Ibsen. Stages of creativity
V. Admoni
Henrik Ibsen and his creative path
Ibsen's work links centuries - in the literal sense of the word. Its origins lie in the closing, pre-revolutionary 18th century, in Schiller’s tyrannical struggle and in Rousseau’s appeal to nature and to ordinary people. And the dramaturgy of the mature and late Ibsen, with all its deepest connection with contemporary life, also outlines the essential features of the art of the 20th century - its condensation, experimentation, multi-layeredness.
For the poetry of the 20th century, according to one of the foreign researchers, the motif of the saw, with its grinding, with its sharp teeth, is very characteristic. In his unfinished memoirs, Ibsen, describing his childhood, emphasizes the impression made on him by the continuous screeching of sawmills, hundreds of which worked from morning to evening in his hometown of Skien. “Reading later about the guillotine,” writes Ibsen, “I always remembered these sawmills.” And this heightened sense of dissonance, which Ibsen the child showed, subsequently reflected in the fact that he saw and captured in his work screaming dissonances where others saw integrity and harmony.
At the same time, Ibsen’s depiction of disharmony is by no means disharmonious. The world does not fall apart in his works into separate, unrelated fragments. The form of Ibsen's drama is strict, clear, collected. The dissonance of the world is revealed here in plays that are uniform in their structure and color. Poor organization of life is expressed in excellently organized works.
Master of Organization complex material Ibsen showed himself already in his youth. Oddly enough, in his homeland Ibsen was initially recognized as the first among all Norwegian writers not as a playwright, but as a poet - the author of poems “for occasion”: songs for student holidays, prologues to plays, etc. Young Ibsen knew how to combine in such poems a clear development of thought with genuine emotionality, using chains of images that were largely standard for that time, but sufficiently updated in the context of the poem.
Bearing in mind G. Brandes's call to Scandinavian writers to “put for discussion the problems” of Ibsen in late XIX century was often called the problem maker. But the roots of “problematic” art in Ibsen’s work are very deep! The movement of thought has always been extremely important for the construction of his works, growing organically in his plays from the development of the inner world of the characters. And this feature also anticipated important trends in world drama of the 20th century.
Henrik Ibsen was born on March 20, 1828 in the small town of Spen. His father, a wealthy businessman, went bankrupt when Henrik was eight years old, and the boy had to start an independent life very early, before he was sixteen years old. He becomes an apothecary apprentice in Grimstad, a town even smaller than Skien, and spends there over six years, living in very difficult conditions. Already at this time, Ibsen developed a sharply critical, protesting attitude towards modern society, especially aggravated in 1848, under the influence of revolutionary events in Europe. In Grimstad, Ibsen wrote his first poems and his first play, Catiline (1849).
On April 28, 1850, Ibsen moved to the capital of the country, Christiania, where he prepared for entrance exams to the university and took an active part in socio-political and literary life. He writes many poems and articles, in particular journalistic ones. In the parodic, grotesque play “Norma, or the Love of a Politician” (1851), Ibsen exposes the half-heartedness and cowardice of the then Norwegian opposition parties in parliament - the liberals and the leaders of the peasant movement. He became close to the labor movement, which was then rapidly developing in Norway under the leadership of Markus Trane, but was soon suppressed by police measures. On September 26, 1850, the premiere of Ibsen’s first play to see the light of the stage, “The Heroic Mound,” took place at the Christiania Theater.
Ibsen's name is gradually becoming famous in literary and theatrical circles. In the autumn of 1851, Ibsen became a full-time playwright at the newly created theater in the wealthy trading city of Bergen - the first theater that sought to develop national Norwegian art. Ibsen remained in Bergen until 1857, after which he returned to Christiania, to the post of director and director of the National Norwegian Theater that was formed in the capital. But financial situation Ibsen remains very bad at this time. It becomes especially painful at the turn of the 60s, when the affairs of the Christian Norwegian Theater begin to go from bad to worse. Only with the greatest difficulty, thanks to the selfless help of B. Bjornson, did Ibsen manage to leave Christiania in the spring of 1864 and go to Italy.
In all these years, both in Christiania and in Bergen, Ibsen’s work stands under the sign of the Norwegian national romanticism - a broad movement in the spiritual life of the country, which, after centuries of subjugation of Denmark, sought to establish the national identity of the Norwegian people and create a national Norwegian culture. An appeal to Norwegian folklore is the main program of national romance, which has continued and strengthened the patriotic aspirations of Norwegian writers of previous decades since the late 40s.
For the Norwegian people, who were then in a forced union with Sweden, national romance was one of the forms of the struggle for independence. It is quite natural that the greatest importance for national romance was that social stratum that was the bearer of Norway’s national identity and the basis of its political revival - the peasantry, which retained its basic way of life and its dialects, while the urban population of Norway fully adopted Danish culture and Danish language.
At the same time, in its orientation towards the peasantry, national romance often lost its sense of proportion. Peasant life was idealized to the extreme, turned into an idyll, and folklore motives were interpreted not in their authentic, sometimes very rude form, but as extremely sublime, conventionally romantic.
Ibsen felt this duality of national romance. Already in the first national romantic play from modern life (Midsummer Night, 1852), Ibsen ironizes the pompous perception of Norwegian folklore, characteristic of national romance: the hero of the play discovers that the fairy of Norwegian folklore, Huldra, with whom he was in love, has a cow tail.
In an effort to avoid false romantic elation and find a more solid, less illusory support for his work, Ibsen turns to the historical past of Norway, and in the second half of the 50s he begins to reproduce the style of the ancient Icelandic saga with its spare and clear manner of presentation. On this path, two of his plays are especially important: the drama “Warriors in Helgeland” (1857), based on the material of ancient sagas, and the folk-historical drama “The Struggle for the Throne” (1803). In the poetic play “The Comedy of Love” (1862), Ibsen sarcastically ridicules the entire system of sublime romantic illusions, considering the world of sober practice, not embellished with ringing phrases, more acceptable. At the same time, here, as in earlier plays, Ibsen nevertheless outlines a certain “third dimension” - the world of genuine feelings, deep experiences of the human soul, which have not yet been erased and not put on display.
Ibsen's disillusionment with national romance, which intensified in the late 50s and early 60s, was also connected with his disappointment in the Norwegian political forces opposing the conservative government. Ibsen gradually develops a distrust of all political activity, skepticism arises, sometimes developing into aestheticism - into the desire to consider real life only as a material and a reason for artistic effects. However, Ibsen immediately reveals the spiritual emptiness that the transition to the position of aestheticism brings with it. This separation from individualism and aestheticism finds its first expression in the short poem “On the Heights” (1859), which anticipates “Brand.”
Ibsen completely demarcated himself from all the problems of his young years in two philosophical and symbolic dramas of a large scale, in Brand (1865) and in Peer Gynt (1867), written in Italy, where he moved in 1864. Outside Norway, in Italy and Germany, Ibsen remained for more than a quarter of a century, until 1891, visiting his homeland only twice in all these years.
Both Brand and Peer Gynt are unusual in their form. These are a kind of dramatized poems (Brand was originally conceived as a poem, several songs of which were written). In terms of volume, they dramatically exceed the usual size of plays. They combine living, individualized images with generalized, emphatically typified characters: for example, in “Brand” only some of the characters are given personal names, while others appear under the names: Vogt, Doctor, etc. In terms of the generality and depth of the problems, “Brand” and “ Peer Gynt,” with all its appeal to specific phenomena of Norwegian reality, is closest to Goethe’s “Faust” and to Byron’s dramaturgy.
Essay on literature on the topic of Henrik Ibsen, Grade 10-B student High school 19 Sevastopol 2004 Ibsen’s work connects centuries - in the literal sense of the word. Its origins are in the concluding, pre-revolutionary XVII I century, in Schiller's tyranny and in Rousseau's appeal to nature and to ordinary people. And the dramaturgy of the mature and late Ibsen, with all its deepest connection with contemporary life, also outlines the essential features of the art of the 20th century - its condensation, experimentation, multi-layeredness.
For the poetry of the 20th century, according to one of the foreign researchers, the motif of the saw is very characteristic - with its grinding, with its sharp teeth. In his unfinished memoirs, Ibsen, describing his childhood, emphasizes the impression that the continuous the screech of sawmills, hundreds of which worked from morning to evening in his hometown of Skien. Reading later about the guillotine, Ibsen wrote, I always remembered these sawmills.
And this heightened sense of dissonance, which Ibsen the child showed, subsequently reflected in the fact that he saw and captured in his work screaming dissonances where others saw integrity and harmony. At the same time, Ibsen’s depiction of disharmony is by no means disharmonious. The world does not fall apart in his works into separate, unrelated fragments. The form of Ibsen's drama is strict, clear, collected. The dissonance of the world is revealed here in plays that are uniform in their structure and color.
Poor organization of life is expressed in excellently organized works. Ibsen showed himself to be a master of organizing complex material already in his youth. Oddly enough, in his homeland Ibsen was initially recognized as the first among all Norwegian writers not as a playwright, but as a poet - the author of poems for songs for student holidays, prologues to plays, etc. Young Ibsen knew how to combine in such poems, a clear development of thought with genuine emotionality, using chains of images, largely cliched for that time, but sufficiently updated in the context of the poem. Remembering G. Brandes' call for Scandinavian writers to raise problems for discussion, Ibsen at the end of the 19th century was often called a problem maker.
But the roots of problematic art in Ibsen’s work are very deep. The movement of thought has always been extremely important for the construction of his works, growing organically in his plays from the development of the inner world of the characters. And this feature also anticipated important trends in world drama of the 20th century. Henrik Ibsen was born on March 20, 1828 in the small town of Spen. His father, a wealthy businessman, went bankrupt when Henrik was eight years old, and the boy had to start an independent life very early, before he was sixteen years old.
He becomes an apothecary apprentice in Grimstad, a town even smaller than Skien, and spends there over six years, living in very difficult conditions.
Already at this time, Ibsen developed a sharply critical, protesting attitude towards modern society, especially aggravated in 1848, under the influence of revolutionary events in Europe. In Grimstad, Ibsen wrote his first poems and his first play Catiline 1849. Twenty eighth of April In 1850, Ibsen moved to the capital of the country, Christiania, where he prepared for entrance exams to the university and took an active part in socio-political and literary life.
He writes many poems and articles, particularly journalistic ones. In the parody, grotesque play Norma, or Love of Politics 1851 Ibsen exposes the half-heartedness and cowardice of the then Norwegian opposition parties in parliament - liberals and leaders of the peasant movement. He became close to the labor movement, which was then rapidly developing in Norway under the leadership of Markus Trane, but was soon suppressed by police measures. On September 26, 1850, the premiere of Ibsen’s first play took place at the Christian Theater, which saw the light of the Bogatyrsky Kurgan stage.
Ibsen's name is gradually becoming famous in literary and theatrical circles. In the autumn of 1851, Ibsen became the full-time playwright of the newly created theater in the wealthy trading city of Bergen - the first theater that sought to develop national Norwegian art. Ibsen remained in Bergen until 1857, after which he returned to Christiania, to the post of director and director of the newly formed theater in the capital National Norwegian Theatre.
But Ibsen’s financial situation at this time remained very poor. It becomes especially painful at the turn of the 60s, when the affairs of the Christian Norwegian Theater begin to go from bad to worse. Only with the greatest difficulty, thanks to the selfless help of B. Bjornson, did Ibsen manage to leave Christiania and go to Italy in the spring of 1864. During all these years, both in Christiania and in Bergen, Ibsen’s work stands under the sign of the Norwegian national romanticism - a broad movement in spiritual life of the country, who, after centuries of subjugation by Denmark, sought to establish the national identity of the Norwegian people and create a national Norwegian culture.
An appeal to Norwegian folklore is the main program of national romance, which continued and strengthened the patriotic aspirations of Norwegian writers of the previous decades from the late 40s. For the Norwegian people, who were then in a forced union with Sweden, national romance was one of the forms of the struggle for independence.
