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How do authorial choices regarding setting (time and place) create order…
How do authorial choices regarding setting (time and place) create order and influence meaning in the two works you have studied?
The Handmaid's Tale
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A historical novel
Because The Handmaid's Tale is expressed as a historical novel, specific facts are explored, which makes it relevant and applicable to the present.
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A Genuine Location, first time a play was centered around normal everyday people
A domestic household
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The father of realism
This was the first time that anyone had ever made a play solely staged in one household, a slice of life
His blocking, setting, caricature, and storyline all embody this realism.
Conventions of realism
- Use of everyday objects as symbols
- Simple, conversational dialogue/speech
- 3- dimensional
- Omits fantastical settings and intricate props
- Centered around a certain subject (Helmer household in this case)
Henrik Ibsen's setting is totally reflective of 1879 Bourgeoisie households from the sole perspective of the household itself.
By avoiding perception of any other part of the household than the interactions that occur in the mainroom, the audience see the world through the symbolic eye of Nora
Although Nora is a 'free' woman, her scope of view is precisely that of Ibsen's audience, completely limited to specific rooms of 'her' house
The fact that Nora is completely forbidden access to Torvald's study while other men are easily sent straight to it demonstrates the gender inequity
Nora's almost obsession with control over the main room - the stage - shows how little control she has over all other aspects of her life. The way that Torvald drags her away from the party - a place she adores being in and that allows her to be free from the constraints of wifedom - back to the living room shows his absolute control over her, even within her small estate of control, the living room, he has the social strength and she the lack thereof, to be capable of forcing himself upon her.
The way that society forces Torvald to uphold his societal role and characteristics, valuing his reputation and status above all, including his 'love' of Nora
Nora is based and tethered to the living room, just as the audience are.
She must live out the archetype of a Norwegian woman of the 19th century, the nestmaker.
She makes a home for the children and for Torvald, constantly obsessing over the christmas tree and how the house is to appear.
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MRS MIDAS
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This amalgamation is further accentuated by the juxtaposition of grand historical allusions against localised references, e.g. field of the cloth of gold vs a domestic family dinner.
Evidence of upper-middle class - Garden, desire for more wealth, wine, caravan
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