HENRIK IBSEN'S PLAYS.   Term Paper ID:20605 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Critical views on 19th Cent. playwright's work. Themes, technique, ideology, characterizations.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Critical views on 19th Cent. playwright's work. Themes, technique, ideology, characterizations. Paper Introduction: The plays of Henrik Ibsen have a strong social content, indicating the views of the playwright on some matters, and more directly showing the way different social issues were developing in the society of his time and the way those issues were in turn shaping that society. He wrote about women's rights, the plight of "whistleblowers," the meaning of social responsibility, the effects of corruption. Ibsen's views and his challenging dramatic methods made him something of a social outcast even as he was becoming one of the world's major playwrights, a voice that would speak to subsequent generations perhaps even more strongly than he did to his own. Eric Bentley states that Ibsen's place in the eyes of the world has changed over the years, passing through two phases. The first phase was that of the late nineteenth century, of Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Works CitedBentley, Eric. In this century, in addition to revolts against Ibsen's technique,there were revolts against his ideology, notably by Bertolt Brecht with hisEpic Theater, the purest example of collectivism in drama in this century.Ibsen was not a collectivist but an individualist, and he lived in a worldwhere the salvation of the individual was seen as more important than thesalvation of society, though oddly the two were often intertwined. Kaufmann cites Ibsen to the effect that "What is important isthe revolutionizing of the human mind," and for Ibsen this meant that hewas railing against the distortion of truth that had been brought about bythe use of outworn slogans and complacent thinking. "Henrik Ibsen: A Personal Statement." In Rolfe Fjelde,Ibsen: A Collection of Critical Essays, 11-17. P.F.D. Harold Clurman notes: If A Doll's House is read without preconceptions the implication is clear that men cannot be "free" (or authentic) persons unless women are equally free (Clurman 1 9).Another portrait of a woman repressed by society is offered in HeddaGabler: Repressed, Hedda's passion and power can only manifest themselves destructively. Englewood Cliffs, NewJersey: Prentice-Hall, 1965.Beyer, Edward. New York: McMillan, 1977.Kaufmann, F.W. In Ibsen, the modern tragic hero and the modern tragic conflict are to be found in the bourgeois individual--often a woman--who rebels against society and tradition. For he saw that the altruism of a Gregers Werle [in The Wild Duck] was the outgrowth of a sick conscience; Gregers persecutes Hedwig because he is running away from himself (Bentley 13). His plays suffered from much criticism simply because they seemedtoo traditional in an age of theatrical experimentation, but they have alsoproven to be lasting works with something to say to subsequent generations. The great world liesbeyond that sea, and Ibsen looks to it as a place of emancipation, withAmerica in particular seen as a land where one could go to escape therestrictions of European society. "Ibsen as a Stage Craftsman." In Rolfe Fjelde, 29-4 .Whicher, Stephen. . Thus Ibsen exposes contradictions and distortions in society: at the same time his noblest characters have an ethical consciousness and desire for truth which gives hope for "the ability of ideals to propagate themselves" and for their "evolutionary capability" (Beyer 196-197). The plays of Henrik Ibsen have a strong social content, indicatingthe views of the playwright on some matters, and more directly showing theway different social issues were developing in the society of his time andthe way those issues were in turn shaping that society. Tennant further notes that unlike Strindberg, Ibsen's contemporary, Ibsen was not interested in the practical innovations of the theater which took place toward the end of the century. The closing-in, opening-out character of Ibsen's landscapes mirrors his inner country (Whicher 17 ).Ibsen's most "modern" plays show at their center the violent rebellionagainst the smallness of mankind. Ibsen comments on both the good and badhe sees in his society: . Whicher further emphasizes that Ibsen was a man with violentlyconflicting emotions, and he believes that the man would have beendestroyed by them had he not been able to discharge this energy into hisplays: A fierce revolt and protest lies at their heart, a savage demand for freedom at all costs--matched by an iron conscience that told him all the revolt must be paid for. Hewas influenced by Kierkegaard so that through all the phases of his lifeand work, "the ethics of will and responsibility permeate his work, thuslinking him to the existential tradition" (Beyer 2 ). In some plays, Ibsen creates characters, businessmen,who seem to be pillars of society but who are in reality denying theliberal ideals they seem to represent. In A Doll's House, Ibsen challenges the assumptions about the placeof women in society. Some ofthe characters in Pillars of Society, though, escape to America to find anew freedom (Whicher 169-17 ). Yet, if we hadn't been tipped off that Ibsen was petit bourgeois, we might have learned our lesson from him. The landscapes seem especially important to Ibsen, from themountain ranges of Ghosts and other plays to the sea that attracts andrepels at the same time in The Lady from the Sea. She destroys the man she had not dared to love, and destroys herself to avoid the consequences of her cowardice (Clurman 163). He left Norway in 1864, atwhich time his connection with the stage was severed. There were a number of influences on Ibsen's work which helped shapehis point of view and his technique for presenting that point of view. New York: Taplinger, 1978.Clurman, Harold. . . He wrote aboutwomen's rights, the plight of "whistleblowers," the