It is quite natural that the greatest importance for national romance was that social stratum that was the bearer of Norway’s national identity and the basis of its political revival - the peasantry, which retained its basic way of life and its dialects, while the urban population of Norway fully adopted Danish culture and Danish language. At the same time, in its orientation towards the peasantry, national romance often lost its sense of proportion. Peasant life was idealized to the extreme, turned into an idyll, and folklore motifs were interpreted not in their authentic, sometimes very crude form, but as extremely sublime, conventionally romantic.
This duality of national romance was felt by Ibsen. Already in the first national-romantic play from modern life, Midsummer Night, 1852, Ibsen ironizes the pompous perception of Norwegian folklore, characteristic of national romance, the hero of the play discovers that the fairy of Norwegian folklore, Huldra, with whom he was in love , there is a cow's tail.
In an effort to avoid false romantic elation and find a firmer, less illusory support for his work, Ibsen turned to the historical past of Norway, and in the second half of the 50s he began to reproduce the style of the ancient Icelandic saga with its spare and clear manner of presentation. Along this path Two of his plays are especially important: the drama Warriors in Helgeland 1857, based on the material of ancient sagas, and the folk-historical drama The Struggle for the Throne of 1803. In the poetic play Comedy of Love 1862, Ibsen sarcastically ridicules the entire system of sublime romantic illusions, considering the world of sober practice, not embellished, more acceptable sonorous phrases.
At the same time, here, as in earlier plays, Ibsen nevertheless outlines a certain third dimension - the world of genuine feelings, deep experiences of the human soul, which have not yet been erased and not put on display.
Ibsen's disillusionment with national romance, which intensified in the late 50s and early 60s, was also connected with his disappointment in the Norwegian political forces opposing the conservative government. Ibsen gradually develops distrust of any political activity, skepticism arises, sometimes developing into aestheticism - the desire to consider real life only as material and a reason for artistic effects. However, Ibsen immediately reveals the spiritual emptiness that the transition to the position of aestheticism brings with it .
This demarcation with individualism and aestheticism finds its first expression in the short poem On the Heights of 1859, which anticipates Brand. Ibsen completely demarcates himself from all the problematics of his young years in two philosophical and symbolic dramas of a large scale, in Brand 1865 and in Peer Gynt 1867, written already in Italy, where he moved in 1864. Outside Norway, in Italy and Germany, Ibsen remained for more than a quarter of a century, until 1891, visiting his homeland only twice in all these years.
Both Brand and Peer Gynt are unusual in their form. These are a kind of dramatized poems. Brand was originally conceived as a poem, several songs of which were written. In their volume, they sharply exceed the usual size of plays. They combine living, individualized images with generalized, emphatically typified characters, so in Brand only some of the characters are given personal names, while others appear under the names Vogt, Doctor, etc. In terms of the generality and depth of their problematics, Brand and Peer Gynt, for all their appeal to specific phenomena of Norwegian reality, closest to Goethe’s Faust and Byron’s drama.
The main problem in Brand and Peer Gynt is Fate human personality V modern society.But the central figures of these plays are diametrically opposed. The hero of the first play, priest Brand, is a man of unusual integrity and strength. The hero of the second play, the peasant boy Peer Gynt, is the embodiment of human spiritual weakness, truly, an embodiment brought to gigantic proportions.
Brand does not retreat from any sacrifices, does not agree to any compromises, does not spare either himself or his loved ones in order to fulfill what he considers his mission. With fiery words, he castigates half-heartedness, spiritual flabbiness modern people. He stigmatizes not only those who directly oppose him in the play, but also all social institutions of modern society, in particular, the state.
But although he manages to breathe new spirit into his flock, poor peasants and fishermen in the far North, in a wild, abandoned land, and lead them with him to the shining mountain peaks, his end is tragic. Seeing no clear goal on their painful path upward, Brand's followers leave him and - seduced by the cunning speeches of the Vogt - return to the valley. And Brand himself dies, buried in a mountain avalanche. The integrity of man, bought by cruelty and not knowing mercy, also turns out to be, according to the logic of the play, condemned.
Brand's predominant emotional element is pathos, indignation and anger, mixed with sarcasm. In Peer Gynt, despite several deeply lyrical scenes, sarcasm predominates. Peer Gynt is Ibsen's final demarcation from national romance. Ibsen's rejection of romantic idealization reaches its apogee here. The peasants appear in Peer Gynt as rude, evil and greedy people, merciless towards the misfortune of others. And the fantastic images of Norwegian folklore turn out to be ugly, dirty, evil creatures in the play.
True, in Peer Gynt there is not only a Norwegian, but also a global reality. The entire fourth act, of enormous size, is dedicated to Per's wanderings away from Norway. But the most broad, pan-European, and by no means only Norwegian sound is given to Peer Gynt by its central problem, which we have already emphasized - the problem of the impersonality of modern man, exclusively relevant for the bourgeois society of the 19th century. Peer Gynt knows how to adapt to any conditions in which he finds himself; he has no inner Core.
Per's impersonality is especially noteworthy in that he considers himself a special, unique person, called for extraordinary achievements, and in every possible way emphasizes his own Gyntian self. But this peculiarity of him manifests itself only in his speeches and dreams, and in his actions he always capitulates to circumstances.
Throughout his life, he was always guided not by the truly human principle - be yourself, but by the troll principle - revel in yourself. And yet, perhaps the main thing in the play both for Ibsen himself and for his Scandinavian contemporaries was the merciless exposure of everything that seemed sacred to national romance. Peer Gynt was perceived by many in Norway and Denmark as a work beyond the boundaries of poetry, rude and unfair. Hans Christian Andersen called it the worst book he had ever read. E. Grieg extremely reluctantly - in fact, only because of the fee - agreed to write music for the play and for a number of years delayed fulfilling his promise.
Moreover, in his wonderful suite, which largely determined the world success of the play, he extremely enhanced the romantic sound of Peer Gynt. As for the play itself, it is extremely important that genuine, highest lyricism is present in it only in those scenes in which there is no conventional national-romantic tinsel and the purely human principle turns out to be decisive - the deepest experiences of the human soul, correlated with the general background of the play as a stark contrast to it. These are, first of all, scenes associated with the image of Solveig, and the scene of the death of Ose, which belong to the most touching episodes in world drama.
It was these scenes, combined with Grieg's music, that allowed Peer Gynt to appear throughout the world as the embodiment of Norwegian romance, although the play itself, as we have already emphasized, was written in order to completely settle accounts with romance, to free ourselves from it. Ibsen achieved this goal.
After Peer Gynt, he completely moves away from romantic tendencies. An external manifestation of this is his final transition in drama from verse to prose. Living far from his homeland, Ibsen closely follows the evolution of Norwegian reality, which was rapidly developing in these years in economic, political and culturally, and touches on many pressing issues of Norwegian life in his plays.
The first step in this direction was the sharp comedy Youth Union of 1869, which, however, in its artistic structure largely reproduces the traditional schemes of the comedy of intrigue. A genuine Ibsenian drama with themes from modern life, with a special, innovative poetics, was created only in the late 70s. But before that, in the period of time between the Youth Union and the Pillars of Society 1877, Ibsen’s attention was attracted by broad world problems and general patterns historical development humanity.
This was caused by the whole atmosphere of the 60s, rich in major historical events, the culmination of which was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 and the Paris Commune. It began to seem to Ibsen that a decisive historical turning point was approaching, that the existing society was doomed to destruction and would be replaced by some new, freer forms of historical existence. This feeling of an impending catastrophe, terrible and at the same time desirable, was expressed in some poems, especially in the poem To My Friend, a revolutionary speaker, as well as in the extensive world-historical drama Caesar and the Galilean of 1873. This dilogy depicts the fate of Julian the Apostate, a Roman emperor who renounced Christianity and tried to return to the ancient gods of the ancient world. The main idea of the drama is the impossibility of returning to the already passed stages of the historical development of mankind and at the same time the need to synthesize the past and modernity in some higher social system.
In terms of the play, a synthesis of the ancient kingdom of the flesh and the Christian kingdom of the spirit is necessary. But Ibsen's aspirations did not come true.
Instead of the collapse of bourgeois society, a long period of its relatively peaceful development and external prosperity began. And Ibsen moves away from the general problems of the philosophy of history and returns to the problematic Everyday life contemporary society.
But, having already learned earlier not to dwell on the external forms in which human existence takes place, and not to believe ringing phrases that embellish reality, Ibsen clearly realizes that even at the new historical stage, within a prosperous society there are painful, ugly phenomena, severe internal vices. Ibsen first articulates this in his poem Letter in Verse, 1875, addressed to Brandeis. Modern world is presented here in the form of a well-equipped, comfortable steamship, the passengers and crew of which, despite the appearance of complete well-being, are overcome by anxiety and fear - it seems to them that a corpse is hidden in the hold of the ship, which, according to sailors’ beliefs, means the inevitability of the ship’s collapse.
Then the concept of modern reality as a world characterized by a radical break between appearance and interiority. the essence, becomes decisive for Ibsen’s dramaturgy - both for the problems of his plays and for their construction.
The main principle of Ibsen's dramaturgy is analytical composition, in which the development of action means the consistent discovery of certain secrets, the gradual disclosure of internal troubles and tragedy hidden behind the completely prosperous outer shell of the depicted reality. The forms of analytical composition can be very different. Thus, in Enemy of the People 1882, where the cowardice and self-interest of both conservative and liberal forces of modern society are revealed, where the role of external action directly played out on stage is very large, the motive of analysis is introduced in the most literal sense of this words - namely, chemical analysis.
Dr. Stockman sends to the laboratory a sample of water from a resort spring, the healing properties of which he himself discovered at one time, and the analysis shows that the water contains pathogenic microbes brought from the wastewater of a tannery. Particularly indicative for Ibsen are such forms of analyticism in which the disclosure hidden fatal depths externally happy life is accomplished not only by removing the deceptive appearance in a given period of time, but also by discovering the chronologically distant sources of hidden evil. Starting from the present moment of action, Ibsen restores the background of this moment, gets to the roots of what is happening on stage.
It is precisely the clarification of the premises of the tragedy taking place, the discovery of plot secrets, which, however, have by no means only plot significance, forms the basis of intense drama in such plays by Ibsen, which are very different from each other, such as, for example, Dollhouse 1879, Ghosts 1881, Rosmersholm 1886. Of course, in these plays, action is also important, synchronous with the moment to which the play is timed, as if taking place in front of the audience.
And of great importance in them - in terms of creating dramatic tension - is the gradual discovery of the sources of present reality, delving into the past. Ibsen’s special power as an artist lies in the organic combination of external and internal action with the integrity of the overall color and with the utmost expressiveness of individual details. Thus, in A Doll's House the elements of analytical structure are extremely strong.
They consist in the comprehension of the inner essence that organizes the entire play. family life lawyer Helmer, at first glance very happy, but based on lies and selfishness. At the same time, it is revealed genuine character both Helmer himself, who turned out to be a selfish man and a coward, and his wife Nora, who at first appears as a frivolous creature completely satisfied with her lot, but in fact turns out to be a strong person, capable of sacrifice and willing to think independently.
The analytical structure of the play also includes the widespread use of backstory, the disclosure of plot secrets, as an important driving force in the unfolding of the action. It gradually becomes clear that Nora, in order to receive a loan from the moneylender Krogstad the money necessary for the treatment of her husband, forged her father’s signature. At the same time, the external action of the play turns out to be very intense and intense: the growing threat of Nora’s exposure, Nora’s attempt to delay the moment when Helmer reads Krogstad’s letter lying in the mailbox, etc. And in Ghosts, against the backdrop of incessant rain, a gradual clarification of the true the creatures of the life that befell Fru Alvivg, the widow of a wealthy chamberlain, and it is also discovered that her son is sick, and the real reasons for his illness are revealed.
