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1879 1890 Essay Research Paper HENRIK IBSEN (стр. 1 из 4)

1879 1890 Essay, Research Paper

HENRIK IBSEN’SA DOLL’S HOUSE & HEDDA GABLER

CONTENTSCONTENTSSECTION………………………. SEARCH ON

THE AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES……………………….. IDOLAUTH

A Doll’s HouseTHE PLAYThe Plot…………………………………… IDOLPLOTThe Characters……………………………… IDOLCHAROther ElementsSetting……………………………….. IDOLSETTThemes………………………………… IDOLTHEMStyle…………………………………. IDOLSTYLForm and Structure……………………… IDOLFORMTHE STORY………………………………….. IDOLSTOR

A STEP BEYONDTest and Answers……………………………. IDOLTESTTerm Paper Ideas and other Topics for Writing….. IDOLTERM

Hedda GablerTHE PLAYThe Plot…………………………………… IHEDPLOTThe Characters……………………………… IHEDCHAROther ElementsSetting……………………………….. IHEDSETTThemes………………………………… IHEDTHEMStyle…………………………………. IHEDSTYLForm and Structure……………………… IHEDFORMTHE STORY………………………………….. IHEDSTOR

A STEP BEYONDTest and Answers……………………………. IHEDTESTTerm Paper Ideas and other Topics for Writing….. IHEDTERM

