Product Description
This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and notes to help the modern reader contend with Ibsen's approach to complex human interactions and the relationship between the sexes. Norwegian-born Henrik Ibsen's classic play about the struggle between independence and security still resonates with readers and audience members today. Often hailed as an early feminist work, the story of Nora and Torvald rises above simple gender issues to ask the bigger question: To what extent have we sacrificed our selves for the sake of social customs and to protect what we think is love? Nora's struggle and ultimate realizations about her life invite all of us to examine our own lives and find the many ways we have made ourselves dolls and playthings in the hands of forces we believe to be beyond our control. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

This is a suspenseful realistic play
The critic H. L. Mencken described Henrik Ibsen's plays as "obvious thoughts in sound plays." There is "nothing mysterious in them; there is not even anything new in them." Ibsen offered reality. He was not interested in presenting "morals, lesson, symbols and that sort of thing." Yet, "he hit upon an action that was all suspense and all emotion." Mencken quotes Ibsen: "What I wanted to do was to depict human beings, human emotions, and human destinies, upon groundwork of certain of the social conditions and principles of the present day." While many people may agree with Mencken, others will say that Ibsen was trying to show what was the proper behavior that people should follow.

This portrayal of reality and what is proper behavior is seen in A Doll's House. It is realistic and, in addition, it is relevant, but the play also addresses what is proper. Ibsen portrays a husband and a wife. The wife is a "doll," beautiful, unsophisticated, childlike, well-meaning, but ignorant of the adult world and affairs. All of her friends see her as a doll. Her husband treats her as one, calling her childish names. He tries to control all of her behavior, not because he is mean, but because he loves her and he realizes that she is unable to do so. He tells her what to eat so that her teeth will not be spoiled from sugar and how much she should spend because she does not understand much about money.

And it is the latter, the money, that gets her into trouble. Her husband was sick some years back and needed to travel and stay in a warmer climate for some months, but the couple had no money. She, out of childish but ignorant love, borrowed money from an unscrupulous man who insisted that she have her father countersign the loan. Her father was dying, so she forged his signature on the loan document. She was certain that this was not wrong because her intentions were pure, she wanted to save her husband's life. She did not tell her husband about the loan because she childishly wanted to surprise him someday in the future and show him that she acted wisely and that she, who he thought of as childlike, saved his life. She laughed about her cleverness often when she was alone.

Now the unscrupulous lender is demanding something from her, or he will reveal the forgery to her husband and his employer, and this will affect her marriage and her husband will lose his job.

All of this probably would not have occured if the people would have treated women properly, as human beings, not dolls.

Stunning Masterpiece
A Doll's House is the play that made Henrik Ibsen world famous; though it got substantial acclaim, much initial attention came from controversy - and some from outrage. However, time has sided with it, proving Ibsen's points and burying naysayers under a pile of narrow-minded hypocrisy; the play remains Ibsen's most popular and one of his most acclaimed, taking its high place in the world literary canon.

Often called the first feminist play, A Doll's is a savage critique of Victorian - I use the term loosely, Ibsen being Norwegian - society's treatment of women. It gives a vivid idea of just how repressed they were in everything from speech to employment; their very thoughts were persecuted as far as possible. We also see what form this took in the domestic sphere; patriarchy is lambasted and exposed as hollow, and male-female relations generally are thoroughly critiqued. The marriage institution is not spared Ibsen's unflinching eye, while motherhood and other related issues are also taken into account. Victorian society had very settled ideas about such issues and did not take kindly to Ibsen's rankling, but the play was a much-needed wake-up call, provoking extensive debate and perhaps being one of the liberalizing forces eventually leading to reform. That such a work was written nearly a century and a half ago by a man is truly incredible. It says much that many of those who decried it most loudly were women; a prominent actress even refused to play the lead without an altered ending. Ibsen was clearly one of those rare artists who truly has a finger on the cultural pulse; he knew just what buttons to push and hit with a sledgehammer.

The play would of course be of only historical interest if it merely dealt with long-vanished injustice, but this is far from so. For one thing, sexism is sadly still very prevalent, even in the Western world, despite great advances. Some of the issues are thus still relevant even in this strict sense, showing just how far ahead of his time Ibsen was. More fundamentally, many core concerns - e.g., how to balance self-respect and ambition with marriage and children - are as old as civilization. The play will continue speaking to us profoundly as long as they remain unsolved, which shows no sign of being anytime soon. The best aspect in this regard is that it is not heavy-handed. Ibsen wrote many of what he called "problem plays" dealing with contemporary social problems without the didacticism that so often plagues such works and is nearly always fatal. He raises important questions but knows better than to give answers; that is for us to do. Like all his major work, A Doll's is highly thought-provoking. We may not agree with Nora, but she certainly makes us rethink long-held and oft-unquestioned assumptions - perhaps rethinking but at least surveying critically -, which may be art's true function and is certainly the highest praise sociopolitically aware art can receive.

But the play would be very enjoyable and laudable even if we noticed none of this, and there may indeed be more immediate reasons for its greatness and continuing relevance. The character of Nora is an undeniably big factor. Sympathetic almost immediately, she engages both heart and mind; we have empathy for her thoughts and feelings because of her undeniable humanity. She has much that is admirable, even noble, but also has undeniable weaknesses; perhaps more than the former, the latter make her seem all the more human and relatable. It is a tribute to Ibsen's artistry that he makes even the most conservative onlookers quickly like her, which makes the powerful conclusion all the more forceful. Other characters of course pale beside her not only in importance but in goodness yet are not without relevance. Much of the ending's power indeed comes from the realization that Torvald is not really bad. He is certainly condescending, self-absorbed, sexist, and narrow-minded, but these are faults of the age; he is no worse than the average Victorian man - perhaps even better in that he truly cares for Nora in his patronizing way. What happens to him could have happened to any Victorian husband - which is exactly the point. Krogstad is also important in this way; we are ostensibly supposed to hate him, but his actions are after all understandable and all too human. We may criticize but should not condemn. All this drives in Ibsen's point that the problems were symptoms of a culture, not a few backward individuals.

