Play: The Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
Allocated quote:
"But our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll wife, just as at home I was my father's doll-child; and here the children have been my dolls. I thought it was great fun when you played with me, just as they thought it was great fun when I played with them. That is what our marriage has been, Torvald."
Thoughts
I have traveled from an obvious poster of the play to the old family photographs and also disturbing hidden mother photography. The idea of this one was to hide the mother under some kind of sheet behind the child sitting on her lap. That was created only so the child would sit still, but the emotions that give me! It just looks very disturbing but I guess that is up to everyone’s imagination and at the time probably no one would even think of it that way. We also found many old family photographs and after seeing them I got only one sour taste in my mouth. On 90 % of them, the man is always at the top, center, or placed above the woman, with a hand on her shoulder. That strikes me exactly as the quote and the whole meaning of the play. Nora was under pressure from her husband and even more, didn’t know any better, so in a way, during the play, she does accept her faith but she also doesn’t know that it could be different. The quote has revealing character as it happens shortly after Nora finds out her position and realizes that she want to fight for her life. The last thing that stroke me even more with those old family photos is the fact that my sister getting married a couple of years ago, got the same kind of picture. Her husband standing above her with his arm on her shoulder, which means the notion is still there, plus my sister is after applying for a divorce so I believe there is nothing more to add. This notion doesn’t work at all. And in this case, the same as in Nora’s case, the whole marriage didn’t work at all. I am not sure if that’s something real but it gives me wrong feelings.
Ideas explored:
- Man overpowering the woman.
- The notion of man being always at the top and over the rest of the family.
- Controlling the nature of one side of the marriage.
- Naive nature of the character.
- Mistaken devotion.
- Unreal marriage notion.
- Alienated from the popular ideas and the outside world.
- Mistaken intentions.
- Two conflicting views.
Unwrapping the quote:
I decided to take the quote apart and put some meaning to some of the leading words in it. I also look for some synonyms for them and tried to think of new unusual ways of visualizing them. Researched the words and their synonyms and also everything that could eventually surround them. During this process I came up with interesting ideas and paths to approach.
The research surprisingly took me to unexpected areas.
Research about the notion of a man as the head of the family.
While working on unwrapping the quote I have come across few ideas about the notion of a man in the family and his position in there. I came up with a few quotes that are appearing in our society at the moment. For instance: “Behind every successful man stands a strong woman” How can we interpret that? It simply states that every man being successful has a woman behind him, that helped him and carried him along the way to his success. It indicates the notion that the man needs a woman in his life to be fulfilled and whole. Why is it only appearing in the meaning of a man as a leader? Why the woman can't have the man behind her and the whole thing would work another way around. There is this notion that became almost like a stereotype over the years, where the man is the one who stands in front of family, handles all the problems, and deals with everything. We found a few examples over the history photos taken of random families and in 80% of them it is the man who looks like a born leader, not the woman. It is the man who is dictating the rules and look like the one who is in power. Few examples:
Man nearly always placed above women, an image of power over them. Essentially this kind of picture can be read as a woman is here only for the appearance. To sit down beside a man and only add to his appearance, as Nora was only an addition to Torvald’s life, so he could have the assurance of someone being around, someone being dependent on him and not being able to do anything without him.
Perfect picture to comment on according to the allocated quote. It is an example of a hierarchy in the family. Father, then mother above, lower on the chair and the child on her lap. As the quote says “I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was my father’s doll- child, and here the children have been my dolls.” The man’s hand over the woman’s shoulder appears as a symbol of power and dominance over her.
Images that, I believe, support the quote, from posters, images, play shots, etc.:
Dark appearance, exactly as I imagine the scenery. Sadness and loneliness speak through. Human being a marionette. Being a puppet for someone, a doll-wife according to quote.
Picture according to a doll-child, doll-wife. Shadow adds to the notion of being in power, it is fairly bigger than the figurine, bigger than hands that are responsible for the motion. That might also be an expression of the invincible power that those hands have.
The poster shows how the head of a woman is full of all the responsibilities. It might also suggest that she is losing her mind as it looks like the hair is blown by the air. Nora does lose her mind and finds herself in the same moment in the play and particularly in the quote. She realizes the real truth of her life and how did the moment she is in happen. The way the hair is lifted might also mean that she is giving everything away to find herself.
The poster appears as a kind of escape from the moment or a trap between two people. Being trapped between.
