In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879) staging is used to depict the setting of the play, which is described through stage directions or through dialogue, to become a visual representation of many of the playwright 's ideas. Ibsen is detailed in what he describes in the stage setting and it serves to underpin symbolically aspects of Norwegian society that he is trying to express to his audience. In this essay I am going to examine how Ibsen uses staging is used to depict a realistic microcosm of 19th century Norwegian society and to criticise its values.
A microcosm is the miniature representation of society. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen restrains the setting to a single room, the drawing and family room of the Helmer household. Ibsen used everything in this room, even the room itself, to demonstrate the principles of Norwegian society in the 19th century.
The entirety of the play unfolds on one set; a “pleasant room” (page 1) in the Helmer household that serves both as a drawing room in which to receive guests and as a family room where the children play. Ibsen depicts this setting in detail; such as by describing the room as being furnished, “tastefully” although “not expensively” (page 1), adorned with, “small objects d’art” (page 1), and, “books in handsome bindings” (page 1), and also stating that the room contains a piano (page 1). The reason Ibsen has described the set precisely in its extravagance is because he wants the Helmer 's household to signify to the audience