The tightly plotted and deftly executed story is another strength. The ending is of course deservedly famous, pulled off perhaps more effectively than any other in drama; it is led up to with truly artistic precision, the timing is impeccable, and the final door slam is the most brilliantly perfect yet subtle use of sound ever written into a play. Also, as George Bernard Shaw noted and others have come to appreciate ever more, the ending skillfully inverts the "well-made play" formula then considered obligatory. Ibsen tricked audiences into thinking the climax was the conclusion, which made the ending all the more stunning; we may miss the irony, but the essential effect is hardly dimmed. However, we must not let the ending blind us to overall quality. The play is highly emotional and supremely engrossing throughout despite having very little of what we now call action - an Ibsen trademark and a key ingredient in his greatness. He was a master of irony, foreshadowing, and other dramatic techniques, using them to full effect here; the satire making up much of the play is also immaculately done.

A Doll's is simply incredible in every aspect, essential for anyone even remotely interested in drama, women's issues, the Victorian era - or great literature itself.

A Dolls House
Classic tale of women's liberation.This book is a fabulous read and short enough for a young teen to grasp the concept.I would recommend this to any student.

Ladies Be Carefull
Ladies, if you're unhappy at home, this book is definately for you.Timeless, controversial, and very telling about the said plight of overly self-sacrificing women.It saddens me every time like the painful struggle of some sick child.
Guys, think you have a good perspective of women?Read this book and find out.A must have for any strongly introspective individual, be it man or woman.Enjoy!

if you like plays
I had to read this play for a class and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The play was very interesting and had a lot that one could think about after reading. With a controversial ending (because of the time this play was written)I would recommend this for anyone to read, even more than once. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Drama / General; Drama / Continental European; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Discussional
A play that is easy to follow and raises some controversial topics especially of its time. The ending was surprisingly much more emotional than I thought it would be.

This is a brilliant, purposely disturbing play
The Norwegian title of this famous and now highly extolled play could be translated "That which returns," suggesting that the consequences of an evil deed is another evil deed. Written in 1881, Ibsen's contemporaries considered it a terrible and offensive morality play that was indecent, scandalous, morbid, and filthy. It spoke of subjects - sex without marriage, adultery, syphilis, suicide, and marriage of siblings - that shouldn't be mentioned publically. One figure in the play is a minister who takes the Christian moral position of the time and makes statements and performs acts that reflect this belief, but they result in harm to others. He is certain, for example, that God protects good people and harms those who are evil; therefore it is irreligious to protect a building with insurance. He insists upon the sanctity of marriage and that husband and wife should stay together even if the husband mistreats his wife and has repeated adulterous relationships.
This story is about a widow who suffered from such an abusive husband. She needs to send her son from home so that he would not be affected by his father's deeds. The son has syphilis, which he acquired at birth because of his father's acts. The son wants to marry a girl who, unknown to him, is one of the illegitimate daughters of his father, his half sister. Thus on the tenth anniversary of her husband's death when her son comes home and reveals his disease and intention to marry, the wife is revisited with her husband's ghost.
Will she remain silent, ignore the dictates of her church, and allow her son, who is deathly ill, to have happiness? What effects did his father's improper behavior have upon her son other than the syphilis? Health aside, has his life been ruined? What about her husband's illegitimate daughter, how much of his character did she inherit? Did it ruin her life? Was there once a chance for both the wife and the minister to have a happy life together, which was destroyed because of the minister's misguided piety? Does the minister ever realize that his way is wrong and is demolishing the lives of many people? Ibsen addresses these and other issues brilliantly, with superb and suspenseful dialogue.

Absolutely fascinating
"Ghosts", while not as famous as Ibsen's "A Doll's House", is clearly an interesting piece of writing. Nobody denies that. It is an interesting book to analyze, it's a quick read, but very deep, and it leaves a very strong impression on you.

"Ghosts" is in a sense, like "A Doll's House", about something that while still frowned upon today, is much more acceptable. In "Ghosts" there is the theme of the "sins of fathers", and the father's sins are brought to light. Mrs. Alving has been keeping secrets for a very long time, and here is where, through her ghosts, she reveals them.

Well, perhaps it's not as simple as that. The plot is intriguing, the plot twists are surprising, and the ending is disturbingly good. Ibsen created a fascinating story and masterpiece when he wrote "Ghosts", and it's absolutely superb. I highly recommend reading this play to anyone, especially if you liked Ibsen's other works.

Note: I don't suggest buying this play alone in a book like this, though. You might as well buy a book with several of Ibsens plays for the same amount of money, and then you'll get "A Doll's House" too.

An emotional work - very poignant
Though Ibsen is a little bit dated, more so than his successor, Knut Hamsen, he is still one of the greatest minds to come out of Norway and is arguably the father of the modern drama - and also to some extent, the father of the modern novel.He initiated the style which was later taken up by Franz Kafka, Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer), Roman Payne (Crepuscule).Ghosts is a quick read.Dover Thrift Editions makes the price definitely worth it.A must-read once in your life.Highly recommended.

Seemingly simple, but complex study
I chose this book to read and analyse a couple of years ago. It seemed to have simple meaning, but the more I tried to analyse, the more outstanding I found the book, and far from simple.
Helen Alving is a widow and is keeping a secret. One day she tells her friend Manders and he's quite shocked. It all has to do with some money from her dead husband that she doesn't want her son to have. Oswald, her son, comes home from abroad with very sad news. He is ill, and there isn't a cure for him. When Mrs. Alving is told that it was most likely inherited, she tells her son the secret too, and that changes his view on his father. As the book goes on, the intriques grow bigger...
Ibsen is probably more known for his play "A Doll House", but this one is just as great. He was very critical of the society and most, if not all, of his books often has a somewhat hidden story where he debates social matters and also morals. He use symbols and mostly contrasts to give the play a certain atmosphare and meaning. I believe this is one of Ibsen's greatest plays and strongly recommend it to anyone. ... Read more

