CHAPTER - II A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PLAYS OF ARTHUR MILLER AND HENRIK IBSEN

Transcription

1 CHAPTER - II A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PLAYS OF ARTHUR MILLER AND HENRIK IBSEN

2 CHAPTER II A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PLAYS OF ARTHUR MILLER AND HENRIK IBSEN The lyf so short; the craft so long to learn -Geoffrey Chaucer * Introduction. * Critical analysis of Arthur Miller's major plays. * Arthur Miller s outlook on life. * Critical analysis of Henrik Ibsen s major plays. * Henrik Ibsen s outlook on life. * Comparison of the two dramatists. * Conclusion.

3 CHAPTER - II A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PLAYS OF ARTHUR MILLER AND HENRIK IBSEN The Lyf so short; The craft so long to learn - Geoffrey Chaucer Arthur Miller is the brightest star in the firmament of American Drama. Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams, his contemporary dramatists contributed their best plays to American drama but in popularity Arthur Miller surpassed them. He was a moralist to the core and his scholarly plays are fired by convictions that assail some of the central ideas enshrined in American Culture. While O Neill s plays reveal his cosmic outlook, the plays of Tennessee Williams reflect his psychological insight. Miller s concern, on the other hand, was towards individual s conflict with society. His plays raise the questions about social values and attitudes. Like Chekhov s tone in The Cherry Orchard. Miller s tone mixes sympathy and judgment, criticism and compassion, lhab Hassan in his Contemporary American Literature observes:

4 54 A moralist foremost, endowed with social awareness, Miller places an idea of commitment and responsibility at the heart of his drama (43). Miller was seriously concerned about the moral corruption that prevailed in the American society. He very diligently described the tussle between the individual conscience and the social conscience. The pathetic end of those who earned money through illegal ways has been very poignantly exposed by him. He lived through the Depression and wrote his immortal plays just before and during the years of World War 11. In All My Sons, Miller gave a warning to the business magnates to pay head to their moral conscience. And through this play he taught a lesson to the money-mongers. He is of the opinion that if the moral code was not adhered to properly, the society could breed corruption and destruction. Death of a Salesman is his masteipiece. He broke the conventions of American materialism and wrote about the pitiable plight of a salesman. The crucible, A memory of Two Mondays, A View from the Bridge, After the Fall, Incident of Vichy, The Price and The Creation of the World and Other Business are filled with sharp observations about man s flaws, and his struggle against the social forces that will exploit him. In his works Miller gave a new insight to the American dream. He used both conscience and compassion in his works to lead the society along the right path.

5 Henrik Ibsen found his subject matter in the hidden lives of the rising middle class. In The Wild Duck he exposed the human weaknesses. Pillars of Society exposed the hypocrisy of the typical bourgeois families. A Doll s House revealed the tyranny of the Victorian era marriage. In An Enemy of the People he attacks the compact, complacent majority who is interested with private benefits and fails to give ears to moral dictations. Rosmersholm points to the triumph of order and morality. The Lady from the Sea advocates the philosophy that joys and sorrows are common in a man s life. In Hedda Gabler Ibsen gave clarification on money, prestige, happiness, frustration, jealously, inner conscience and on life. The Master Builder is a tale of an ambitious man who built castles in the air and its consequences. Ghosts an excellent work displayed a mother's strong will power to give final verdict to her beloved son and the bold step taken by the mother towards her son at a critical moment. The retrospective analysis on exploring the betrayals in triangular relationship between John Gabriel, his wife Gunhild and her twin sister Ella is very neatly portrayed by Ibsen in John Gabriel Borkman. When We Dead Awaken, opens our eyes to the spiritual progress, self delusion and self transcendence. Ibsen fused myth and reality in this play and gave a fresh insight to life s journey. This play served as an intellectual feast to the readers of drama. In Little Eyolf Ibsen linked the worlds of conscious and subconscious experience.

6 56 The dramatic form is a dynamic one which makes a man more humane. For Arthur Miller, art is closely connected with life. In his plays he insists on social justice, human decency and the rights of people to lead a life of dignity. While other dramatists of his time fabricated their own themes, Miller selected the themes to guide the society give importance to conscience. His plays are more realistic and logical. In his plays there is a blend of intelligence, moral passion and dramatic skill. He highlighted the importance of conscience and the significance of self sacrifice in his plays. Though Eugene O Neil, Stringberg, Albee and Williams were the shining stars of the American tradition of realism, it is Miller who had portrayed the American dream successfully. Every piece of work of art is a lovely rose. To know and enjoy the beauty of a rose, we need a finer sense of appreciation. A good and fair evaluation of a work must be based on the best messages in it. This is the decent way of appreciation. All My Sons exposed a guilty secret of the protagonist and the multiple fractures he had upon his conscience and the pain that tormented him after he had lost his son. Death of a Salesman is Miller s masterpiece and it is recognized as a classic of contemporary American theatre. It represent Miller s powerful dramatization of the clash between the individual and the materialistic American dream. Arthur Miller has effectively used the negative and the positive strategies

