Faire Simple, Faire Vrai, and Significant Theater: Zola’s Naturalism in A Doll’s House Anonymous College

In such a popular and classic play as Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, it can be easy to overlook the work’s many naturalistic elements strewn throughout the story. Emile Zola’s late 19th century essay describes naturalism in the context of theatre and predicts that theatre will become more and more naturalistic in the future. At the time of his essay, naturalism was mainly a literary movement yet was on the brink of entering the theatre world. A Doll’s House, written around the same time, brings to life much of what Zola’s essay discusses. A Doll’s House follows main character Nora as she navigates her struggles regarding her role in the household, her relationship with her husband, and her overall quality of life. Specifically in the first half of Act I, Nora and Torvald kindly debate money spending and Nora and her old friend Christine catch up (Ibsen 4-16). All along the way, Zola’s naturalistic elements and aspirations are present. That being said, looking at this portion of A Doll’s House with Zola’s essay in mind, I argue that the play’s naturalistic nature is apparent though the fact that it is faire simple, it is faire grand, it is faire vrai, and it follows the naturalistic formula that Zola predicted for the future of...