Product Description
"When We Dead Awaken" was Henrik Ibsen's final drama, which was first published in 1899. It is the story of a married couple, Arnold and Maia Rubek who while traveling find themselves romantically drawn to others, in the case of Maia it is Ulfheim, a brutal hunter, who is the object of her desire, for Arnold it is Irene, a beautiful woman from his past. In these desires the two find themselves questioning the choices that they have made in life and whether or not they have ever really lived at all. One of Ibsen's most despairing plays; in its tragic conclusion it is as if Ibsen is asking if the fulfillment of life's desires is ever really achievable. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Final Ibsen
When We Dead Awaken (1899), Ibsen's final play and "Dramatic Epilogue", is one of a series of reflective works on the nature of the artist, his work and the price that must be paid for it. Professor Rubek is a sculptor who, disillusioned by the reception to his masterpiece - The Resurrection Day - which he believes no-one has truly understood, has abandoned his art for meaningless commercial work. His disillusionment with his work and its reception has however come at some cost to his humanity and at the expense of the people around him. At a mountain spa, the professor's aloofness consequently causes a certain bitterness, restlessness and detachment to creep into his marriage to Maia.

The distance between them is measured in other figures who "haunt" the spa. One is a woman, Irene, an old acquaintance who inspired Rubek's masterpiece. She believes that her soul has been destroyed since her time with the professor - she blames the professor for sucking the life out of her for his work with no concern for the person beneath ("The work of art first - then the human being") - and, now dead to the world, she has subsequently brought death to everyone around her. Maia, on the other hand, is inspired by the bear-hunter Ulfheim towards the physical, natural world, simultaneously repelled and attracted by his baseness.

Unlike Ibsen's other brooding plays with supernatural symbolism, there's little consequently that is subtle, mysterious or unexplained in When We Dead Awaken. The subtext that remains beneath the surface of the dramatist's previous play John Gabriel Borkman is here given foreground and precedence at the expense of realism, pushing it almost to the point of caricature, the play full of ominous foreshadowing and heavy metaphors (carving life out of a dead stone, a statue a "child" placed in a "grave" of a museum). It's quintessentially full-blooded Ibsen however, deeply moody, reflective and some of the imagery (Rubek's time with Irene "an episode" that she takes "so painfully to heart", the patching together of lives into a tattered rag) are at times brilliantly incisive in establishing an overall tone of dark cynicism, disillusionment and derision. ... Read more

Product Description
Taken from the highly acclaimed Oxford Ibsen, this collection of Ibsen's plays includes A Doll's House, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler, and The Master Builder. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Involving Glimpse Into Ibsen's Theater Of Pain
At the core of Henrik Ibsen's art lay a bottomless talent for investigating the way people hurt one another. But reading his "Four Major Plays" is not painful at all; rather, they are thrilling and even delightful for the different ways the playwright captures and sustains our interest.

"A Doll's House" (1879) the first play here, presents the story of Nora Helmer, a seemingly childlike housewife with a weakness for macaroons whose actual level of devotion to her husband and family is kept hidden until the threat of scandal exposes her to a surprisingly judgmental spouse.

Shocking in its day for questioning then-traditional domestic roles, "A Doll's House" makes its best points in its handling of Nora's character and an abrupt conclusion that still startles. If there are touches of excessive melodrama, and I think there are, they are more than compensated for by Ibsen's deft touch in drawing out the suffocating hypocrisy of social norms.

Even more of an attack on society, "Ghosts" (1881) is that much more melodramatic, too much so for my tastes. Incest, social disease, people living together out of wedlock - it's like Ibsen wanted to cram every shocking thing he could think of into one play, and finish it off with something more shocking still. Convoluted but never boring, "Ghosts" makes its points, dares you to judge, and leaves a mark.

What makes this book indispensible for lovers of good drama are the last two plays, each brilliant in a totally different way. "Hedda Gabler" (1890) is the tale of a woman's moral and mental meltdown told in four gripping acts. Title character Hedda is newly married, but full of spite for the settled life, seeking to cause misery wherever she can.

"Oh, you know how it is...these things just suddenly come over me," she explains to an oily confidant. "And then I can't resist them." You can't, either. Her twisted path causes much heartache and pain, and some surprising moments of humor for those basing their impression of Ibsen on the previous, more dour plays. Hedda's a terrifically dark, unsettling character, like Richard III in a petticoat.

Though it's hard to call anything better than "Hedda Gabler" for pure rotten fun, "The Master Builder" (1892) works even better at teasing out a rather convoluted concept, that of will to power, in an accessibly dramatic way. To risk another Shakespeare comparison, it's like a twisted take on "The Tempest". The title character, Halvard Solness, is tortured by the guilt of his success, and the sense his accomplishment has been sped along by "devils" both good and bad. Add to the equation a longtime admirer of Solness who dares him to challenge fate more boldly.

It's hard to imagine a story like this working in anyone else's hands, but Ibsen does it with masterful subterfuge, teasing out the main story in the form of a seeming subplot while the story which begins the play recedes into the background. Nothing goes the way you expect it, except perhaps the ending, which Ibsen manages to make feel like destiny. Even the characters are a complex group, Solness alternately megalomaniacal and sympathetic.

Ibsen's great reputation is fully justified in this deep, complex, yet surprisingly accessible volume.

Masterful Ibsen
Rather predictably, the first play offered here is "A Doll's House", the most famous of Ibsen's works. Strangely enough, this ended up NOT being my favorite of the four plays provided in this small collection, but I'll get to that in a moment. Next we have "Ghosts", "Hedda Gabler", and finally "The Master Builder".

"A Doll's House", 86 pages long, is also provided here with the alternate German ending. The ending was deemed so scandalous that Ibsen was forced to write up another ending, in which things go slightly differently. "A Doll's House", a play about a woman who rather does the unthinkable (in that time, at least) to help her husband and then once again to herself, is remarkably interesting. Ibsen plays are generally extremely fun to analyze, simply because there's always something there. Nobody would read dull plays, after all. The alternate ending provided is actually the most interesting part of all. It shows us what the impact of this play was on society at the time that it came out. Perhaps we find these things somewhat more "normal" (though they're actually not, and are still considered rather scandalous) and acceptable, so this ending really reminds us of WHY this play was so impressive and WHY Ibsen was such a strange character for his time. An intriguing play, though not my favorite.