7 57 to strengthen and reinforce his overall concern. The depiction of fatherson relationship is splendid. The last words of Biffs mother upon Willy are highly touching, and heart rending. Miller proved his poetic emminence in this play. This play may be compared with William Shakespeare s Othello for its poetic excellence. LINDA : Forgive me dear. I can t cry. I don t know what it is. but I can t cry. I don t understand it. Why did you ever do that? Help me, Willy, I can t cry. It seems to me that you are just on another trip. I keep expecting you. Willy, dear, I can t cry. Why did you do it? I search and search and I search, and I can't understand it, Willy,... We are free... We are free... (Arthur Miller s Collected plays, 222). A View From the Bridge is a tragedy built around several rivalries. The hidden guilt of the protagonist reveals the secret plan he had evolved and its consequences. Eddie, the hero of the play accepts the rules of his society and he dies miserably as he violates them. Eddie s incestuous love towards Catherine and his failure to mar the prestige of the two humble personalities and his final decision to die at Marco s hands exposes human weaknesses. This play is a warning to those who wantonly transgress the path of moral code. In his plays, Miller demonstrates what he calls the tragic victory - the hero who takes his

8 58 own life as in All My Sons and Death of a Salesman, or choose deliberately to die at the hands of others, as in The Crucible, and A View from the Bridge. Miller s plays can be termed as dramas of emotion. Miller selected his theme for The Crucible from court records and historical personages pertaining to Salem Witch Trials on Seldom facts can be imitated in fiction and this play is an apt specimen. This play deals with the major issues involving the individual, society and judicial corruption. The main purpose of this play is to give a detailed explanation of myth and reality. The trial formula is an investigation of innocence and guilt in terms of an application of facts and motives to principles. The transgression of the prominent figures of the society was brought to the notice of the public, to have a clear insight into the religious principles. Miller interweaves the two important issues very carefully. The first major issue is on Proctor s character. The second is the guilt of his infidelity to his wife. Miller s dramatic realism has a kind of self awareness and reveals the natural, realistic surface of the society which is immersed in the question of meaning and relationship of men to God. Plays like Winterset, Gods of Lightening and The Caine Mutinu use this vital formula to reveal the hero s actions and motives. The perennial conflict between conscience of an individual and the conscience of the public has been clubbed into a fine play. In the play

9 59 The Crucible the ritual fails to take a proper cognizance of truth, and the hero is isolated with his guilt and he prefers to die. The court room becomes a sanctuary to the society and trials are the only true ritual. The myth in the play seems to involve a number of contradictions; the individual must be free, yet the rules laid down by the society constrain him. Elizabeth : You take my sins upon you, John Proctor (in agony) : No, I take my own, my own!. Elizabeth : Do what you will. But let none be your judge. There be no higher judge under Heaven than Proctor is! (Miller, Arthur Collected Plays, 323). The plot revolves round the history and allows the protagonist to reveal the account of the personalities of that period. Based on a historical background of importance, Arthur Miller took keen interest and produced this wonderful play studded with poetic lines and concentrated dialogues. This play gave new guidelines to the individual, society and to the world. As civilization marches, old systems change and people change their attitudes, opinions and customs to suit the current scenario. Beliefs on supernatural element still lives among intellectual circles. Unless otherwise society develops a rationalistic approach towards every issue, no law on earth can save them.

10 60 Before and after Shakespeare, and even today there are curious books on witches and supernatural elements. Somerset Maugham in his The Razor s Edge narrates some incidents which prevailed in Eastern countries. This excellent play quotes incidents connected with transmigration of souls, man s capacity to talk with the spirits. Somerset Maugham left his impressions to the readers to go deep into this subject to reach a decent way of understanding the truth. Rabindranath Tagore in order to create an awareness of beliefs wrote the play Sacrifice. In this play he showed the meaning of love, passion, compassion and humanism. Sacrificing blood to Goddess Kaali to beget a child was the practice of the day. God is a symbol of love and He never expects human or animal sacrifice to appear him. The childless king and Queen on one side and a young girls petty lamb and the foolish belief on the other, invoked an intellectual tussle. After the lamb has been mercilessly cut off and the pure blood was smeared upon Goddess Kaali, the agony and anguish of the girl reached the peak. The dialogues on animal sacrifice are an eye-opener to the people to know the correct and true meaning of sacrifice. God on one the side, the people s wish on the other side, religion on yet another side, individual s craze towards plucking the fruit of his choice by any means remains a dilemma to great thinkers, and philosophers. Tagore s intellectual and thought provoking

11 61 play Sacrifice is to be remembered and honoured. It is worth mentioning that Socrates preached to his countrymen that nobler deeds are far better than thousands of animal sacrifices. Great thinkers condemned these magic practices in their writings. People are crazy to fulfill their wishes at any means. Unless otherwise people transform their foolish opinions and listen to the voice of reason, this practice will not be erased thoroughly. People must come out from the dark cave to see the bright sun and lead a decent and happy life. Arthur Miller, by producing this play based on the Salem Trial, showed the world that man is not a figure cut in alabaster but he is made up of flesh and blood. His ultimate aim in bringing the darker portion of life to lime light is to see that there should not be any mark of this practice in the world. Irrespective of this fact, people believe that there are few religious luminaries still living even after their death. To know them and to know the inner meaning of their sayings, and to know the services they have done, is not feasible to anybody on earth. They are avatars. An avatar is the Supreme Being s deliberate descent into the lower realms of existence for special purposes. All who would reflect The Almighty s sovereign supremacy will shine like bright stars in the firmament of God. Realized souls are bom time and again in this world

