A Doll's House Webquest
Imagine yourself living over a hundred years ago in VictorianEngland. You have just returned from the theater and you have seen the premier of Henrik Ibsen'splayA Doll's House.Depending on who you are you may be amazed or outraged. Inany case, this play is unlike anything you have ever seen before,and you decide you must share your feelings with the worldthrough a letter to the editor of theLondonTimes.In thisletter, you will either praise the play's revolutionaryviews or callfor it to be banned based on its immoral content.
By the time you have finished this webquest, you will have learned about the social and historical context in which A Doll’s House was written, and you will be able to answer this essential question:
Why was Ibsen’s play considered so controversial when it was performed on stage?
Task 1:
This activity begins with you choosing one of the following generic Victorian era characters.
-An upper-middle class man
-An upper-middle class woman
-A working class woman
-A working man
-A suffragette (make sure you know what this word means)
Task 2:
This phase will focus on your analysis of this type of person from Victorian society.
1. After choosing a character. Your job will be to develop a profile of that person’s life using the character profile organizer provided.
2. In doing so, you will learn about Victorian society and culture. This is not a time to judge the culture, but to learn the culture.
3. Once your profile is complete you will be ready to adopt your new persona.
Assignments for Tasks 1-2:
By this point you will chosen your persona. Pretend you are preparing for a role in a play about Victorian Society. Take this part VERY seriously.
A. Use the chart titled “Character Development Profile” to gather information about your persona.
B. Use the topics I have provided to help guide you in your search for information.
C. You must include 8 facts in general from the Society in General section. These facts must be considered in your character profile. In other words, don’t just chose random facts that have nothing to do with your character. Connect the fact to some pertinent aspect of your character.
Here are some sites that are good.
Society in general
Has great overview of entire period divided into short topics, easy to search
Excellent site focus on gender issues, articles a bit long
Excellent site concise overviews. Be sure to search topics in menu on the left
Huge site, great material, maybe too much
site devoted to fashion, but containing solid overviews on a number of topics
Women
Suffragettes
Men