JUSTIFICATION OF IBSEN’S SELECT FOUR PROBLEM

PLAYS AS SOCIAL REALIST PLAYS

The Norwegian playwright and critic Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) renowned as ‘The
Father of Modern Drama and Realism’, wrote 26 plays in his lifetime, remarkably
contributing to the evolution of modern dramatic literature and the narrative style of
‘Social Realism’ through modern themes and realistic style. His entire oeuvre can be
divided into three phases – the first phase from 1850 to 1875 consists of romantic and
historical plays written in verse modeled on Norse sagas; the second phase (also
called the realist phase) from 1877 to 1882 consists of four problem plays written in
prose picturing the bitter realities and controversial issues of the contemporary (19th
century) Scandinavian society; and the third phase from 1884 to 1899 consists of
metaphysical prose plays characterized by symbolism and abounding in metaphors.
In this research work, the researcher has conducted a conscientious study of the select
four problem plays of Ibsen’s second/realist literary phase, for exploring and
identifying the social realistic elements in them and substantiating them as social
realist plays. These four plays are ‘The Pillars of Society’ (1877), ‘A Doll’s House’
(1879), ‘Ghosts’ (1881) and ‘An Enemy of the People’ (1882) each of which
endeavors to truthfully portray the disputable issues of the Scandinavian bourgeois
society contemporaneous with Ibsen. Through these four plays, Ibsen had made
meticulous efforts to acquaint the coeval readers/audience with the bitter truths and
contentious affairs of the middle-class community of the synchronic period (19th
century). To endow the plays with the power to closely impinge on the conscience of
the readers/audience so that the people are able to relate the watched stories to their
real life, Ibsen eschewed fantasy, myth, romantic subjectivity, exaggeration, artificial
expressions and impractical magnanimity (which were the characteristics of
Romanticism and Idealism), and incorporated daily-life mundane events, everyday
situations, plausible characters, colloquial language, banal costumes and
commonplace settings with contentious themes (which were the traits of Realism).
The plots were simple, resembling the ordinary everyday life, instead of being
cluttered with complex sub-plots and lengthy expositions. The motive was to present
on stage the true face of the society by exposing the personal and social immorality,
corruption, deceit and hypocrisy of the age in the simplest unmodified manner to
bring about social change rather than to charm the readers and audience.
Ibsen’s Realism was inspired by the Danish critic and philosopher Georg Brandes,
who, through his 1871 lectures, demanded the fellow writers to shun imagination and
trivial entertainment, and instead, adopt Realism to promote truth and freedom
through true-to-life works depicting the realities of the society truthfully, debating the
modern social problems and acquainting the common men with their rights and
duties. The determinants which insisted disenchantment from unrealistic works were:
the evil consequences of Industrial Revolution, the scientific developments (like the
inventions of telephone and electric lamp), the ‘Springtime of Peoples’ Revolution of
1848, the patriarchal structure of society, the invention of photography in France, the
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution (1859), the conflict between science and divine faith,
and the disillusionment. The invention of photography encouraged a painting style
depicting the observed reality truthfully. People now started relishing real and original
art, and developed distaste for artificiality and imagination. Some litterateurs
including Ibsen made efforts to substitute fantasy by reality, and represent real life
accurately, instead of deluding the readers by misrepresentation. The objective of the
new literary movement of Social Realism was ‘fidelity to reality’. Its purport was to
accurately represent everyday real life highlighting ‘what truly is’ rather than ‘what
ideally should be’.
The key principle of Social Realism is that an individual is inseparable from society;
neither can have an isolated existence. Thus Social Realism can be seen as
consciousness towards the societal activities and their relation with individual. Social
realism studies the influence of social forces upon the lives of common men- be it
good or bad. It depicts the honest and direct interaction of the individual with the
society which he dwells in. It aims at acquainting the readers with the actual social,
political, economic, moral and religious dilemmas of common middle-class people in
society. It excels in portraying the minutest details of society with emphasis to trivial,
filthy, neglected and unclean subjects. Social Realism does not approve of
didacticism. Instead of advocating the righteous principles of society and preaching
moral lessons to the readers/audience, this narrative technique simply depicts the true
face of the contemporary society to acquaint the readers/audience with its vices,
plights and debatable issues, for further deliberation. It is a sort of laboratory where
the problems of the ordinary human beings, evils of the society, problems of the
individual and family, and the nature of human relationships are all impartially
observed for judgement by the keen eyes.
The researcher attempts to verify that the four problem plays ‘The Pillars of Society’
(1877), ‘A Doll’s House’ (1879), ‘Ghosts’ (1881) and ‘An Enemy of the People’
(1882) which Ibsen penned from 1877 to 1882 during his second literary phase,
comply with the characteristics of the narrative technique of Social Realism, truthfully
depicting and conscientiously deliberating the contentious issues and facts of the
concurrent Scandinavian society without ornamentation or misrepresentation.
According to Katherine Bucher and M. Lee Manning in the book ‘Young Adult
Literature Exploration, Evaluation, and Appreciation’ (2006 edition), a social
realistic fiction must have following characteristics:
 It should mirror real life as some people experience it.
 It must deal with complex matters and circumstances ranging from sexual
preferences to family problems of ordinary middle-class people.
 The story should have a socio-critical perspective.
 The subject-matter should be controversial, demanding sincere concern of
people.
 It should be about ordinary people, their daily problems and challenges in life.
 The characters should be plausible, and their language and actions should
reflect their culture and their social class, and should comply with the setting
of the story. The characters should possess both good and evil traits, and
should be wise in some cases and foolish in others.
 The characters should be given more importance than the plot, action or
subject of the story.
 The theme of the story should be ethical.
 The focus should be on the upper middle-class people who constitute the
major portion of the society.
 Instead of instructing readers about specific moral or ethical beliefs, a realistic
fiction should encourage them to draw their own conclusions about moral and
ethical values by judging the events of the story from their point of view, and
thus learn the importance of moral and ethical conduct.
 If violence is used in the story, it should be in accordance with the demand of
the story and not just for sensationalism.
 Instead of heroism and dignity, the everyday mundane life, labor, struggles
and problems of common man should find detailed attention.
  There should be accurate image of the contemporary situation of human
beings and life without stereotyping. The action should be dramatized in
contemporary setting.
 There ought to be empathy towards all irrespective of age, gender, caste,
religion, social group, culture, socio-economic level or social status.
 The plot should be natural, addressing the synchronic challenges, hopes,
ambitions, anxieties, fears and problems encountered by contemporary
middle-class people.
 The story should be simple, simulating daily life of the readers/audience,
prompting them to reconsider their beliefs and values, without providing them
with suggestions.
 There should be complete and truthful depiction of the society with point-to-
point resemblance, and without any fancy, ornamentation, condiment,
euphemism, exaggeration or misrepresentation.
 The setting of the story should be believable resembling a real-life town or
city, and living room or kitchen etc.
 The diction should comply with the educational status, culture, social class
and topography of the characters.
 The language ought to be colloquial and should not be heightened or poetic.
