Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is by far the best play I have read for school. It is also among the best literary classics we have read thus far mainly because it is so easy and quick to read, which is a quality most classics often lack. It is a light read with heavy, clear-cut themes touching upon gender roles, social repression, deception, morality, strength and difficult choices taking place in an upper middle-class house in the midst of an invisible financial struggle.

It is this unnecessary financial struggle of Nora, the protagonist, who is not allowed to take responsibility of her own money due to being a woman but still having to take care of the family affairs, that drives the play’s plot forward and raises the societal criticism as it is the main cause for all trouble and conflict central to the play. It is well written, easy and quick to understand and an overall enjoyable reading experience, something that is not obvious when reading rather than watching plays.

I don’t know if this is among those must-read classics for me but it’s so quick and easy that one might as well. It’s certainly perfect for school projects or just as an appetizer to literary classics in general and hence I would recommend it to all students studying literature in one way or another, regardless of level and to those active readers that are interested in collecting every single classic or just otherwise curious about the societies of the 19th century.