The appearance of the late chamberlain emerges more and more clearly, a depraved, drunken man, whose sins - both during his life and after his death - Mrs. Alving tried to hide in order to avoid scandal and so that Oswald would not know what his father was like. The growing sense of imminent catastrophe culminates in the fire of the orphanage that Mrs. Alving had just built to perpetuate the memory of her husband's never-existent virtues, and in Oswald's incurable illness.
Thus, here, too, the external and internal development of the plot interact organically, also united by an exceptionally consistent overall color.
The internal development of characters is of particular importance for Ibsen's dramaturgy at this time. Still in the Youth Union, peace and thought characters, in fact, did not change throughout the entire play. Meanwhile, in Ibsen’s dramas, starting with The Pillars of Society, the mental structure of the main characters usually becomes different under the influence of events occurring on stage and as a result of looking into the past.
And this shift in their inner world often turns out to be almost the main thing in the entire plot development. The evolution of Consul Bernik from a tough businessman to a man who realized his sins and decided to repent is the most important result of the Pillars of Society - Nora’s final disappointment in her family life, her awareness the need to start a new existence in order to become a full-fledged person is what the development of action in the Doll's House leads to. And it is precisely this process of Nora’s internal growth that determines the plot outcome of the play - Nora’s departure from her husband. In The Enemy of the People, the most important role is played by the path that Dr. Stockman's thought takes - from one paradoxical discovery to another, even more paradoxical, but even more general in the social sense.
The situation is somewhat more complicated in Ghosts. Mrs. Alving’s internal liberation from all the dogmas of the usual bourgeois morality occurred even before the start of the play, but as the play progresses, Mrs. Alving comes to understand the tragic mistake that she made by refusing to rebuild her life in accordance with her new ones. convictions and cowardly hiding the gravy face of her husband from everyone. The decisive importance of changes in the spiritual life of the characters for the development of action explains why in Ibsen’s plays of the late 70s and later, such a large place, especially in the endings, is given to dialogues and monologues, rich in generalized reasoning.
It is in connection with this feature of his plays that Ibsen was repeatedly accused of excessive abstraction, inappropriate theorizing, and too directly revealing the author's ideas. However, such verbal realizations of the ideological content of the play are always inextricably linked in Ibsen with its plot structure, with the logic of development of the reality depicted in the play.
It is also extremely important that those characters into whose mouths the corresponding generalized reasoning is put are led to these reasoning by the entire course of the action. Their experiences force them to think about very general issues and make them able to formulate and express their opinions on these issues.
Of course, that Nora, whom we see in the first act and who seems to us to be a frivolous and cheerful squirrel, could hardly formulate the thoughts that she so clearly expresses in the fifth act, during an explanation with Helmer. But the whole point is that in the course of the action, first of all, it became clear that Nora, already in the first act, was actually different - a woman who had suffered a lot and was capable of making serious decisions.
And then the events depicted in the play themselves opened Nora’s eyes to many aspects of her life and made her wiser. In addition, it is by no means possible to equate the views of Ibsen’s characters with the views of the playwright himself. To some extent, this even applies to Dr. Stockman, a character who in many ways is closest to the author. In Stockman, Ibsen's criticism of bourgeois society is presented in an extremely pointed, super-paradoxical form. So, the huge role of the conscious, intellectual principle in the construction of the plot and in the behavior of the characters in Ibsen’s drama does not in any way reduce its overall adequacy to the world that is reflected in this drama.
Ibsen's hero is not a mouthpiece for an idea, but a person possessing all the dimensions inherent in human nature, including intelligence and the desire for activity. In this he is decisively different from the typical characters of naturalistic and neo-romantic literature that developed at the end of the 19th century, in whom the intellect that controls human behavior was turned off - partially or even completely.
This does not mean that Ibsen's heroes are completely alien to intuitive actions. They never turn into schemes at all. But their inner world is not limited to intuition, and they are able to act, and not just endure the blows of fate. The presence of such heroes is largely explained by the fact that Norwegian reality itself, due to the peculiarities of the historical development of Norway, was rich in such people.
As Friedrich Engels wrote in a letter to P. Ernst in 1890, the Norwegian peasant was never a serf, and this gives the whole development, just as in Castile, a completely different background. The Norwegian petty bourgeois is the son of a free peasant, and as a result he is a real person in comparison with the degenerating German tradesman. And the Norwegian tradesman is also different, like heaven from earth, from the wife of a German tradesman.
And whatever, for example, the shortcomings of Ibsen’s dramas, these dramas, although they reflect the world of the petty and middle bourgeoisie, are a world completely different from the German one - a world in which people still have character and initiative and act independently, although sometimes according to concepts foreigners, quite strangely, K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, vol. 37, pp. 352-353 Ibsen found prototypes of his active and intellectual heroes, however, not only in Norway. Already from the mid-60s, Ibsen in general comprehended his directly Norwegian problems and in a broader sense, as an integral moment in the development of global reality.
In particular, Ibsen’s desire in the drama of the 70s and 80s to turn to characters who were active and capable of decisive protest was also supported by the presence in the world of that time of people who fought for the realization of their ideals, not stopping at any sacrifice. Particularly important in this In relation to Ibsen, there was an example of the Russian revolutionary movement, which the Norwegian playwright admired. So, in one of his conversations with G. Brandes, which probably took place in 1874. Ibsen, using his favorite method - the method of paradox, extolled the wonderful oppression reigning in Russia, because this oppression gives rise to a wonderful love of freedom.
And he formulated Russia is one of the few countries on earth where people still love freedom and make sacrifices to it. That is why the country stands so high in poetry and art. Affirming the role of consciousness in the behavior of his characters, Ibsen constructs the action of his plays as an inevitable process, naturally conditioned by certain prerequisites.
Therefore, he resolutely rejects any plot tensions, any direct intervention of chance in the final determination of the fate of his heroes. The resolution of the play must come as a necessary result of the clash of opposing forces. arising from their genuine, deep character. The development of the plot must be significant, that is, based on real, typical features of the depicted reality.
But this is not achieved by schematizing the plot. On the contrary, Ibsen's plays have genuine vitality. Many different motives are woven into them, specific and original, not directly generated by the main problematics of the play. But these side motives do not break up or replace the logic of the development of the central conflict, but only highlight this conflict, sometimes even helping it to emerge with a special by force.
Thus, in A Doll's House there is a scene that could become the basis for a happy ending to the conflict depicted in the play. When Krogstad finds out that Mrs. Linne, Nora's friend, loves him and is ready - despite his dark past - to marry him, he invites her to take back her fatal letter to Helmer. But Mrs. Linne doesn’t want this. She says No, Krogstad, don’t ask for your letter back. Let Helmer find out everything.
Let this unfortunate secret come to light. Let them finally explain things to each other frankly. It is impossible for this to continue - these eternal secrets, subterfuges. So, the action does not turn aside under the influence of chance, but is directed towards its true denouement, in which the true essence of the relationship between Nora and her husband is revealed. Both the poetics and the problematics of Ibsen’s plays did not remain unchanged from the late 70s to the late 90s. Those common features Ibsen's dramaturgy, which was discussed in the previous section, was most characteristic of it in the period between The Pillars of Society and The Enemy of the People, when Ibsen's works were most saturated with social issues.
Meanwhile, starting from the mid-80s, the complex inner world of man has come to the fore in Ibsen’s work; the problems of the integrity of the human personality, the possibility of a person fulfilling his calling, etc., have long worried Ibsen. Even if the immediate theme of the play, as, for example, in Rosmersholm 1886, is of a political nature, associated with the struggle between Norwegian conservatives and freethinkers; its real issue is still the clash of egoistic and humanistic principles in human soul, no longer subject to the norms of religious morality.
The main conflict of the play is the conflict between the weak and distant Johannes Rosmer, a former pastor who has abandoned his former religious beliefs, and Rebecca West, who lives in his house, the illegitimate daughter of a poor and ignorant woman who has experienced poverty and humiliation.
Rebecca is a bearer of predatory morality, who believes that she has the right to achieve her goal at any cost, loves Rosmer and, with the help of ruthless and cunning techniques, ensures that Rosmer’s wife commits suicide. However, Rosmer, who does not accept any lies, strives to educate free and noble people and he who wants to act only by noble means, despite all his weakness, turns out to be Stronger than Rebecca, although he also loves her. He refuses to accept the happiness bought by the death of another person and Rebecca submits to him. They commit suicide by throwing themselves into the waterfall, just as Beate, Rosmer's wife, did.
But Ibsen’s transition to new issues took place even before Rosmersholm - in The Wild Duck of 1884. In this play, the questions that Brand was dedicated to in his time were raised anew. But Brand’s demand for absolute uncompromisingness loses its heroism here and even appears in an absurd, comic guise.
Gregers Werle, who preaches Brand morality, brings only grief and death to the family of his old friend, photographer Hjalmar Ekdal, whom he wants to morally raise and rid of lies. Brand's intolerance towards people who do not dare to step out of the framework of their everyday life is replaced in The Wild Duck by a call to approach each person taking into account his strengths and capabilities. Gregers Wehrle is opposed by Dr. Relling, who treats poor patients and, according to him, almost all of them are sick with the help of everyday lies, that is, such self-deception that makes their unsightly life meaningful and significant.
At the same time, the concept of everyday lies is by no means fully established in The Wild Duck. First of all, there are characters in the play who are free from everyday lies. This is not only the pure girl Hedwig, full of love, ready for self-sacrifice - and really sacrificing herself. These are also people of practical life, devoid of any sentimentality, like the experienced and ruthless businessman Werle, Gregers' father, and his housekeeper, Fru Serbu. And although old Werle and Fru Serbu are extremely selfish and selfish, they still stand by the logic of the play - abandoning all illusions and calling a spade a spade, incomparably higher than those who indulge in everyday lies. They even manage to realize that very true marriage, based on truth and sincerity, to which Gregers vainly urged Hjalmar Ekdal and his wife Gina. And then - and this is especially important - the concept of everyday lies is refuted in all of Ibsen’s subsequent dramaturgy - and above all in Rosmersholm, where Rosmer’s steady desire for truth, his rejection of all self-delusion and lies, prevails. The central problem of Ibsen's drama, starting from Rosmersholm, is the problem of the dangers that lurk in a person's desire to fully realize his calling.
Such a desire, which in itself is not only natural, but for Ibsen even obligatory, sometimes turns out to be achievable only at the expense of the happiness and lives of other people - and then a tragic conflict arises.
This problem, first posed by Ibsen already in Warriors in Helgeland, is developed with greatest force in Solnes the Builder 1892 and in John Gabriel Borkman 1896. The heroes of both of these plays decide to sacrifice the fate of other people to fulfill their calling and suffer disaster.
Solnes, successful in all his endeavors, who managed to achieve wide fame, despite the fact that he did not receive a real education as an architect, does not die from a collision with external forces.
The arrival of young Hilda, encouraging him to become as brave as he once was, is only the reason for his death. The real reason for his death lies in his duality and weakness. On the one hand, he acts as a person ready to sacrifice the happiness of other people; he makes his architectural career, in his own opinion, at the expense of the happiness and health of his wife, and in his office he mercilessly exploits the old architect Bruvik and his talented son, whom he does not give the opportunity to work independently, because he is afraid that he will soon surpass him.
On the other hand, he always feels the injustice of his actions and blames himself even for what, in fact, he cannot be guilty of at all. He is always anxiously waiting for reckoning, retribution, and retribution does overtake him, but not in in the form of forces hostile to him, but in the form of Hilda, who loves him and believes in him.
Inspired by her, he climbs the high tower of the building he built - and falls, overcome by dizziness. But the absence of internal duality does not bring success to a person who is trying to fulfill his calling, regardless of other people. The banker and big businessman Borkman, who dreams of becoming Napoleon in the economic life of the country and conquering more and more forces of nature, is alien to any weakness. A crushing blow is dealt to him by external forces. His enemies manage to expose him for abusing other people's money. But even after a long prison sentence, he remains internally unbroken and dreams of returning to his favorite activity.
At the same time, the real reason for his downfall, revealed as the play progresses, lies deeper. While still a young man, he left the woman he loved and who loved him, and married her rich sister in order to obtain funds, without which he could not begin to your speculations.