No, that falls to "Ghosts". A play that once again touches on difficult subjects that are most intriguing, "Ghosts" chilled me from beginning to end. It was a more interesting play, overall, because it seemed to me more human. That's not to say that "A Doll's House" wasn't human (it definitely is), but there was something about "Ghosts" that touched me more than the other plays. At 73-pages and with fewer characters, "Ghosts" is an easier play to really read, and certainly an enjoyable one.

"Hedda Gabler" changes things a bit. The plot suddenly becomes a bit more interesting with a touch more mystery and intrigue. There are moments that positively creeped me out ("I'm burning your child") and moments where I just shivered. The ending is a bit more intense than in the previous plays, though less surprising. The play felt very different from "Ghosts" or "A Doll's House", though it was still clearly an Ibsen "morbid but interesting" play.

For me, "The Master Builder" is the odd play out. It's the one that, a. Bored me the most, b. Seemed to take the longest (though only barely longer than "A Doll's House, at 88 pages, and shorter than the 97-paged long "Hedda Gabler"), and c. Seemed the least realistic. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the ending wouldn't seem to work on stage. I felt like at some point Ibsen kind of forgot that he was writing a play and mentioned things that wouldn't really work (unless they have a complex blue screen, but those didn't exist in his time...). There are ways around it, certainly, and it's a minor flaw, but I found that "The Master Building" just didn't have that spark that the other plays seemed to have. No, it's not a BAD play, but it's not my favorite among these either.

While there are many options out there for buying Ibsen plays, this one is certainly a good buy. While the Signet edition also gives us four plays for a few dollars cheaper, instead of the incredible "Ghosts", we get the reasonable "The Wild Duck". For those few dollars, I'd opt for "Ghosts". Also, the book type itself is better in this edition as opposed to the Signet Classics one.

Highly recommended to anyone interesting in a good play to analyze and enjoy. Enjoy!

old but still good
it was an older book, but it was in good shape. good plays too.

A translation to beat all others
James McFarlane's and Jens Arup's translations of Ibsen have long been classics and are arguably the best.Although they were published in England almost forty years ago, they still sound remarkably fresh and will be in print for many years to come.

In "A Doll's House" (1879), Ibsen casts us into the world of Nora Helmer, a young Norwegian housewife and Nordic Madame Bovary.Highlighting the restricted position of women in male-dominated society, the play sparked such an uproar in Scandinavia when it appeared that "many a social invitation during that winter bore the words: 'You are requested not to mention Ibsen's Doll's House!'"In fact, Hedwig Niemann-Raabe, the actress who was to play Nora on tour in Germany, was so appalled at the ending of this play -- at this female "monster" -- that she demanded Ibsen write an alternative one in German, which he did (a "barbaric outrage", in his words).McFarlane has appended this German-language ending (and a translation in English).

Based on the theme, "The sins of the fathers shall be visited on the children," "Ghosts" (1881) is one of Ibsen's most riveting plays.Like "A Doll's House", it, too, was denounced on its début ("crapulous stuff", "an open drain", one London reviewer called it -- certainly a Victorian exaggeration).As in most of his plays, Ibsen probes the hypocrisies of patriarchal society, which he deems to be rotten at its core, and stultifying provincial life ("Doesn't the sun ever shine here?").Typically, he also casts women in a favorable light.

"A Doll's House" and "Ghosts" established Ibsen's reputation as one of the finest playwrights in Europe, but his next two plays -- "Hedda Gabler" (1890) and "The Master Builder" (1892) -- gave him undisputed international fame.As McFarlane points out, the 1890s "were the years when the publication of a new Ibsen play sent profound cultural reverberations throughout Europe and the world.""Hedda Gabler" marks Ibsen's shift away from highly controversial dramas primarily concerned with social and sexual injustice to "domestic" plays that addressed the struggle of individuals to control each other, people who "want to control the world, but cannot control [themselves].""Hedda Gabler" is a thoroughly electrifying drama about a married woman's devouring sense of decay and confinement."The Master Builder", which Ibsen coupled with "Hedda Gabler", is his riveting look into sexual potency and the domination of youth by age.

These plays are not as dark and dirty as they might seem.Whatever reviewers may have said about them when they came out and whatever gloomy stuff psychiatrists have written about them since, if you're at all familiar with prime-time television, they won't offend you -- in fact, you probably wont even lift an eyebrow.Still, I found myself glued to them for hours and I've read them before.Find a copy for your shelf! ... Read more

Product Description
"A Doll's House" was written in 1879 and is widely regarded as the first true feminist work. This is a new edition of Ibsen's timeless classic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (78)

Wonderful!
Interpretation:
A doll's house follows Nora, the protagonist and mother of three, through her struggle for realization of an identity that is her own. For eight years with her husband Helmer, and many more with her father, Nora has lived as a possession than a character. The title of the play embodies a social expectation that confines her to inferior roles devoid of true satisfaction, a superficial identity defined by her husband that deserves nothing more than a man's affection. The seemingly perfect marriage is broken by Krogstad the "shipwrecked" lawyer who threatens to reveal secrets associated with Nora that would harm Helmer's social standing. However, among guilt and panic, Nora finds peace by discovering herself. She realizes that true love comes from mutual respect, that a life of satisfaction must have room for independence. These revelations come at the cost of her marriage. From Helmer's point of view, Nora is selfish, deserting her family to satisfy her own fancies. Yet, to Nora, her decision is one of self-liberation, of finding the dignity of being human, and ultimate of saving her life.

Thoughts:
I was supposed to read this for my AP class, but we ran out of time. On whim I picked it up, having heard great reviews. This play is truly ahead of its time. I have a bit feminist so I have tremendous respect for the protagonist. Bravo to Ibsen for having portrayed such an important yet often muted matter with realism. I think I might have read it too quickly, will definitely read again.

A Masterpiece Both of and Ahead of Its Time
There are numerous translations of A Doll's House, but this one is eminently readable. Anyone wanting a quality version who sees this should get it. As for the edition, it is important to remember that, like other Dover Thrift entries, it is bare bones - only the text plus a short headnote. This is not a problem for most since Ibsen is not an erudite read, but anyone wanting more will certainly need to look elsewhere.

