NAME: OGBODO SAMUEL SUNDAY

MATRIC NUMBER: DRA/2018/053

Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian playwright who is regarded as the father of Realism seeks to break out of
the traditional norms of ancient greek drama and theatre which theatrical works especially plays
addresses issues with involvement of gods in human affairs and upholds the idea of divinity in man's
everyday life. Ibsen believes opines that this type of drama and theatre steals man away from
interacting with his environment which is his most vital tool of socialization and interaction. In the early
19th century, Ibsen began to write plays which address and explore social issues and the problems of
man as encountered in his immediate environment. Did he proffer solutions? That we will get to know
later in the course of this study. This way, Ibsen was able to awaken the senses of his audience to their
reality through how carefully he crafted his plays to be realistic.

In an enemy of the people, Ibsen exemplifies the definition of realism by portraying the irrational
tendencies carried by the masses - a lifelong problem. The tragic hero of the play, Dr Stockman
encounters opposition from social forces which are against his decision to publish the nefarious
activities of the baths. In realistic plays written in the 19th century, writers were out trying to unify man
to his environment through the lenses of his immediate environment and social forces which are his
barrier unlike in traditional ancient greek theatre where we see intervention of divine forces, this way
man can relate to his reality as an individual entity. The playwright, Ibsen unified and awoke the sense of
his audience to the reality of humans like Dr Stockman who are rational, brave and strive to do the right
thing amide extreme social intolerance from the masses. The play further shows the realistic nature of
of the society we live in; it does not only paint the good pictures in our midst but also shows the
negatives that the society carry in its undiluted form.

Ibsen characterization of the tragic hero, Dr Stockman as a skilled middle class man who is well realized
in his thoughts and actions but still also a product of his environment shows the nature of the everyday
man and how he seeks to cross every hurdle of life while still having so many opposition from social
elements rather than divine intervention. In every human society, characters like Dr Stockman a typical
intelligent idealist who strive to make things right exist. Ibsen creation of the character and the
ideologies which the character holds describe every aspect of his humanity through and through. This is
a deliberate approach by Ibsen to create a character who is independent of his thoughts and true to life.
A typical modern middle man in the 19th century to say. Dr Stockman's approach to be idealistic,
modern and liberal to the revelation of the dangers of the bath could easily be what I opine to be his
character flaw and making him the enemy of the people. Sometimes intelligent people don't know when
to stop being idealistic and face the reality of situations, this does not mean people like Dr Stockman
have to change their values but attempting a different realistic approach to the revelation of the dangers
of the bath would have worked. Well, Ibsen creating Dr Stockman to be a direct opposite of Peter
Stockman who holds a different perspective to life as a traditionalist in thoughts and actions is also an
attempt to create realistic characters which the audience can relate with. Also Dr Stockman is a typical
stereotype of intellectuals which we have now in our society who see a problem and can identify it but
when called upon to solve it take a step back and refuse the offer is a way of bringing the realities of
these individuals to Dr Stockman's character.

The language structure used by Ibsen in an enemy of the people also points to his dialogue writing style
which seeks to attain realism through simplicity in dialogue with touch of humor and witty sayings
instead of employing the chorus style used in ancient greek classical tragedies. Ibsen used the natural
dialogue style between humans in their day to day additives to portray characters, situations, conflicts
and to also advance the plot of the play. The deliberate use of credible and poetic language by Ibsen is
to portray realism in its purest form, he seeks to abolish the classical chorus style which the chorus
commented directly on actions happening in the play. His approach to use of language in the play is
dialectical, we see more of application of reason and counter argument especially from Dr Stockamn and
his brother, Peter Stockman as humans do in real life is employed to achieve realism in dialogues.

In the early 19th century, playwrights who wrote were out to write plays in which have realistic settings,
they paid attention to settings which were true to life. This envelops from geographical depiction of
settings to accurate time in which actions in the play occurs and also to the social settings in each play
which is an important aspect of plays written as at then. Amongst all, Henrik Ibsen was particular about
writing plays and creating character which are heavily influenced by their society. The societal settings in
an enemy of the people created by Ibsen is that in which the people in place of power and authority try
to tamper with truth and justice, this leaves the tragic hero on a journey to reveal the truth which
eventually makes him the enemy of the people. The members of the society especially the bureaucrats
like the chairman of the baths, Peter Stockman was more concerned about selfish goals rather than
supporting communal goals like what Dr Stockman was pursuing. This social setting was crafted to allow
characters like Dr Stockman to experience different hurdles in his social interaction with others. Also,
unlike traditional acient greek drama/theatre which actions happens in one time of the day, we see
Ibsen create actions to fill up different hours of the day ranging from evening to morning to make the
play true to life.

Man's immediate environment, what they can see, things they can touch and places they can go makes
up the geographical settings of realistic plays. Ibsen careful description of Dr Stockman's sitting room,
the kitchen, the newspaper office and the doctor's study is an approach to bring real life geographical
setting to the play. We see the playwright approach to mirror reality by using spectacle.