Compose a four paragraph literary analysis essay on A Doll’s House.
The essay should include a brief introduction and a brief conclusion.
Try to tie together your ideas on the play with a thesis statement in the introduction.
Each body paragraph should answer one question from the list provided below.
Answers for each question should be one full paragraph.
Cite from the text for support in at least one body paragraph. (This is a great opportunity to practice how to cite from literature.)
Responses should use MLA formatting.
Literary Elements
Does the story present any uses of symbolism?
Can you identify one or two examples?
In what ways does the story use irony?
Can you identify one or two ironic elements or ironic moments in the story?
If the story uses flashbacks, what happens in the flashbacks?
How does the content of the flashbacks connect to the story’s conflicts or themes?
Is repetition part of the story structure? (Are there any situations in the story that are repeated?)
How does the situation’s outcome change in each iteration?
Where does the writer use metaphor or other figurative language?
Do the different instances of metaphor seem to connect to a similar idea or theme?
Can the story be seen as an allegory? If so, what does the story reflect or allegorize?
Are there any characters that function as pairs or foils?
Do the paired characters start off on similar paths then go separate ways?
Do the foils end up in conflict with one another?
Do the foils illustrate the ways in which different personal qualities will lead to different outcomes for individuals in a society?
Does the writer develop any motifs in the text? (Are there recurrent mentions of food such as cake or bread? Are there recurrent mentions of certain forms of entertainment like Broadway plays or musicals?)
Does this motif seem to connect to any themes or central ideas in the text?
Theme
What comment(s) on society might the text be suggesting? (Does the text make a clear or direct social commentary?)
If the text is seen as an argument, what argument is being made? (What point of view is the text arguing for? What social or political position is the text arguing for? What is the text arguing against?)
What issues relating to identity are associated with the protagonist? What issues relating to identity are associated with other characters?
Does the story invite the reader to think about issues of race, class, gender or nationality? If so, what particular ways does the story explore these categories?
Are there any stereotypes that are challenged or perpetuated in the story?
What is driving the tension of the story?
Is there a central question posed by the text?
What are some ideas addressed in the story?
What ideas do the characters discuss?
What particular fixations do the characters display? (Concerns with morality, authenticity, wealth, status, a sense of the natural order, freedom, individuality?)
At the end of the story, how has the protagonist changed?
Is the protagonist in disagreement with his/her community or with the world around him/her? How?
What topics (social, political, historical) does the text address?
In what other fields of study or classes in school would you expect to find topics from this story discussed? (Psychology, Criminal Justice, History, Economics, etc.)
Can you identify and describe the decisions made by the important characters in the story? What are the characters choosing for or against? What options do they have?
How or why does the protagonist stand out or differ from his/her community or society?
How would you describe the people or forces that oppose the protagonist? What qualities or concepts do these people or forces seem to represent?
How do the characters relate to their own past or personal history? Are they “haunted by the past” in any way?
What values or concepts does the protagonist represent?
How do “good” and “evil” function in the text? Do any characters seem to represent these qualities? Does the text complicate these categories?