Shot from a theater play simply shows how Nora is after Torvald, even suggest that she sees nothing but him, as in quote, she has been blinded and naïve by his actions and the way he was treating her.
Another shot from a different play when Torvald shows his power over Nora by lifting her chin and she’s naively letting him do so. Link to the doll-wife, a doll that can be done anything with.
Example of an old family photo. The man standing upon the woman, hand on her arm-image of power and being “higher” by a man. It gives me than feeling, as the man wants to say: “You sit and listen to instructions.”. Naively the women sit down and follow these rules.
The perfect example of how to put into an image the meaning of the quote. Mother playing with the child and the father upon them, giving this feeling as he is playing with the family. By playing I mean playing them, like puppets. That would be a good path to take, I would just make the picture more serious.
Analyzing and visualizing psychical words from the quote:
HOME
PLAYROOM
DOLL WIFE, DOLL
Intangible/abstract words from the quote:
“But our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was my father’s doll-child; and here the children have been my dolls. I thought it great fun when you played with me, just as they thought it great fun when I played with them. That is what our marriage has been, Torvald.”
“our home”
Abstract word as she doesn’t mean its obvious purpose. “Our” used here is more of derision, as she is after realizing that the house was created all along according to his taste and all the rules there was created by him. This phrase may also mean its opposite as she never felt there happy.
“nothing”
“Nothing” can have a big meaning in this particular quote, she might be suggesting her view on the whole life or only for the marriage. Nothing is the easiest of the words to use to describe something miserable, something without any meaning and that might be the emotion she feels after revealing the truth.
“great fun”
Considering the words before it, Nora indicates clearly that, again, it is not literally what she meant. It was not great fun, as one would think. It was only a “cheerful” experience at the time of it happening but after realizing the truth even the memories became sour for her mind. The phrase “great fun” lost its real meaning in this context. It is essentially a big word but in this quote, it is losing its power over the actions that were taken upon Nora, and she is the one who is saying that. I believe that this can change the meaning of the word easily.
“marriage”
Another big word previously indicated by “our” where it might also mean that it is losing the meaning as she no longer wants to be a part of “this marriage”. The word being used here is not the one that should be used as before the quote happen she is after telling him that serious conversations like it never happened before between two of them. Communication in marriage is a key characteristic to make it happen and work well for both sides. Considering words previously said by Nora in this act, the word “marriage” lost its meaning at the time it’s being said. It is here used only to indicate what it suppose to be but never was, it is therefore called “playing each other”.
Clichés to eliminate from the work. The most used visual interpretations so far:
The most applied image is the picture of a cage, a woman trapped in the cage, a bird caged, a house in the cage, etc.:
Different examples of already used images and ideas:
My favorite from all the images:
An interesting approach to the idea, one of the kind. The house at the edge of a table and it looks like it is about to collapse, and that is happening at the moment when Nora realizes her situation. It is also a great example of showing the house as balancing on the edge when through the play all the actions are leading to one unavoidable breakdown.
I will keep those images in mind to try to eliminate them, to avoid overused pictures and ideas in my spread.
I decided to study the whole play to understand the meaning deeper and consider any ideas wider.
Unusual ways to visualize the ideas
Music box with a ballerina, hands around it, behind.
The music box would carry the notion of being attached to something ( in this case she is tight to the bottom of the music box). There is no way of moving around without someone steering the cog at the side of it, hands behind. A picture of higher character needed to steer the ballerina and she is unable to move without it, just as Nora with Torvald.
Dancer again, without a music box, with a ribbon on a long stick, performing.
This time without a music box, but holding a ribbon on a long stick, or the hand of a dancer at the edge of the screen (only a bit of arm visible and a hand that holds the ribbon) and the ribbon following the dancer in beautiful movement. I am trying to visualize here the idea of the ribbon that needs to be moved by someone to work. Nora at the start of the play thinks that she could never survive without Torvald because he made her think this way. The ribbon following the dancer that goes off the screen. The gender of the dancer should more fit a man as it should indicate Torvald, but this idea is still to think through.
A pack of macaroons on the table.
With this idea, I want to indicate the very first scene in the play when Nora comes back from shopping. She is secretly tasting sweets behind Torvalds back, against his prohibition. It is the first little sign of her rebellion against her husband. The macaroons would be on a white bag on a table, close shot on them, some of them loosely lying next to the bag.
Scissors cutting off the strings of a puppet.
The quote is happening just after Nora realizes how trapped and manipulated she was. She is now speaking as a free woman, decided to leave and take her path in life. The cutting of the strings visualizes the freedom that she just gained.