As for the play itself, it is the work that made Henrik Ibsen world famous; though it got substantial acclaim, much initial attention came from controversy - and some from outrage. However, time has sided with it, proving Ibsen's points and burying naysayers under a pile of narrow-minded hypocrisy; the play remains Ibsen's most popular and one of his most acclaimed, taking its high place in the world literary canon.

Often called the first feminist play, A Doll's is a savage critique of Victorian - I use the term loosely, Ibsen being Norwegian - society's treatment of women. It gives a vivid idea of just how repressed they were in everything from speech to employment; their very thoughts were persecuted as far as possible. We also see what form this took in the domestic sphere; patriarchy is lambasted and exposed as hollow, and male-female relations generally are thoroughly critiqued. The marriage institution is not spared Ibsen's unflinching eye, while motherhood and other related issues are also taken into account. Victorian society had very settled ideas about such issues and did not take kindly to Ibsen's rankling, but the play was a much-needed wake-up call, provoking extensive debate and perhaps being one of the liberalizing forces eventually leading to reform. That such a work was written nearly a century and a half ago by a man is truly incredible. It says much that many of those who decried it most loudly were women; a prominent actress even refused to play the lead without an altered ending. Ibsen was clearly one of those rare artists who truly has a finger on the cultural pulse; he knew just what buttons to push and hit with a sledgehammer.

The play would of course be of only historical interest if it merely dealt with long-vanished injustice, but this is far from so. For one thing, sexism is sadly still very prevalent, even in the Western world, despite great advances. Some of the issues are thus still relevant even in this strict sense, showing just how far ahead of his time Ibsen was. More fundamentally, many core concerns - e.g., how to balance self-respect and ambition with marriage and children - are as old as civilization. The play will continue speaking to us profoundly as long as they remain unsolved, which shows no sign of being anytime soon. The best aspect in this regard is that it is not heavy-handed. Ibsen wrote many of what he called "problem plays" dealing with contemporary social problems without the didacticism that so often plagues such works and is nearly always fatal. He raises important questions but knows better than to give answers; that is for us to do. Like all his major work, A Doll's is highly thought-provoking. We may not agree with Nora, but she certainly makes us rethink long-held and oft-unquestioned assumptions - perhaps rethinking but at least surveying critically -, which may be art's true function and is certainly the highest praise sociopolitically aware art can receive.

But the play would be very enjoyable and laudable even if we noticed none of this, and there may indeed be more immediate reasons for its greatness and continuing relevance. The character of Nora is an undeniably big factor. Sympathetic almost immediately, she engages both heart and mind; we have empathy for her thoughts and feelings because of her undeniable humanity. She has much that is admirable, even noble, but also has undeniable weaknesses; perhaps more than the former, the latter make her seem all the more human and relatable. It is a tribute to Ibsen's artistry that he makes even the most conservative onlookers quickly like her, which makes the powerful conclusion all the more forceful. Other characters of course pale beside her not only in importance but in goodness yet are not without relevance. Much of the ending's power indeed comes from the realization that Torvald is not really bad. He is certainly condescending, self-absorbed, sexist, and narrow-minded, but these are faults of the age; he is no worse than the average Victorian man - perhaps even better in that he truly cares for Nora in his patronizing way. What happens to him could have happened to any Victorian husband - which is exactly the point. Krogstad is also important in this way; we are ostensibly supposed to hate him, but his actions are after all understandable and all too human. We may criticize but should not condemn. All this drives in Ibsen's point that the problems were symptoms of a culture, not a few backward individuals.

The tightly plotted and deftly executed story is another strength. The ending is of course deservedly famous, pulled off perhaps more effectively than any other in drama; it is led up to with truly artistic precision, the timing is impeccable, and the final door slam is the most brilliantly perfect yet subtle use of sound ever written into a play. Also, as George Bernard Shaw noted and others have come to appreciate ever more, the ending skillfully inverts the "well-made play" formula then considered obligatory. Ibsen tricked audiences into thinking the climax was the conclusion, which made the ending all the more stunning; we may miss the irony, but the essential effect is hardly dimmed. However, we must not let the ending blind us to overall quality. The play is highly emotional and supremely engrossing throughout despite having very little of what we now call action - an Ibsen trademark and a key ingredient in his greatness. He was a master of irony, foreshadowing, and other dramatic techniques, using them to full effect here; the satire making up much of the play is also immaculately done.

A Doll's is simply incredible in every aspect, essential for anyone even remotely interested in drama, women's issues, the Victorian era - or great literature itself.

A Doll's House
In the book, characters are set apart with undescores, and stage directions are not in italics. The only way you can figure them out is because they are in parenthesis. Because of this, it is not an easy read.

A work of Early Feminism
In this play by Ibsen a victorian wife discovers that she has lost respect for her husband and no longer loves him.She loses respect for him because she discover's that he loves her only as a 'doll' and not as an equal.Nora's husband fails to recognize a sacrifice that she has made for his benefit and condemns her.When chance causes the crisis to pass he is willing to forgive and forget, but she can't forgive his reaction - which clearly demonstrates how little love and respect he has for her.

To the Tune of I Will Survive
At first Nora was afraid, she was petrified,

kept thinking she could never live without Torvald by her side

and then he finds out about the money she borrowed to save his life

and he says she is a liar and the cause of all his strife!

He says she's low, and a disgrace,

that he no longer loves her, but outside he'll show a happy face,

and when the lender then decides that blackmail he will not pursue,

that Tovald turns to little Nora and says, "My Darling,I love you!"

But she says, "No!"

"Now I will go!"She turns around then and walks out and slams the door...