During late 19th century, the Scandinavian society was experiencing the evil outcomes
of Industrial Revolution and unhealthy consequences of Revolution of 1848. A
large mass of people shifted from villages to urban areas in quest of new opportunities
as Industrial labor. Agriculture, which was the major occupation of the people earlier,
was now substituted by machine-work in urban industries. The Darwin’s theory of
evolution provoked a strong wave of pessimism and skepticism among the Victorians
regarding the divine power and the creation of human species through his book ‘The
Origin of the Species’ (1859). The new principles aroused the feeling of uncertainty
by depicting human beings as helpless creatures in the hands of heredity, environment
and adaptability. There was a clash between religion and science. Even, due to
feminist approach of many philosophers, writers and social reformers who had raised
a fervent voice demanding equal rights for women as men, there was an upheaval in
the social and political order. Scientific developments had also given a big jerk to the
faith in deities, conventional beliefs and religious rituals. The consequences were
urbanization, unemployment, exploitation of the minority, tyranny of the majority,
prejudice, discriminated allotment of gender roles, marital conflicts, ostentation,
infidelity, revolt by the insurgent and aware fair population, hypocrisy, political
maneuvering, manipulation of the poor by the rich etc. The Scandinavian public,
conscious of concurrent scientific developments, inventions and revolutionary
changes in the world, had developed distaste for romantic spirit, Idealism and
daydreaming, and sought after originality and novelty. The disillusioned people
preferred reason to emotions, objectivity to subjectivity, reality to fantasy, intellect to
senses, scientific truths to mere imagination, pragmatism to conjecture, and
innovation to convention. There was an aversion towards the long established hollow
customs and traditions. Some thinkers and critics caught the nerve of the time and
tried to inspire people by their literary works or by their public speeches, to contribute
in the reformation of the society. One of them was the Danish critic Georg Brandes
who delivered a series of lectures in 1871, targeting the fellow litterateurs, demanding
from them a literary practice which would debate modern social and political
problems instead of entertaining the public with fantastic stories. Ibsen, who was
witnessing the problematic social, religious and political concerns and stream of
insurrection in the contemporary Scandinavian society, got greatly impressed by the
lectures of Brandes and subsequently made up his mind to resign from romantic
themes and drag public attention of the readers/spectators towards the contemporary
social evils through problem plays. In his expedition of realistically portraying the
contemporary societal truths, Ibsen delved into the lives of ordinary middle-class
people of late 19th century, closely surveyed their problems and conflicts, and
identified the flaws and vices of the bourgeois society. Ibsen derived the material and
inspiration for his problem plays from his surroundings. He employed the information
gained through this study in his four problem plays from 1877 to 1882 in which he
portrayed the ugly truths of the society truthfully without any exaggeration or
embellishment. These four problem plays viz. ‘Pillars of Society’ (1877), ‘A Doll’s
House’ (1879), ‘Ghosts’ (1881) and ‘An Enemy of The People’ (1882) verisimilarly
reflect the contemporary Victorian social situations of Scandinavia as delineated by
the critics, philosophers, historians and other litterateurs of the period.
By replacing Romanticism with Realism, by focusing on psychological development
instead of external events, by relating his characters to their social milieu, and by
unveiling the passions, restrictions and protests of women, Ibsen transfigured the
theatre into a mirror of the contemporary world. He wrote about regular folks living
ordinary lives like bored housewives, trivial government officials, poor workers, and
likewise. His characters were a complex blend of virtues and vices, struggling with
the ups and downs of the mundane life. He uncovered the negative sides of society
and made demands for loyalty, truthfulness, emancipation, freedom and self-
realization of individual along with the virtue of true relationship with others.
As an iconoclast, Ibsen ranted at the old dead conventions, stereotyped thoughts,
orthodox beliefs and erroneous traditional customs which were pernicious for the
individuals in the society. What was unique about Ibsen was that he thought out-of-
the-box and introduced radical unprecedented themes in these plays which were
appreciated by some while severely reprimanded by others. In each of these four
problem-plays under study, Ibsen depicted the clash of views between an individual
and the community, with the perspective that the baseless threadbare practices and
beliefs perpetuated by the society from one generation to the next, result in
victimization and destruction of the individual instead of fostering him/her. The
conflicts in the plays were on significant issues related to life and not on the petty
issues like those in entertaining romantic plays. Along with the everyday debatable
issues and social evils like: deception, two-facedness, corruption, adultery, depravity,
dishonesty, falsehood, women subjugation, biased gender roles, double standards,
slaughter of women’s rights, oppression of women, financial helplessness of women,
religious hypocrisy, false pride, political gimmicking, intriguing, tyranny of insensible
majority over rational minority, flaws in the institutions of marriage and law, conjugal
complexities, and others, Ibsen dared to debate the taboo subjects as well, like: incest,
genital disease (sexually transmitted disease), religious duplicity and euthanasia
(mercy killing), which aroused worldwide lashing criticism against Ibsen as well as
his works. The financial crisis and the prejudice which Ibsen had personally
experienced in his own life were reflected in most of his plays. Initially, when Ibsen’s
plays were staged, some startled spectators who were accustomed to romantic themes,
grew insurgent against his radical themes. But, some others involving common men
and women and the emerging litterateurs like August Strindberg (1849-1912), G.B.
Shaw (1856-1950) and Anton Chekov (1860-1904) greatly appreciated the strenuous
efforts made by Ibsen to depict the harsh realities of the contemporary society.
According to the historian Willy Jonas in his work ‘Late 19th Century
Scandinavian Society’, the social and political lives of Scandinavian culture
witnessed great vicissitudes during late 19th century like:
 Population doubled in the last century due to fall in death rate
 Economic growth was not in pace with the population growth and the result was
massive unemployment
 Many people emigrated to North America
 Agricultural economy diminished
 Transformation from peasantry to Industrial Revolution had a great influence on
the social life. Men became the provider and women housewives.
 Rail network widened and facilitated trade and transport
 People started shifting from rural areas to towns and cities leading to urbanization.
Many people migrated from Norway, Sweden and Denmark to North America in
search of employment.
 Political stability enhanced, leading to misuse of political power and
manipulation/maneuvering of common men by privileged authorities.
 Women were given limited social, political and economic opportunities and were
not allowed to cast their votes.
 Women were subjugated, mistreated and exploited by men and were forced to do
household jobs only.
 Many reforms were enacted like : equal inheritance rights were granted to men
and women, unmarried women were given more rights, religious freedom was
given, consent was given for local self-government, and so on
 The countries were secularized and the government separated itself from the
church. In 1860 an act was passed according to which people could leave the
church to enter another denomination.
Ibsen depicted the above truths of late 19 th century faithfully in his four famous
problem plays from 1877 to 1882. He painted the real picture of his contemporary
society without any adornment. He exposed the ugly reality concealed under the
façade of a perfect Victorian family. These groundbreaking contemporary plays were
launched by him as a series beginning with ‘Pillars of Society’ in 1877, followed by
‘A Doll’s House’ in 1879, then ‘Ghosts’ in 1881 and concluding with ‘An Enemy of
The Society’ in 1882. These plays drew him at the forefront of the modern
breakthrough in intellectual and cultural life of Europe, and laid the foundation for the
modern theatre. Through his contemporary problem plays he addressed the burning
themes of modern society like hypocrisy, dissimulation, women’s position in society,
deception, corruption and flaws in marriage. He depicted the synchronic abuse of
power by politicians, industrialists, wealthy business owners, clergymen of church,
and media and press men. Ibsen also explored the relationship between freedom and
duty, love and responsibility, truth and justice, minority vs. majority, environmental
considerations vs. economic interests, mercy killing, incest, and so on.
Ibsen discovered many controversies and vices in his synchronic society resulting
from modernization of life as a consequence of Industrial Revolution which started in
England during late 18th century and spread to other countries in the coming centuries.
