Beginning Activities
A Doll House and The Importance of Being Earnest
Activity One: Reader’s Theater
1. Before students
begin reading either play, randomly assign students to read and perform the
following scenes.
2. Allow five minutes
for a read through and a brief discussion among the group on how to
read/perform the parts.
3. As students watch
the performances, have them record initial impressions and make predictions.
4. As they read the
plays, students should test their initial responses against their later ones.
Suggestions for
Student Notes:
1.
What conclusions can we draw about the characters? Do they remind you of
people you know or of characters in other
works?
2. What conflicts seem to emerge in act
one? Act three?
3. What leads you to your conclusions?
4. If the same passages are performed, are there
differences in characterization?
5. What commonalities do you see between the two
plays? Differences?
6. What questions do you have after watching the
plays?
Suggested Scenes from
A Doll House (Dover Thrift Editions)
Act 1:
Pages 1 – 2. Beginning scene through Nora’s speech that
begins with “Whatever you say
Torvald.” (Nora, Torvald, Delivery Boy
(“Porter”))
Pages 6 – 7. Entrance of Mrs. Linde through her speech
that begins with “Your husband? How marvelous!” (Nora and Mrs. Linde)
Pages 14 –
15. Krogstad’s first lines “It’s me, Mrs. Helmer” through Nora’s speech that begins with “Oh come on Dr.
Rank – you really do want to live yourself.” (Krogstad, Mrs. Linde, Nora, Dr. Rank)
Suggested Scenes from
The Importance of Being Earnest. 1899 Google Boocs Ed.
Act I:
Pages 1 – 5.
Opening Scene through Algernon’s speech that begins with “Lane’s views on marriage seem somewhat
lax. (Lane, Algernon)
Pages 6 – 8. Jack’s line “I am in love with Gwendolen
through Jack’s speech that begins
with “Cecily! What on earth do you
mean?”
Pages 19 -
21. Lady Bracknell’s line “Good
afternoon, dear Algernon, I hope…” through
Lane’s exit after Algernon discovers there are no cucumber sandwiches.(Lane, Algernon, Gwendolen,
Lady Bracknell, and Jack.)
Act II:
Pages 55 – 57. Beginning of scene with Miss Prism through
Cecily’s speech that begins with “I wish
Uncle Jack would allow that unfortunate young man, his brother, to come down here sometimes.”
Pages 59—?. Begin with Miss Prism and Dr. Chausible’s
return from their walk:
Miss
Prism: “You are too much alone, dear Dr.
Chausible…” and end with Jack’s
entrance.
1. The characters are very posh in both plays and seem to put themselves higher than others. While i cannot think of specific characters I'm reminded of I can say that these characters remind me very much of stereotypical rich people.
ReplyDelete2. The main conflict for a dolls house seems to be the new job Nora's husband is receiving, this job seems to be the main focus of the first section and brings a shady man to their home. The main conflict for the importance of being ernest would be the relationship between jack and Gwendolyn and how others may not approve of it.
4. I would say the main difference between the characters in a dolls house, and the importance of being ernest, would be that in a dolls house they are not as snide and above everyone as the characters are in the importance of being ernest.
5. One common theme between the two plays would be the relevance of money and how it influences many things in the plays. I.e the widow having to work because of her recent poorness.
6. My only question would be about the importance of being ernest. would be what Algernon actually wants from life, it was very hard to place his motives and goals from the small snippets we read. I believe that he is a fairly interesting character and would like to learn more about his thoughts and idea.
Nice job answering the guiding questions for this assignment Tyson. I especially like your question about Algernon and his motivations. For your next writing task, make sure to check your spelling and grammar. You tend to forget to capitalize "I" and the names of the plays.
Delete1. In A Doll's House, the family and characters we see are primarily workers from a middle class family, while in The Importance of Being Ernest, the characters are all upper-class rich folk. I can't think of anyone off the top of my head that seem similar to any of these people.
ReplyDelete2. In A Doll's House, it foreshadows a conflict revolving money. As we've seen, Nora is a spender, while Torvald likes to save. Those two types of personalities will definitely clash. In The Importance of Being Ernest, the conflict seems to be around romance. During scene one, we learn that Jack is in love with Gwendolyn, while Lady Brackberry is not approving, and neither is Algernon.
3. The characters interactions and lines with one another is what gave me these ideas.
4. I didn't really notice any differences.
5. The commonalities are subtle if there are any. Most of the differences I listed are in previous responses.
6. IOBE- How is Jack going to propose to Gwendolyn? Why is Algernon so sour about marriage? Will more cucumber sandwiches be fought over?