A DOLL’S HOUSE AND HEDDA GABLERThe Critics………………………………… IDOLCRIT

Advisory Board……………………………… IDOLADVB

Bibliography……………………………….. IDOLBIBL

AUTHOR_AND_HIS_TIMESTHE AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES (IDOLAUTH)-On a chilly April day in 1864, Henrik Ibsen arrived at the docksin the Norwegian capital of Oslo (then called Christiania). Theyoung man was a failure. The theater he’d run had closed, and noneof his own plays were successful. He had a wife and a young son tosupport, but all his possessions had been auctioned off two yearsbefore to pay his debts. He’d applied for a grant from his nativecountry, Norway, but was turned down.Disillusioned by his country and society, Ibsen, together with hiswife and son, boarded a ship and left Norway, figuratively slammingthe door behind him.Fifteen years later, a similarly disillusioned Nora Helmer wouldslam the door on stage at the end of A Doll’s House, helping to changethe course of modern drama.Ibsen had become disillusioned very early. In 1836, when he waseight years old, his wealthy parents went bankrupt. They were forcedto move from town to a small farm. All of their old friends desertedthem, and they lived for years in social disgrace. Although youngHenrik appeared quiet and withdrawn, his deep, bitter anger at societywould occasionally escape in the scathing caricatures he would draw orin tirades against young playmates. His sole happiness seemed tocome from reading books and putting on puppet plays.Ibsen didn’t like his own family any more than he liked the “proper”society that shunned them. His domineering father was an alcoholic,while his quiet mother found comfort in religion. This blend ofoverbearing husband and submissive wife makes repeated appearancesin his plays, most notably in Brand, in A Doll’s House, and in Ghosts,After he left his parents’ home at sixteen in 1844, he never wentback, even years later when he got word that his mother was dying.Hoping eventually to study medicine, Ibsen became a druggist’sapprentice in Grimstad, a small Norwegian village. But he still feltlike an outsider, a feeling that would dog him all his life and findexpression in many of his plays. (It didn’t help his social standingwhen he fathered an illegitimate son by a servant girl ten years olderthan he. Some feel that it was this unwanted child that reappears inmany of his plays as a lost or murdered child. In A Doll’s House,the nursemaid gives away her illegitimate child.) But Ibsen found hewasn’t alone in his contempt for those who controlled society. Hebecame friends with a boisterous group of young artists whospecialized in political satire.By 1848, a spirit of political unrest was sweeping Europe.Rebellions against monarchy flared in many countries. This spirit ofrevolution was intoxicating for Ibsen and his friends. Royalty andaristocracy seemed on their way out; the people were coming into theirown.Two years later, Ibsen moved to Oslo to attend the university butfailed to complete the entrance examinations. He was so caught up inpolitics and writing, however, that he really didn’t care. Afterall, modern society seemed to be at a crossroads, and the worldoffered infinite possibilities.But things began to go wrong. The revolutions of 1848 faltered andfinally were crushed. Artists and politicians alike lost theiridealism. The world of infinite possibilities didn’t really exist.Years later, Ibsen would use the experiences of this period in hisplays. Certain of his characters (like Nora in A Doll’s House andLovborg and Hedda in Hedda Gabler) reflect the possibility of asociety where people can reach their individual potential. But theseare lonely characters who must struggle against society as well astheir own human failings.Although he avoided any further active involvement in politics,Ibsen remained a nationalist. For the first time in centuries,Norway had its own government and was trying to escape the politicaland artistic influence of Denmark and Sweden. Authors wroteNorwegian sagas, and the Norwegian Theater was opened in Bergen. YoungIbsen became active in Norway’s artistic rebirth. His first plays werefilled with sweeping poetry about Vikings and political heroes. Infact, the fourteen plays Ibsen wrote between 1850 and 1873 are said tomake up his Romantic Period.Ibsen quickly forgot about being a doctor. On the merit of twoplays, he became the director of the theater at Bergen, with theassignment to write one original play each year. But things did not gowell for him there. Not only were his own plays failures, but he wasforced to produce plays he considered mindless and unimportant- suchas drawing room comedies by the contemporary French playwrightAugustin Eugene Scribe. Although Ibsen ridiculed Scribe’s plays, heabsorbed much about their structure, known as the piece bien faite(well-made play). These were tightly woven melodramas, designedprimarily to entertain, to keep theatergoers on the edge of theirseats. Such plays usually included a young hero and heroine,bumbling parents, and a dastardly villain. The action hinged oncoincidences, misplaced letters, misunderstandings, and some kind oftime limit before which everything had to work out.There is a real art to writing a piece bien faite, because there canbe no unnecessary scenes or dialogue; every word and action sets upa later action. Ibsen would use this tight structure in A Doll’sHouse, but he would add elements that turned an entertainment intomodern drama.In 1858, while in Bergen, Ibsen married Susannah Thoresen. Hardlya subservient wife, she helped manage his career, run his house, andscreen his guests. All through his life, however, Ibsen continued tohave flirtations with pretty young women (including Laura Kieler,who was the model for Nora, and Emilie Bardach, who may have hadsome of Hedda Gabler’s traits).Ibsen left Bergen to become the artistic director of the Norwegiantheater in Oslo. The hardship of these next few years took their toll.The theater went bankrupt in 1862, and Ibsen, destitute, reportedlybecame involved with moneylenders, who may have provided the model forKrogstad in A Doll’s House. Despairing, Ibsen turned to drink, and,like Eilert Lovborg in Hedda Gabler, he almost lost his genius toalcohol. Finally, in April 1864, he left Norway with Susannah andtheir son Sigurd. Over the next twenty-seven years they lived in Rome,Dresden, and Munich.Curiously, the