And it was precisely because he betrayed his true love that he killed living soul in the woman who loves him, leads, according to the logic of the play, Borkman to disaster. Both Solnes and Borkman - each in their own way - are people of large format. And this is why they attract Ibsen, who has long sought to affirm a full-fledged, unerased human personality. But they can fatally realize their calling only by losing their sense of responsibility to other people. This is the essence of the main conflict that Ibsen saw in his contemporary society and which, being very relevant for that era, also anticipated - albeit indirectly and in an extremely weakened form - the terrible reality of the 20th century, when the forces of reaction sacrificed millions of innocent people to achieve their goals.
If Nietzsche, also without, of course, imagining the real practice of the 20th century, in principle affirmed such a right of the strong, then Ibsen in principle denied this right, no matter in what forms it manifested itself.
Unlike Solnes and Borkman, Hedda Gabler, the heroine of Ibsen's somewhat earlier play Hedda Gabler, 1890, lacks a true vocation. But she has a strong, independent character and, having become accustomed, as the daughter of a general, to a rich, aristocratic life, she feels deeply dissatisfied with the bourgeois environment and the monotonous course of life in the house of her husband, the mediocre scientist Tesman. She seeks to reward herself by heartlessly playing with the fate of other people and trying to achieve, at least at the cost of the greatest cruelty, that at least something bright and significant would happen.
And when she fails in this, then it begins to seem to her that the funny and vulgar are following her everywhere, and she commits suicide. True, Ibsen makes it possible to explain Hedda’s capricious behavior, which reaches the point of complete cynicism, not only by the characteristics of her character and the history of her life, but by physiological motives - namely, the fact that she is pregnant. A person’s responsibility to other people is interpreted - with certain variations - in Ibsen's remaining late plays Little Eyolf, 1894, and When We Dead Awaken, 1898. Starting with The Wild Duck, Ibsen's plays further enhance the diversity and capacity of images.
The dialogue is becoming less and less lively - in the external sense of the word. Especially in Ibsen's later plays, the pauses between lines are becoming longer and longer, and the characters are increasingly not so much answering each other, but each talking about their own.
The analyticalism of the composition is preserved, but for the development of the action, what is now important is not so much the gradually revealed previous actions of the characters, but rather their gradually revealed previous feelings and thoughts. In Ibsen's plays, symbolism also intensifies, and it sometimes becomes very complex and creates a perspective leading into some kind of unclear , wavering distance. Sometimes strange, fantastic creatures appear here, and strange, difficult to explain events occur, especially in Little Eyolf.
Often the late Ibsen is generally spoken of as a symbolist or neo-romanticist. But the new stylistic features of Ibsen’s later plays are organically included in the general artistic system his dramaturgy of the 70-80s. All their symbolism and all that vague haze with which they are surrounded is the most important component of their general color and emotional structure, giving them a special semantic capacity. In a number of cases, the bearers of Ibsen’s symbolism are any tactile, extremely specific objects or phenomena that are connected many threads not only with the general concept, but also with the plot structure of the play.
Particularly indicative in this regard is the wild duck with a wounded wing living in the attic of Ekdahl’s house; she embodies the fate of a man whom life has deprived of the opportunity to strive upward, and at the same time plays an important role in the entire development of the action in the play, which, with deep meaning, bears the title Wild duck. In 1898, eight years before Ibsen’s death, the seventieth birthday of the great Norwegian playwright was solemnly celebrated. His name at this time was one of the most famous literary names throughout the world, his plays were staged in theaters in many countries.
In Russia, Ibsen was one of the leaders of the thoughts of progressive youth starting in the 90s, but especially in the early 1900s. Many productions of Ibsen's plays left a significant mark on the history of Russian theatrical art. A major public event was the Moscow Art Theater performance of Enemy of the People in St. Petersburg on March 4, 1901. The production of A Doll's House at the V.F. Komissarzhevskaya Theater in Passage had a huge resonance - with V.F. Komissarzhevskaya in the role of Nora. Ibsen's motifs - in particular, motifs from Peer Gynt - clearly sounded in the poetry of A. A. Blok. Solveig, you came skiing to me - this is how one of Blok’s poems begins. And as the epigraph to his poem Retribution, Blok took words from Ibsen’s The Builder Solnes. Youth is retribution.
And in subsequent decades, Ibsen’s plays often appear in the repertoire of various theaters around the world. But still, Ibsen’s work has become less popular since the 20s.
However, the traditions of Ibsen’s dramaturgy are very strong in world literature of the 20th century. At the end of the last and at the very beginning of our century, playwrights different countries one could hear echoes of such features of Ibsen’s art as the relevance of the problematic, the tension and subtext of the dialogue, the introduction of symbolism that is organically woven into the specific fabric of the play.
Here we must name, first of all, B. Shaw and G. Hauptmann, but to some extent also A.P. Chekhov, despite Chekhov’s rejection of the general principles of Ibsen’s poetics. And starting from the 30s of the 20th century, Ibsen’s principle of analytical construction of a play plays an increasingly important role. The discovery of prehistory, ominous secrets of the past, without revealing which the present is incomprehensible, becomes one of the favorite techniques of both theatrical and film dramaturgy, reaching its apogee in the works , depicting - in one form or another - a trial.
Ibsen's influence - although most often not direct - intersects here with the influence of ancient drama. The tendency of Ibsen's dramaturgy to maximize the concentration of action and to reduce the number of characters, and also to the maximum multi-layered dialogue is further developed. And Ibsen's poetics comes to life with renewed vigor, aimed at revealing the glaring discrepancy between the beautiful appearance and the internal troubles of the depicted reality.
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HENRIK IBSEN
(1828-1906)
In the history of Western European “new drama”, the Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen rightfully plays the role of an innovator and pioneer. His work faces many literary trends, but does not fit into the framework of any of them. In the 60s of the 19th century, G. Ibsen began as a romantic, in the 70s he became one of the recognized European realist writers, and the symbolism of his plays of the 90s brought Ibsen closer to the symbolists and neo-romantics of the end of the century.
Henrik Ibsen was born in 1828 in the small Norwegian town of Skien. From the age of sixteen, the young man was forced to work as a pharmacist's apprentice - it was then that he began to write poetry in a sentimental and romantic spirit. The revolutionary upheavals of 1848 in Europe also influenced him: Ibsen created his first rebellious-romantic play, “Catilina” (1849). In 1850 he moved to Christiania (now Oslo) and became a professional writer.
At this time, G. Ibsen wrote several plays, mainly in a national romantic spirit. From the end of 1851 to 1857 he led the first Norwegian national theater, based in Bergen and consistently advocates for the revival of national art. Over time, the playwright was invited to head the “Norwegian Theater” in Christiania, and here in the first half of the 60s Ibsen’s first significant works were created and staged.
At that time, the so-called national romance dominated Norwegian literature. But Ibsen was convinced that “it is not the petty copying of everyday scenes” that makes a writer national, but “that special tone” that rushes towards us from our native mountains and valleys... but above all - from the depths of our own soul." Back in 1857 year, Ibsen defined his creative task this way - to make the drama serious, to force the viewer to think along with the author and the characters, turning him into a “co-author of the playwright.”
In drama, ideas should not fight, because this does not happen in reality, it is necessary to show “collisions between people, life conflicts, in which, like in cocoons, deeply hidden ideas that fight, die or win.”
In an effort to avoid false romantic elation and find more solid ground for his work, the writer turned to the historical past of his country and created two plays: the drama “Warriors in Helgeland” (1857), based on the material of ancient sagas, and the folk-historical drama “The Struggle for the Throne” (1863). In the poetic play “The Comedy of Love” (1862), Ibsen caustically ridiculed romantic illusions, considering the world of sober practice more acceptable. Ibsen's disappointment in national romance, which intensified in the late 50s, was also associated with his disbelief in all areas of Norwegian public life. For him, not only the petty bourgeois existence becomes hateful, but also the deceit of sublime phrases, demagogic slogans that were proclaimed on the pages of newspapers and in public assemblies.
However, Ibsen's life becomes more and more difficult. He is in poverty, and the real salvation is obtained with the help of the playwright By. Bjornson scholarship for a trip to Rome. Ibsen left Norway on April 5, 1864 and stayed abroad, with short breaks, for almost twenty-seven years.
In Italy, the playwright created two monumental philosophical and symbolic poetic dramas - “Brand” (1865) and “Peer Gynt” (1867), which marked his dissociation and farewell to romanticism and placed Ibsen in the first rank of modern Scandinavian literature. Both “Brand” and “Peer Gynt” combine living individualized images with generalized, emphatically typified ones.
The main problem of these dramatic works- the fate of a person, an individual in modern society. But the central figures of these plays are diametrically opposed. The hero of "Brand" - the priest Brand - is a man of amazing integrity and strength; Another hero of the drama, the peasant boy Peer Gynt, is the embodiment of human spiritual weakness. Brand does not retreat from any sacrifices, does not agree to compromise, striving to fulfill his mission - to educate whole people, devoid of hypocrisy and selfishness, capable of thinking independently. His slogan is “to be yourself,” that is, to develop the unique traits of a human personality. With fiery words, Brand reproaches the half-heartedness, spiritual flabbiness of people and the vices of the modern state. And although he manages to infect parishioners - poor peasants and fishermen in an abandoned region in the far North, and lead them with him, the end of the priest turns out to be tragic. People believed him and followed him to the top of the mountain in search of freedom of spirit. When the pastor could not explain the specific purpose of this campaign, people angrily threw stones at him. The closest people become victims of Brand with his inhuman will - first his son dies, then his wife. And the feat to which Brand dedicated his life seems doubtful.
"Peer Gynt" marked Ibsen's final dissociation from national romance. This work was perceived by contemporaries as a merciless anti-romantic attack and at the same time as the most subtle romantic poem. The drama is filled with deep poetry of nature and love, which preserves a special national flavor. The lyrical richness of the play, its emotional charm lies, first of all, in those human feelings that are expressed by the author with extraordinary strength and perfection. The bearers of high poetry in "Peer Gynt" are, first of all, not traditional folk-romantic, fantastic characters and motifs, but real-life characters, ordinary, although not devoid of originality, people. The highest lyricism of licking is here with the images of the simple girl Solveig and Per's mother - Ose. Local peasants appear in the work as rude, evil and greedy people, and fairytale trolls as evil, ugly creatures.
At the beginning of the drama, Per is an ordinary country guy, a little lazy, a dreamer and a hangman. Life in his native village does not satisfy him. He believes that peasants who are concerned only with everyday worries are worthy of contempt. However, the author brings his hero to the trolls - fantastic creatures hostile to people - and shows that Gynt in his soul is ready to accept their slogan “be satisfied with yourself” for the rest of his life. He does not notice the difference between the people’s motto “be yourself,” which leads to moral improvement of the individual, and the trolls’ slogan, which justifies individualism, narcissism, and submission to life’s circumstances. In the first three acts, the author shows the formation of the moral traits of Peer Gynt, and in the fourth - the consequences to which the life philosophy of “be pleased with yourself” leads. Traveling around the world, Peer Gynt adapts to any situation, losing his own special traits. In the fifth act, the hero’s gradual insight begins, the search for his lost self begins, and the desire to restore his integral personality appears. The central symbolic figure in this action is Gudzivnik, who walks around the world with a tin spoon and collects people in it for melting down: whole personalities have disappeared, now only from many people fused together can one be made into one real person. And Peer Gynt can avoid being melted down if he proves that at least once he was a whole person.
Symbolic images, arising around Peer Gynt, reveal his moral impoverishment. Only Solveig, whom he loved in early years, claims that Peer Gynt always remained himself - in her faith, hope, love. Gudzivnik leaves Peer Gynt on earth until the next meeting, giving him the last opportunity to be reborn.