ADH- How is the Helmer's money situation going to work? Why did Krogstad visit them? How come Mrs. Linde is so afraid of Krogstad?
Excellent answers Makenzie! Your notes about conflict are impressive, and I like that you talked about money as a conflict in both plays. Great observations about characterization, too.
Delete1. The characters seem to be stuck on themselves. For example, in The Importance of Being Earnest, Algernon takes the cucumber sandwiches but blames it on someone else. In A Doll's House, Nora tells all about how great her life is to Christine who is currently suffering from the loss of her husband.
ReplyDelete2 and 3. In both plays, there seems to be a conflict with money, A Doll's House specifically. In A Doll's House, Nora brags to Christine about her husband getting a new job at the bank and tells about how much money they will have. Meanwhile, Christine recently lost her husband and is left to make money and raise her family all by herself.
5. The characters in The Importance of Being Earnest seem to be a lot more posh and uptight than the characters in A Doll's House. However, Nora comes off as more uptight than Christine in A Doll's House, mostly because she is constantly bragging about her family's money.
6. What is the main idea or topic in The Importance of Being Earnest? What is the main conflict?
Excellent job comparing the characters from ADH and TIOBE. I like your discussion of the widows, especially, and how money intersects with their characterization. Great work.
Delete1. What conclusions can we draw about the characters? Do they remind you of
ReplyDeletepeople you know or of characters in other works?
In "A Doll's House" and "The Importance of Being Earnest," all characters seem to act in a polite manner. I cannot think of anyone to compare these characters to except for maybe Algy to my dad when he blames others for eating the sandwiches...
2. What conflicts seem to emerge in act one? Act three?
The conflicts that come up are Jack wanting to marry Gwendoline, whereas Algy believes that marriage is for business and that it is nonsense otherwise. Also, it seems as though Algy is very entitled to himself. He and Jack are both dandy, perfectionists, and want everything to go perfectly planned. This is not really a conflict, but may result in other acts in the play when they characters discuss Lady Bracknell's husband dying, and her looking twenty years younger.
3. What leads you to your conclusions?
My conclusions are based off of first impressions, the actions, and the tone of voice in which the speaker uses.
4. If the same passages are performed, are there differences in characterization?
The characters in the two plays are different through their lifestyle and hardship. The character's main differences are through money issues.
5. What commonalities do you see between the two plays? Differences?
Differences would be lifestyle and money issues, similarities would be the death of a husband, and the language in which each character speaks to each other.
6. What questions do you have after watching the plays?
I find it kind of hard to compare the two plays as of right now because I know the ending to "A Doll's House" and not the ending to "The Importance of Being Earnest." If I have spent more time before hand reading this play then I would probably find more similarities and differences between the two.
Gilleyanne, your answer to number one was hilarious. Given that we are reading a form of satire, you seemed to have provided satire about your own life. Oscar Wilde would be very proud!
DeleteAs for the rest of your answers, great job discussing characterization (especially the issue of entitlement). I'll be curious to see what you think of the two plays when you've finished reading them!
1. The characters in "The Importance of Being Earnest" have goofy, unrealistic personalities, while those in "A Doll's House" have more prominent personalities.
ReplyDelete2. Act one of "The Importance of Being Earnest" had the issue of Jack and Gwendolen, as her family did not approve of their relationship. In "A Doll's House," a conflict was Mrs. Linde being worn out, but still looking for work.
3. Seeing what the individual characters do in certain situations gives you an idea of their personality and problems.
4. In "A Doll's House," the characters' attitudes can change abruptly, whereas in "The Importance of Being Earnest," the characters always have the same tone and attitude.
5. The plays are similar in a way that the reader doesn't really get a look at normal life for the characters, as they jump right in with unordinary situations.
6. Were these issues realistic for the time period?
Carolyn, nice job describing how the same tones and attitudes appear in both plays. I was curious what you meant by "prominent personalities." What makes a character prominent or not?
Delete1. The characters in The Importance of Being Ernest are very posh whereas characters in A Doll's House don't really seem to have the same demeanor; they're more casual when they speak to each other In TIOBE, characters are very polite and formal when they speak to each other but there still is a fine layer of judgment between them with icy stares. For as relating other works, Nora reminds me of Desdemona from Othello because she is very responding to her husband, Torvald.
ReplyDelete2/3. Both plays seem to have a conflict with money. Nora brags about her husband's promotion and all the money they'll acquire. However, Christine lost her husband and she is left to earn money along with the responsibility of raising her family all by herself.