first play that Ibsen wrote after leaving Norwaybecame his first Norwegian hit. And it was this play, Brand (1865),that finally persuaded the Norwegian government to grant Ibsen ayearly salary to support his writing.Success changed Ibsen’s life. He no longer had to scrape formoney, He was ready for his new role. He altered his wardrobe, hisappearance, and even his handwriting. He consciously made himself overinto the man he always thought he could be- successful, honored,sought-after.Even though Ibsen had left Norway, he retained strong ties to thecountry and all but one of his plays are set there. He kept up withliterary events and trends in Scandinavia. One of these eventsprepared him for another major change in his thinking.In 1872 the Danish critic Georg Brandes attacked Scandinavianwriters for dealing only with the past. It was time to startdiscussing modern problems, he said. Ibsen listened and agreed. Thetime was ripe for a change in world drama. In France, Alexandre Dumas,fils [the son], was dramatizing social ills in plays like La Dameaux Camelias (Camille); in Russia, Anton Chekhov was mourning thedeath of the aristocracy, and Count Leo Tolstoy was glorifying thepeasants.Even though the popular revolutions had been defeated, social changewas in the air. An educated middle class was flexing its muscles.Women were beginning to question the submissive behavior they had beentaught. They were now allowed to move in educated circles althoughseldom permitted anything beyond a rudimentary education. Often littlemore than decorative servants, women could not vote and had fewproperty rights. They were expected to be passive, no matter whattheir true personality was. Ibsen sided with women who sought tochange their traditional role.He decided to write plays about modern people who would usecontemporary, everyday language. Writing in prose instead of poetry,he turned from imaginary, romantic settings to “photographically”accurate everyday settings. His first realistic prose play was ThePillars of Society (1877). It was a success, but some readers feelit was only practice for his next play, A Doll’s House (1879).It’s hard for us to realize just how revolutionary A Doll’s Housewas. It took the form and structure of the “well-made play” but turnedit from a piece of fluff into a modern tragedy. In addition, the”hero” isn’t a prince or a king- or even a member of thearistocracy. Instead, it’s a middle-class woman, who decisively rebelsagainst her male-dominated surroundings.A play that questioned a woman’s place in society, and asserted thata woman’s self was more important than her role as wife and mother,was unheard of. Government and church officials were outraged. Somepeople even blamed Ibsen for the rising divorce rate! When sometheaters in Germany refused to perform the play the way it waswritten, Ibsen was forced to write an alternate ending in which theheroine’s rebellion collapses. Despite the harsh criticism of A Doll’sHouse, the play became the talk of Europe. It was soon translated intomany languages and performed all over the world. The furor overIbsen’s realistic plays helped him to become an internationalfigure. Some writers like Tolstoy thought Ibsen’s plays too common andtalky; but the English author George Bernard Shaw considered Ibsento be more important than Shakespeare.No matter what individual viewers thought about its merits, in ADoll’s House, Ibsen had developed a new kind of drama, called a”problem play” because it examines modern social and moral problems.The heroes and heroines of problem plays belonged to the middle orlower class, and the plays dealt with the controversial problems ofmodern society. This seems commonplace today, as popular entertainmenthas been dealing with controversial topics for years. Until Ibsen’sday, however, it just wasn’t done. Many of the most important playswritten in our day, like Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, havetheir roots in the problem play.Ibsen’s Realistic Period (1877 to 1890) earned him a place as atheater giant. Not only did he introduce controversial subjects,everyday heroes, and modern language, he resurrected and modernizedthe “retrospective” plot, which had been popular with the ancientGreek playwrights. In a retrospective play, like A Doll’s House andHedda Gabler, the major events have taken place before the curtaingoes up. The play concerns the way the characters deal with these pastevents.Hedda Gabler was another innovative experiment for Ibsen. Instead ofpresenting a merely social problem, he painted a psychologicalportrait of a fascinating and self-destructive woman.Hedda Gabler has many striking resemblances to A Doll’s House,even though it appeared eleven years later, in 1890. In both plays,the action takes place in the drawing room. The characters include ahusband and, wife, the husband’s friend (who completes a romantictriangle), an old school friend of the wife’s, and this friend’slove interest. Both wives are in a psychological crisis: Nora is notin touch with her aggressive or “male” side, while Hedda cannot bearher own femaleness. (It’s interesting to note that Ibsen wrote theseplays before Freud expressed his idea that everyone has both maleand female components.) Nora, a member of the middle class, dealsconstructively with her search for self-knowledge. Her final closingof the door at the end of the play signifies that she is going outinto the world, which is full of possibilities. On the other hand,Hedda Gabler, a member of the dying aristocracy, becomes destructiveand predatory. Her final action is suicide.Despite his success, Ibsen was never satisfied with his work. Hefelt his major characters had all failed to achieve somethingimportant, something dramatic- and he felt the same way about himself.He was in his sixties when he wrote Hedda Gabler and it signaledanother change in his life and writing.In 1891, after twenty-seven years of exile, Ibsen moved back tohis native Norway and into his third phase of plays, called hisSymbolist Period. The main characters in these plays aren’t women, butspiritually defeated old men.Ibsen had a stroke in 1900 from which he never completely recovered.But he remained an opposing force to the end. In 1906, as he wascoming out of a coma, the nurse commented to his wife that he seemed alittle better. “On the contrary!” Ibsen snapped. He died a few dayslater.

