Henrik Ibsen:

Exploring the dark recesses of human psyche

by W.T.J.S. Kaviratne Ambalangoda Spl. Cor.

Henrik Johan Ibsen was born in Skien, Telemark county, Norway on March 20, 1828.

His father Knud Ibsen was a timber merchant and Marichen Cornelia Martie Altenburg was his mother.

Henrik Ibsen was the eldest of five children of the family and his ancestors were rich merchants and sea captains.

Ibsen's family had to face financial constraints when he was seven years old and their family was forced to leave for a farm in Grimstad. Henrik Ibsen was a playwright, a poet and a theatre director.

Ibsen had written 26 plays and a volume of poetry and A Doll's House, Brand, Peer Gynt, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts and The Wild Duck became very popular among Ibsen's plays and considered as the most performed plays after Shakespeare.

The majority of the themes of his plays depict the issues on marriage, debt, society and independence having a closer resemblance to the problems encountered by Ibsen himself and his family.

Father of Realism

Ibsen was also known as the 'Father of Realism' due to his realistic approach in the exposure of the reality of the societal issues of Europe during the Victorian era through the portrayal of numerous characters in his plays.

Ibsen's transition from Romanticism to Realism paved him the opportunity to expose realistically the emotions of the Individuals suppressed by those members of the society who advocated the false values of dignity, statues and traditions.During the era plays were meant only to provide superficial entertainment and not to stage plays exposing social issues of the nature of the themes identified by Ibsen.

For his plays Henrik Ibsen was severely criticised by the literary critics of the Victorian age for his analytical exposure and the scathing criticism of the institution of marriage when in reality the women have become silent sufferers under the whims and fancies of their husbands.

Pessimist

When Ibsen was branded as a pessimist for exposing hypocrisy, deception and immoral behaviour portrayed through the characters of his plays belonged to the so-called higher echelons of society, Ibsen reacted stating that, 'the human nature has dark recesses which must be explored and illuminated, life has pitfalls which must be recognised to be avoided, and society has humbugs, hypocrites and obscure diseases which must be revealed before they can be cured and recognising these facts is not pessimism .

It is the moral obligation laid upon intelligent people.'

'Nora' the protagonist and the heroine of' Doll's House' could be identified as one of the major forerunners of female liberation who voiced her opinions relevant to women's rights vividly and realistically portrayed by Henrik Ibsen.

Referring to the independence of women during the Victorian era Ibsen said' It is an exclusively masculine society with laws written by men and with prosecutors and judges who regard female conduct from masculine point of view.'

Doll's House

Nora's husband Torvald Helmer said Nora had fulfilled her duty as a wife and mother.

Nora : 'You've always been so kind to me.

But our home has been nothing but a play-room.

I've been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa's doll-child.

And the children have been my dolls in their turn.

I liked it when you came and played with me, just as they liked it when I came and played with them.

That's what our marriage has been ,Torvald.'

Nora told her husband Torvald Helmer that she was leaving him alone so that she could find out who she was and what she believed and decide what to do with life.

Nora : 'There's another task that I must finish first-I must try to educate myself. And you are not the man (Torvald Helmer) to help me with that; I must do it alone.

That's why I'm leaving you.' Nora had come to the conclusion that her husband Torvald had been selfish and hypocritical and paid undue attention on his public reputation throughout their eight long years of marriage.

By creating the play A Doll's House Ibsen's motive was to expose how women of the era suffered psychologically and the manner their potential and development was retarded, twisted and ignored as insignificant which Ibsen considers as a consequence of the male domination.

Torvald Helmer could be identified as a representative portraying the patriarchal society of the 19thcentury Europe.

This notion is of universal significance and not confined only to the era of Henrik Ibsen and relevant to all cultures and nations across the world.

Ghosts

Hypocrisy, deception and pretension are some of the devices exploited to hide the true nature of human actions.As a realist Henrik Ibsen resorted to the task of writing plays exposing the impact of these on the individuals and society.

The character of the play Ghosts Helen Alving planned to dedicate an orphanage in the memory of her dead husband Captain Alving and she revealed to her spiritual advisor Pastor Manders that she had hidden the evils of her marriage.She said she wanted to prevent their son Oswald inheriting anything from her husband.

Captain Alving the wife of Helen Alving was a notorious philanderer but she was advised on a previous occasion by Pastor Manders to continue her life with her husband. She followed the advice of Pastor Manders but her husband continued his philandering until his death. As a precautionary measure to prevent her son getting corrupted by his father she sent her son Oswald away but later she found he had already inherited syphilis from his father.

Helen Alving took great pains to hide the immoral behaviour of her husband both to the society and her son and to protect her husband's dignity but finally she felt guilty conscious for not exposing the reality.

But Helen Alving continued to deceive the society by building an orphanage in memory of her husband as a hero even if he was a morally degenerated character.

Henrik Ibsen through his play Ghosts convinced the world that the majority of those who posed as saints are actually immoral and corrupt in their real life and hypocrisy is an inherent trait found in the majority of the individuals in human society.

Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler Tesman is the main character and the heroine of the play Hedda Gabler and Hedda appears to be just the opposite of other female characters of Ibsen's plays.

Ibsen portrayed the female quest for power and to be free from the shackles of husbands and the conventions of society by his play Hedda Gabler.

Hedda was newly married to George Tesman and academic who was more interested in his research on' Domestic Industries of Medieval Brabant' than in his newly married wife.

Even during their honeymoon trip George Tesman never forgot to visit many of the libraries for his Research and was in the habit of keep on talking about the subject which proved to be boring for Hedda.

Just like Nora's husband Thorvald Helmer in Doll's House, George Tesman was of the opinion the role of a husband is just to meet the domestic requirements of his wife so can she be happy in the confines of her home.

Besides, he thought after the marriage a woman automatically becomes part and parcel of the routine of the day to day activities of her household.

George was not intelligent enough to realise the temperament of his wife Hedda.

Hedda was disgusted of her marriage from the very beginning.

Female characters or other plays depicted as victims of patriarchal society.

But in the play Hedda Gabler Ibsen made her to overcome the pressures of society and to seek independence without adjusting to the norms of the society.

During the period when Ibsen was writing the play Hedda Gabler women were divided into two groups as 'Old Women' and 'New Women'. Hedda Gabler belonged to the group of, New Women ' who were struggling to break away from the pressures and limits of the society.

The women belonged to the group of' Old Women' affected for ever from silent suffering and they believe in self sacrifice and consider the duty of women was sexuality and in terms of child-bearing. Finally the play ended with the deaths of both Hedda and her former admirer Lovborg in tragic manner.

League of Youth

League of Youth' is a play of political satire written by Ibsen and its main character Stensgard is a hypocrite and an opportunist and deceptive in his dealings.

During his election campaign in a small provincial town held in Norway using his rhetoric he could gather large crowds.

He established League of Youth movement to attack the forces of Conservatism but finally Stensgard joined Conservatives in order to lead lives lead of luxuries.

It was also revealed that Stensgard had made proposals to three women simultaneously.

In League of Youth Ibsen had further exposed hypocrisy, immoral and deceptive nature of politicians.