12 62 to re-establish the eternal and universal values of life and achieve certain specific purposes ordained by God. Arthur Miller s outlook on life varies from that of the other dramatists of his age. He considers human life as precious and valuable. He strongly condemned the illegal means and unfair ways to reach the goal. His motive behind writing plays is only to correct human behavior towards morality and money. In all his works love and humanism over rules all other concerns. Sympathy and Sacrifice are his key notes. He is much interested in the social problems. He considered family loyalty as the prime factor of one s success. Money is essential to lead a decent life in this materialistic world but money alone will not give happiness and joy. He believed much in the dignity of man. He strongly believed in the theory that liberty is not only a personal affair but a social contract as well. Miller excels in giving a clear picture of life and his immortal works are real testimony. Miller s aim as a writer has been to make real or as in life that part of a man which through passion seeks awareness. In all his works the spirit of truth runs through to evoke awareness and responsibility of a citizen, society and the government to have faith on moral bindings. Conscience and reason are the two major factors govern an individual s character. These are the two main pillars which decide an

13 63 individual s prospect. Miller observed life from various angles and his vast knowledge of classics of world literature helped him to spread rich messages to the world community to lead a respectable and honourable life. Society and community will correct its short comings through the preaching of great thinkers, philosophers and writers. Miller s outlook on life is different from other contemporary writers. His life s mission is to uplift an individual to a decent status and instill love, passion, compassion, truth and humanism into his heart. His service to humanity, his perseverance in facing hurdles in portraying his strong and faithful opinion on moral values are to be honoured and revered. Henrik Ibsen was a playwright admired for his technical mastery, symbolism and deep psychological insight. He is largely considered as the founder of social realism in drama. Ibsen gave much attention to the contemporary details of middle-class life, usage of language, meaningful dialogues, traditional family values, authoritative placement of woman at home and society, the responsibility of the man at home, sex differences, social life, and the plight of a restrictive society. Every play is individual, distinct and marvelous. His originality is that he allows his characters to swim the sea of life through their own hands, to reach the right destination. He simplified the technique of drama by abandoning formal exposition and by eliminating the outmoded machinery of the older

14 64 drama. This new trend set brought laurels to him. His plays are about the inner lives of human beings. He combines realism in a fascinating way with splendid symbols. He is a noteworthy artist in depicting the inner feelings of a character. Ibsen s major plays Peer Gvnt. A Doll s House, Ghost, An Enemy of the People, The wild Duck, Rosmersholm Hedda Gabler and The Master Builder and Pillars of Society furnish his dramatic excellence over a period of twenty years. His plays are admired for their intellectual and artistic appeal. He has been gifted with a special technique of heightening the ordinary subjects with special meanings. His subject matter was something deeper and more permanent. The triumph of a dramatist depends on the selection of the story, constructing it with proper style and inserting best messages to the world fraternity. Ibsen possesses all the above elements in an excellent manner. Peer Gynt is Ibsen s best known poetic drama. The following four works would seem to have left their mark on this play. They are Adam Homo, Oehlenschlaeger s Aladdin. J.L. Heilberg s A Soul After Death and Hans Egede Schack s The Fantasts.Ibsen s comment on Peer Gynt is commendable: Everything that I have written is most minutely connected with what I have lived through, if not personally experienced; every new

15 65 work has had for me the object of serving as a process of spiritual liberation and catharsis; for everyman shares the responsibility and the guilt of the society to which he belongs. That was why I once inscribed in a copy of one of my books the following dedicator) lines: To live is to war with trolls in heart and soul. To write is to sit in judgment on oneself. (Marshall Margret, 140) Peer Gynt is the masterpiece using the tools of romanticism to make an ironic statement on the Norwegian national character. It is a satire on human nature. This play may easily be compared with Oedipus Rex and King Lear. It is a great human document which reveals the basic aspects of life into its comparatively narrow scope, and however. supernatural elements play its own part. The richness of this play is due to its sincere depiction of rationalism, irrationalism and the supreme theme of man between salvation and damnation. John Simon in Introduction to Peer Gynt attributes the loftiness of this work. According to his opinion, this play is a satire on Norwegian pettiness and cowardice. And he asserts that this play is one of the rare plays that attempt to portray the life of man as a whole. The play is great human document that manages to squeeze almost every basic aspects of life into its comparatively narrow scope...and its achievements lie to some extent in its underlying relevance to unextraordinary lives < u ww.littlebluelight.com/henrickibsen/criiicism/html>