The creative search for the first dramatic works, philosophical generalizations and artistic discoveries of “Vranda” and “Peer Gynt” became the basis for the creation of a new type of drama. An external manifestation of this is the transition from poetic to prosaic speech in dramatic works. In the comedy "Youth Union" (1868), the writer turns to direct political satire. Ibsen anticipates and calls for the coming of a “revolution of the spirit,” which should renew all spheres of human existence. Ibsen embodies his thoughts in the philosophical and historical trilogy “Caesar and the Galileans” (1873) and in several major poems.
But there is no revolution in public life. A new cycle of peaceful, apparently prosperous historical development begins - the flowering of “classical” bourgeois society. And, starting in 1877, from the drama “The Pillars of Society,” Ibsen creates twelve plays in which extreme accuracy in depicting real forms of modern life is combined with deep penetration into its inner essence and into the spiritual world of people.
These plays are usually divided into three groups of four each. The first group, in which social issues are especially clearly and directly defined, is “Pillars of Society”, “A Doll’s House” (1879), “Ghosts” (1881), “Enemy of the People” (1882). The second, which also reflects the circumstances of real life, but is more focused on conflicts in the human soul, includes “The Wild Duck” (1884), “Rosmersholme” (1886), “The Woman from the Sea” (1888), “Hedda Gabler” (1890 ). The plays of the third group explore the depths of the human soul in a certain experimental abstraction. These are “The Builder of Solney” (1892), “Little Eyolf” (1894), “John Gabriel Borkman” (1896) and the dramatic epilogue “When We Dead Awaken” (1899). They show even more clearly the generalized symbolic features inherent in the plays of the second group. This grouping of plays is somewhat arbitrary. Social issues do not disappear from Ibsen’s later plays, but mental life man stands at the center of his “social” dramas.
Even during his lifetime, Ibsen's dramaturgy was recognized as innovative. With full right, he was declared the creator of analytical plays that revived the traditions of ancient drama. The compositional principles of Ibsen's dramas were associated with the construction of Sophocles' Oedipus the King. The entire action of this tragedy is devoted to revealing secrets - clarifying events that once happened. The gradual approach to the revelation of the secret creates the plot tension of the play, and the final disclosure creates the denouement, which determines the real backstory of the main characters and their future fate.
In Ibsen's plays, the drama of the situation lies in the fact that there is a complete contrast between the appearance of life and its true nature. The revelation of the world shown in the play most often begins during the course of the action - in details, in individual and seemingly random remarks, but at the end of the play there is a complete collapse of illusions and the clarification of the truth.
Ibsen's analyticity is different from the analyticity of ancient tragedy, deeply immersed in the mythological element. It is not for nothing that the prophecy of the oracle is so important for the action of Oedipus the King. In Ibsen, fate is opposed to being determined by the laws of nature and society, as well as by the internal laws of the human soul.
In Ibsen's "new drama" it is intellectual dialogue that is the way to resolve plot conflicts. It is the logic of action that leads the heroes to the need to comprehend their life, themselves, their loved ones, their environment, and sometimes the entire society in which they live, and also make a decision, since it is no longer possible to continue to live the way they lived before.
The intellectual and analytical structure of Ibsen’s “new plays” is combined with the desire to preserve the naturalness and authenticity of the stage action and the vitality of the characters. Connected with this is the uniqueness of the linguistic fabric of his plays, which is created through extreme economy and stylistic brevity. The sources of such artistic economy are in the traditions of the ancient Icelandic saga with its restraint in the depiction of feelings.
Hidden meanings make the structure of the dialogue multi-layered. Separate fragments of the text contain indications of what has already happened or is about to happen, of what is incomprehensible to the characters themselves. The role of pauses is also great. A special subtext arises - a system of meanings that are not given immediately, in dialogue, but exist hidden, are realized only as the action unfolds, but sometimes are never fully revealed.
But Ibsen’s plays are especially defining, in which both plot analyticity and intellectual comprehension are concentrated in last scenes the work, in its denouement, where in the dialogue, which borders on discussion, there is a real rethinking by the characters of their previous life and themselves. Such plays are Ibsen's classic intellectual-analytical plays, in which the external action is completely subjugated to the intellectual-analytical principle.
"A Doll's House"
The concept according to which in modern reality the connections between the external and internal essence are broken, becomes decisive for the problematic of Ibsen’s plays and for their structure. The analytical composition turns into a gradual disclosure of the internal troubles and tragedy that are hidden behind the rather prosperous outer shell of the depicted reality.
This is very clearly evident in A Doll's House. With the help of an analytical structure, the author gradually leads the viewer to an understanding of the inner essence of the family life of lawyer Helmer, which at first glance is quite happy, but based on lies and selfishness. At the same time it is revealed true character both Helmer himself, who turns out to be a self-lover and a coward, and his wife Nora, who at first appears as a frivolous creature, but in fact is a strong person, capable of sacrifice and strives to think independently. Backstory also plays an important role in this, revealing plot secrets as a driving force in the unfolding of the action. It gradually turns out that Nora, in order to get a loan from the moneylender Krogstad, necessary for her husband’s treatment, forged her father’s signature - after all, a woman in Norway at that time was deprived of the right to put her signature on documents; her father or husband had to “vouch” for her.
The external action also turns out to be very intense and intense: the constant threat of Nora’s exposure, her attempt to delay the moment when Helmer reads Krogstad’s letter, which is in the mailbox, etc.
The conflict also reveals the essence of social norms - a woman is afraid to admit that she is capable of selfless acts, which laws and official morality recognize only as a crime. Nora leaves her husband, hoping to analyze and understand the events that happened. Helmer remains to wait for the “miracle of miracles” - the return of Nora and their mutual rebirth. Nora's final disappointment in her family life, her awareness of the need to start a new existence in order to become a full-fledged person - this is what the development of action in "A Doll's House" leads to.
Social contradictions in Ibsen's drama "A Doll's House" develop into moral contradictions, and the playwright solves them psychologically. The author focuses his main attention on how Nora perceives her actions and the actions of other characters, how her assessment of the world and people changes, her suffering and her insights become the main content of the drama.
The desire to reconsider and reassess all modern customs and moral norms from the point of view of humanity turned Ibsen's dramas into discussions. And the point here is not only that the denouement in “A Doll’s House” is Nora’s conversation with Helmer - the first in their entire life together, in which Nora makes a firm and demanding analysis of the true essence of their relationship. Both Nora and Helmer, and their entire existence, appear in this conversation in a completely new way - and it is the novelty that gives special drama to the final scene of the play. Here there is a transition of external plot tension into internal, intellectual tension, tension of thought, from which the plot twist grows, which completes the development of the action.
Symbolism plays an important role in Ibsen's psychological drama. The title of the play "A Doll's House" is symbolic. The little woman stands up against society, not wanting to be a doll in a doll's house. This symbolism is reproduced in the system of “games”: Nora plays with the children, “plays” with her husband and Doctor Utrom, and they, in turn, also play with her. All this prepares the viewer for Nora’s final monologue, in which she reproaches her husband and father, and the whole society, for turning her into a toy, and she made her children toys.
The play "A Doll's House" caused heated discussions in which both critics and spectators took part. The public was worried about the acute presentation of the problem of the position of a woman in a bourgeois family and the false, hypocritical foundations on which this family is based. But, as in other plays, Ibsen is not limited to the social aspect of the issue, thinking about individual rights and human dignity. So, in “A Doll’s House,” in response to Helmer’s words that Nora has no right to leave her family because she has sacred responsibilities to her husband and children, she says: “I have others, just as sacred... responsibilities.” before yourself."
Henrik Ibsen created the modern "new drama", imbuing it with social, philosophical and moral issues. He developed its artistic form, developed the art of dialogue, including colloquial speech. In his scenic paintings of everyday life, the playwright made extensive use of symbolism, significantly expanding the visual possibilities of realistic art.
I would consider myself a student of Ibsen. Show. Followers of Ibsen different stages creativity was performed by A. Strindberg and G. Hauptmann. The symbolism of Ibsen's drama inspired M. Maeterlinck. None of the turn-of-the-century playwrights escaped his influence.
MAIN WORKS: “Brand” (1965), “Peer Gynt” (1866), “A Doll’s House” (1879), “Ghosts” (1881), etc.
LITERATURE: 1. Zingerman K, I. Essays on the history of drama of the 20th century. Chekhov, Strindberg, Ibsen, Maeterlinck, Pirandello, Brecht, Hauptmann, Lorca, Anuj. - M., 1979.
* This work is not a scientific work, is not a final qualification work and is the result of processing, structuring and formatting the collected information intended for use as a source of material for independent preparation of educational works.
Literature abstract on the topic:
Heinrich Ibsen
Student of class 10-B
Secondary school No. 19
Kiseleva Dmitry
Sevastopol
Ibsen's work links centuries - in the literal sense of the word. By her
origins - in the ending, pre-revolutionary XVIII century, in Schiller
tyranny and in the Rousseauian appeal to nature and to ordinary people. A
dramaturgy of mature and late Ibsen, with all his deepest connection with
contemporary life, outlines the essential features of 20th century art -
its condensation, experimentalism, multi-layeredness.
For poetry of the 20th century, according to one of the foreign researchers,
In particular, the motif of the saw is very characteristic - with its grinding, with its sharp teeth. In his unfinished memoirs, Ibsen, describing his childhood, emphasizes the impression made on him by the continuous screeching of sawmills, hundreds of which worked from morning to evening in his hometown of Skien. “Reading later about the guillotine,” writes Ibsen, “I always remembered these sawmills.” And this heightened sense of dissonance that
demonstrated by Ibsen the child, was subsequently reflected in what he saw and
captured in his work screaming dissonances where others saw
integrity and harmony.
At the same time, Ibsen’s depiction of disharmony is by no means disharmonious.
The world does not fall apart in his works into separate, unrelated fragments
The form of Ibsen's drama is strict, clear, collected. Dissonance of the world
is revealed here in plays that are uniform in their structure and color. Bad
the organization of life is expressed in perfectly organized works.
Ibsen showed himself to be a master of organizing complex material already in
youth. Oddly enough, in his homeland Ibsen was originally
recognized as the first among all Norwegian writers not as a playwright, but in
holidays, prologues to plays, etc. Young Ibsen knew how to combine in such
poems have a clear development of thought with genuine emotionality,
using chains of images, largely cliched for that time, but in
sufficiently updated in the context of the poem.
Bearing in mind G. Brandes' call to Scandinavian writers to "bet on
discussion of the problem" Ibsen at the end of the 19th century was often called the director
problems. But the roots of “problematic” art in Ibsen’s work are very
deep! The movement of thought has always been extremely important for building it
works, organically growing in his plays from the development of the inner world
characters. And this feature also anticipated important trends in the world
dramaturgy of the 20th century.
his father, a wealthy businessman, went bankrupt when Henrik was eight years old, and
the boy had to start very early, before he was sixteen years old.
independent life. He becomes an apothecary apprentice in Grimstad -
town, even smaller than Skien, and spends there over six years, living in
very difficult conditions. Already at this time, Ibsen's
critical, protesting attitude towards modern society, especially
aggravated in 1848, under the influence of revolutionary events in Europe. IN
Grimstad Ibsen writes his first poems and his first play "Catiline"
On April twenty-eighth, 1850, Ibsen moved to the capital of the country
Christiania, where he prepares for university entrance exams and
takes an active part in socio-political and literary life.
He writes many poems and articles, in particular journalistic ones. IN
parody, grotesque play "Norma, or Love of Politics" (1851) Ibsen
exposes the half-heartedness and cowardice of the then Norwegian opposition
parties in parliament - liberals and leaders of the peasant movement. He
draws closer to the labor movement, which was then rapidly developing in Norway "under
led by Marcus Trane, but soon suppressed by police measures. 26
September 1850, the premiere of the first play took place at the Christiania Theater
Ibsen, who saw the light of the stage, - “The Bogatyr Kurgan”.