Picture of a “naked” Christmas tree and a ribbon.
Nora is also visualized as the Christmas tree in the room in the house where the play is happening. The tree is first dressed and then, straight after Christmas Eve, she undresses it. The tree would be undressed with a ribbon on the ground or the motion of the last ribbon falling of the tree. Ribbon because This way I want to show how delicate but at the same time strong, was Nora.
A woman dressed beautifully but her legs are attached to the wooden stand as a mannequin.
The sad picture of a woman being attached to a stand, making her unable to move, but she is looking happy. Exactly as Nora was happy before she found out what kind of a man her husband was. Attaching is passing on the notion of being enslaved by the husband.
Woman’s head with wide-open mouth, and fire inside it.
I believe this idea is the closest one to describing visually the allocated quote. A woman’s head would be a symbol of Nora but the open mouth would indicate the fact that for the first time she was able to speak for herself, whatever she thinks. The fire would indicate the rage inside her.
Thoughts
Today I got a few ideas about how my spread may look like. To think outside the box of visualizing even the most obvious ideas. The atmosphere and easily noticeable change of feeling happen over the whole play. If to take it from Nora’s point of view it goes from happy through sad and then freedom feeling. A good idea would be to construct the spread in a way that would show off those emotions and feelings. To achieve that colors and shapes may be used. The longer I think of the meaning and events during the play the more I believe that it would be a good way to create Nora’s view spread. I have an idea of adding to the spread some elements that would be far from being “flat” as the usual spread is. For example, the idea of freedom goes with birds and the notion of them being free. I came up with an idea to attach a folded bird shape to the spread with the possibility to unfold it and read what is underneath. I have two reasons to do so: First, as the above birds have been always a sign of freedom. Second: The unfolding option would give the perceiver that feeling of revealing the truth or mystery, just as Nora did in the play. This could help to connect the reader with the character and the idea of the allocated quote. That is also another creative idea to make the spread more entertaining than just a plain page.
Exploring design metaphor
Concepts that come to mind while studying the play and allocated quote itself:
- Power – losing it for one side and gaining for other
- Being under pressure
- Shattered
- Naive
- Deluded
- Mistaken
- Becoming free – freedom
- Two different views – conflict
- Lack of self-awareness
- Influence
Concepts that streak me best and I wish to focus on:
- Power – losing it for one side and gaining for other
- Freedom – getting loose
- Two sides of the conflict
- Being under pressure, Tension
- Oblivion. Deluded
I wish to illustrate those concepts and feelings that they cause by using images and visual interpretation. The atmosphere during the whole play goes from happy, unconscious, unfortunately, through sad and break down to freedom. That idea can be easily illustrated by using colors and shades. Going from light then dark and even brighter at the end. I have also adopted a new way of creating the spread. It does not need to be flat on the four full pages, it can fold and bend. I came up with an idea of how to visualize some of the concepts using physically foldable pieces. I want to deliver the concepts in a way that will be easily understandable for the audience but at the same time not so obvious.
Examples of metaphors to chosen concepts:
Power
Synonyms: capability, influence, skill, talent, function, potential, capacity…
- Open mouth with !!! out of it, the speech of power
- Woman in the man’s shadow, way smaller than him.
- Suit –highly situated man, the man at power, tie as an exclamation mark
- Suitcase
Freedom
Synonyms: immunity, flexibility, power, privileges, exemption, opportunity…
- Suitcase – the image of power, money; birds (white doves) flying out the suitcase, getting the freedom back
- Fist shattered into pieces, but the pieces are birds. Fist – power, birds – freedom. The fist is losing its power and birds are gaining their freedom, which is gaining power, as the power is one of the freedom synonyms.
Conflict
Synonyms: battle, combat, clash, competition, war, struggle, contest, encounter…
- Heel strained with laces – unusual way, something wrapped around something that should not be used together in any way.Heel – woman, Laces – man, the idea of the male shoe always with laces.
Deluded, oblivion
Synonyms: unconsciousness, betrayed, fooled, mistaken, deceived…
- Woman with an umbrella, happy. The rain of “the whole world she does not understand”, because Torvald made her so dependent on him, falls on but it only falls off the umbrella next to her, the truth never reaches her. The umbrella is an image of Torvald. “whole world” – law (judge hammer), society (many hands up in the air), education (books), communication (two heads with speech bubble), self-awareness (woman’s face in her own hands).
