Reference no: EM13479260

1. Summarize the paragraph (50 words)

During the late nineteenth century many women were seeking independence and greater freedom of choice about their lives. In England several of Henrik Ibsen's plays were staged as part of a privately subsidised feminist experimental project by the Free Theatre movement. A Doll's House had been performed originally in 1879 in Copenhagen. However, the first uncut public performance in England took place only in 1889. Five years before this English production, the author Olive Schreiner enthused about Ibsen's play in a letter: 'It shows some sides of woman's nature that are not often spoken of, and that some people do not believe exist--but they do.'

2. Paraphrase the bolded information in the paragraph (30 words). Remember paraphrase, not summary.

The drama ends with the sound of the heroine, Nora Helmer, walking out of the family home and shutting the door, deserting her husband and their three young children. Long afterwards, Edith Ellis recalled her reaction to that moment: 'How well I remember, after the first performance of Ibsen's drama in London, with Janet Achurch as Nora, when a few of us collected outside the theatre breathless with excitement ... We were restive and almost savage in our arguments. This was either the end of the world or the beginning of a new world for women. What did it mean? Was there hope or despair in the banging of that door? Was it life or death for women? Was it joy or sorrow for men? Was it revelation or disaster?'