Effect -- Othello, The Lion and the Jewel and A Doll's House

Othello - Feel bad for Othello, resent the situation. He is pitied as a victim of racism, especially sine he was loved as a friend of the family, but not good enough as a son-in-law. Shown in the well-known passage on p. 31 "Her father loved me oft invited me. . ."
Sympathetic toward Desdemona. She is very devoted, but he murders her anyway. Devotion shown I court on p. 37 "That I did love the Moor to live with him/My downright violence and storm of fortunes/May trumpet to the world."
Can’t stand Iago, but yet are awed by his intelligence. His deceptions are horrible and we want them to be prevented, but at the same time we wonder how on earth he came up with all this and managed to make it work.
Cassio seems really dumb, although we kind of feel bad for him as a tool. It’s hard to believe how easily Iago managed to get him drunk, but because of Iago’s intelligence, we are somewhat empathetic.
Roderigo is an even bigger idiot, but at the same time we also pity him as an even bigger tool. He falls for quite a few lies, such as selling his land to woo Desdemona, going through Iago to give her gifts, and believing him when he talks Roderigo out of murdering him.
At first the audience is happy with the marriage and situation, then becomes repulsed, frustrated. Does it even matter?!!
The desired feeling that this didn’t have to happen, it was a great loss of life.

The Lion and the Jewel - Females tended to dislike Sidi and find her too obnoxious. Males seemed to like her better, at least at the beginning. Passages such as "Had he the precious book/That would bestow upon me/Beauty beyond the dreams of a goddess?/For so he said./The book would announce/This beauty to the world. . ." (p. 11) convince us that she is naVve and self-centered.
Lakunle was seen as either chauvinistic or enlightened. He attempted positive change, but the way he went about it was disrespectful and repulsive. When he says things like, "Ignorant girl, can you not understand?/To pay the price would be/To buy a heifer off the market stall." (p. 8) he is trying to spread enlightenment, to revolutionize the village, but he is too easily frustrated and has too sharp a tongue to practice what he preaches.
Baroka was even more repulsive. He’s a crude man, a total pig. Very dissatisfied with him. The play feels light and fluffy until he is introduced. There are many, many examples of this, but one of the most disturbing occurs on p. 18 when he closes the act by saying "Yes , yes . . . it is five full months since last I took a wife . . . five full months . . ."

A Doll’s House - Torvald is seen in one of two ways – as an idiot who cannot handle his own wife and treat her as an equal, or as a man who falls victim to one of those horrible women who don’t know what they want and will never be satisfied. The reaction is either disgust or pity and empathy.
Similarly, Nora is seen as either a woman victimized by overpowering, unenlightened men or as an irritating little brat. We are either empathetic or feel she deserves to be alone.
Both Nora and Torvald cause the strongest reaction at the end of the play. On page 66, Torvald says, "Yes, what then? – when I had exposed my wife to shame and disgrace?" to which Nora replies, "When that was done, I was so absolutely certain, you would come forward and take everything upon yourself, and say: I am the guilty one." Two pages later, at the end of this discussion, Nora tells Torvald that in order for her to come back and stay, both of them would have to be so changed that their life together would be a real wedlock. This implies that their eight years of marriage in which they had three children were nothing but a sham, they were simply going through the motions. Interpretations of this depend on the emotions toward these two characters.
Krogstad repulses the audience and seems to be the one who should meet his doom in order to create a happy ending. The line, "Very well. Do as you please. But let me tell you this – if I lose my position a second time, you shall lose yours with me." (p. 25) is what really delivers this effect.
Linde and Krogstad shock us. We do not expect or understand their engagement. That scene is rather complicated. First, on page 49, we are given the impression that they barely know each other anymore.
LINDE Now Nils, let us have a talk.
KROGSTAD Can we two have anything to talk about?
LINDE We have a great deal to talk about.
KROGSTAD I shouldn’t have thought so.
Next, on page 51, Christine proposes and Krogstad is shocked by it, as we would expect.
LINDE Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people could join forces?
KROGSTAD What are you saying?
LINDE Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better chance than each on their own.
KROGSTAD Christine!
Finally, Krogstad discovers she is serious, and is overjoyed. This is the part which is particularly confusing.
KROGSTAD Christine, are you saying this deliberately? Yes, I am sure you are. I see it in your face. Have you really the courage, then – ?
LINDE I want to be a mother to someone, and your children need a mother. We two need each other. Nils, I have faith in your real character – I can dare anything together with you.
KROGSTAD (Grasps her hands) Thanks, thanks, Christine! Now I shall find a way to clear myself in the eyes of the world.