In Scandinavia, Industrialization led to urbanization, migration of people to United
States, renunciation of traditional occupations (like agriculture, pottery-making,
craftsmanship, etc), breach of harmony in demand and supply of food, inflation,
unemployment, poverty, proliferation of slums, hypocrisy of upper and middle class
people, exploitation of the proletariats, deception, theft, immorality, adultery,
discrimination, double standards, biased gender roles, women subjugation and several
other drawbacks in society. These problems and social evils were depicted by Ibsen in
his four problem-plays from 1877 to 1882.
The concurrent scientific developments in form of various inventions and discoveries
played an eminent role in stimulating the spirit of logic and reasoning in the way of
thinking and outlook, but they also gave rise to conflicts between religion and science.
The Scandinavians who used to believe in theistic evolution propounded by the
‘Creation Theory’ of Bible were startled by Darwin’s atheistic philosophy of ‘Theory
of Evolution’ postulated by his book ‘On the Origin of Species’ published in 1859.
People were confounded between science and divine faith, and this perplexity resulted
in widespread cynicism, uncertainty and skepticism. People wanted to be disillusioned
and face the reality. The religious theories and dogma, in which the people had blind
faith earlier, were now received with dubiousness. Ibsen depicted the religious
hypocrisy prevalent in Scandinavian society through the hypocritical priest Pastor
Manders in ‘Ghosts’. The Darwin’s ‘Theory of Evolution’ aroused widespread
discussions about heredity and genetics. Ibsen mentioned these themes in ‘A Doll’s
House’ (1879) and ‘Ghosts’ (1881) in form of inheritance of evils (through genes)
from father to son, and sexual transmission of genital disease ‘syphilis’.
The patriarchal structure of 19th century Scandinavian society afflicted the feminine
gender with injustice and several miseries. Women were deprived of the basic rights
which men were enjoying, like: right to vote, right to own property, custodial rights,
right to acquire higher education, right to earn money by choosing a professional
career, right to make financial deals and transactions, right to borrow money from
banks without father’s/husband’s consent, right to divorce, right to file case in court
against their molestation, and so on. Women were subjugated and oppressed by men,
and several restrictions were imposed on them. A woman’s role was limited to
household jobs, attending to her husband and children, and satisfying her husband’s
sexual craving. Even Ibsen had witnessed his quiet mother’s sacrifices and self denial
in his childhood. In his plays, Ibsen depicted the true picture of his contemporary
man-dominated society by highlighting the suppression of women, double standards
in society, prejudiced gender roles, flaws in the institutions of marriage and law,
slaughter of women’s rights, maltreatment of women by dominating men and curbing
of desires by women. The struggle for identity, liberty, self realization and
emancipation is conspicuous in the female characters Lona Hessel and Betty (in ‘The
Pillars of Society’), Nora (in ‘A Doll’s House’) and Mrs. Alving (in ‘Ghosts’).
In Social Realism, a writer faithfully and unaffectedly depicts the contemporary social
structure focusing on a particular controversial issue with the aim to make it a matter
of discussion among the public, thus stimulating positive social changes. It was the
affirmed aim of Ibsen as a playwright to explore and depict the actual facts and state-
of-affairs of contemporary life in his plays, instead of delving into fantasy and
romance. The four problem plays of Ibsen which have been extensively studied in the
research were diagnosed for the salient features of the literary technique of Social
Realism. All these four plays together formed a tetralogy (a series of four
consecutively linked plays) and attacked the middle-class social values. The first of
these plays ‘The Pillars of Society’ was premiered in 1877. The play is a harsh
accusation of the moral degradation and offence provoked by the greed of power,
fame and money. This play satirizes conventional thoughts, provincial greed,
hypocrisy, deceit, ostentation and corruption of middle class community, and
acquaints people with the difference between desire, ability and possibility. The
denunciation of conventionality is carried on by Ibsen in his next play of the sequence
‘A Doll’s House’ (1879) which is considered the magnum opus of the theatre of
Realism. In this play, Ibsen criticized the conservatism of the institution of untrue
love and hollow marriage resulting in the collapse of both. The play challenged the
patriarchal views of the time, attacked established gender roles and invoked women to
free themselves from the fetters of subjugation and financial dependence in a man-
dominant society. With the object of self-discovery, the female protagonist Nora of
the play releases herself from the strangling fetters of sacrificial roles of wife and
mother by leaving her dominating-and-condescending husband and insolent children.
She renounces her house and family to denounce hollow relationships and to educate
her and seek her own identity as human being. The play unveiled the bourgeois
community of hidden tragedies like subjugation of women, restrictions on women,
their financial helplessness and domestic violence. The play focused on the
harassment of women and lack of opportunities for them in a man-dominated society.
The unconventional idea introduced by Ibsen in the play was the protagonist’s revolt
against marital-relationship and her renunciation of family-responsibilities. The play
was a scathing attack on the institution of marriage and customary gender roles, and
hence was faced by biting criticism from the readers, spectators and critics. Because
of portrayal of a woman’s struggle against traditional roles of daughter, wife and
mother, and her quest for self-exploration, the play provoked widespread debate about
women’s rights and divorce. Though the play faced severe criticism by the public
because of its revolutionary themes, it earned Ibsen worldwide fame as a realist
playwright. The public criticism of the idea of woman’s liberation didn’t deter Ibsen
from writing controversial plays. Being an iconoclast, Ibsen was resolute in his
motive to overthrow the erroneous conventional beliefs of the time. To respond
people’s scornful remarks against ‘A Doll’s House’, Ibsen wrote third problem play
‘Ghosts’ in 1879 in which he again introduced a radical theme while censuring the
morality of 19th century bourgeoisie. The play again abused the evils of unfaithful
marriage while bringing into notice the limited options available to women during
Victorian period. The play condemned dead social conventions and dead habits of the
past which haunt and torment like ghosts, and perpetuate from one generation to
another, finally degenerating the generations by destroying the very individuals for
whom these principles were created. The play exposed the evils of lies, deception,
hypocrisy, adultery, alcoholism and incest, genital disease and attacked the restraints
of duties towards hypocritical religion and dissipated family members, which inhibit
one’s duty towards oneself. Unlike emancipated Nora of ‘A Doll’s House’ who was
criticized for revolting and leaving her house, Ibsen portrayed a subservient self-
sacrificing lady Mrs. Alving as the female protagonist of ‘Ghosts’ to demonstrate his
critics what happens if a lady faithfully and self-sacrificially devotes herself for her
husband and children lifelong, and Ibsen showed that a woman meets deplorable
consequences even when she is tolerant and conforming, fulfilling her family duties
faithfully. The play is again a scathing remark on the male-oriented society, where a
dissolute syphilis-ridden husband deceives his wife, and hides the truth and secrets
from her. Despite all the precautions by the mother, the moral and physical ills of the
profligate father are inherited by the son in form of incest (with the half-sister) and
fatal venereal disease ‘syphilis’, necessitating his mercy killing (due to his unbearable
pain) by the helpless mother. The scandalous taboo subjects of incest (sex between
close relations), fatal genital disease and euthanasia (mercy killing) once again
aggravated harsh disapproval and censure by the readers and audiences. But nothing
could stop Ibsen from exposing the true face of the Victorian society.
In his mission to expose the prevalent social evils against women, Ibsen said:
“These women of the modern age, maltreated as daughters, as wives, as sisters, not
educated in accordance with their aptitude, debarred from pursuing their real mission,
deprived of their inheritance, poisoned in mind – these are the ones who supply the
mothers for the next generation. What will result from this?”