Ibsen's name is gradually becoming famous in literary and theatrical
circles. In the autumn of 1851, Ibsen became a full-time playwright again.
established theater in the rich trading city of Bergen - the first theater
who sought to develop national Norwegian art. Ibsen in Bergen
remains until 1857, after which he returns to Christiania, to his post
leader and director of the National
Norwegian theater. But Ibsen’s financial situation at this time remains
quite bad. It becomes especially painful at the turn of the 60s,
when things start to go from bad to worse for the Christian Norwegian Theater.
Only with the greatest difficulty, thanks to the selfless help of B. Bjornson,
Ibsen manages to leave Christiania in the spring of 1864 and go to Italy.
During all these years, both in Christiania and in Bergen, Ibsen's work
stands under the sign of Norwegian national romance - a broad movement in
spiritual life of the country, striving after centuries of subjugation to Denmark
to establish the national identity of the Norwegian people, to create a national
Norwegian culture. Appeal to Norwegian folklore is the main
program of national romance, continued and strengthened since the late 40s
years, the patriotic aspirations of Norwegian writers of the previous decades.
For the Norwegian people, who were then in a forced union with
Sweden, national romance was one of the forms of struggle for
independence. It is quite natural that the greatest significance for the national
romance had that social stratum that was the bearer of the national
the identity of Norway and the basis of its political revival is the peasantry,
preserving its basic way of life and its dialects, while
the urban population of Norway has fully embraced Danish culture and Danish
At the same time, in its orientation towards the peasantry, national romance
I often lost my sense of proportion. Peasant lifestyle to the extreme
was idealized, turned into an idyll, and folklore motifs were not interpreted
in its true, sometimes very crude form, and how extremely
sublime, conventionally romantic.
Ibsen felt this duality of national romance. Already in
the first national romantic play from modern life ("Midsummer's Night",
1852) Ibsen ironizes the pompous perception of Norwegian folklore,
characteristic of national romance: the hero of the play discovers that the fairy
Norwegian folklore - Huldra, with whom he was in love, there is a cow
In an effort to avoid false romantic elation and find more
solid, not so illusory support for his creativity, Ibsen turns to
the historical past of Norway, and in the second half of the 50s begins
reproduce the style of the ancient Icelandic saga with its spare and precise manner
presentation. On this path, two of his plays are especially important: built on
material from ancient sagas drama "Warriors in Helgeland" (1857) and
folk historical drama "The Struggle for the Throne" (1803). In a poetic play
"The Comedy of Love" (1862) Ibsen sarcastically ridicules the entire system of the sublime
romantic illusions, considering the world of sober practice more acceptable, not
embellished with ringing phrases. However, here, as in earlier
plays, Ibsen nevertheless outlines a certain “third dimension” - the world of genuine
feelings, deep experiences of the human soul, not yet erased and not
exposed.
Ibsen's disappointment in the late 50s and early 60s
national romance was also connected with his disappointment in the Norwegian
political forces opposing the Conservative government. Ibsen's
distrust in all political activities gradually develops,
skepticism arises, sometimes developing into aestheticism - into the desire
consider real life only as material and a pretext for artistic
effects. However, Ibsen immediately reveals that spiritual emptiness,
which the transition to the position of aestheticism brings with it. Your first expression
this demarcation with individualism and aestheticism is found in a short poem
"On the Heights" (1859), anticipating "Brand".
Ibsen completely dissociates himself from all the problems of his young years
in two philosophical and symbolic dramas of a large scale, in “Brand” (1865)
and in "Peer Gynt" (1867), written already in Italy, where he moved in 1864
year. Outside Norway, in Italy and Germany, Ibsen remains more than
for a quarter of a century, until 1891, visiting his homeland only twice in all these years.
Both "Brand" and "Peer Gynt" are unusual in their form. It's kind of
dramatized poems ("Brand" was originally conceived as a poem,
several songs of which were written). In volume they sharply exceed
regular size of pieces. They combine lively, personalized images with
generalized, emphatically typified characters: for example, in “Brand” only
Some characters are given personal names, while others appear under
names: Vogt, doctor, etc. According to the generality and depth of the problem
"Brand" and "Peer Gynt", for all their appeal to specific phenomena
Norwegian reality, closest to Goethe's Faust and drama
The main problem in "Brand" and "Peer Gynt" is the Fate of Man
personality in modern society. But the central figures of these plays
diametrically opposed. The hero of the first play, priest Brand, is a man
unusual integrity and strength. The hero of the second play, peasant guy Per
Gynt, the embodiment of human spiritual weakness, is true, the embodiment,
brought to gigantic proportions.
Brand does not retreat from any sacrifices, does not agree to any
compromises, does not spare either himself or his loved ones in order to fulfill what he
considers it his mission. With fiery words he castigates half-heartedness, spiritual
the flabbiness of modern people. He brands not only those who he
directly opposes in the play, but also all social institutions
modern society, in particular the state. But although he succeeds
breathe new spirit into your flock, poor peasants and fishermen in the distant
North, in a wild, abandoned land, and lead them with you to the shining mountains
peaks, his end turns out to be tragic. Without seeing a clear goal in your
painful path upward, Brand's followers leave him and are seduced
with the cunning speeches of Vogt - they return to the valley. And Brand himself perishes, buried
mountain avalanche. The integrity of man, bought by cruelty and not knowing
mercy also turns out to be condemned, according to the logic of the play.
The predominant emotional element of "Brand" is pathos, indignation and
anger mixed with sarcasm. In "Peer Gynt", in the presence of several deeply
lyrical scenes, sarcasm prevails.
"Peer Gynt" is Ibsen's final demarcation from the national
romance. Ibsen's rejection of romantic idealization reaches here
its apogee. The peasants appear in Peer Gynt as rude, evil and greedy
people who are merciless towards the misfortune of others. And the fantastic images of the Norwegian
folklore turn out to be ugly, dirty, evil creatures in the play.
True, in Peer Gynt there is not only a Norwegian, but also a global one.
reality. The entire fourth act, of enormous size, is devoted to wanderings
Pera away from Norway. But to the greatest extent the broad, pan-European,
it is not only the Norwegian sound that gives Peer Gynt its
the central problem we have emphasized is the problem of the impersonality of modern
person, exclusively relevant for bourgeois society of the 19th century. Per
Gynt knows how to adapt to any conditions in which he finds himself, he has
there is no inner Core. Per's impersonality is especially noteworthy
because he considers himself a special, unique person, called for
extraordinary achievements, and in every possible way emphasizes his own, Gyntian “I”. But this one
his specialness is manifested only in his speeches and dreams, and in his actions he
always capitulates to circumstances. Throughout his life he always
was guided not by the truly human principle - be yourself, but
The principle of trolls is to revel in yourself.
And yet, perhaps the main thing in the play both for Ibsen himself and for him
Scandinavian contemporaries there was a merciless exposure of everything that
seemed sacred to national romance. Many in Norway and Denmark "Per
Gynt" was perceived as a work that stood beyond the boundaries of poetry, rough and
unfair. Hans Christian Andersen called it the worst ever
books he has read. E. Grieg is extremely reluctant - in fact,
only because of the fee - he agreed to write music for the play and for a number of
I put off fulfilling my promise for years. Moreover, in its wonderful
suite, which largely determined the world success of the play, he extremely strengthened
romantic sound of "Peer Gynt". As for the play itself, then
it is extremely important that genuine, highest lyricism is present in it
only in those scenes in which there is no conditional
national-romantic tinsel and the decisive factor turns out to be purely human
beginning - the deepest experiences of the human soul, correlated with the general
the background of the play as a striking contrast to it. These are primarily scenes
associated with the image of Solveig, and the death scene of Ose, belonging to the most
touching episodes in world drama.
It was these scenes, combined with Grieg's music, that made Peer Gynt
perform throughout the world as the embodiment of Norwegian romance, although the play itself,
as we have already emphasized, was written in order to completely settle scores
with romance, free yourself from it. Ibsen achieved this goal. After "Pera"
Gynt" he completely departs from romantic tendencies.
This is served by his final transition in drama from verse to prose.
Living far from his homeland, Ibsen closely follows the evolution of Norwegian
reality, which was rapidly developing in these years in economic,
politically and culturally, and touches on many in his plays
pressing issues of Norwegian life. The first step in this direction was
sharp comedy "Youth Union" (1869), which, however, in its
artistic structure largely reproduces traditional schemes
comedy of intrigue. Authentic Ibsenian drama with contemporary themes
life, which has a special, innovative poetics, was created only in the late 70s
But before that, in the period of time between the Youth Union and the Pillars
society" (1877), Ibsen's attention is drawn to broad world problems and
general patterns of historical development of mankind. This was caused
the whole atmosphere of the 60s, rich in great historical events,
which culminated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 and
Parisian commune. It began to seem to Ibsen that a decisive
historical turning point, that the existing society is doomed to destruction and will
replaced by some new, freer forms of historical
existence. This feeling of an impending catastrophe, terrible and together with
so desirable, received its expression in some poems (especially in
poem "To My Friend, the Revolutionary Orator"), as well as in an extensive
"world historical drama" "Caesar and the Galilean" (1873). In this duology
depicts the fate of Julian the Apostate, a Roman emperor who renounced
Christianity and tried to return to the ancient gods of the ancient world.
The main idea of the drama: the impossibility of returning to stages already passed
historical development of mankind and at the same time the need
synthesizing past and present in some higher
social structure. In terms of the play, synthesis is necessary
the ancient kingdom of the flesh and the Christian kingdom of the spirit.
But Ibsen's aspirations did not come true. Instead of the collapse of bourgeois society
a long period of relatively peaceful development and external
prosperity. And Ibsen moves away from the general problems of the philosophy of history,
returns to the problems of everyday life in his contemporary society.
But, having already learned earlier not to dwell on those external forms, in
which human existence takes place, and not to believe ringing phrases,
embellishing reality, Ibsen is clearly aware that even in the new
historical stage within a prosperous society there are painful,
ugly phenomena, severe internal defects.
Ibsen first formulates this in his address to Brandeis
poem "Letter in Verse" (1875). The modern world is presented here in
in the form of a well-equipped, comfortable ship, passengers and
whose team, despite the appearance of complete well-being, is taken over by
anxiety and fear - it seems to them that a corpse is hidden in the hold of the ship: this
means, according to sailors' beliefs, the inevitability of a shipwreck.
Then the concept of modern reality as a world
characterized by a radical break between appearance and interiority.
essence, becomes decisive for Ibsen’s dramaturgy - both for the problematic
his plays, and for their construction. The basic principle of Ibsen's
dramaturgy turns out to be an analytical composition in which the development
action means the consistent discovery of certain secrets, gradual
disclosure of internal troubles and tragedy hidden behind completely
a prosperous outer shell of the depicted reality.
The forms of analytical composition can be very different. Yes, in
"Enemy of the People" (1882), where cowardice and self-interest are revealed as
conservative and liberal forces of modern society, where very
the role of external, directly played out on stage action is great,
the motive of analysis is introduced in the most literal sense of the word - namely,
chemical analysis. Dr. Stockman sends a sample of water from the
resort spring, the healing properties of which he himself discovered at one time,
and analysis shows that the water contains pathogenic microbes brought from
tannery wastewater. Particularly indicative for Ibsen are such forms of analyticism in which the revelation of the hidden fatal depths of an outwardly happy life is accomplished not only by removing the deceptive appearance in a given period of time, but also by discovering the chronologically distant sources of hidden evil. Starting from the present moment of action, Ibsen restores the background of this moment, gets to the roots of what is happening on stage. It is precisely the clarification of the premises of the ongoing tragedy, the discovery of “plot secrets”, which, however, have by no means only plot significance, forms the basis of intense drama in such very different plays by Ibsen, such as, for example, “A Doll’s House” (1879), “Ghosts” "(1881), "Rosmersholm" (1886). Of course, in these plays, action is also important, synchronous with the moment to which the play is timed, as if taking place in front of the audience. And of great importance in them - in terms of creating dramatic tension - is the gradual discovery of the sources of present reality, delving into the past. Ibsen's special power as an artist lies in the organic combination of external and internal action with the integrity of the overall color and the utmost expressiveness of individual details.
