“Dollhouse” by R. Gilman compared to “A Doll’s House” by Ibsen, these two versions of the play have notable similarities and differences. A playwright, Rebecca Gilman brings her extraordinary visualization to Henrik Ibsen’s one of the most famous dramas, “A Doll’s House,” in a new adaptation. Nora from Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” lives her life under the control of Torvald, her husband. The husbands starve her of the freedom to act as she pleases. She has been taken care of by both her father and now her husband. She is a good image of a doll wife who thrives on luxuries. She is loyal and willing to do anything for her husband. Ibsen’s drama, “A Doll’s House” is well adapted by Rebecca Gilman. The two versions of the play have notable similarities and differences.
“Dollhouse” by R. Gilman compared to “A Doll’s House” by Ibsen contains few differences and similarities. In Rebecca Gilman’s “Dollhouse,” the drama opens when Nora returns home after having another shopping spree for Christmas shopping despite her husband’s ire. Remarkably, the issues that plagued Nora in Ibsen’s drama are still faced by Rebeca Gilman’s Nora, merely in a slightly improved form (Cappelli 4). Nora’s concern over Christmas decorations is an obsession. She struggles to décor her home and buys a lot of Christmas shopping. Indeed, her love for macaroons remains a love of wastefully expensive truffles. Indeed, her frantic Tarantella dance becomes a feverish version of Flash-dance.
Notably, a key element that is a little different is Nora’s relationship with her husband. In Ibsen and Gilman’s Terry, Torvald describes Nora by nickname, indicating that she is still a child or a pet. Neither husband views her as anybody other than a gift to be supported on their arm. In “A Doll’s House,” Ibsen’s version. Rank who is Torvald’s best friend takes away his life by committing suicide by the end of the drama since he has a hopeless condition. On the other hand, there are no physical deaths in the version of Gilman’s play. The dear doctor, Rank, survives and lives again. However, one would wonder how many emotional deaths the characters suffered in the last act. The choices made by all the characters make one think about all that has been gained and lost. Also, the audience is left with questions concerning materialism, relationships, and the penalties of a life anchored on lies. For instance, in the first scene of the drama, Nora tells a lie. In both versions of the drama, the characters tell lies throughout the play. Unlike Ibsen’s tarantella dance, Nora is a “Dollhouse” dancer in Flash dance. There is a limited lead performance and a flair for easy laughs, in which uneasy ones would be well.
Notably, the Flash dance comparison is not just an idle one. In Ibsen’s version, Nora dresses like a Neopolitan peasant lady and adequately rehearses a Tarantella dance for a fancy get-up ball. However, in Gilman’s adaptation, Nora wears leg warmers and a Beals wig. The party picks up and Nora dances while breaking down (Cappelli 3). In Gilman’s version, Nora and her husband, Terry, learned and met in town. Nora sympathizes with the poor unfortunates, who reside at Brown Line. Nora is seen as that woman with the expensive wheel, food, and kitchen lighting. As sufficiently in Ibsen’s original version, Gilman’s account describes Nora by her kids. She has a philosophy of borrowing now and pay-later increased because she is married to a man who is due for a promotion. Gilman’s “Dollhouse” does not show a comfortable room well furnished with flavor. Ibsen’s stage shows a high-end kitchen with the living room decorated with excellent scenic designers.
Gilman makes Nora more aggravating and overtly shallow compared to her husband in the earlier time. At the end of the act, Nora outgrows and abandons her doll role, and Gilman offers an intriguing monologue a few blows after Nora’s scandalous bang of the front door. One may wonder how efficiently Gilman’s “Dollhouse” holds the platform. Ibsen’s version permits Gilman to inscribe needling comic discourse with only enough dramatic load matter. Indeed, women’s plight in the dollhouse is disturbingly pertinent. The situations encountered in Ibsen’s version and initial characters are still up to date and translated to the present stage through Gilman’s efforts. Rebeca Gilman has crafted a drama, proving Ibsen’s play is still alive and renewed as it was before (Cappelli 3). In both versions, Nora is revealed to be a caring woman. She took her husband’s medication and paid the amount for his medication. However, she did not reveal where she obtained the money from. As a result, the husband, Terry, realizes that she, Nora, obtained money scandalously without notifying him. Then, the consequence befalls Nora. Gilman adopted the second ending of the drama, where Nora decides to stay for the sake of her children. This implies that she thought of her kids first before her liberty.
In summary, Ibsen’s Original version of “A Doll’s House” is brought back to life by Rebeca Gilman. She has made the drama lively so the audience would feel they lived during Ibsen’s time. “Dollhouse” by R. Gilman compared to “A Doll’s House” by Ibsen, both versions of the drama capture Nora as extravagant, going off on a shopping spree for Christmas and decorating her house. With her husband due for promotion, Nora values gifts and a decorated house. In Ibsen’s Nora dances the Tarantella dance while in Gilman’s version, she dances the Flash dance.
Works Cited
Cappelli, Mary Louisa. “America’s Doll House: Casting Nora Helmer and other Transgressive Monster-women in Reality Television’s The Real Housewives Series.” Journal of Advances in Social Science and Humanities 3.8 (2017).
