A Doll's House
Henrik Ibsen · 1879
Nora Helmer walks out on her husband and children, and the door slam heard round the world launched modern drama. Ibsen tore apart the Victorian marriage and refused to offer a happy ending. Theaters across Europe debated whether to let audiences see the real ending or soften it. The real ending won.
The case against
Ibsen's machinery creaks: the incriminating letter sits in the box for an act and a half while everyone discusses it. Nora spends two acts as a chirping squirrel and one scene becoming a moral philosopher; the conversion is thrilling onstage and abrupt on the page. Torvald exists to be wrong, which makes leaving him easier than the play admits.
Drama · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
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