DOLLS_HOUSE|PLOTA DOLL’S HOUSETHE PLAY-(The following edition was used in the preparation of this guide:Henrik Ibsen, Four Major Plays, Vol. I, trans. by Rolf Fjelde,Signet Classic, 1965.)-THE PLOT (IDOLPLOT)-It’s Christmas Eve. Nora Helmer, a beautiful young wife, has beenout doing some last-minute shopping. When she returns, her husbandTorvald immediately comes to see what his “little squirrel” hasbought. They playfully act out their roles- Torvald the big, stronghusband, Nora the dependent, adoring wife.This is a happy Christmas for the Helmers and their children becauseTorvald has recently been appointed manager of the bank. Soonthey’ll be well off and won’t have to scrimp. However, Torvald willstill control the cash in the house, because he feels that hisirresponsible Nora lets money run through her fingers, a trait she”inherited” from her father.An old school friend, Kristine Linde, comes to visit Nora. Duringthe conversation, Kristine reveals that she had married a wealthyman she didn’t love in order to support an invalid mother. Herhusband’s death three years ago left her penniless and she’sreturned to seek work. Nora promises to speak to Torvald about a jobin his bank.Having had such a hard time herself, Kristine is scornful ofNora’s easy married life until Nora describes a secret she has beenconcealing for many years. Early in her marriage, when Torvaldbecame seriously ill, she secretly borrowed a large sum to finance ayear-long stay in a warmer climate. Since he did not know the extentof his illness, and since, even if he had known, borrowing money wouldhave been against his principles, she pretended the money was from herlate father. Since then she has been struggling to repay the debt byeconomizing from her personal allowance and by secretly working athome.The women are interrupted by the arrival of Nils Krogstad, a clerkin Torvald’s bank. When Krogstad goes into the study, Dr. Rank, an oldfamily friend, comes out. Knowing of Krogstad’s reputation as aforger, Rank tells the women that Krogstad is one of those “moralinvalids.” Unknown to any of them, Torvald is firing Krogstad. Thisleaves a vacancy, and, when Torvald joins them, he agrees to giveKristine the job. Torvald, Dr. Rank, and Kristine then leave together.As Nora is playing happily with her three young children, Krogstadreappears. It turns out that he is the one who had lent the money toNora. He also knows that Nora not only forged her father’s signatureas cosigner of the loan but dated it several days after his death.Krogstad leaves after threatening to expose Nora unless he gets hisjob back.Nora pleads with Torvald to reinstate Krogstad, but he refuses.She is frantic, imagining that once Krogstad reveals the truth,Torvald will himself assume the blame for the forgery and be ruined.The next day Dr. Rank, who is suffering from a fatal illness,comes to visit. He speaks openly of his impending death and tells Norathat he loves her. Nora is upset, not because he loves her, butbecause he has told her so and ruined the innocent appearance of theirrelationship.The arrival of Krogstad interrupts their conversation, and Noraslips down to the kitchen to see him. He tells her he has written aletter to her husband, which explains the debt and the forgery. Thenas he leaves, he drops it into the locked mailbox. In despairbecause Torvald has the only key to the box, Nora thinks wildly ofsuicide.When Kristine learns about the forgery, she offers to intercede withKrogstad on Nora’s behalf, because she and Krogstad had once been inlove.Meanwhile, Nora gets Torvald to promise to spend the rest of theevening helping her practice the tarantella- the dance she’s toperform at a masquerade party the next night. Torvald sees a letter inthe mailbox, but true to his promise, he ignores it and concentratesonly on Nora’s dance.The next night, while the Helmers are at the party, Krogstad andKristine meet in the Helmers’ drawing room. They forgive eachother’s past mistakes and are reunited. Krogstad offers to ask for hisletter back, unread, from Torvald, but, unexpectedly, Kristine stopshim. She has had a change of heart and says he should leave theletter- Nora and Torvald must face the truth.Torvald drags Nora away from the party the minute she finishes thedance. He is filled with desire for her and is glad when Kristineleaves. Shortly after, Dr. Rank stops by to bid a final farewell. Norarealizes he is returning home to die alone.Overwhelmed by his feelings for Nora, Torvald says he wishes hecould save her from something dreadful. This is her cue. Nora tellshim to read his mail. She is certain that now the “miracle” willhappen: Torvald will nobly offer to shoulder the guilt himself. Heretires to his study with the mail. Rather than see Torvald ruined,Nora throws on her shawl and starts for the hall, determined tocarry out her suicide plan.But instead, her fine illusions about her husband crumble when anoutraged Torvald storms out of his study, calling her a criminal andaccusing her of poisoning their home and their children. Since hisreputation is at stake, he feels completely in Krogstad’s power andmust submit to the blackmail. Still, he insists that they mustmaintain the appearance of a happy family life.Then a second letter arrives from Krogstad, dropping the charges andreturning Nora’s forged note. Torvald is relieved and immediatelywants to return Nora to the status of pet and child. But she hasseen him as he really is. She realizes that she went straight from herfather’s house to her husband’s and has never become her own person.She has always subordinated her opinions and her identity to those whoshe assumed were nobler. Now she sees that both Torvald and her fatherwere weak, and have kept her weaker only to have someone to bully.Nora decides to leave Torvald’s house to discover who she is. Shesays she’s not fit to raise her children in the state she’s in-she’s been teaching them to be mindless dolls, just as she was. WhenTorvald asks if she’ll ever return, she replies that she could onlyreturn if the greatest miracle happened and they were truly equals,truly married.Torvald is left clinging to this hope as his wife departs,slamming the door behind her.