Food and Eating in Two Ibsen Plays

What is it about?

This article examines the significance of food and drink in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House and The Wild Duck, arguing that Ibsen’s staging of physical consumption is part of his innovative realistic dramatic technique. In both plays, food, literally incorporated into the bodies of the actors, functions as an insistent reminder of physicality. Yet, simultaneously, food items like Nora’s macaroons and Hjalmar Ekdal’s bread and butter serve as symbols of the psychological state of individual characters and of the nature and quality of their relationships.

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