5. I thought it was interesting how in A Doll's House, when Mrs. L's husband dies she becomes very unhappy because she has no money to live from and have to start working to support herself. Plus, it wasn't respectable for women to work at that time. However, in TIOBE when Lady Harbury's husband dies, it's like she gets her life back. For example, Lady Bracknell saying she looks twenty years younger. Unlike Mrs. L, Harbury has 'Lady' in her name so she probably doesn't have to work.
Nice observations about money as a central conflict. I especially like how you contrast Nora with Christine in your second response.
Delete1. A Doll's house: Nora- Feels quite confident with spending money. Torvald- More tight with money. Talks to Nora like she is a little kid, calling her strange names like lark and squirrel. Mrs. Linde- Has not done well since her husbands death. Krogstad- A little bit of a trouble maker it seems.
ReplyDeleteThe Importance of Being Ernest: Algernon- A bit of a liar. Does not really care about marriage all that much. Jack- Wants to propose to Gwendolen.
Lane- Obedient/Does what he is told.
2. A Dolls House: Krogstad is basically blackmailing Nora to ensure he does not lose his job at Torvald's bank. He achieves this because she borrowed money from him in the past.
The Importance of Being Ernest: The only real conflict I could think of was maybe a moral conflict when Algy pretended he did not know who ate the cucumber sandwiches.
3. Mostly because of the way the characters interact with one another and in some cases, such as with Nora talking about Krogstad and borrowing money, they will explicitly tell you their issues. However, they are typically less direct in telling you their problems.
5. Both stories take place in Britain during the same period and are middle/upper class main characters. However, there is a noticeable difference between the characters in "A Dolls House" and those in "The Importance of Being Ernest." That is, Algy, Jack, and Aunt Augusta, are much more haughty than Nora, Mrs. Linde, and Torvald.
Jordan - you made some excellent observations about the characters in question 1! Your answers show how easy it is to understand an author's characterization just from a few sections of a scene (nice job!). I also enjoyed your last point about how the characters fall into certain socio-economic positions; those positions do change how authors characterize their lead roles.
DeleteIn all Doll's House, Nora is obviously the doll in the house who would rather spend money and make the house look spotless, which is a reflection on how she wants to see her life. To her husband, she is a decoration, as well. Torvald is very playful with her. I've also noticed Nora likes to find loopholes when it comes to difficult situations. The fact that Nora has to lie to her husband about being a spendthrift, or eat macaroons, is kind of sad because there's obviously a tension between them. When Mrs. Linde visited, Nora was not as sympathetic and considerate as she could of been. She talks about how she could've written her a letter of condolences for her husbands death, yet she blamed it on nothing specific, just that things were stopping her. Nora kind of reminds me of Jack in the Importance of Being Earnest because they both tend to just help themselves to whatever benefits them. Algy and Mrs. Linde have similarities. Mrs. Linde and Nora have different views on holding the position as a wife, just as Algy and Jack have different views on marriage. Algy and Mrs. Linde tend to understand the reality of both situations (marriage).
ReplyDeletePolina - excellent observations comparing Nora from ADH with Algy from TIOBE! I hadn't thought of them as foils before, and I think you make some excellent points about "helping themselves" and entitlement. Do you think one character being male (and one being female) during this time period changes your ideas?
Delete1. The main characters in A Doll's House and in The Importance of being earnest, have a few similarities. Torvald seems similar to Argy in the sense that they are both more serious, and think more practically than the others. Nora and Jack are similar, because they are both takers. One the other hand, Nora is a taker to make others happy, whereas Jack does it all for himself, and doesn't think of others as he's doing it.
ReplyDelete2. The conflicts that have happened so far take place in the Importance of Being Earnest. The conflict results because Lady Bracknell does not approve of Jack and Gwendolyn's love, and this results in tension in the air. The other small conflict was all of the cucumber sandwiches being eaten by Argy. At the end of the scene there are none left, and he is upset at the person who ate them, even though he knew who it actually was.
3. I get my conclusion from the actions, and words from the other characters in the play.
5. In A Doll's House, Mrs. Linde is a widow who had to take on all of the responsibilities of her husband after he passed, even though it was frowned upon at this time. At first, Nora was unable to recognize her, and this is a result from her over working herself and being extremely tired. On the other hand, in the Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Harbury is a widow taking her husbands death as a new start to life, and doesn't have to worry like Mrs. Linde does. Unlike Mrs Linde, Lady Harbury actually looks younger and happier after her husbands passing.
6. I would like to know why Lady Bracknell disapproves of Jack and Gwendolyn's relationship. Is it because of his personality?
Emma - you have some excellent ideas about the guiding questions for this week. I really like that you see Nora as a nurturer in the opening scene and find it useful for discussing Algy's entitlement. Do you think gender effects this kind of characterization?
Delete