16 66 A Doll s House is one of the best known of Ibsen s plays and one of the most widely discussed and it raised a furore when it was produced, as it dealt with the question of woman s social position. It is the perfect example of a realistic drama. Ibsen took the clue of Nora s story from Henry Arthur Jone s The Breaking of a Butterfly. There is a harmony of the psychological, the ideological and the social at the heart of Ibsen's drama, and A Doll s House proves it. Nora Helmer, the doll, wife, realizes after eight years of marriage, that she has never been a partner in her marriage. At the play s conclusion, she leaves her husband in order to establish an identity for herself that is separate for her identity as a wife and mother (Vaidyanathan, 33). On the surface, Nora Helmer appears to be the ideal wife as her husband desires. Torvald sees a woman who is under his control and he defines her every behavior and establishes rules govern everything. Torvald has a public persona to maintain and he views his marriage as an element of that public need. This play is an exploration of middle-class marriage and family life. The title of the play throws light on home, marriage and the significance of life. A Doll s House is not a place for dolls made up of mud, but the dolls with affection and love. Marriage is a divine institution and both male and female of a family are equally important to

17 67 run the family smoothly. Home is a golden nest and there is a singing space and a resting place. When a man tries to overpower a woman, the true charm and significance of life fades away gradually. The beauty of a home rests on respect and confidence. Unless there is a smooth coordination with the life partner, the life - boat will not reach its destination safely. Respect must come from the heart and not from the head. Life is short and the story on this mundane world is little. If one is able to know the real meaning and significance of fame, life and marriage, hypocritical feelings will not arise. With the faithful cooperation of husband and wife, the journey of a family will be sweet and sacred. Without knowing the real significance of marriage, life, family, children, love, passion, compassion and humanism, there are a few persons living in their own make-believe world which. Late realization will never bring flowers of peace and harmony. God created man from mud. In one way or other every one is a marvelous doll created by him. At an appropriate time He is offering a man a living precious doll as a life-companion to prolong his journey with all smile and happiness. To keep this doll carefully with love and faith is in the hands of the husband. In this play A Polks House the protagonists true colour has been exposed at the conclusion of the play and Nora s drastic action of leaving her husband and cute children under

18 68 the mercy of fate and God opens everybody's eyes to know the real sentiments of a housewife. Nora, like a parrot, lived in a golden cage. The main thrust of the play has a lot to do with gender relations in modem society. It offers us, in the actions of Nora, a strengthening of the view of women struggling to overcome a society governed wholly by men resistant to change. Although this has been changing dramatically, there are still few people in the society clinging to the old order. Internationally acclaimed play A Doll s House throws light into a woman s repressed psyche. The silent war between truth and conscience is the main theme of the play. The true meaning of conscience, marriage, family life and sex are very deeply injected into the hearts of the audience. The beauty, charm and the excellence of this domestic play lies in its psychological approach of the leading characters towards individual conscience as against society s conscience. The tremendous success of the play and its indelible impact on the viewers is due to Ibsen's master brain behind this play. Superb characterization and the poetic lines embedded with thought - provoking ideas is another important factor behind its stupendous success. Critical opinions on A Doll s House will give a clear picture of this wonderful play. We are left with the conviction that it rests with him.

19 69 with Helmer, to allow himself to be led through the fines of affliction to the feet of a Nora who shall no longer wants to be a doll (Gosse Edward, 107). He had lived with all those figure for so long during his marriage without seeing in them anything more profound than toys and objects of delight, and without noticing the pinions on his small shoulders capable of lifting him out of his narrow doll house. ( Salome Lov, 42-55). Nora has left with the positive aim of discovering who and what she is and what she can become (Thomas David, 72). The integration of conscious and unconscious functions in the verbal and non-verbal languages of the play generates valid new performance in the live theatre. In a book much studied by Ibsen, it is said of wisdom that remaining in herself, she maketh all things new. (Bradbrook, 90-91). The emphasis in this (discussion of A Doll s House) has been on the inner life, and if it has shown that in fact the play is a deep study of the tormented yet consistent development of an individual mind under the pressure of focus at once inevitable and adequately symbolic of the forces we experience in ordinary life, then Professor Koht is right to call in his The Life of Ibsen that He himself (Ibsen) called it at first simply the modern tragedy so great and inclusive did it seem in his mind. (Northam John, 37-38).

20 70 He was with A Doll s House creating the realistic drama that was to make him world famous. This new kind of drama constituted his attack on the conventional romantic and intrigue drama and vision he had inherited. It was the first step among several important ones he would take in experimenting with new, more contemporary possibilities for drama. (Deer Irving, 36-37). When Nora closes behind her the door of her doll s house, she opens wide the gate of life for woman and proclaims the revolutionary message that only perfect freedom and communion make a true bond between man and woman, meeting in the open, without lies, without shame, free from the bondage of duty. (Goldman Emma 18-19). In the play Ghosts, he chose the retrospective, analytic structure of classical and neo-classical drama. In this play he abandoned the pattern he had used in his modem social plays. There are many important thematic symbols in the play. Mother s love towards her son is very pure and divine. When love surpasses emotions, reason fails abruptly. The extraordinary affection towards her son is seen in this play where the mother herself administered to her son the killer morphine. Not able to witness the inexpressible suffering of her son, she took this drastic decision boldly. Only a mother can sense a son s true temperament. Her