- Woman and her reflection in the mirror with strings. An illustration of a woman being deluded from the reality that surrounds her. The mirror shows the true reflection on her being that she does not realize herself.
Pressure/tension
Synonyms: burden, strain, stress, anxiety, difficulty, concern, hardship, worry, trouble…
- The page of a spread would be “hanging there” by a thread. Fragile page – gives the feeling of being under pressure of ripping it out.
- String that goes through the spread. That idea would help me visualise the pressure and the tension during the play and the quote itself that Nora's words put in between her and her husband.
Thoughts
The way I wish to visualize my ideas and illustration is to approach the modern way but still keep the track of the play and link the content with the 19th century, the time that the play was written and placed in. As on the drawing above I am thinking to stick to a very graphic, straightforward concept but those graphics will be visualizing the content of a quote. I wish to visually approach the whole concept of Doll’s House in a modern and contemporary way. It requires me to be smart about it, to implement the ideas and notions in a right, smart, neat way without losing the values. By implementing some modern touches and contemporary views on the spread I want to put some fresh look at the incredible play.
I am fully aware of the fact that by going fully modern with contemporary touches in the spread it is easy to lose the original idea of the whole play. For some part of the receivers, the atmosphere that surrounds the play might not be linked with modern graphics at all. I still wish to break down that iceberg and try to implement those two factors in a smart way to make it work and look good together.
First layout plan
Second layout plan
The thread representing the tension is going through the whole spread, over 4 pages. Another way of doing it is to place the thread only in those 2 inside pages as this is where the conflict arises and then it tighten up to finally broke down which would be the last page, visualizing the rope being free and loose - same as Nora. The conflict is over, so is the conflict and the tension.
Thoughts
The ideas I came up with before for the interpretation of the most important words from the quote are quite screaming out the modern values. That leads me to the thought of losing the meaning of the play and quote itself, I am afraid that those graphics might overcome the general look and reflection of the original idea. I do not want that to happen that is why I came up with the next idea. The only thing is to figure out how to make those two worlds work perfectly together, how to link them smartly.
The idea of a wallpaper popped in my head when I tried to think about a way of some connection in the background on the spread. I thought about the background as a support for the main idea, and then I got that picture in my head of the background being simply a wallpaper!
The quote says how the marriage was the playroom, so that is a way to link that notion to the supportive purpose of the background. Proper research will brighten that idea a little bit, I must discover the style of wallpapers back in the 19th century to match it with the general idea of a house from Doll’s House.
I want the idea of wallpaper to go through the whole spread, the usually white background would be replaced with some kind of wallpaper. The background cannot be too dodgy so it would not over cover the main graphics on the spread. The wallpaper would be just a slightly indicating the 19th century, the opacity will be at a very low percentage, but still visible.
The values of the wallpaper and how it can change:
- Wallpaper can show signs of being worn over time.
- Lighter patches after pictures hanging on the wall.
- Being torn in places from being old.
- The picture can be hanging on the wall, even looking like falling.
- Can have stains.
While working on those ideas I got the ideas even deeper to those above, torn them apart, and implement new hatches:
- As the wallpaper progress through the play, it can be showing more and more signs of being worn the same as the main character in the play Nora.
- The wallpaper can be in the style of a children's room that is a playroom that is mentioned in the quote. That would place the quote perfectly in the atmosphere and meaning of a quote. Would put the receiver in the right mood, even make him feel as in the playroom. The interiors would include toys and teddy bears to indicate clearly that this is a playroom.
- I created this visual reference in my head of a door appearing at the end of the spread, the last page. The reason for that is that Nora is leaving through the door and this is the moment when the revolution starts, not only for Nora but for all the women.
- On the last page wallpaper is falling off, this is to indicate Nora getting free from delusion, next to the doors that she is leaving through. That is of course metaphor, there will be no visualization of a person leaving.
At this moment I am considering leaving the ideas of contemporary and modern approach for the idea of wallpaper and the interiors of the house because there is so much that this can say. Going through then delivered and teach me a lot of a way of thinking and approaching the ideas from a new interesting way.
The wallpaper being the main subject and interiors and everything that might surround the wallpaper is a great way to visualizing the events on the quote. One of the best approaches now is the spread being the actual “playroom” itself. Great idea of giving the receiver the real feeling of the meaning.
After processing all that information and new ideas I am left with two main concepts:
- A contemporary and modern approach with a supportive background of a wallpaper.
- Wallpaper indicating interiors of a house and the playroom itself.
