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Jan 2004 A Christmas gift from my loving, book-addict Mother.
But, this was not the shocking part at all.
It came after, when the crisis is past, and they are about to return to a stable, joyful life; They are offered their "Happily ever after." -And I'm ready for the story to conclude. But, the wife sits down, and insists on a serious talk with her husband. And she's realized a great many things about herself, from going through the ordeal of terror and deceit. Then, (written in the late 1800s,) She tells him that she's leaving, indefinitely. Possibly for ever. She's got no concept of her self, or who she really is, or what she really wants. So she's leaving, until she finds out. And she doesn't feel any reason to believe that the person she eventually finds that she is, is one who's likely to love this husband she's had. Or this life she's had, (they'd been married for eight years.)
We can now recognise it as a necessity, albeit often a tragic necessity, for a woman to leave her husband, her home, her life, and her children. But if she's entirely unhappy, and has no joy in her life at all, then it has to be wrong with her. But for this to be so openly stated, so many years ago, must have caused a great disturbance. The disturbance didn't stop with that though.
She also told about how she'd Never been given a chance to... be a human being. She'd been her Father's pretty doll when she was young, -and had no true personality for her self. And at her marriage, she became the doll of her husband. The husband tells her that things can change, and entreats her to do her Duty; Not for his own sake but for the children. He insists that she stay and do her duty for them.
I found it very... true, and disturbing, that she replied that there was an other duty, which he was forgetting to think about: Her duty to her Self, as a human being. I was shocked, when it was so revealed to me, in full clearness, that no one ever really thought of her in terms of a human being. She was simply There. And ever so nice, and lovely, and pleasant. But then they just expected her to remain just and nice and pleasant. For ever. -And not to be a Person at all. (And I see, or imagine I see, such de-personification going on still today; When people think they understand a subject, and what he likes, and what he is like, and stop feeling that he could have anything else to him.)
Then, the husband begs her to think of God, before whom she's promised to remain his wife. He entreats her to do her duty in the eyes of Religion. And she shrugs that off as well, saying that Religion is one of the other things that she has to think over, and find for Her Self.
What she does at the end, is to take most of the foundations of society, (the society of that time,) and say that she needs to think them through for her self, by her self. She's found that she can't just take other people's statements about How to live life, (Particularly the Male statements about that; It was a male dominated world that she was living in, so it was all men, who told her how, and what a woman ought to be.) She directly questions the family values, the moral standards, the religious values, and the laws of society.
And the way that she does all this, is with calm, quiet certainty, which we, the readers... empathize with. That is the strong point of the play: that she's not seeming to be wild and reactionary, when she questions all these things, but calm and logical, if saddened and serious about it.
Jan 2006 A Christmas gift from my loving, book-addict Mother.
This is another play which throws a sickly light on our society, (Well, more the society of Northern Europe, 110 years ago, but there are still some of it's observations which are quite relevant today.) It shows that we are all just human, and flawed as humans are. And then it goes on to show how decrepit human honour can be, and how base the characters can become. It's not only the bad side; This was about a woman who's life was one long battle, to become better, and make everything as good as possible for her son. But she has her weaknesses and faults. Just as the son has his. And just and the priest has his own faults and shortcomings. They all have their good intentions, -and they all have their flaws. And in the end, they all have their own degree of tragedy.
The thing that I greatly appreciated about it, was that they WERE all so human. It was wonderful, if sad, that none of them were purely great, nor purely base. It was certainly well told.
Feb 2006 A Christmas gift from my loving, book-addict Mother.
This play is not a social criticism, but it still is a bit disturbing. Instead of showing the disturbing, petty, belittled side of society in general, it shows that side of one single character. She is Hedda Gabler. She is a child of good family, of wealth, of prestige, and of beauty. But the unfeeling maliciousness which developed through such an upbringing contrasts strongly with the... exterior charm.
She's grown up... in a similar way as the heroine in a Doll's House, in the way that it seems she's never had any power over herself or her surroundings. (Of course she Did have power over these things, but she couldn't see it. She didn't feel it. She Felt as though she was in a world where nothing Really happens, and where no one has a personality thicker than a piece of paper.) I see her situation being that she was revolting against the... dullness of her life. Everything was fine. Everything was charming. Just as everything in her life had always, always been. And then she'd just gotten married, and had started on the rest of her life... which looked to be the same shallow smiles, the same men being charmed by her beauty, and the same lack of excitement or deep sentiment, (Or any True sentiment at all,) that she'd known all her life.
And so she seeks to find something Real. She wants something Actual to happen. And this becomes a terrible, destructive, horrible tragedy. And in the end, not even that turns out to be as Real, and as ... fulling the Potential of life to the highest extent, -as Hedda Gabler meant it to.
This tale was... certainly no less disturbing than the other two. I can't say if it's worse though. I think it's just different; I had a stronger feeling of revolt for Hedda's personality than I'd had for all the problems brought to light in the other plays. But Hedda seems to be a special, rare, if not Unique case, (whereas the other problems presented could be expected to be found in a great many people, if not in the majority of the Earth's population.)
Now, of course, by "can't say if it's Worse," I don't mean that the play is Bad. It's very well written, and intellectually engaging. I just mean that it doesn't leave on with any warm, happy feelings at all.
Feb 2006 A Christmas gift from my loving, book-addict Mother.
Again like the last play, (Hedda Gabler,) this one is less a direct comment on our world, as it is a display of a couple of the twisted, pathos filled people in it. It also explores an (unhealthy,) relationship. (Between the Master builder and his wife.) It's a bit dark, and depressing, and not at all cheery. But it's also well written, and realistic.
Ibsen has a great skill at bringing his characters to Life. They are not flat words between pages, but characters that catch one's attention, and leave you thinking about ... the people's thoughts, dreams, ideas, and neuroses. What else could there be to say about this one play though? I personally didn't identify with any one character. Generally, the central character was petty, afraid, and somewhat mean, (in both senses of that word.) There was one point where I couldn't help having empathy for him though; In his fear of growing old and being replaced. He's simply afraid of the day that he feels coming; When the next generation will overtake him, and become much better and more popular than him, (Just as he once passed in skill and prestige his old contemporaries.) I think that this is a frequent feeling through out the world, which will enter into every person's life eventually. Because of that, I had a kinder look on the old Master Builder at that point. The feeling was short lived though, because the character's reaction to this fear is to be merciless, and terribly constrictive to the younger generation, to keep them from overtaking him for as long as possible.
In all, (Now that I've read the whole book,) I'd have to say that it was A Doll's House which most impressed me.