[...] ... Read more

Product Description
The plays in this volume focus on the family and how it struggles to stay together by telling lies - and exposing them. In "Ghosts", Osvald Alving returns home only to discover the truth about the father he always looked up to, and learns the horrific effect his father's debauchery has had on him. It was Ibsen's most provocative drama, stripping away the surface of a middle-class family to expose layers of hypocrisy and immorality. "A Public Enemy" sets two brothers against each other when one wishes to make public the facts about the polluted water in the public baths of their home town. And "When We Dead Wake" tells of an artist meeting an old lover by chance and rejecting his wife, in a symbolic exploration of Ibsen's own literary life and the sacrifices he made in his work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One of the greatest European playwrights
Ghosts and Other Plays is a seminal series of plays that combine humor with scathing social critique. Ibsen was not afraid to tackle weightier themes and taboos, in order to shock his audience out of their complacency. These plays demonstrate Ibsen's loathing of hyprocrisy, soulless institutions, the mandates of society which cause suffering (ie. Christianity). He has also been perceived as the figurehead for the emancipation of women from their traditional "place." That is not to say Ibsen is of dire seriousness or dry. His plays move quickly, the events in "Ghosts" for ex. occurring in less than a day. Ibsen is a great playwright whose works remain relevant and vital, in a consumerist society where people still remain afraid to defy cultural norms. ... Read more

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Nicholas Rudall, whose acclaimed translations of Ibsen and the Greek classic playwrights have brought a fresh perspective to the American theater, turns his talents to one of the Norwegian dramatist's most provocative plays. In a rebuke to the Victorian notion of community as well as to the blessings of democracy, Ibsen creates a situation in which one man must stand alone to face the forces allied against him. In a coastal town, a community-minded physician has promoted the development of public baths in order to attract tourists. When he discovers that the water supply for the baths is contaminated and attempts to publicize the failing and correct it, he and his family are all but driven out of the town he was trying to save. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

How does a shy person fulfill artistic destiny?
Ferguson relates in his preface that he is an Englishman with a Norwegian wife.In the 1980's he lived in Norway and he speaks the language.He was asked by the BBC to translate and adapt some of the plays. I have read Michael Meyer's biography of Ibsen more than once, and I deem this to be a worthy enhancement of our understanding of Ibsen.

Ibsen chose voluntary exile for most of his writing life.In 1336 Norway became part of Denmark.In 1814 Sweden took over as a colonial power.When Ibsen was growing up there was a desire to establish a homegrown theater.The nationalist urge culminated in King Hakon VII ascending to the throne in 1905.Popular perceptions of Norway as gloomy are based upon the art of Henrik Ibsen and Edvard Munch.The Norwegian langauge was in a constant state of flux during Ibsens's life as a consequence of nationalism.

Henrik was born in 1828.His father was amusing but unsuccessful in his enterprises and his mother was self-sacrificing.Henrik was the oldest.He was shy, gloomy, solitary, and bright.He liked to play with a little play theater and as a boy of about twelve put on puppet shows.When his schooling ended he went to work in Grimstad as the apprentice of an apothecary.His solitary ways made him an object of suspicion.He had an illegitimate son, a matter of guilt and shame.

After five years he moved to employment at a different dispensary which became a meeting place for intellectually involved youth.He wrote a verse drama in 1849.For the next decade or more he was involved in theater management and direction in Bergen and in Kristiania, (Oslo).He was married in 1858 and a son was born in 1859.

Ibsen spent many years away from Norway living in Italy and in Germany.After 1876 Ibsen wrote modern works for a cast of chamber players.HEDDA GABLER is one of the plays that easily retains its modernity. His final play, WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN, can be taken as an allegory of the lives of Ibsen and his wife, Suzannah.Henrik Ibsen died in 1906.Ferguson's discussions of the plays in the context of the life of Ibsen is very fine. ... Read more

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Contents include A Doll's House; Ghosts; An Enemy of the People; Rosmersholm; Hedda Gabler; The Master Builder. ... Read more

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Taken from the Oxford Ibsen, this collection of Ibsen's plays includes An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, and Rosmersholm. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Wonderful plays
Ibsen was a fantastic dramatist, and these three plays, though not all his very most famous, are excellent reading. An early pioneer of realism, Ibsen exposes the eternal every-day uglinesses behind the courteous façade of late-19th-century private and public life.

So much for Ibsen, who certainly needs no apology; now for the edition. My copy of the Oxford edition is printed on thin paper of low quality, but I cannot speak for the newest (2009) edition, which has a new cover. The translation is mostly fine, though I have not compared it with other translations of the same plays. The translator, James McFarlane, has an extremely weak grasp of the proper use of question marks; the rule that all question sentences in English must end in a question mark, no matter how long, complex, or rhetorical, is one without exceptions, but is nevertheless broken by Mr McFarlane, generally more than once in a page: a maddeningly distracting flaw in an otherwise well-worthwhile book.

Three Wonderful Plays by the Master of Modern Drama
A professor of mine told me that AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE is not a very good play, so I read it myself to find out...and I disagree with my professor!I think AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE is a powerful play on the timeless theme of the individual's relation to society.The "mob scene" in Act IV is a particularly intense piece of dramatic writing that reminded me of the "trial scenes" in such later, American plays as THE CRUCIBLE and INHERIT THE WIND.Several years ago I saw an outstanding local production of THE CRUCIBLE; I would love to see AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE onstage as well.
THE WILD DUCK, however, is my favorite play by Ibsen; I definitely agree with those critics who say that it is his masterpiece.I have read it three or four times, and each time I am amazed at Ibsen's skill.The play is a painful, poignant exploration of lost innocence, embodied in the character of Hedvig, a young girl on the verge of womanhood. If I could see only one more Ibsen play onstage (I've already seen HEDDA GABLER and THE LADY FROM THE SEA), it would be THE WILD DUCK.In fact, I'd love to direct it myself someday!

An Enemy of the People is agonizingly brilliant.
While Ibsen's other two plays in this volume are great, neither can come close to the genius of, An Enemy of the People.Dr. Stockmann's battle for truth against the self-interested masses is perhaps the most agonizingly wonderful exploration into truth and individuality.Ibsen is a master. ... Read more

Product Description
Ibsen ascended to the first ranks of European writers in the late nineteenth century and has remained there ever since. The Norton Critical Edition includes five major plays spanning Ibsen's long career in recent translations by Brian Johnston (Peer Gynt, The Wild Duck, and The Master Builder) and Brian Johnston and Rick Davis (A Doll House and Hedda Gabler). The translation of Peer Gynt appears for the first time in this Norton Critical Edition.

