her entire family in order to escape “doll status” and become independent.