henrik ibsen

Loyalty, duty, obligation. These are only some of the social laws that Henrik Ibsen wrote out against in his later works. Ibsen believed that these bourgeois beliefs were hindering the individual's, as well as the nation's, realization of the self. To Ibsen, it was far more important to have the freedom to express oneself than to adhere to outdated, conventional ideas. In "A Doll House" and "Ghosts", both heroines are forced to confront these social hindrances. Both women attempt to overcome these powerful restraints in their attempts to find themselves, one more successfully than the other. "Ibsen's effect on his contemporaries and his influence on the course of modern drama were immediate and profound".1 More than any other dramatist, he gave theater a new vitality by bringing into European bourgeois drama an ethical gravity, a psychological depth, and a social significance which the theater had lacked since the days of Shakespeare. For the better part of fifty years, Ibsen contributed to giving European drama a vitality and artistic quality comparable to the ancient Greek tragedies. This contribution to theatrical history gained for Ibsen the reputation of being the greatest and most influential dramatist of his time. He "gave the stage its first distinctively modern characters: complex, contradictory individuals driven by a desire for something - the 'joy of life', a sense of themselves - that they can barely recognize or name".2 His realistic contemporary drama was a continuation of the European tradition of tragic plays. In these plays he portrays ordinary middle class people of his day. Routines, and schedules usually taken for granted, are suddenly turned upside down as they are forced to confront a major crisis. Nora, in "A Doll House", must finally confess to her husband that she borrowed money illegally in a desperate attempt to save him. A fact she is terrified to reveal. Mrs. Alving in "Ghosts" must confront herself, the ghosts which she carries around with her, and those she perpetuates into the lives of the children in her care. She is forced to come to terms with her own cowardice in the face of stringent social norms. Ibsen makes it painfully clear that these women have only themselves to blame, and forces them to deal with that knowledge. It is the tragic life feeling that gives Ibsen's drama its unique quality. This experience of missing out on life and plodding along in a state of living death. The alternative is pictured as an existence in freedom, truth and love, in short, a happy life. In Ibsen's world the main character strives toward a goal, but this struggle leads out into the cold, to loneliness. Yet the possibility of opting for another route is always there, one can chose human warmth and contact. The problem for Ibsen's protagonists is that the choices can be deceiving, and the individual cannot always see the consequences of his decision. His characters are distinguished by their staunch, well-established bourgeois lives. Nevertheless, their world is threatened and threatening. It turns out that the world is in motion; old values and previous conceptions are adrift. The movement shakes up the life of the individual and jeopardizes the established social order. Here we see how the process has a psychological as well as a conceptual and social aspect. Yet what starts the whole process is the need for change, something springing forth from the individual's volition. In this sense, Ibsen is a powerful conceptual writer. This does not mean that his main concern as a dramatist was the didactical use of theater, or the waging of an abstract ideological debate. (Some of his critics, contemporary and later, have made this accusation - and it is fairly obvious that Ibsen was drawn towards the didactic.) However, the basis of Ibsen's human portrayal is his characters' conceptions of what makes life worth living - their values and their understanding of existence. The concepts they use to describe their position may be unclear; their self-understanding may be intuitive and deficient. In 1879, Ibsen sent Nora Helmer out into the world with a demand that a woman too must have the freedom to develop as an adult, independent, and responsible person.3 The playwright was now over 50, and had finally been recognized outside of the Nordic countries. "Pillars of Society" had admittedly opened the German borders for him, but it was "A Doll's House" and "Ghosts" (1881) which in the 1880s led him into the European avant-garde.4 Nora is regarded by her husband as nothing more than as a plaything or a pet rather than as an independent person with real needs and emotions. These attitudes reflect the shallow and sexual nature of their marriage. Nora is oblivious to this, however, until later in the play. When she finally faces this reality, she is humiliated and disgusted. Nora has forged her father's signature in order to borrow money. This is the terrible secret she must hide from Torvald. She feels she cannot tell him the truth, How painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything. It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful happy home would no longer be what it is now.5 Krogstad, the money-lender, threatens to blackmail Nora if she refuses to convince her husband not to fire him. Krogstad unknowingly does much more than frighten Nora. He also forces her to realize that her social transgression was not so very different from his own. This realization sparks an awakening in Nora. She is beginning to peel away the layers and have a closer look at herself. She speaks to Torvald about the forgery Krogstad once committed. She becomes increasingly agitated as he lectures, Just think how a guilty man like that has to lie and play the hypocrite with everyone, how he has to wear a mask in the presence of those near and dear to him, even before his own wife and children. And about the children, that is the most terrible part.6 This scene upsets Nora considerably. It is also a turning point. Shortly after this lecture she shies away from seeing the children and makes plans to see them less often so that she may avoid 'polluting' them. this is the first indication that she will begin to make some significant shifts in her life. It is not until she is forced into it that Nora accepts that she must confess to Torvald. There can be no true marriage if it is not based on honesty and trust. Sadly, Nora is still convinced that the 'wonderful thing' will happen when Torvald discovers the truth. She believes that he loves her so deeply that he will protect her. Not only will he stand beside her, he himself will shoulder the blame. He will dishonour himself in order to save Nora, his "little lark".7 How disappointed she is when he does none of those things and instead cares only for appearances. She might have seen this coming had she paid closer attention to his reactions to Krogstad's continued