When ‘Ghosts’ was about to be staged, Ibsen said:
“The language must seem natural and every character must have a distinct expression;
no two human beings express themselves alike. The play must have an impact on the
spectators that they are viewing and listening to something that is actually happening
in the real life.”
Influenced by the realism of Ibsen’s ‘Ghosts’, Hauptmann wrote plays which exposed
tyranny of the past regarding hereditary diseases. Even Zola accepted that in shaping
the human character the social conditions, environment and heredity have an
inescapable force. But the contemporary public expressed aversion towards the
subject.
The public reproach couldn’t stop Ibsen from exposing the true face of the society. In
1882, the fourth and last problem-play of his second literary phase ‘An Enemy of the
People’ was published through which he gave a bold response to his censurers of
‘Ghosts’ by casting Dr. Stockmann as his mouthpiece who being socially conscious,
raises voice against the wrongs in the town, but is shrewdly silenced by political
gimmicks and is ostracized by the ignorant sheeplike majority maneuvered by the
selfish political authorities. Through the play, Ibsen challenged the insensible beliefs
of the contemporary society and reprimanded its conservatism and provincial greed.
The play illustrated the flaws of a democratic society, in which if a socially conscious
individual raises voice against the wrongs, he/she is dumbed and ostracized by the
ignorant sheeplike majority which is manipulated by the selfish authorities. Ibsen
criticized the insensible tyrannical masses ruling the cognizant minority. The play
propounds that ‘one who stands most alone to accomplish one’s duty is stronger than
the ignorant mass of people’.
The central watch-words of Ibsen in these plays were ’truth’ and ‘freedom’. Ibsen
emphasized the necessity of truth to enjoy freedom in life. In ‘A Doll’s House’ and
‘Ghosts’ the subject of debate is ‘false perceptions of duty and sacrifice in sexual
relationship’. ‘Pillars of Society and ‘An Enemy of the People’ debate problematic
features of ubiquitous social conditions like corruption, hypocrisy and deception. The
main topics of concern in Ibsen’s problem plays were religion, marriage, property
rights, sexual relationships outside marriage, dissimulation, social conditions, and
contradiction between the private and public life of individuals.
In all these four plays Ibsen endeavored to draw public attention towards burning
contentious social problems of the 19th century Scandinavian bourgeois society. He
took extra care while writing these four plays so that the spectators/readers could
witness the incidents that could happen to them. His characters spoke and acted
naturally in colloquial language and the situations were banal to give the illusion of
recognizable reality. Ibsen’s disciple G. B. Shaw collectively called these four plays
‘Ibsenite’ plays exposing social and individual evils.
All these four problem plays of Ibsen are the manifestations of the realities of the
contemporary society during late 19th century. Through these plays, Ibsen
scrupulously simulated the truth and reality of society uncovering its negative sides.
Ibsen’s intent was to make the readers aware of the social evils and arouse the fervor
for eradicating the vices from society, making the world a better place to live in. As
an iconoclast, he expressed severe disagreement with the conventional practices and
revolted against the established cherished social customs. By casting natural
characters as his mouthpiece, rebelling against the trite vain conventions, he openly
harangued the wrongdoers. His plays advocated equal rights for men and women, and
struggled for social and political changes towards amelioration of the society. The
simplicity of characterization and setting brought a new life to the theatre. The
audience could relate themselves to the characters and could live through the stories.
By composing original serious experimental plays, Ibsen established a new tradition
in drama and proved that stage could be a platform for the serious deliberation on the
problems of the period exposing the lies of society. Ibsen drew to the vanguard the
misery, hardships, pain, ostentation and social problems originating from the
inequalities and prejudice in a crooked society. He influenced the public to relate their
domestic concerns with the plots staged on the theatre.
After conducting a meticulous study of the theory of Social Realism and investigating
the select four problem-plays of Ibsen for the characteristics of a social realist fiction,
the researcher has come up with some salient features of the plays which substantiate
them as social realist ones. Abstaining from the appealing style and abstract ideas, the
plays focus on the prosaic and faithful representation of the ugly realities of the social,
moral, political, economic, environmental and religious facets of society. The plays
satisfy the basic principles of Social Realism and emphasize reality than fantasy,
reason than emotions, objectivity than subjectivity, intellect than senses, and science
than conventions. The themes, plots, characters, settings, diction, situations and
events of the plays are in accord with the controversial socio-political and religious
issues, daily mundane life, ordinary people, natural places, colloquial language, banal
circumstances and quotidian incidents respectively of the late 19 th century
Scandinavian society as witnessed by Henrik Ibsen and described by historians,
philosophers and contemporary writers.
The following features of the select four problem plays under study justify the
approach of Social Realism in them:
 These plays make everyday social problems and controversial issues of late 19 th
century Scandinavian society the subject of deliberation.
 They have a socio-critical point of view and are vital for stimulating socio-
political debates.
 The actions in these plays are set in the contemporary setting, revealing actual
situations and conditions of society contemporaneous with Ibsen.
 The focus is on middle-class i.e. bourgeois society.
 The subjects of plays are socio-ethical.
 The characters are the complex mix of virtues and shortcomings.
 The characters are more important than the plot, theme and action of the stories.
 The characters are a complex mix of both good and evil traits. None is completely
ideal and none is totally wicked.
 The diction of these plays is in natural vernacular language. It is neither
heightened nor poetic.
 The plays represent common people and everyday situations of the Scandinavian
society coeval with Ibsen.
 There is no use of fanciful or embellishing accessories, or any sort of condiment.
The events are narrated in a mundane manner.
RELEVANCE OF IBSEN’S SELECT FOUR PROBLEM PLAYS WITH THE
SOCIETAL TRUTHS OF 19TH CENTURY SCANDINAVIA
Ibsen made determined efforts to identify the acute and chronic social problems of the
contemporary 19th century Scandinavia, and disillusion the society by presenting its
true picture through his four thought provoking problem plays which comprise his
second literary phase (1877 to 1882). These four problem plays of Ibsen owe their
verisimilitude to a number of features like: the avoidance of romantic or idealistic
elements (like imaginary characters, heightened language or impractical ideals),
shunning of exaggeration and euphemism, detailed description of everyday life
without fabrication, incorporation of believable real-life-like elements (like natural
plots, everyday situations, believable daily-life characters, vernacular language,
natural settings, and controversial themes of middle-class society) with which the
reader could easily associate himself, abstinence from the traditional artificial
dramatic features like soliloquies and asides, introduction of ‘fourth wall’ concept,
and focus on highlighting the problems of contemporary society rather than of the
past or future. These plays portrayed the social, political, economic, religious,
familial, personal and environmental realities of the coeval society through realistic
stories, everyday situations and plausible characters which were modeled on the true
elements of the surroundings.
Ibsen’s photographic skills and accurate picturization of the concurrent society
can be justified by following keen observations:
 The plays, to a great extent, reflect the events and characters of Ibsen’s real
life. Ibsen had several bitter experiences in his childhood like prejudice,
incestuous marriage of his alcoholic father Knud Ibsen, severe loss in father’s
 business leading to financial ruin and miserable condition of the family,
migration for better economic prospects, abusive behavior of his father
towards his docile mother, self-denial and sacrifices of his quiet mother, his
own loneliness and curbing of desires. These painful and unpleasant childhood
experiences along with the adverse impact of social, political and economic
crisis which Ibsen encountered in his adolescence found a strong place in his
realistic plays, and established him as an individualist. The characters of these
plays mirror his family members and are often named after them. The themes
of the plays are related to financial crisis, suffering of women, dark hidden
secrets and consequent moral conflicts. Ibsen depicted alcoholism and
violence of his father in the character of Mr. Alving. Ibsen’s sacrificing and
submissive mother Marichen Altenburg is reflected in the female protagonists
like Betty and Martha Bernick of ‘The Pillars of Society’, Nora of ‘A Doll’s
House’, Mrs. Alving of ‘Ghosts’, and Rebecca West of ‘Rosmersholm’.
