The act of sacrificing for any individual is complex. Whether its complexity lies in making the sacrifice initially or facing the repercussions of that sacrifice, nonetheless it puts an individual into an enormous moral dilemma. In Henrik Ibsen’s 19th century play A Doll’s House and the 2011 Iranian film: A Separation, written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, comparable ideas are shared regarding sacrifice despite the polar differences of their cultural contexts. Both texts reveal factors that drive the complexity of sacrifice within their respective contexts through the exploration of the sacrifices made by women and the role of an individual’s environment in shaping their need to sacrifice. With reference to theatrical and cinematic techniques employed by Ibsen and Farhadi, it becomes evident that context drives the ideas of sacrifice in their texts.
In both Ibsen’s and Farhadi’s contexts, being a woman is a contributing factor that makes the act of sacrifice difficult due to their obligatory domestic roles, the lack of opportunity to voice their opinions in the face of men and patriarchal authority. In regard to Ibsen’s 19th Century Norwegian context, women provided for him an example of humanity struggling for emancipation yet were trapped by the conventions of their society. Their obligations to the society they lived in were to care of men and children who require love. Other than for domestic roles, women had no reason to exist. In A Doll’s House, Nora is the quintessential oppressed individual who lacks the freedom to be herself and act independently. She is mainly oppressed within the environment of her own home, by her husband, Torvald. Nora and Torvald’s relationship is defined and understood through their language, or mostly Torvald’s language towards Nora. Torvald enjoys using labels and neologisms when referring to Nora: ‘songbird’, ‘featherbrain’. Nora appears to accept such definitions and continues to let him objectify her. Nora is...