attempts at friendship. He denounces her as his wife and as the mother of his children, but insists she remain living in the house in order to keep up appearances. It is at this point that Nora must confront her true self. Helmer tells her, "but no man would sacrifice his honor for the ones he loves." Nora's poignant reply rings true, "It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have always done."8 Nora, having discovered she is no longer the little "squirrel" Torvald thought her to be reflects upon the last eight years, When I look back upon it, it seems to me as if I have been living here like a poor woman - just from hand to mouth. I have existed merely to perform tricks for you, Torvald. But you would have it so. You and Papa have committed a great sin against me. It is your fault I have made nothing of my life.9 Although he promises things will be different in the future, Nora leaves him, her old ideals and even her children to search for her own answers. She leaves it all behind with the closing of the door. "A Doll's House" has a plot which he repeated in many subsequent works, in the phase when he cultivated "critical realism". We experience the individual in opposition to the majority, society's oppressive authority. Nora puts it this way: "Now I'll begin to learn for myself. I'll try to discover who's right, the world or I".10 As noted earlier, when the individual intellectually frees himself from traditional ways of thinking, serious conflicts arise. For a short period around 1880, it appears that Ibsen was relatively optimistic about the individual's chances of succeeding on his own.11 Although her future is insecure in many ways, Nora seems to have a real chance of finding the freedom and independence she is seeking. Ibsen can be criticized for his somewhat superficial treatment of the problems a divorced woman without means would face in contemporary society. But it was the moral problems that concerned him as a writer, not the practical and economic ones. In spite of Nora's uncertain future prospects, she has served in a number of countries as a symbol for women fighting for liberation and equality. In this connection, she is the most international of Ibsen's characters. Yet this is a rather singular success. The middle-class public has enthusiastically applauded a woman who leaves her children and husband, completely breaking off with the most important institution in the bourgeois society - the family!12 This points to the basis of Ibsen's international success. He [...]... us a finished picture to contemplate, Ibsen hands us an exposed photographic negative of the most sensitive quality, and leaves the task of developing and the ultimate result to the individual reader's ability".27 Ibsen' s own desires and preferences deserve mention here Ibsen felt that studying individual plays without the whole as a group was insensible, " Ibsen [felt that] all the works he [had]... and order It was in the 1870s that Ibsen oriented himself toward his "European" point of view Even though he lived abroad, he continually chose a Norwegian setting for his contemporary dramas.19 As a rule, we find ourselves in a small Norwegian coastal town, the kind Ibsen knew so well from his childhood in Skien and his youth in Grimstad.20 The background of the young Ibsen certainly gave him a sharp... the right thing to do Ibsen, in writing "Ghosts", made her pay for sacrificing her own personal needs .Ibsen points out that each generation learns from the one before it, and that the ghosts remain with us unless we are willing to struggle against them He also makes clear that this struggle is not only productive but necessary for our survival There is no mistaking the message Ibsen sends with the severe... children An inescapable, tragic flaw In other words, Ibsen was in close contact with the art of the stage for a long uninterrupted period His six years at the theater in Bergen (1851-57) and the following four or five years at the theater in Kristiania from 1857 were not easy.23 But he acquired a sharp eye for theatrical techniques and possibilities Ibsen' s apprenticeship was long, lasting about 15 years,... sufficient to dwell on an earlier historical era of greatness and focus on the continuity of the nation's life Ibsen turned away from history, and confronted what he considered the main contemporary problem - a nation can only rise up culturally by means of the individual's exertion of will Ibsen' s message that the individual must follow the path of volition in order to achieve true humanity, is clear... Alving lost the better part of her life, a chance at happiness and her only son All because of a fear of breaking out of the old confinements Ibsen' s message on the tragic consequences of ignoring one's inner emotions and needs is loud and clear Even though Ibsen withdrew from his Norwegian starting point in the 1870s and became "a European", he was always deeply marked by the country he left in 1864,... abroad, he oriented himself toward the European tradition of theater In the history of drama, early in the 1850s Ibsen carried on the traditions of two highly dissimilar writers, the Frenchman Eugène Scribe (1791-1861) and the German Friedrich Hebbel (1813-63).21 For 11 years the young Ibsen was occupied with day to day practical stagework, and it follows that he had to keep himself well informed about... adhere to these wishes Be it sufficient that the reader should keep in mind that these two plays are simply that, two plays from one integral work It is clear then, by Nora and Helen's experiences that Henrik Ibsen greatly valued the individual's and the nation's search for the true inner self He did not believe in conforming to rigid social structures, but instead in discovering our individual needs and... conflicts arising from differing viewpoints In small societies, such as the typical Norwegian coastal town, these social and ideological conflicts are more exposed than they would be in a larger city Ibsen' s first painful experiences came from such a small community He had seen how conventions, traditions, and norms could exercise a negative control over the individual, create anxiety, and inhibit... creeping between the lines There must be ghosts all over the world They must be countless as the grains of the sands, it seems to me And we are all so miserably afraid of the light, all of us.16 Perhaps Ibsen felt that he had not made his message clear with Mrs Alving Perhaps he felt that the loss of her own happiness was not punishment enough For she now finds out that all of her efforts were for naught . obligation. These are only some of the social laws that Henrik Ibsen wrote out against in his later works. Ibsen believed that these bourgeois beliefs were hindering. this accusation - and it is fairly obvious that Ibsen was drawn towards the didactic.) However, the basis of Ibsen& apos;s human portrayal is his characters'