Nora or A Doll's House

The play is significant for its critical attitude toward 19th-century marriage norms. It aroused great controversy at the time,[2] as it concludes with the protagonist, Nora, leaving her husband and children because she wants to discover herself. Ibsen was inspired by the belief that "e;a woman cannot be herself in modern society,"e; since it is "e;an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint."e; Its ideas can also be seen as having a wider application: Michael Meyer argued that the play's theme is not women's rights, but rather "e;the need of every individual to find out the kind of person he or she really is and to strive to become that person."e; In a speech given to the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights in 1898, Ibsen insisted that he "e;must disclaim the honor of having consciously worked for the women's rights movement,"e; since he wrote "e;without any conscious thought of making propaganda,"e; his task having been "e;the description of humanity."e;In 2006, the centennial of Ibsen's death, A Doll's House held the distinction of being the world's most performed play for that year. UNESCO has inscribed Ibsen's autographed manuscripts of A Doll's House on the Memory of the World Register in 2001, in recognition of their historical value.