"Backgrounds" gives students an understanding of Ibsen's creative process with selections from his correspondence and other writings. Twenty-seven documents have been collected and arranged by play, with a section of autobiographical writings at the end.

Ibsen's plays continue to provoke diverse commentary. "Criticism" includes nineteen of the most important responses to Ibsen's work, among them essays by Bernard Shaw, Sandra Saari, E. M. Forster, Hugh Kenner, and Joan Templeton.

A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

About the series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Iconic Ibsen
I have a deep love for Henrik Ibsen, and I was very excited to purchase this book. He is a master modern playwright. At present I have only read two plays of his, Hedda Gabler and A Doll's house, and they are remarkably complex psychological dramas. For example, in Hedda Gabler, a newlywed wife returns from her honeymoon and it is apparent she is unhappy. She attempts to ruin her friend's career for the benefit of her husband's career and then convinces said friend to commit suicide. At the same time she flirts and teases with the horrendous Judge Brack, although she wants no relationship with him. After her friend's suicide, his girlfriend and Hedda's husband want said friend's legacy to live on so they begin to work together ignoring Hedda. Hedda's husband tells Judge Brack to keep Hedda company, and he is more than happy to oblige (he hints at wanting a sexual relationship with Hedda). Hedda, her plans grown too big and out of control, kills herself to relieve the subjugation into which she is forced. Judge Brack says the famous last line of the play "God have mercy, People just don't act that way!" This play is a stark commentary on society and family values that are mere decorations and are not truly practiced. All of Henrik Ibsen's plays are brilliant works. Ibsen not only puts a mirror in front of society to force us to see the ugly truth, but he decorates that mirror and ends with an amazing jaw-dropping performance.I highly recommend this book for everyone.

Another great Norton Critical Edition
You have here the essential Ibsen plays and some of the best criticism in one place; an invaluable resource, but more than that, a really enjoyable read. ... Read more

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The greatest works by the father of modern theater

Brilliantly exemplifying his landmark contribution to the theater, A Doll House, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler, and The Master Builder are truly the greatest and best known works of Henrik Ibsen. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Compelling classics
I had to read A Doll House and the Wild Duck for one of my classes, and this was the edition recommended to us by the professor. I was so caught up in Ibsen that I went back and read Hedda Gabler and Master Builder in my spare time, and was not disappointed.

For those who are not familar with Ibsen, his plays are studies of human interaction and psychology, and this collection slants towards the tragic (meaning that it's not quite over until someone dies). There's certain patterns readers will notice, how characters lives are inter-connected by past secrets or relations they haven't been quite honest about, and how a character's unfulfilled life is linked to past actions and someone else's meddling hand. But it's all very compelling, and once you've gotten the names straight and how everyone is related to each other, you're sucked into the drama of these lives.

Of course if you don't like your modern drama depressing then this might not be for you. But any serious playwright/drama student needs to read Ibsen, and this is a fine place to start.

Engrossing!
Ibsen is one of the most important playwrights to ever grace this earth, and it is not difficult to see why after reading this collection of plays. "The Doll House" is immediately fascinating, perhaps the easiest to understand out of this group of plays. It teaches the lesson that one must learn to stand on one's own, to carry out the cliché -- "to find oneself" -- but the lesson is not learned by the main character until the stage has been skillfully set in order to make the ending all the more compelling. The strongest play is perhaps "Hedda Gabler," whose upper class heroine, Hedda, is one of the most abstract and intriguing female characters ever written for a play. Devious and suffocating in her new middle class surroundings after marrying a rather dull man, her frustrations play out and alienate the other characters. The other characters are not merely accessories; they ARE the play when one juxtaposes them with Hedda. "The Wild Duck" is not as strong a play, and the dullest of the group, but is also worth a read. Overall, the collection is a quick and engrossing read.

Hedda Gabler
Hedda gabler is a tale of a woman in the victorian ages. She was recently married to a man who considered writing a book "The Brabant in the middle ages" an exiting topic. She is torn between the role she must portray and the role she wants. The play shows the fall from grace and the decline of Hedda Gablers power. It is a powerful play and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Anyone who read the play and wants to help me with a staging essay.amieDicaprio@yahoo.com ... Read more

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"Hedda Gabler" is one of Henrik Ibsen's greatest dramas. It is the story of its title character, Hedda, a self-centered manipulative woman who has grown tired of her marriage. To escape her boredom she begins to meddle in the lives of others with truly tragic results. Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" is a monumental achievement in dramatic tragedy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A masterpiece and it is obscure
Is Hedda Gabler selfish, bored, and tired of her marriage, and does she need to relieve her frustrations by interfering in other people's lives and hurting them, as many readers contend? Or, is this an over-simplification of her character and motive? Is the play obscure?

Jorge Borges once wrote that two people write a novel, the writer and the reader. The reader, he is saying, frequently reads something that the writer never intended. Saul Bellow wrote something similar in a letter in 1942: a novel "sets up the hypotheses and tests them in various ways, and it gives answers, but these are not definitive." Thus, all good literature is filled with obscurities and ambiguities. Even biblical narratives have these qualities, as it must. People read good literature and, because of their cognitive dissonances, they see what they need to see and are convinced that this is what the author intended. Thus the answer to the questions is that the portrait of Hedda Gabler is obscure, as it should be, and whatever we read into the narrative is objectively wrong, although personally right.

Simply stated, 33 year old beautiful and vivacious Hedda Gabler has just returned from her long honeymoon to a large beautiful house that she talked her husband into purchasing. In fact, as she states in the play, it was this purchase, not love, for she does not love her husband, that prompted her to marry him.

Two men are infatuated with her besides her husband, perhaps even love her: Brack and Lovborg. She has no amorous feelings for them, but she clearly, and this is significant, enjoys their adoration. Her relationship with Brack is perfect. She and the bachelor Brack agree that they will live their lives as a triangle, the third being her husband. She speaks openly with Brack, but not with her husband.