 The forgery which Nora committed in the play is similar to the forgery
committed by one of Ibsen’s acquaintances. A female writer named Laura
Kieler whom Ibsen had met in Dresden in 1860s, had borrowed money to
finance a health trip for her husband, but was unable to repay the loan when it
came due. Fearing her dominant husband’s rage, she secretly forged a cheque,
but was caught and rejected by him.
 The Industrial Revolution had a strong impact on the social, political,
economic, environmental, moral and religious facets of 19 th century
Scandinavia. The capitalists owned private industries as means of production
to earn profit, and made selfish attempts to maximize their profits. Most of
these capitalists were smug and corrupt, and resorted to all sorts of stratagems
like treachery, falsehood, dishonesty, sycophancy and immorality to maximize
their benefits and to satisfy their lust. The affluent businessman Mr. Karsten
Bernick in ‘The Pillars of Society’ represents such immoral, hypocritical,
corrupt, depraved and greedy capitalists. He secretly buys the rail-side road to
make money and along with the financially strong businessmen Vigeland,
Sandstad and Rummel, exploits the underprivileged people by crafty unfair
means. During 19th century, the widespread establishment of industries had
negative consequences on the environment. The releases from the factories
were hazardous for the environmental health, and led to air and water
 pollution. The running of tannery by Morten Kiil in the play ‘An Enemy of the
People’ symbolizes the industrial development of Norway, and contamination
of spa water by the toxic effluents of the tannery indicates the increasing
environmental pollution in Norway during 19th century.
 19th century was witnessing unprecedented scientific developments in form of
various inventions and discoveries including the astounding ‘Theory of
Evolution’ propounded by Charles Darwin in 1859. Ibsen was greatly
influenced by this remarkable discovery, and inspired by it, he incorporated
the themes of heredity and genetics in his realist plays. In the play ‘Ghosts’,
Oswald is inflicted by the evils of licentiousness, incest and genital disease
‘syphilis’, all of which has been inherited by him from his dissolute father.
The impact of environment on individual’s disposition is also exhibited in the
play by the portrayal of distorted personality of Mr. Alving because of dull
conservative surroundings. During 1880s, there were great advancements in
the field of microscopy, which led to the detection of germs responsible for the
diseases like typhoid and malaria. But many people were cynical about these
discoveries and did not acknowledge them. Ibsen reflects the 19 th century
scientific advancements and cynicism of people towards them in his fourth
social realist play ‘An Enemy of the People’, in which, the conscientious
medical researcher Dr. Stockmann diagnoses infusoria bacteria in the spa-
water, responsible for baths’ contamination, but the maneuvered ignorant
majority scoffs at him, bluntly rejects his discovery and ostracizes him giving
him the title ‘Enemy of the People’.
 During late 19th century, standards were set for upper middle class to behave in
a well-civilized way in society. People were expected to comply with the strict
and stifling standards like: obeying the norms of patriarchy, maintaining an
immaculate image in society, conforming to the moral values (or pretend to do
so) and behaving in a well-mannered and disciplined way. In ‘A Doll’s
House’, the married couple Torvald and Nora abides by these standards
proving that the comfort of upper middle class life demands adherence to the
narrow margins.
 Hypocrisy, money-mindedness, treachery, corruption, sexual depravity and
immorality prevalent in Scandinavian society during late 19th century are
mirrored precisely by Ibsen in his four problem-plays of realist phase. In ‘The
 Pillars of Society’, the wealthy shipbuilder Karsten Bernick ditches his
beloved Lona in greed of money, makes secret extramarital affair with an
actress Mrs. Dorf, deceives his wife Betty, puts false allegations of theft and
sexual depravity on his brother-in-law Johan, hires unworthy ship for Johan
and Lona to get them drowned, and conceals all the truths from Betty. In ‘A
Doll’s House’, Torvald is too stingy and always accuses his wife Nora of
squandering, and reproaches her badly when she takes loan. He is a hypocrite
who pretends to be a gentleman respecting ladies, whereas treats his own wife
rudely. In ‘Ghosts’, Mr. Alving is completely devoted to alcoholism and
dissipated life, making clandestine sexual relationships with several ladies
including his maid-servant Johanna. Even, the local carpenter Engstrand is
two-faced and a determined opportunist. As a staunch hypocrite he pretends to
be idealistic but runs a brothel in the guise of ‘Sailor’s House’. For money, he
had agreed to marry the maid Johanna who was pregnant with dissolute
Captain Alving. Another hypocritical character in ‘Ghosts’ is the religious
preacher Pastor Manders, who ostensibly advocates old conventional ideals of
duty and morality, discriminatory tenets, duplicitous morality, outdated social
order and double standards, while denouncing modern education and rational
ideas. He selfishly allies with hypocritical Engstrand and suggests Regina to
live with him. In ‘An Enemy of the People’, Mayor Peter Stockmann and his
supporting administrative officials and media-men are corrupt and duplicitous,
and craftily maneuver the ignorant public against the benevolent doctor. By
casting such characters, Ibsen gives a glimpse of the real life of his times when
deceit, ostentation and hypocrisy were at the peak, and would win over
honesty, modesty and sincerity.
 19th century Scandinavia followed patriarchal principles wherein the male
(father/husband) used to be the head of the family and the women had to obey
his orders being dependent on him socially, financially and psychologically.
The gender-roles were prejudiced and were predefined. The men were
expected to acquire higher education and earn money, whereas the women
were confined to do household jobs and serve their husband and children,
sacrificing their own interests. The tasks of wives were demeaning like:
cleaning home, preparing and serving food, succumbing to their husbands’
orders, satiating husbands’ sexual hunger, reproducing children, carrying out
 all the domestic tasks and raising their children. They were not allowed to
open bank accounts or make any financial transactions without the legal
approval of husband. All the cash and physical property were owned by
husband. While husbands had sexual indulgence and love affairs with other
women out of marriage, wives had to be reticent and strictly follow the codes
of chastity without even protesting their husbands’ profligacy. If a woman had
an extramarital affair, she was considered ‘fallen’ and had to face severe
hardships. Unlike males, females had no right to demand divorce. As per the
Custody of Infants Act 1839, in case of separation, fathers were free to gain
custody of their children without the need to prove their fidelity, whereas
mothers had to undergo several trials and had to prove themselves immaculate
for the same. The Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 for access to divorce was also
flawed and favored men. Through his social realist plays Ibsen drew public
attention towards women’s acquiescence to the double standards in society. ‘A
Doll’s House’ evidently reflects the patriarchal structure of 19 th century
Norwegian society. The most prominent task of Nora is to serve her husband
and children as a responsible housewife. Torvald has complete control on all
the familial decisions be it financial, social or cultural. He behaves in a
condescending manner towards his wife Nora. Even Nora fears the rage of her
husband and faithfully follows all his commands without expressing any
reluctance. She always tries to please and flatter him by behaving in a childish
manner. The double standards owing to the contemporary patriarchal system is
also reflected in ‘Ghosts’ where Mr. Alving is the head of the Alving Estate
and behaves arbitrarily while his wife is bound to obey all his commands from
kitchen to bed. The laws in Victorian era were men-friendly while inimical to
females. To control pre-marital sexual relations, it provided that women would
legally bear the financial responsibilities for their illegitimate children. Thus
sexual relations were lavishness for men while hesitation for women.