meaning of socialresponsibility, the effects of corruption. Tennant points out the important fact that Ibsen's power as adramatist was based on strong dramatic techniques and technical facilitygained through his apprenticeship first as salaried instructor anddramatist at the Bergen National Theater and later as "artistic director"of the Christiana Norwegian Theater. This attitude naturally brought him into conflict with theconservative elements in his own society, elements that believed that truthwas absolute and that neither truth nor authority should be questioned.Ibsen did question both. . Society is seen often as something that forces the human beinginto an unwelcome mold and thus as stifling the real character of the humananimal, a character that would be freer and more expressive (Whicher 171). Bentleysays that his own generation of undergraduates had contempt for those whowere only interested in saving their own souls rather than in addressingthe real task of changing the world: We didn't realize to what an appalling extent the motive force of our reforming zeal was fear of the self, a failure to face the self . Ibsen: The Man and His Work. He also served for a short period asliterary adviser to the Christiana Theater. F.W. Tennant notes, Ibsen's most characteristic works, his social dramas, cannot fully be explained without reference to his particular experience of the stage in his early days, and it was this experience which stereotyped the dramatic form which he later adopted (Tennant 29). Edward Beyer further points out that Ibsen has a place not only inthe development of the drama but in the development of the history ofideas. Ibsen was more interested in ideas than in the evolution of stagecraft (Tennant 29). Manyof his views of women have become our own, and his ideas about the need forsocial responsibility has also been taken up in our time. Arguments overhis dramatic techniques are of quite a different order and are not sosettled. The first phase wasthat of the late nineteenth century, of Ibsen's own time, and in that phaseone either expressed one's admiration for Ibsen or one's detestation of hisiconoclasm. His last plays were written with reference to the formal stage of his own experience, utilizing all its conventional lighting and mechanism. Ibsen's national-historical plays revolve around leadership andthe idea of unity. Eric Bentley states that Ibsen's place in the eyes of the world haschanged over the years, passing through two phases. . . Hewas influenced by the major political events of his time, for instance,events which illuminated the conflict-ridden nature of Norwegian class-society. His aesthetics and his individualism derive from romanticism. Ibsen created controversy by challenging the verities in the acceptedsocial order, and this brought about a long-term argument over whether hieideas were moral and social or immoral and socially destructive. "Ibsen's Conception of Truth." In Rolfe Fjelde, 18-28.Tennant, P.F.D. Because the truth about a diseasethreatens the livelihood of the town, the authorities want to suppress thistruth and sustain a false truth, one that will benefit them in the shortterm if not beyond. These plays, including Pillars ofSociety, A Doll's House, Ghosts, and An Enemy of the People, stand as blowsagainst the petty forces in society hindering man from obeying the call tobe oneself. It was the place where Peer Gynt went tomake his fortune by trafficking in slaves and idols, for example. both the conflicts described and the image of society presented express a critical attitude to the whole capitalist system, in which human values such as truth, freedom and love are made into objects which can be bought and sold . Stephen Whicher offers insights into the world in which Ibsen livedand into the way Ibsen regarded that world and expressed his attitudes inhis works. Ibsen's women and intellectualsoften hold these same ideals high. Still, America was not regarded entirelywith a benevolent eye by Ibsen. Ibsen felt that truthhad to be constantly revitalized in order to remain truth. Ibsen. His character of Dr. Stockmann challenges theviability of a community built on lies in An Enemy of the People when heplaces scientific truth above the economic truth preferred by his brotherand other citizens in this small town. In hisown time, the argument was heated. Ibsen develops a type of dramatic realism and creates a pattern of dialogue which combines the ease of daily speech with the urgency of the drama: He deepens the psychological, ethical and social analysis through his retrospective technique, while at the same time he gives the works concentration and grandeur and a powerful element of tragic guilt and fate akin to the Greek (Beyer 198). In our time, the issue seems to havebeen largely settled that Ibsen was moral and socially constructive. A moral coward under the pressure of social inhibition, she becomes a corrupting and malefic force. The second phase came in this century with the acceptance ofIbsen by society at large, but this had a price as well: In the nineteenth century, playwrights were warned against Ibsen by the diehard, older critics; in the twentieth century they began to be warned against him by the advanced young spirits (Bentley, 11). "The World of Ibsen." In Rolfe Fjelde, 169173.----------------------- 1 Ibsen's views and hischallenging dramatic methods made him something of a social outcast even ashe was becoming one of the world's major playwrights, a voice that wouldspeak to subsequent generations perhaps even more strongly than he did tohis own. Truth for himis not an absolute but has to be tested against changed conditions, andthis is what made many view his ideas as radical and even dangerous.Kaufmann examines several passages that show a belief in the necessity of arelentless struggle for truth - and thus the realization that truth cannever be possessed, but must always be in the process of acquisition(Kaufmann 21). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.