21 only son was her world. When her ambition was shattered into pieces in front of her eyes, she has no other go except taking this diabolic decision. Here is a rare mother gifted with extraordinary courage to do this crime. The ghost is supposed to be the spirit of a dead person. Here in this play we see a living ghost in the form of the mother gives a passport to her son to leave this world and to have a peaceful sleep. The bridge between love and reason has been meticulously brought out by Ibsen to prove that life is not a bed of roses. Mrs. Alving s dream never came true to her until her last days. Her married life was a mirage. She got married only to please her family. Her hope and ambition had been scattered when she came to know the true colour of her husband s character. When she wanted to entrust her life to Pastor Manders, his timely advice and guidelines opened a new and fresh path to her. With the hope that her life-boat will sail smoothly, she entered her home with a lot of delightful dreams. She sent her only son abroad to keep him away from his father. To rear her son in a congenial atmosphere she parted him for his future benefits. She thought her offspring would be morally sound and a model to others. Meanwhile the orphanage was dedicated in the memory of her husband, and Mrs. Alving son returned from Paris to participate in the function. Mrs. Alving s was shocked to note Osvald was flirting with Regina. Regina

22 72 was Alving s illegitimate daughter and Osvald s half-sister. Mrs. Alving was in a dilemma to reveal the fact to her son. While she was contemplating on this burning issue, she was informed the news of orphanage built in the memory of her husband was burnt to the ground. She was tormented to the extreme by the consequent failures. With all motherly affection and responsibility she revealed the story of Regina and explained that he could not marry Regina. Osvald begged Regina to be with him as a servant maid. Since Regina s conscience pricked, she left the house with a heavy heart. Though in one way Osvald s mother was happy over the correct decision of Regina, yet she felt sorry for the pitiable position of Regina. At this critical situation, Osvald told his mother that his brain was softening, that he would probably become an imbecile and compelled her to give him morphine tablets. Osvald imbibed this rare disease called the beast in the jungle through his father. This shocking news paralyzed Mrs. Alving s feelings and she was mentally tortured. She was tormented to the maximum while her son compelled her to administer morphine. In her dejected mood and not knowing the repercussion of her actions, she took the part of Almighty and made her son to sleep eternally. The caressing hands of a mother became the hands of fate. The pitiable plight of Mrs. Alving is truly tragic.

23 73 As a good wife, she concealed the worst character of her husband from the eyes of her son. With a noble heart she built an orphanage in the name of her husband, to elevate her husband s status to a lofty height in the eyes of the society. When Osvald insisted his mother to get marry Regina, the pains she underwent to reveal the true colour of husband s character is beyond description. When Osvald came to know the precarious situation of his relationship with Regina, he pleaded Regina to stay with him as his servant maid. When Osvald s mother was worried about the sorrowful plight of her son, she had no other go except to give him an overdose of medicine and allows him to fly to Holy Mother's home. And with a strong hope that destiny overrules every plan of an individual, this sorrowful little sparrow continued its story. Nora in A Doll s House was dragged in one direction but Mrs. Alving s path was different and she tasted the bitter experiences from the beginning to the end and faced all the disasters singly and boldly. Life is a game of chance. She lost all the chances in her life and placed her life in the hands of God. Osvald s pitiful statement of his love towards his mother is tear - compelling and poignant. Osvald: I never asked you for life. And what sort of a life have you given me? I won t have it. You should take it back again.

24 74 Mrs. Alving: Help! Help! (Johnson, Four Great Plays of Henrik Ibsen, 122). In truth, a superstition - one that is kept like the sword of Damocles over the child who does not ask to be given life, and is yet tied with a thousand chains to those who bring him into a cheerless, joyless and wretched world...the voice of Henrik Ibsen in Ghosts sounds like the trumpets before the walls of Jericho. Into the remotest nooks and comers reaches his voice, with its thundering indictment of our moral cancers, our social poisons, our hideous crimes against unborn and bom victims. Verily a more revolutionary condemnation has never been uttered in dramatic form before or since the great Henrik Ibsen. We need, therefore, not to be surprised at the role abuse and denunciation heaped upon Ibsen s head by the church, the state, and other moral eunuchs. But the spirit of Henrik Ibsen could not be daunted. (Goldman Emma, 25-34) The whole play is rounded with family relationship especially on father, mother and son. Osvald s question on life and love and his critical question on love to his mother on the last minute of his life provoke a sense of despair upon the very meaning of birth and death. Osvald after sensing precariousness of his life, he crisply photographed his pitiful

25 75 position to his loving mother. The last two scintillating words uttered by Osvald challenges the reader understanding of the play. Osvald sits motionless as before and says, The sun. The sun. (Johnson, Four Great Plays of Henrik Ibsen, 142) Without the sun one cannot see anything in the world. Without a son, a mother cannot lead her life hopefully. The symbolic conclusion of the play proves Ibsen s mental caliber, his dramatic skill and his originality. The plot of An Enemy of the People had its origin on two incidents to which Ibsen s attention had been drawn. The lovers of truth had been brutally attacked by the people. In order to do the duty of an artist with true perspective, Ibsen wrote this drama to awaken the eyes of the masses to know' the spirit of truth. Dr. Stokmann s message is that initiation of all wise and noble things must come from the individuals. Ibsen was a thinker, a satirist, an individualist and a subjectivist. Among these characteristics Ibsen excels more as a satirist. In Brand his satirical assault upon false ideals and of sacrifice is very strong. In The League of Youth, Pillars of Society and An Enemy of the People Ibsen satirized the social and political aspects. His satire on conventional ideals of marriage is evident in A Doll s House and Ghosts. Dr. Stockmann s courage and conviction to uphold truth is admirable. Men may come and men may go but truth will triumph. Job.