 During mid 19th century, prostitution was a widespread evil practice in
Scandinavia. Men used to enjoy sex with whores in exchange for money.
Many people opened brothels as their secret money-making business. In
‘Ghosts’, the carpenter Engstrand runs a brothel under the disguise of ‘Sailor’s
House’, and persuades young girls including Regina to join it. The 19 th century
Scandinavians had to bear severe consequences of harlotry. The unsafe sex
 with prostitutes was giving birth to deadly venereal diseases which had no
cure. These diseases were hereditary and got transmitted to the child from the
parent suffering from it. This reality was contemporary to Ibsen and was
represented by the transmission of the genital disease ‘syphilis’ to Oswald
from his depraved father Mr. Alving in ‘Ghosts, and to Dr. Rank from his
dissolute father in ‘A Doll’s House’.
 Incest i.e. sexual intercourse between closely related persons was also a
burning controversial social issue during 19th century in Scandinavia. It was a
taboo subject, disparaged by the conventional society. Ibsen’s father had an
incestuous marriage and this had caused Ibsen to bear derogatory remarks
which he despised. Ibsen highlighted this forbidden issue in his most criticized
play ‘Ghosts’ in which Mr. Alving’s son Oswald is indulged in incestuous
relationship with his half-sister.
 In the latter half of 19th century, the population explosion and the ensuing poor
social and financial conditions in Scandinavia provoked several citizens to
emigrate from rural areas of Norway, Sweden and Denmark to the modern
industrial cities of United States for higher studies, better job opportunities,
improved lifestyle and freedom from outdated conservative ideas. Ibsen
depicts this migration in his realist plays. In ‘The Pillars of Society’, Johan
migrates with his step-sister Lona to North America in the beginning for better
job prospects there, and finally takes his beloved Dina with him to settle in
North America. Nils Krogstad in ‘A Doll’s House’ is also one of such
aspirants. In ‘Ghosts’, Mrs. Alving sends her son Oswald abroad for his higher
studies and inculcation of radical ideas. In ‘An Enemy of the People’, Dr,
Stockmann makes up his mind to leave the narrow-minded and conventional
society of Norway and settle in America where the people are more rational
and open-minded.
 During the second half of 19th century, the poor social status, subjugation,
oppression, exploitation and molestation of females in Scandinavian society
aroused the spirit of revolt in some courageous, educated and self-dependent
women who were associated with several feminist movements for women
upliftment and empowerment, like the Norwegian feminist Aasta Hansteen
(1824-1908). Ibsen depicted this modern New Woman in the characters of
Lona Hessel in ‘The Pillars of Society’, Nora in ‘A Doll’s House’ and Petra in
 ‘An Enemy of the People’, each of whom dares to take a bold step to protest
the restrictions imposed by the society, resist the stereotyped thoughts and
break the conventional image of women, by acting according to her own
principles.
 Subjugation and molestation of 19th century Scandinavian women is reflected
in all the four plays of Ibsen’s realist literary phase. In ‘The Pillars of Society’
Bernick betrays his beloved Lona Hessel and marries Betty for money,
sexually exploits the actress Mrs. Dorf, tortures his wife Betty, tyrannizes his
illegitimate daughter Dina Dorf and enslaves his sister Martha Bernick after
craftily robbing her of her inheritance. In ‘A Doll’s House’, Torvald
subjugates his wife Nora and treats her like his pet, reproaching her every now
and then. In ‘Ghosts’, Captain Alving oppresses his docile wife Helene,
sexually exploits the maid-servant Johanna, and makes many women the
victim of his sexual craving. In ‘An Enemy of the People’, Dr. Stockmann
imposes his idealistic views upon his wife, who has to finally comply with
him.
 When other countries were flourishing during 19th century by adopting modern
radical views, the Scandinavian countries were still perpetuating the old dead
traditions, stereotyped thoughts and decaying ideas. The individuals were
oppressed by the dead weight of duty and conventions. As a stern iconoclast,
Ibsen always attacked the cherished traditional principles, beliefs and
institutions as being flawed and superstitious. In all the four surveyed plays,
Ibsen’s profound disgust for the long-established erroneous conventions can
be clearly noticed. In ‘The Pillars of Society’, the irrational orthodox views of
the priest Rorlund and the conservative principles of the capitalist Karsten
Bernick are countered by the radical perspectives of Lona Hessel. In ‘A Doll’s
House’, Nora expresses her disapproval of the double standards and the flawed
institutions of marriage and law by leaving her dominating husband and
renouncing her familial obligations. In ‘Ghosts’, Mrs. Alving patiently bears
the hardships and adversities of life, and meekly abides by all the dead
conventions and familial obligations imposed by the orthodox social and
religious norms, but this conformity to dead ideas proves disastrous for her. To
keep her son Oswald from the orthodox conventions and impractical ideals of
rural area, she sends him to Paris for his better studies, and development of
 mind with modern liberal thoughts and radical views, but he too is afflicted by
the evil consequences of conventionalism. Oswald acts as Ibsen’s mouthpiece
by radically protesting the dead burden of conventions and duty. In the fourth
social realist play ‘An Enemy of the People’, Dr. Stockman acts as Ibsen’s
spokesperson and scoffs at the narrow-mindedness of conservative people and
fights against ignorance by resolving to educate the poor.
 During the period of Ibsen, religion was looked upon as a highly sacred
cultural entity and people revered Pietism and Lutheranism. Most of the
religious preachers were hypocritical and corrupt, praising old stereotyped
beliefs and denouncing modern rational ideas, with the selfish purport of
sustaining their existence in society. Ibsen witnessed his countrymen blindly
supporting the prejudiced and arbitrary religious ideals of these priests, owing
to unreasoning faith in dogmatic religious doctrines and vain ideals of
morality. Ibsen portrayed this social reality in his plays by casting the
hypocritical religious characters Parson Rorlund in ‘The Pillars of Society’
and Pastor Manders in ‘Ghosts’, both of whom resist rational new ideas, and
instruct hollow, chauvinistic and impractical sermons, but are reverentially
followed as ideals by Karsten Bernick and Mrs. Alving respectively.
 The setting of each of these four plays is a small Norwegian coastal town
which is modeled after the Norwegian town Grimstad where Ibsen had worked
as a pharmacist’s assistant for six years.
 In Ibsen’s time, politics was a dirty game. Politicians were corrupt, selfish and
duplicitous, prioritizing self-interests over public-interests. The Norwegian
political parties Conservatives and Radicals pettily quarreled upon their power
and strength, and made false promises of social and economic development to
exact votes from the public. The lust of 19th century Norwegian politicians for
power, fame and money was reflected by Ibsen in his social realist plays. ‘The
Pillars of Society’ depicts the provincial greed and hypocrisy of the dishonest
pillar of society Mr. Karsten Bernick. In ‘An Enemy of the People’, the selfish
and hypocritical Mayor along with other diplomatic administrative authorities,
manipulates the public in his favor (and against the doctor) to save his money
and reputation. The power of mass media during 19th century in shaping the
public opinion and influencing the political action is also demonstrated in the
 play by the pressmen Hovstad, Billing and Aslaksen who are in cahoots with
the political leaders to suppress the voice of Dr. Stockmann.
