A Doll's House

A Doll's House is the foundational work of modern realist drama, a play whose final scene — in which Nora Helmer slams the door on her marriage and walks out into an uncertain future — has been called "the door slam heard round the world." Henrik Ibsen's unsentimental portrayal of a woman awakening to the hollowness of her domestic role challenged the conventions of the Victorian theater and gave powerful dramatic expression to the cause of women's emancipation.

Premiering in 1879 at the height of the women's suffrage movement, A Doll's House provoked intense controversy across Europe and established Ibsen as the founder of modern realist drama. The play's frank treatment of marriage, gender roles, and individual autonomy made it a signal work of feminist literature, and its influence on the development of modern theater — from Chekhov and Shaw to Arthur Miller — has been incalculable.