26 76 in the Bible, withstood all the sufferings with the steadfast faith in God which fetched him the blessings of God. Dr. Stockmann faced all types of danger and led a life of principles. Great personalities faced perils when they outpoured their sincere advices for the benefit of the society like Galileo, St. Joan and Gray, the author of Anatomy. The strongest man in the world is the one who stands alone. Comments from scholars will prove the excellence of this famous work. The play s interest depends upon the development of Stockmann s character from this starting point step by step, his new understanding of himself, his neighbors and the world (Tree Beerbohm, 5). All abstractions invested with collective consciousness or collective authority, set above the individual, and exacting duty from him on pretence of acting or thinking with greater validity than he, are man eating idols red with human sacrifices (Bernard Shaw, 91-94). The thing that gave An Enemy of the People vital power was not its opinions: it was the sap of life that rose lustily in it, the delightful boldly - carved persons that moved in it all fostered and bom of genuine poetic wrath (Koht Halvdan, ). Arthur Miller in his preface to the adaptation of An Enemy of the People comments : There is one quality in Ibsen that no serious writer can afford to overlook. It lies at the very center of his force, and I found in it - as I hope others will - a profound source of strength

27 77 Life is composed of so many incompatible variables that it is impossible to formulate any hard and fast rules. Dr. Stockmann tasted all humiliations and sufferings, and led his life in the direction of truth. The Wild Duck is an exploration of the subtle nature of truth. This is one of Fbsen s symbolic dramas. Absolute frankness and faithful adherence to rules and regulations will at times land one into unexpected and unnecessary accidents. Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled and confined and no life ever grows until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined. The play advocates one has go with the stream of life. The Wild Duck is a symbolic play. Ibsen builds this play to show the contrast between two major characters Old Werle and Old Ekdal. Old Ekdal was convicted for illegal feeling of trees which are state property and served a term in prison whereas Old Werle prospered. Gregers, the son of Old Werle develops a wrong notion about his father s conduct regarding his personal life. He presumed his mother s premature death was due to his father s irresponsible behavior. Gregers like Tess in Thomas Hardy s Tess of the D Urbervilles revealed the truth at an unwarranted situation which led to a catastrophe. Gregers w as not interested in disclosing the truth for a long time. Gregers was not able to tolerate the fact that his friend has got married to his

28 78 father s former mistress. Hamlet was not able to tolerate his mother getting married to his uncle whereas Gregers was not able to tolerate his friend marrying a woman who was his father s mistress. Iago in Othello did cruel mistakes in uttering false messages and separated the excellent pair without any motive. Here, Gregers with sincere love and affection towards his friend exposed his father s illegal connection with Gina. The statement was a strong blow which disturbed the mental peace of Hjalmar. This aggravated him to a large extent that led him to suspect his loving daughter Hedivg s birth. He began to hate his own daughter. This sudden change in her father s behaviour perplexed Gina to a large extent. Not knowing what to do, she was restless and wanted somebody s advice to review her love for her father. Gregers advised Hedvig to sacrifice the wild duck in order to win back the love of her father. Instead of shooting down the wild Duck. Hedvig shot herself down. The sudden twist in the play made the audience, readers and critics raise their eye brows. The carefree duck, Hedvig was condemned by various criticisms. The foremost is about her mother s character regarding her connection with Old Werle. She was puzzled and tormented over her mother s character. The pity was that the daughter was worrying about her mother s character. She was not able to believe her own eyes. Secondly she was not able to pacify her father

29 9 regarding her mother s character. In between moral conscience and family prestige, she sacrificed herself to prove that she was true to her conscience. The title The Wild Duck is symbolic and it evokes innumerable explanations. The pathetic end of Hedving is wild. Ibsen by christening the play The Wild Duck denotes the sensitive heart of a woman. It is assumed that Ibsen chose this wild fowl image after reading about the observed behavior of wild ducks in Darwins, where the bird is cited in particular for its characteristic of degenerating in captivity. The play itself describe another haunting attribute of wild ducks-once they are injured They always drive to the bottom as deep as they can get, and tangle themselves in the muck and seaweed, hanging on with their beaks to whatever they can find down there. And they never come up again. This sort of behaviour, extended metaphorically to people who have been injured by life, is what the play is all about. (Scanlan Robert,55) The sensitive and responsible Hedvig became wild not about money or power but about her parentage. Certain things like the end of Hedvig takes place in one comer or another in this world. All are not gifted with a heart to sustain everything in life. There are a few rare persons who live for noble causes. And they never allow anybody to write their story and put a full stop to their life but by their own hand. Among Ibsen s women characters Hedvig is the most memorable