 During late 19th century, Scandinavians started becoming conscious for
acquiring higher education and getting high-paid jobs in private and govt.
sectors. Ibsen portrayed this awareness for education in Nora (in ‘A Doll’s
House’) who leaves her house and renounces her insipid familial duties to
explore outer world, educate herself, become self-dependent and establish her
own identity in the society. Even in ‘An Enemy of the People’, the doctor on
behalf of Ibsen, delineates the significance of education to the ignorant
masses, and decides to open a school for the poor children, where his daughter
Petra would assist him.
The similar depiction of 19th century societal realities in the works of other writers
contemporaneous with Ibsen endorses Ibsen’s select four problem plays as social
realist ones. The urbanization due to Industrial Revolution and Revolution of 1848
resulted in slums, child labor and unsatisfied urban-lifestyle which Charles Dickens
(1812-1870) reflected in his fictional works ‘Oliver Twist’(1838), ‘Bleak House’
(1853), ‘Hard Times’ (1854), and ‘Great Expectations’ (1861). The pessimism,
cynicism and skepticism provoked by scientific developments and Darwin’s theory
of evolution (1859) find place in the works of George Eliot (1819-1880) and Thomas
Hardy (1840-1928) that depicted human beings as helpless creatures in the hands of
heredity, environment and adaptability. Eliot’s Middlemarch (1871) expressed clash
between religion and science, whereas Hardy’s Tess of The d’Urbervilles (1891) and
‘Jude the Obscure (1895) expressed failure of survival of human beings due to their
inadaptability to the changing environment.
All the above illustrations prove the conformity of the select four problem plays of
Ibsen’s second literary phase (1877 to 1882) with the societal facts contemporaneous
with Ibsen, and show that Ibsen had made strenuous efforts to depict his synchronic
society truthfully through realistic elements in these plays, abstaining from all sorts of
romantic and idealistic tools. The plots, characters, settings, situations, events,
themes, etc. all are in concord with the reality and historical context of 19 th century
Scandinavia.
The above endeavor supports the elements of the research hypothesis in that: the
investigated plays describe the contentious social and political issues which were
coeval with Ibsen; the issues are related to daily life of common man; the characters,
settings and events are all natural and commonplace; and there are little traces of
exaggeration, ornamentation, idealism, fantasy, supernaturalism or mystery.
The statements and remarks of contemporary litterateurs, philosophers, critics,
historians, journals, newspapers and books play a significant role in substantiating
that Ibsen possessed the talent of dexterously portraying the polemic issues of the
contemporary society through true-to-life plots and plausible characters on stage,
without the touch of hyperbole, embellishment or fancy.
According to Byron J. Nordstorm’s books ‘History of Scandinavia’ and
‘Scandinavia since 1500 ’, there were rigid social hierarchies in 19th century
Scandinavian societies. People could not advance beyond the economic and social
positions in which they were born. Women were far underprivileged than men there
were predefined gender roles.
Also the Swedish historian Vilhelm Moberg (1898-1973) in his book ‘The
Emigrants’ (1949) illustrated the poor condition of Scandinavia during 1850s by
depicting a rural Swedish parish in which poor farmers plough the same land
generation after generation and finally migrate to other countries. The aristocrats
enjoyed special rights whereas the farmers and the lower classes endured hardships.
Women were deprived of social, political and economic independence, and were
given minimal opportunities for education. A vast majority of Scandinavians
emigrated to United States, Africa, New Zealand and Australia for better economic
opportunities. Largest number of emigrants was from Norway viz. 730,000.
Norwegian feminists Aasta Hansteen (1824-1908) and Gina Krog (1847-1916) who
were contemporary to Ibsen, made several efforts for women upliftment and
empowerment. They raised voice for women’s right to education and right to vote in
1880s. Inspired by Assta Hansteen, the radical character of female protagonist Lona
Hessel in Ibsen’s first social realist play ‘The Pillars of Society’ is modeled upon her.
Zola praised Ibsen’s art of depicting the 19th century Norwegian society truthfully
on stage. According to him, Ibsen was a realist cum symbolist while favoring
individualism in his plays.
According to Brian Johnston’s review of Richard Hornby’s book ‘Pattern’s in
Ibsen’s Middle Plays’ Ibsen abandoned the poetic form in his middle plays to
produce the impression on the reader that what was being read was something that
had happened in reality. The rhythmic language would prevent him to cast the
ordinary insignificant characters speaking colloquial language of daily life.
Strindberg commented “Henrik Ibsen has portrayed the true picture of Norwegian
society, staging the tyranny of masculine gender and suppression of females, as well
as the staked social morality”. Strindberg admired Ibsen’s portrayal of old follies,
infidelity and immorality of Victorian Age in ‘Ghosts’. Helene Alving, the widow of
dissolute Capt. Alving, is intimate to Pastor Manders, who disappoints her by an
ostensible allocution advocating long-held conventions and stereotyped thoughts
regarding marriage, donation and duties of a widow. Helene does not want to revisit
her ugly past but it invades her like ghosts in form of her son’s genital disease and his
immorality (incest with half sister). Strindberg’s comment justifies that Ibsen’s
problem play ‘Ghosts’ was a social realist play accusing the contemporaneous
Norwegian perspective regarding old dead doctrines and silly beliefs.
Myrtle L. Haun (1894-1971) in her article ‘Social Problems as Ibsen found them
and as they are today’ writes that Ibsen was conscious of the problems in
Scandinavian society of his period and depicted them truthfully in his four problem
plays. He was the witness of the increasing urbanization and hunger for wealth,
leading to affectation, deception and corruption. The people in power used their
influence cunningly and selfishly, even at the cost of others’ lives to achieve quick
success, and were hailed as ‘pillars of society’ by the ignorant majority of the
democratic nations. This made Ibsen condemn democracy and favor sensible minority
which he showcased in his plays ‘Pillars of Society’ and ‘An Enemy of the People’.
He showed that the views of the pragmatic social reformer Dr. Stockmann in ‘An
Enemy of the People’ were disregarded by the majority when his interest in the
welfare of mankind reached the pockets of the community. Through the play Ibsen
conveyed the message that it is the weakness of society that it surrenders to the
dominion of the men in power. The play depicts the truth that people bow before
money which can control politics, control justice, and control social workers even. In
‘Pillars of Community’ Mr. Bernick is a hypocritical businessman who can do
anything for fame and wealth. He represents those people who are blind to the social
wrongs, and do not see that embezzlement and tax-dodging are forms of theft. Their
petty ambitions cost them ruin. But these pillars of society also feel lonely and need
the intimacy of dear ones and the support of society. As per Ibsen, the greatest hope
for a successfully ruled nation is the rule by those who possess nobility of character.
The English Professor Toril Moi (born in 1953 in Norway) in her book ‘Henrik
Ibsen and the Birth of Modernism: Art, Theatre, Philosophy’ defends Ibsen’s
realist dramaturgy by enumerating its realistic traits like fourth wall representation,
cross-referencing, complex retrospective plotting, psychological portraits in his
middle plays. Moi studied the trends and socio-economic and political aspects of late
19th century Scandinavian society and juxtaposed these aspects with those portrayed
by Ibsen in his problem plays from 1877 to 1882. Moi says that these plays are anti-
idealist and dramatize the daily possibilities which are found in real life. She remarks
that in these plays, the characters fed up of pursuing idealist life, finally listen to their
hearts and follow their conscience, and thus simulate real life people.