Thus, in A Doll's House the elements of analytical structure are extremely strong. They consist in the comprehension of the inner essence of the family life of lawyer Helmer, which at first glance is very happy, but based on lies and selfishness. At the same time, the true character is revealed as
Helmer himself, who turns out to be a selfish and coward, and his wife Nora, who at first appears as a frivolous creature completely satisfied with her lot, but in fact turns out to be a strong person, capable of sacrifice and willing to think independently. Towards the analytical structure of the play
This also includes the widespread use of backstory and the revelation of plot secrets as an important driving force in the unfolding of the action. It gradually becomes clear that Nora, in order to obtain a loan from the moneylender Krogstad for the money needed for her husband’s treatment, forged her father’s signature. At the same time, the external action of the play turns out to be very intense and intense: the growing threat of Nora’s exposure, Nora’s attempt to delay the moment when Helmer reads Krogstad’s letter lying in the mailbox, etc.
And in "Ghosts", against the backdrop of incessant rain, it happens
gradual clarification of the true essence of the life that befell
Mrs. Alvivg, the widow of a wealthy chamberlain, and it is also discovered that her son
is ill, and the true causes of his illness are revealed. More and more clearly
the appearance of the late chamberlain emerges, a depraved, drunken man,
whose sins - both during his life and after his death - Mrs. Alving tried
hide to avoid scandal and so that Oswald would not know what his father was like.
The growing feeling of imminent disaster culminates in a fire
orphanage, just built by Fru Alving to perpetuate the memory of
the virtues of her husband that never existed, and in an incurable disease
Oswald. Thus, here too the external and internal development of the plot
interact organically, uniting also with exceptionally seasoned
general color.
Of particular importance for Ibsen’s dramaturgy at this time was the internal
character development. Even in the "Youth Union" peace and the structure of thought of those acting
The faces, in fact, did not change throughout the entire play. Between
themes in Ibsen's dramas, starting with "The Pillars of Society", the spiritual structure of the main
characters usually become different under the influence of events taking place on
stage, and in the results of "looking into the past." And this shift in them
the inner world often turns out to be almost the main thing in the entire plot
development. The evolution of Consul Bernik from a tough businessman to a man
one who has realized his sins and decided to repent, constitutes the most important
the result of "Pillars of Society" Nora's final disappointment in her family
life, its awareness of the need to begin a new existence in order to become
a full-fledged person - this is what the development of action in "Puppetry" leads to
home." And it is precisely this process of Nora’s internal growth that determines the plot
The denouement of the play is Nora's departure from her husband. In "Enemy of the People" the most important role is played by
the path that Dr. Stockman's thought takes - from one
paradoxical opening to another, even more paradoxical, but even more
general in a social sense. The situation is somewhat more complicated in "Ghosts".
Fru Alving's internal liberation from all the dogmas of conventional bourgeois morality
happened before the start of the play, but as the play progresses, Mrs. Alving comes to
understanding the tragic mistake she made by refusing
restructuring your life in accordance with your new beliefs and
cowardly hiding her husband's gravy face from everyone.
The decisive importance of changes in the spiritual life of heroes for development
action explains why in Ibsen's plays of the late 70s and later such
a large place (especially in the endings) is given to dialogues and monologues,
full of generalized reasoning. It is in connection with this feature of his plays
Ibsen was repeatedly accused of excessive abstraction, of inappropriate
theorizing, in too direct identification of the author's ideas. However, such
verbal realizations of the ideological content of the play are always inextricably linked
Ibsen with its plot structure, with the logic of development depicted in the play
reality. It is also extremely important that those characters in whose mouth
The corresponding generalized reasoning is inserted, leading to these
reasoning throughout the course of action. The experiences that befell them force
them to think about very general questions and make them able to formulate and
express your opinion on these issues. Of course, the Nora we see in
the first act and which seems to us frivolous and cheerful
"squirrel", could hardly formulate those thoughts that were so clearly
are set out by her in the fifth act, during an explanation with Helmer. But it's all about
that in the course of the action, first of all, it became clear that Nora was already in the first act
in fact, she was different - she suffered a lot and was capable of taking serious
decisions by a woman. And then the events themselves depicted in the play opened my eyes
Burrows in many aspects of her life have made her wiser.
In addition, it is by no means possible to equate the views
Ibsen's characters and the views of the playwright himself. To some extent this
even concerns Dr. Stockman, a character who in many ways is the most
extremely pointed, super-paradoxical form.
So, the huge role of the conscious, intellectual principle in
the construction of the plot and the behavior of the characters in Ibsen’s drama is by no means
reduces its overall adequacy to the world that in this dramaturgy
displayed Ibsen's hero is not a "mouthpiece of an idea", but a man who has everything
dimensions inherent in human nature, including intelligence and
desire for activity. In this way it differs decisively from typical
characters of the naturalistic and
neo-romantic literature, in which the intellect controls
human behavior has been turned off - partially or even completely. Is not
means that Ibsen's heroes are completely alien to intuitive actions. They
never turn into schemes at all. But their inner world is not intuition
is exhausted, and they are able to act, and not just endure the blows of fate.
The presence of such heroes is explained largely by the fact that
Norwegian reality due to the peculiarities of historical development
Norway was rich in such people. As Friedrich Engels wrote in 1890
in a letter to P. Ernst, “the Norwegian peasant _was never a serf_, and
this gives the whole development - just as in Castile - completely
different background. The Norwegian petty bourgeois is the son of a free peasant, and
as a result of this he is a _real man_ compared to the degenerate one
a German tradesman. And the Norwegian bourgeoisie is as different as the sky from
land, from the wife of a German tradesman. And whatever, for example,
shortcomings of Ibsen's dramas, although these dramas reflect the world of small and medium
bourgeoisie, but a world completely different from the German one - a world in which people
still have character and initiative and act independently, although
sometimes, according to the concepts of foreigners, it is quite strange" (K. Marx and F. Engels,
Works, vol. 37, pp. 352-353.).
Ibsen found prototypes of his heroes, active and intellectual,
however, not only in Norway. Already from the mid-60s, Ibsen generally
comprehended his directly Norwegian problems and in a broader
plan, as an integral moment in the development of global reality. IN
in particular, Ibsen's desire in the drama of the 70s and 80s to address
to characters active and capable of decisive protest was supported
also by the presence in the world of that time of people who fought for the implementation
their ideals, without stopping at any sacrifice. Particularly important in
In this regard, for Ibsen there was an example of the Russian revolutionary movement,
which the Norwegian playwright admired. So, in one of his conversations with G.
Brandeis, which probably took place in 1874. Ibsen, using his
favorite method - the method of paradox, extolled "wonderful oppression",
reigning in Russia, because this oppression gives rise to "beautiful
love of freedom." And he formulated: "Russia is one of the few countries on earth
where people still love freedom and make sacrifices to it... That’s why the country stands
so high in poetry and art."
By affirming the role of consciousness in the behavior of his heroes, Ibsen builds the action
of their plays as an inevitable process, naturally conditioned by certain
prerequisites. Therefore, he resolutely rejects any plot
stretches, any direct interference of chance in the final
determining the fate of their heroes. The denouement of the play should come as
the necessary result of a collision of opposing forces. flowing from them
genuine, deep character. The plot development must be significant,
that is, based on real, typical features of the depicted
reality. But this is not achieved by schematizing the plot. Against,
Ibsen's plays have genuine vitality. It is woven into them
many different motives, specific and original, directly
not at all generated by the main problematics of the play. But these side motives
do not break up or replace the logic of development of the central conflict, but
only highlight this conflict, sometimes even contribute to its
spoke out with particular force. So in "A Doll's House" there is a scene that could
would become the basis for a “happy ending” to the conflict depicted in the play.
When Krogstad finds out that Mrs. Linne, Nora's friend, loves him and is ready -
despite his dark past - to marry him, he invites her to take
back his fatal letter to Helmer. But Mrs. Linne doesn’t want this. She
says: “No, Krogstad, don’t demand your letter back... Let Helmer
He'll find out everything. Let this unfortunate secret come to light. Let them
Finally, they will explain themselves frankly to each other. It's impossible for that to happen
continued - these eternal secrets, subterfuges." So, the action does not collapse into
side under the influence of chance, but is directed towards its true denouement, in
which reveals the true nature of the relationship between Nora and her husband.
Both the poetics and problematics of Ibsen’s plays from the late 70s to
the end of the 90s did not remain unchanged. Those common features of Ibsen's
dramaturgy, which was discussed in the previous section, to the maximum extent
characteristic of it in the period between “Pillars of Society” and “Enemy of the People”,
when Ibsen's works were most saturated with social
problematic.
Meanwhile, starting from the mid-80s, Ibsen's
creativity brings to light the complex inner world of man: things that have long worried
Ibsen problems of the integrity of the human personality, the possibility of implementation
a person of his calling, etc. Even if the immediate topic
plays, as, for example, in "Rosmersholm" (1886), are political in nature,
associated with the struggle between Norwegian conservatives and freethinkers, its
the real problematic is still the clash between the egoistic and
humanistic principles in the human soul, no longer subject to norms
religious morality. The main conflict of the play is the conflict between the weak and
distant Johannes Rosmer, a former pastor who abandoned his
former religious beliefs, and Rebecca West living in his house,
illegitimate daughter of a poor and ignorant woman who had experienced poverty
and humiliation. Rebecca is a bearer of predatory morality, believing that she
has the right to achieve his goal at any cost, - he loves Rosmer and with the help
Using ruthless and cunning techniques, he ensures that Rosmer's wife cums
life by suicide. However, Rosmer, who does not accept any lies, strives for
education of free and noble people and wishing to act only
by noble means, despite all its weakness, it turns out to be Stronger
Rebecca, although he also loves her. He refuses to accept the happiness he bought
the death of another person - and Rebecca submits to him. They end their lives
suicide by throwing himself into a waterfall, as did Beate, Rosmer's wife.
But Ibsen’s transition to new problems took place even before
"Rosmersholm" - in "The Wild Duck" (1884). In this play they rise again
questions to which “Brand” was once devoted. But Brandov's
the demand for absolute uncompromisingness loses its heroism here,
appears even in an absurd, comic guise. Preaching Brandovskaya
morality Gregers Werle brings only grief and death to the family of his old
friend, photographer Hjalmar Ekdal, whom he wants to morally raise and save
from lies. Brand's intolerance towards people who do not dare to step out of their boundaries
everyday life, is replaced in "Wild Duck" by a call to approach everyone
to a person, taking into account his strengths and capabilities. Gregers Werle is confronted by the doctor
Relling, who treats “poor patients” (and, according to him, almost everyone is sick)
with the help of "everyday lies", that is, such self-deception that makes
making their ugly life meaningful and significant.
At the same time, the concept of “everyday lies” is by no means affirmed in “Wild
duck" in its entirety. First of all, in the play there are characters who
"everyday lies" are free. This is not only the pure girl Hedwig, full of love,
ready for self-sacrifice - and really sacrificing herself. This and these
people of practical life, devoid of any sentimentality, like experienced and
the ruthless businessman Werle, Gregers' father, and his housekeeper, Fru Serbu. And although
old Werle and Mrs. Serby are extremely selfish and selfish, they still stand,
but the logic of the play - refusing all illusions and calling things your own
names - incomparably higher than those who indulge in “everyday lies.” They succeed
even to carry out that very “true marriage” based on truth and
sincerity, to which Gregers vainly urged Hjalmar Ekdal and his wife
Gina. And then - and this is especially important - the concept of "everyday lies"
is refuted in all of Ibsen's subsequent dramaturgy - and above all in
"Rosmersholm", where Rosmer's steady pursuit of truth triumphs, his
rejection of all self-delusion and lies.
The central problem of Ibsen's dramaturgy since Rosmersholm is
the problem of the dangers that lurk in man's desire for complete
fulfilling your calling. Such a desire, in itself, is not only
natural, but for Ibsen even obligatory, sometimes turns out to be achievable
only at the expense of the happiness and lives of other people - and then a tragic
conflict. This problem, first posed by Ibsen already in “Warriors in
Helgeland", with the greatest force deployed in "The Builder Solnes" (1892) and
in "June Gabriel Borkman" (1896). The heroes of both of these plays decide to bring
sacrifice to fulfill their calling the fate of other people and endure
crash.