30 80 character. She carried the burden of the cross upon her shoulders and she reprimanded herself by sacrificing her life to teach a lesson to the sinners. Another character which decorates the play is Mrs. Sorby. In spite of Old Werle s failing eye-sight, she has decided to marry him and settle down in life. Love is divine, priceless and pure. It crosses social status, age, nation, colour, caste and creed. Two different kinds of women are portrayed in this play. The catastrophic effect of emotional violence connected with love has been clearly and effectively projected by Ibsen. This internationally acclaimed play has impressed the international critics and the following critical opinions will uphold the majesty and grandeur of the play. At the center of The Wild Duck there is a frightened, loving child struggling and failing to make sense of words and the world. (Moi, Toril 120) As a world masterpiece of tragi-comedy, as a uniquely modem experiment in its time for its combination of realism and symbolism, and above all as an eminently actable play. The Wild Duck remains one of Ibsen s best known and most noted achievements. (George Brandes, 405) Ibsen s dramatic language modulates over so many areas; realistic, comical, satiric, sentimental, confrontational, and mysterious. These build up a progression to the central mystery of the act. In The Wild Duck he detected something great, deep, and essential. Last Judgment...In Beckett s Waiting for Godot, a play in which

31 81 Gregers and Hjalmar reappear as Vladimir and Estragon: and where a powerful merchant, Pozzo, goes blind like the similarly afflicted merchant Werle...No other play by Ibsen is focused so inwardly tow ards a mystery at the heart of its world that the camera cannot see '. Like the impressionists, Ibsen was intrigued by photography and progress. (Johnston Brian) In The Wild Duck Ibsen approaches in his own manner, without, however, much insistence, the moral aspects of the equality of the sexes. Is a woman, who has had no relationship with a man before marriage, entitled to expect the same in her husband? Is a man, who has had relationships with other women before marriage, entitled to complain if his wife has also had such relationships'. These are the sort of questions which the Scandinavian and Danish dramatists - Bjohnson, Edward Brandes, Charlotte Edgren. Benzon - seem never tired of discussing (Ellis Haevlock, 159). Ibsen s concern in The Wild Duck seems to be that there can be no true marriage without mutual knowledge and mutual confession. The following compact lines will give the essence of the play. Gregers: If you are right and I am wrong, then life is not worth living. Relling: Oh! Life w^ould be quite tolerable, after all, if only we could be rid of the confounded duns that keep on pestering us. in our poverty, with the claim of the ideal. (Johnson, Four Great Plays of Henrik Ibsen, 206). The play Roshmersholm gives a true lesson to the sinners. He says that death is not the remedy to wipe away the sins. Through hook or

32 crook the characters in the play wanted to fulfill the materialistic pleasures. Every coin has got two faces, so also is the story of man. The split - personality s true colour will be revealed only at the end. Wrong means will never give a peaceful life. This dramatist warns the society to walk and live on the path of righteousness and to lead a life true to their conscience ness. These characters disguise themselves as honest persons in the society whereas they are not so. When their conscience awakens, their soul is laden with guilt, ultimately give way to their precious life to death. There is no use of life without realization. Rosmersholm is set in a country manor house in western Norway. The central theme of the play is the interaction of Rosmer and Rebecca regarding their past life. Both are complex individuals and their relationship is unbalanced by feelings of guilt and shame. Rebecca s character is filled with adultery and incest. Her relationship with Dr. West, probably her real father, is dark and shameful. Oedipus committed the sin of marrying his own mother and brought upon himself the punishment by forfeiting everything in life. He regretted and entreated God to give him any punishment God desires. But here Rebecca has repeated yet another guilt - ridden relationship with a father figure. As the story progresses at one direction, Ibsen turned the focus on the thoughts of death. The main symbols of death in this play are the

33 83 white Horse at Rosmersholm and white shawl of Rebecca. Shaping Rebecca s character from a sharp, lusty woman to a submissive woman is noteworthy. To uphold womanhood and to reveal the fact that women are susceptible to situations and it is only male members who corrupt their innocence and virginity, Ibsen created this character. The other side of Rebecca was revealed in the end. She willingly allows Rosmer to determine the nature and shape of their relationship. Even when this means her death, she gladly consents. In the end they go together and kill themselves in the mill race. The sharp distinctive character of Rebecca has been drawn by Ibsen meticulously. When all her hopes are collapsed, she puts an end to her purposeless life. Her relationship with Rosmer and her immediate consent to join him in death are puzzling. Destiny is in the hands of God and it overrides the powder of reasoning. Critical opinions on this play will enable the readers and viewers to have the correct perspective of the play. Just as the Wild Duck marks the transition from realism to symbolism, so Rosmersholm marks the transition from society to the individual (Henderson. 131). Rosmersholm, Rosmer willingly accepts Rebecca West s idea, that she should drown herself to restore the faith in mankind (Grey Ronald, 103). In The Wild Duck and Rosmersholm, he touched the highest point of

