Henrik Ibsen is regarded as “The Father of Modern Drama”. He is credited with incorporating elements of realism in his dramas. Explain whether his play “ A Doll’s House” can be classified as a modern play? How did it break new ground in subject matter and

A Doll’s House was written in a form of Norwegian that still bore heavy traces of Danish. Ibsen deliberately chose a colloquial language style to emphasize local realism, though Torvald Helmer does speak in what Michael Meyer has described as “stuffy Victorianisms.” Ibsen quickly became Norway’s most popular dramatic figure.

A Doll’s House was the second in a series of realist plays by Ibsen. One of the most striking and oft-noted characteristics of A Doll’s House is the way it challenges the technical tradition of the so-called well-made play in which the first act offers an exposition, the second a situation, and the third an unraveling. This was the standard form from the earliest fables until the time of A Doll’s House, which helped usher in a new, alternative standard. Ibsen’s play was notable for exchanging the last act’s unraveling for a discussion, one which leaves the audience uncertain about how the events will conclude. Critics agree that, until the last moments of the play, A Doll’s House could easily be just another modern drama broadcasting another comfortable moral lesson. Finally, however, when Nora tells Torvald that they must sit down and “discuss all this that has been happening between us,” the play diverges from the traditional form. With this new technical feature, A Doll’s House became an international sensation and founded a new school of dramatic art.