According to Robert J. Cardullo in his article ‘The Pillar of Ibsenian Drama:
Henrik Ibsen and Pillars of Society’, Henry James (1843-1916) had written in
1879: “Sometimes the interest in theatrical matters exaggerates to be a sort of mania.
It permeates the society and breaks down the hurdles; people perpetually talk about
plays and their actors. The dramatic professionals are readily received by the society.
They appear in society and the people of society appear on the stage. It seems that the
great gate which earlier divided the theatre from the world had been lifted off its
hinges.” This statement of James justifies that the drama during late 19 th century
portrayed social realities.
Hjalmar Hjoth Boyesen (1848-1895) in his book ‘A commentary on the writings
of Henrik Ibsen’ published in 1894, writes: “Ibsen attacked the hypocritical
profession of compliance with the long cherished customs and beliefs which had lost
their significance and vitality. People publicly acknowledged that they believed in
gods, but privately they mocked the deities. People pretended to act on the assumption
that they possessed both religious and political liberty which in reality they had lost.”
This comment aids in verifying that Ibsen depicted the truths of late nineteenth
century in his contemporary prose problem plays.
The literary historian and critic Edmund Gosse (1849-1928) in his biographical
work ‘Henrik Ibsen’ published in 1908 wrote about Ibsen’s various literary stages.
Edmund Gosse writes that in the stage 1875-82, Ibsen was under the influence of
social realism. Ibsen sacrificed his rhythmic verse form and adopted the
unornamented prose reproducing the exact language of real life in a series of plays
which started with ‘Pillars of Society’. He got material from the real life. In April
1879, he came across an incident in the Danish courts in which a young married
woman of a small town of Zealand ventured to go against the conventional
constraints. This made Ibsen contemplate on the narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy of
the Norwegian society. He went to Amalfi in Italy and with a prosaic mood set
himself to write his most famous serious family play ‘A Doll’s House’ dealing with
the problems of modern condition of women in marriage. Ibsen completed the play in
September 1879. When the play was staged, it aroused disputes in families and the
spirit of revolt in women. As a response, Ibsen said “Whatever I have written has the
closest possible connection with what I have lived through. I have aimed at my own
spiritual emancipation and purification because a man shares the accountability and
the guilt of the society to which he belongs.” Then Ibsen sat down to compose
‘Ghosts’ which he got published at the beginning of December 1881. The play got
bitter criticism from the public but Georg Brandes said that the play was not an attack
on the society; rather it was an effort to acquaint men and women with their
responsibilities towards each other and towards their children. Ibsen, who was leading
the political party opposed to Bjornson, was seriously disowned by all the parties and
was abandoned by nobles as well as common men. The situation caused indignation
in Ibsen against politics and parties. On 3rd Jan 1882, Ibsen said in a speech “I shall
never be able to join a party which has majority on its side. Bjornson as a practical
politician says that majority is always right, but I as a common man would say that
minority is always right.” To place this perspective clearly before the public, he set
about penning the play ‘An Enemy of the People’ throughout the summer of 1882 and
apart from criticizing the insensible majority for their scathing remarks on his plays,
Ibsen ventured through the play to tell the Norwegian public that their spa ought to be
drained before inviting the visitors. The play was cordially welcomed by the society.
The Scottish critic William Archer (1856-1924) reviewed almost all the plays of
Ibsen and translated them in English. In his article ‘Mausoleum of Ibsen’ published
in Fortnightly Review in London in July 1893, Archer gave an account of influence of
Ibsen’s social dramas on the public. Though Ibsen portrayed what he saw in his
contemporary society – subjugation of women, adultery of men, deception, hypocrisy
– he was bitterly criticized for revelation of filth of the society, for going against the
protocols of the conventional society and for introducing taboo subjects. His ‘A
Doll’s House’ and ‘Ghosts’ received the harshest criticisms from almost all the
newspapers and journals.
The eminent Norwegian historian and politician Halvdan Koht (1873-1965)
wrote a biography of Ibsen in form of the book ‘The Life of Ibsen’ in 1931, in
which he gave detailed description of 19th century Scandinavia and delineated its
impact on Ibsen through the account of instances from his plays. The plays belonging
to his middle literary career truthfully reflect the clash between science and faith, the
feminist revolt against female subjugation, the changed protocols of society and the
modern thoughts due to spread of education. These plays disparage lifestyle of the 19th
century Norwegian middle-class society which was hypocritical, oppressive,
suffocating, and corrupt.
The English translator and biographer Michael Meyer (1921-2000) in his
biography of Henrik Ibsen wrote about Ibsen’s venture to challenge through his
realist plays the patriarchal ideals of the nineteenth century Scandinavian society
where the women were deprived of political, economic and social powers and were
psychologically dependent on men in many ways. Women were emotionally exploited
by the institutions of marriage and motherhood in bourgeois society.
Raymond Williams claimed Ibsen’s plays as “dead historical monuments”
satirizing old beliefs, conventions and deadening customs.
G.B. Shaw’s ‘The Quintessence of Ibsenism’ (1891) analyses ‘A Doll’s House’ as a
modern realist play condemning the ideal role of wife-cum-mother played by Nora
Helmer throughout the married life, and advocating her final decision of leaving the
dominant husband and renouncing her familial responsibilities.
Famous American critic and playwright Eric Bentley comments on Ibsen’s ‘A
Doll’s House’ in his essay ‘Ibsen, Pro and Con’. According to him, the play is a
work of realism as it is set in normal everyday setting. The reader can easily relate to
the features of the play. The gender discrimination and allocation of distinct duties for
males and females in Scandinavian society, males given the earning responsibility,
and females obliged to do household jobs are the real facts obvious through the play.
The famous Danish critic and philosopher Georg Brandes (1842-1927) in one of
his dinner speeches praised Henrik Ibsen for his literary efforts and thanked him on
behalf of the whole world for his service in revealing the wrongs of the society
through his true-to-life plays. Georg Brandes said “We thank you Dr. Ibsen for
laying bare our faults so that we may notice them and mend them.”
A British scholar and historian Allardyce Nicoll (1894-1976) in his collection
‘History of English Drama, 1660-1900’ wrote that late 19th century society
witnessed many controversial issues like revolt of women against oppression by men,
skepticism owing to confusion between science and faith, misunderstandings about
religion, aftermaths of urbanization due to Industrial Revolution, and so on, and Ibsen
depicted all these phenomena on stage truthfully through his middle plays.
The German poet, playwright and theatre-director of 20 th century Bertolt Brecht
(1898-1956) regarded Ibsen as a playwright who struggled for absolute photographic
verisimilitude in his four plays written in the period from 1877 to 1882.
All the above remarks contribute to the substantiation that Ibsen’s select four problem
plays ‘Pillars of Society’ (1877), ‘A Doll’s House’ (1879), ‘Ghosts’ (1881) and ‘An
Enemy of the People’ (1882) which belong to the second stage of his literary career,
faithfully depict the contemporary realities and controversial issues of the concurrent
society through realistic elements like plausible characters, usual costumes, colloquial
language of the local people, mundane plots, natural settings, commonplace
situations, everyday events, quotidian stuff and straightforward expressions. The
comments advocate that the plays are social realistic eschewing artistic conventions,
embellishment, condiment, fantasy, exaggeration, artificiality, mystery,
supernaturalism, myth, supposition or impractical magnanimity.
All the evidences verify the hypothesis and authenticate the validity and reliability of
the research.