34 84 technical mastery in his interweaving of the part with the present Rosmersholm is not so profound in its humanity as The Wild Duck, but it is Ibsen s masterpiece in the art of withdrawing veil after veil (Archer William, 109). Men of religion who struggle with love and free-thought in others and themselves, as drawn by Jones in Michael and his lost Angel, by Ibsen in Rosmersholm and by Lavedan in The Duel ; - the first a romantic study of a priest s temptation of passion, his fall and repentance; the other two intellectual studies of the conflict between free-thought and faith, exhibiting the reaction of character upon character and of ideal upon ideal (Chandler, 146). Rosmersholm is one of Ibsen s most interesting plays. The surface is clear enough and yet the darkness is very thick and troubling...the psychology of the play is at every point original and disturbing. The relationships are so complicated by guilt and evasiveness, by idealism in the service of personal, hidden gratification of the ego that the play puzzles. Smoothness and violence mingle strangely. The turns and shifts of consequence and black, unexpected, but true to feeling.ibsen withholds full approval and sympathy for Rebecca just as Tolstoy withholds it

35 85 from Anna. They do not believe women should live by the will, accountable only to desire (Hardwick, Elizabeth, 71-72). It is still an enigma whether Hedda Gabbler is a frustrated woman seeking power or is a complete introvert. Money, prestige, happiness, jealousy and inner conscience played its own role and thus proved life is unpredictable on certain situations. Different types of characters, with different types of motives reveal that the journey of a man s life is not an easy one irrespective of the knowledge he has possessed. Hedda Gabler is a play with rich messages. At an unexpected moment fate takes its hand and brutally butchers the beautiful dolls created by God into broken pieces. These characters are tortured by their inner conscience and in spite of the mind coming to the rescue; the heart supersedes and pathetically concludes one s life with tears. The success of this play is due to Ibsen s master craftsmanship in portraying the characters with excellent and extraordinary dialogues. His poetic prose makes the play lively and interesting. In spite of its dramatic events, Hedda Gabler is essentially a portrait of its protagonists. It is one of the finest examples of dramatic existence. In this play Ibsen presents a complete revelation of Hedda s past life, her unfulfilled desires, through the resultant acts. The whole

36 86 story depicts the psychological approach of Hedda towards the situation placed before her. Hedda is woefully mismatched with the affable scholar George Tessman, whom she does not love. Since her husband fails to obtain the professional appointment, her dreams are shattered into pieces. Her ambition of seeing her husband elevated to a royal status was not fulfilled. She was much worried about her husband s poor social status. Her husband loved his books and career more than his life - companion, Hedda. She was not able to enjoy life as she had dreamt. The sober attitude of her husband spoiled his wife s dreams. When her desires and longings to lead a rosy life with all comforts ended within four walls, she was confused and perplexed. In addition to this an emotional threat from her past in the shape of Lovborg, a man she once loved, clouded her thoughts. Above all, the sexual blackmail from Judge Brack shaked her moral conscience. She burned the invaluable manuscript of Lovborg s book. Hedda realized that Thea and her husband will exclude her from any participation in the work of piling together Lovborg s manuscript. Burning Lovborg s manuscripts by Hedda is unpardonable, and it is a sin. This tortured her conscience. These three forceful currents conglomerated and the result was Hedda s decision of leaving this earth. This innocent bird which flew

37 with all happiness was trapped in the name of marriage. Hedda boldly faced all the situations singly and proved she was a silent valley. Jealousy is a worst disease and Hedda was severely attacked by this and the result was that she lost herself. Ibsen may have taken the clue for this play from his personal experience. The celebrated writers find pleasure in depicting their experiences and feelings that they come across in their life in their works and make them so near to life. No doubt, triumphs and defects, the laurels and disappointments they encounter in their life become part of the subject matter they write. Life without experience and realization is like a song without meaning and a flower without fragrance. A good literary production is a lovely museum. Sharp and witty dialogues of Isben raised the plays to a greater height. There are frequent passages of pure repartee and the dialogues are compressed and brilliant. Miss Tesman : Ah yes, it is the way of the world. At home we shall be sewing a shroud; and here there will soon be sewing too, I suppose - but of another sort, thank God. (Johnson, Four Great Plays of Henrik Ibsen, 176) Ibsen explored the inner pressures and conflicts of the individual in the modern society. There is a strong distinction between the social self and the essential self. The social self is the persona which conforms to the demands of family, friends, community and society which an

38 88 individual develops for acceptance. The essential self is an individual's true self that expresses the individual s thoughts, feelings, desires, longings and needs. This distinction has been very clearly depicted in this play. Hedda may be compared with Hamlet. The Hamletian is inconsistency in her behavior and her decision to put an end to her life evoked scintillating remarks from critics. Few' of their views upon Hedda will ease the mental worries of the viewers and readers to certain extent. For it is an act of self renunciation, in a dark sense, through which Hedda rings down her life ; she does not die for another person and she does not live for another person.. She dies for herself as she had lived for herself (Salome.24). As in Hamlet, there is a bloody stage when the curtain falls. But in Hedda Gabler, there is no Fortinbras, no principle to bring in a new order. Nor is there a Horatio who, for love, would sacrifice his life for the dead hero. Nor here a Horatio who shall tell a tale of woe. http: w ww.academic.brookly.cuny.edu, enulish melani cbs ibsen tr auedv.html Hedda Gabler has no ethical ideals at all, only romantic ones. She is a typical nineteenth century figure falling into the abyss between the ideals which do not impose on her and the realities she has not