Solnes, successful in all his endeavors, managed to achieve a wide
fame, despite the fact that he did not receive a real architect's
formation, does not die from a collision with external forces. The arrival of the young
Hilda, encouraging him to become as brave as he once was,
is only a reason for his death. The real reason for his death lies in his
duality and weakness. On the one hand, he acts as a person ready
sacrifice other people's happiness to himself: he
does, in his own opinion, at the expense of the happiness and health of his wife, and
in his office he mercilessly exploits the old architect Bruvik and
his talented son, whom he does not give the opportunity to independently
work, because he is afraid that he will soon surpass him. On the other hand, he
constantly feels the injustice of his actions and blames himself even for
something for which he, in fact, cannot be guilty at all. He's always
anxiously awaits retribution, retribution, and retribution actually overtakes him,
but not in the guise of forces hostile to him, but in the guise of one who loves him and believes in him
Hilda. Inspired by her, he climbs the high tower he built
building - and falls, overcome by dizziness.
But the absence of internal duality does not bring success to a person,
trying to fulfill his calling without regard for other people.
Banker and big businessman Borkman, who dreams of becoming Napoleon in
economic life of the country and conquering more and more forces of nature is alien
any weakness. External forces deal a crushing blow to him. to his enemies
manages to expose him for abusing other people's money. But even after
long prison sentence, he remains internally unbroken and
dreams of returning to his favorite activity again. At the same time, genuine
The reason for his downfall, revealed as the play progresses, lies deeper.
While still a young man, he left the woman he loved and who loved
him, and married her rich sister in order to obtain funds without which he
I couldn't get started with my speculations. And precisely that he betrayed his
true love, killed the living soul in the woman who loves him, leads, logically,
plays, Borkman to disaster.
Both Solnes and Borkman - each in their own way - are people of large format. And with this
they attract Ibsen, who has long sought to establish a full-fledged,
unerased human personality. But to realize their calling they are fatal
Thus, they can only lose their sense of responsibility to other people.
This is the essence of the basic conflict that Ibsen saw in modern
him society and which, being very relevant for that era, anticipated
also - albeit indirectly and in an extremely weakened form - a terrible
the reality of the 20th century, when the forces of reaction to achieve their goals
millions of innocent people were sacrificed. If Nietzsche, also without imagining
itself, of course, the real practice of the 20th century, in principle it asserted something similar
the right of the “strong”, then Ibsen in principle denied this right, no matter in what forms
it didn't show up.
Unlike Solnes and Borkman, Hedda Gabler, the heroine is somewhat more
Ibsen's early play ("Hedda Gabler", 1890), lacks a true calling. But
she has a strong, independent character and, accustomed to it, like a daughter
general, to a rich, aristocratic life, feels deeply
dissatisfied with the bourgeois environment and the monotonous course of life in the house
her husband, the mediocre scientist Tesman. She seeks to reward herself
heartlessly playing with the fate of other people and trying to achieve, at least at the cost
the greatest cruelty, so that at least something bright and significant happens. A
when she fails in this too, then it begins to seem to her that behind her “it’s like this everywhere.”
and the funny and vulgar follow on the heels,” and she commits suicide.
True, Ibsen makes it possible to explain the capricious and reaching the full
cynicism in Gedda’s behavior is not only due to the characteristics of her character and her history
life, but for physiological reasons - namely, the fact that she is pregnant.
A person’s responsibility to other people is interpreted - with those or
other variations - and in other late plays of Ibsen ("Little Eyolf",
1894, and "When We Dead Awaken, 1898).
Beginning with The Wild Duck, Ibsen's plays become even more
versatility and capacity of images. Less and less lively - in the outer sense
this word becomes a dialogue. Especially in Ibsen's later plays, everything
pauses between lines become longer, and characters increasingly fail
They answer each other as much as they each talk about their own things. Analyticism
the composition is preserved, but for the development of the actions are now not so important
characters' previous actions gradually becoming clear, how many there are gradually
old feelings and thoughts being revealed. In Ibsen's plays, the
symbolism, and it sometimes becomes very complex and creates perspective,
leading into some vague, wavering distance. Sometimes they perform here
strange, fantastic creatures, strange, difficult to explain happenings
events (especially in "Little Eyolf"). Often about the late Ibsen in general
spoken of as a symbolist or neo-romanticist.
But new stylistic features of Ibsen's later plays are organically included in
the general artistic system of his dramaturgy of the 70-80s. All their symbolism
and all that vague haze with which they are surrounded is the most important
an integral part of their overall color and emotional structure, gives them
special semantic capacity. In some cases, bearers of Ibsenian symbolism
are any tactile, extremely concrete objects or
phenomena that are connected by many threads not only with a general plan, but also
with the plot structure of the play. Particularly indicative in this regard are those living on
in the attic of Ekdahl's house there is a wild duck with a wounded wing: she embodies fate
a person whom life has deprived of the opportunity to strive upward, and together with
themes plays an important role in the entire development of action in the play, which with deep
meaning and is called "Wild Duck".
In 1898, eight years before Ibsen's death, a solemn ceremony was held
seventieth birthday of the great Norwegian playwright. His name at this time was
all over the world one of the most famous literary names, his plays were staged in
theaters in many countries.
In Russia, Ibsen was one of the “masters of thought” of progressive youth
starting in the 90s, but especially in the early 1900s. Many productions
Ibsen's plays left a significant mark on the history of Russian theater
art. A major social event was the Moscow Art Theater play "The Enemy"
"A Doll's House" at the V. F. Komissarzhevskaya Theater in Passage - with V. F.
Komissarzhevskaya as Nora. Ibsen's motifs - in particular, motifs from
“Peer Gynt” sounded clearly in the poetry of A. A. Blok. "Solveig, you
came skiing to me..." - this is how one of Blok's poems begins.
And as an epigraph to his poem “Retribution,” Blok took words from Ibsen’s
"Builder of Solnes": "Youth is retribution."
And in subsequent decades, Ibsen's plays often appear in
repertoire of various theaters around the world. But still, Ibsen’s work, starting
has become less popular since the 20s. However, the tradition of Ibsen
dramaturgy is very strong in world literature of the 20th century. At the end of the past and
at the very beginning of our century, playwrights from different countries could
hear echoes of such features of Ibsen’s art as relevance
problems, tension and “subtext” of the dialogue, introduction of symbolism,
organically woven into the specific fabric of the play. Here it is necessary to name first
only B. Shaw and G. Hauptmann, but to some extent also A.P. Chekhov, despite
Chekhov's rejection of the general principles of Ibsen's poetics. And starting from the 30s
years of the 20th century, Ibsen's principle of analytical
construction of the play. Discovery of backstory, sinister secrets of the past, without
disclosures of which, incomprehensibly present, become one of the favorite
techniques of both theatrical and film dramaturgy, reaching its apogee in
works depicting - in one form or another - judicial
trial. Ibsen's influence - although most often not direct -
intersects here with the influence of ancient drama.
The tendency of Ibsen's dramaturgy to
maximum concentration of action and to reduce the number of characters, and also
to maximum multi-layered dialogue. And Ibsen’s poem comes to life with renewed vigor
poetics aimed at revealing the glaring discrepancy between the beautiful
appearance and internal troubles of the depicted reality.
Ibsen's works.
general characteristics Ibsen's works.
1. His plays are interesting to read: dynamic plot, intellectual richness, acute presentation of real serious problems.
2. Ibsen had a largely non-classical worldview, he is a rebel in spirit, his favorite heroes are loners, rebels, always going against the majority, striving for independence, freedom from the opinions of other people. Often they strive for mountains, for heights, not towards people, but from people (which, by the way, is not typical for Russian literature).
3. One of the most important problems posed in Ibsen’s work is the problem of the contradiction between morality and philanthropy. In fact, this is one of the most important contradictions of Christianity, as well as, in general, of the morality that was characteristic of European society in the 19th century, and even now.
Periods of Ibsen's work. 1) 1849-1874 - romantic. The most significant two plays of this period are “Brand” (1865) and “Peer Gynt” (1867), written in verse, huge, both 250 pages, in them Ibsen cares little about verisimilitude, and “Peer Gynt” is generally a fairy tale and at the same time a parody of a fairy tale.
Second period of creativity: 1875-1885 - realistic. At this time, Ibsen wrote plays that marked the beginning of a new drama, this is the name given to the updated dramaturgy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which became more intellectual, lyrical and less plot-driven. Main representatives: Ibsen, Chekhov, Shaw, Maeterlinck. The main feature of Ibsen's new drama is intellectuality; at the center of his plays there is always an intense intellectual, ideological dispute, a struggle not only of the characters themselves, but also of worldviews. IN realistic plays Ibsen analytical composition. In the course of each play, a certain secret, or more often several secrets, hidden truths are discovered, which sharply turn the original situation around, which contributes to the tension of the plot. Main conflict in these plays by Ibsen between a prosperous appearance and a rotten, deceitful, deeply dysfunctional essence modern life. Revealing the secret leads to a rethinking, revision, and analysis by the hero or heroine of his entire previous life. That is why the composition of these plays is called analytical.
“A Doll’s House” (1879) one of Ibsen’s most popular and interesting plays. In it, for the first time in world literature, a woman stated that in addition to her duties as a mother and wife, “she has other, equally sacred responsibilities” - “duties to herself.” main character Nora stated: “I can no longer be satisfied with what the majority says and what the books say. I need to think about these things myself.” She wants to reconsider everything - both religion and morality. Nora actually asserts the right of an individual to create his own moral rules and ideas about life, different from the generally accepted and traditional ones. That is, Ibsen again asserts the relativity of moral norms.
"Ghosts" (1881) also one of best plays Ibsen. Some secrets are constantly being revealed in it, the characters are constantly discovering something new for themselves, hence the tension. The most important thing in the play is the exposure of traditional Christian morality, which requires a person, first of all, to fulfill his duty. Fru Alving calls ghosts outdated ideas, ideas that no longer correspond to living life, but still govern it out of habit, according to tradition. First of all, this is Christian morality, the bearer of which is the highly moral and demanding Pastor Manders, a little like Brand. It was to him that the young Mrs. Alving once came running, after a year of marriage she learned with horror about the vices of her husband, to whom she was married without her desire. She loved the pastor, and he loved her, she wanted to live with him, but he sternly sent her to her legal husband with the words “your duty is to humbly bear the cross placed on you by the highest will.” The pastor considers that act his greatest victory over himself, over the sinful desire for his own happiness. Thus, this play most clearly reflects the confrontation between morality and humanity, where the author is already completely on the side of humanity.
Third period: 1886-1899. A period with a touch of decadence and symbolism. The plays of this period retain the signs of a new drama, but something strange is added, sometimes painfully perverted, sometimes almost mystical, sometimes the heroes are mentally abnormal, often immoral people, but described without condemnation. These are “Rosmersholm” (1886), “The Woman from the Sea” (1888), “Little Eyolf” (1894), “When We Dead Awaken” (1899). They are intended to be interesting, smart, deep, but there is too much talk in them, few bright events, and there is no true Ibsenian tension in them.
The ideological summary of Ibsen's work as a whole. Ibsen's plays clearly showed (and Brand most clearly) the inevitable inconsistency of the moral system of the classical worldview. Absolutely consistent adherence to traditional moral commandments sooner or later turns against a particular person and destroys his happiness. Morality can be inhuman. One moral norm contradicts another. This proves at least that there are no absolute, eternal moral values and there are no ideals, everything is relative, including religious commandments, and in real life one cannot do without compromises and deviations from these commandments.
Moreover, Ibsen in some of his later plays comes to the conclusion that a person has the right to overcome traditional morality, because the most important thing in a person’s life is to be happy, and not to fulfill a duty, not to fulfill a calling, not to serve some high idea.