She hears that Mrs. Elvsted loves Lovborg, and while it is clear to Hedda that Lovborg prefers her, the disclosure that Lovborg led Elvsted to think he loved her, this desertion, this infidelity, although small, not boredom, sets Hedda off. She destroys the relationship between Elvsted and Lovborg, gets hold of Lovborg's manuscript, destroys it, and ruins his life, and she gives him a gun to kill himself.

True, Hedda says in the play that she is bored and admits that this boredom is causing her to interfere in people's lives, but is this true? Does she really know her motive? Is it her only motive? Is this somewhat simple idea all that the great playwright wants to convey? If so, why does he write so much about the two men who adore her?

Hedda Gabler is the heroine's maiden name, not her current married name, and by naming the play in this way, Ibsen seems to suggest that readers need to seek the solution to her character in her pre-marriage state, not in her boredom with her recent marriage. It is possible, and this is the obscurity in the play, that Hedda's motivation is based on her need to be adored by men, completely. She must control her men and not be dominated by them in any way. Once she heard that Lovborg was loved by another and that he led this woman to believe that he reciprocated her love, to the extent that she left her husband, she felt betrayed and sought revenge.

This possible explanation of Hedda's motive, that she needs to totally control her relationships with men, helps explain why she shoots herself at the end of the play. Brack gains control over her when he learns that she gave Lovborg a gun, even though he said that he would keep her act secret. She says, "So I am in your power, Judge Brack. You have me at your beck and call, from this time forward.... I cannot endure the thought of that! Never!" And she loses her husband as well. He agrees to spend the rest of his life with Mrs. Elvsted, if necessary, to try to reconstruct Lovborg's lost book. As a result, in her mind, she has lost all three men who adored her and there was no reason to continue living.

This may be what Ibsen intended. However, there is no certainty that this is Hedda's motivation. The play is a masterpiece and it is obscure.

Amazing Unintentional Feminist Drama
Henrik Ibsen was known for crossing societal boundaries with his plays. Hedda Gabler depicts a woman who has socially lowered herself solely for the purpose of marriage.

Ibsen's use of phallic imagery throughout the play to signify Hedda's oppression is amazing. The play takes dark twists and turns. Although, I, personally, find Ibsen's The Doll's House to be better; Hedda Gabler pushes societal boundaries and expectations of women.

I read Hedda Gabler, I think.
I read Hedda Gabler in high school and it was about a woman from Finland, or Denmark. She was an old woman, or maybe middle aged. She wore a kerchief and wooden shoes and was very sad about something. It was written by a guy named Soren Kierkegard who is a famous author. The book has real characters that held your interest, but it was so long ago that I can't remember what they did, or what they talked about. It was in English because someone had translated it from Danish, or Finnish... ... Read more

Product Description
Here, in a single volume, are four major plays by the first modern playwright, Henrick Ibsen. Ghosts -the startling portrayal of a family destroyed by disease and infidelity. The Wild Duck -- A poignant drama of lost illusions. An Enemy Of The People -- Ibsen's vigorous attack on public opinion.  And A Doll's House -- the play that scandalized the Victorian world with its unsparing views of love and marriage, featuring one of the most controversial heroines -- and one of the most famous exists -- in the literature of the stage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Thoughtful and thought provoking
While tame in today's society, A Doll's House was one of the first plays to address feminist issues. Ibsen masterfully sets up a plot that allows the reader/viewer of the play to begin to understand what it was like for women in the 1800's and see how difficult it was for them to become independent. This is a great read with characters that are likable are well developed. It is much better than other feminist books I have read from the same or later time frames such as Madame Bovary and The Heidi Chronicles.

Four Ibsen plays constituting a marvelous case study
Henrik Ibsen's creation of "modern theater" makes him one of the most influential playwrights, along with William Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett, in the history of drama.This unique collection of the four plays he wrote between 1879 and 1884 provides teachers of drama/literature with an opportunity to look at a major writer trying to develop his craft.Ibsen is concerned with social criticism and each of these plays reflects his change in perspective as he tries to write a drama that will be both socially relevant and commercially successful.You have to remember the time and place that considered it shocking for Nora to leave her husband or for Mrs. Alving to consider euthenasia for her son.By turning to "comedy" (of a sort) in "An Enemy of the People," Ibsen found a way of making his point in a manner more acceptable to his audiences.By looking at not only the plays but how each was received by the public, teachers/students can better appreciate what Ibsen was trying to do with each successive play.

For all four of these plays the notion of responsibility is primary.In "A Doll's House" Nora Helmer decides to leave her husband because he is unworthy of her love.In "Ghosts," Mrs. Alving has to decide whether she should give her diseased son poison as a mercy killing.In "An Enemy of the People," Dr. Stockmann decides to stay and fight to have the infected baths repaired even after the town ostracizes him.Finally, in "The Wild Duck" the idealist Gregers Werle comes home and destroys a family by insisting the truth be told.A classroom set of this particular volume is relatively inexpensive and provides an excellent case study of the growth of a major writer.Students do not often get the opportunity to read several works by the same writer.Shakespeare is the exception to this rule, but usually students are exposed to different types of plays (comedy, tragedy, history) rather than to a series of consecutively written plays.

realism in dramatic literature
henrik ibsen has perfected the realist movement in theatre.he has accomplished what so few have:to maintain the realistic effect, without succumbing to the tediousness of every day life.his plays ring true for the common man, yet not in a pedestrian manner that becomes boring.in myopinion, he far surpasses any other playwright in the realist movement,including chekhov.

Realism
So much in reading Ibsen depends upon the translation of these great works. These four plays of Ibsen's so-called "realistic period" revolve around social issues of his day which plague us 100 years later. Dowe ever learn from such literary wake-up calls? Although the dramatictensions here, which could have easily have been 20th Century tensions,rumble through these plays, the translations here are wordy and dated, thusmaking the plays sound overly melodramatic and at times downright silly.Still, everyone should read -- and discuss -- Ibsen's plays for theiruneasy questions regarding universal social problems: money, privacy,freedom to act, government corruption, unchecked journalism, and the moraland physical diseases which only seem to wear a new face each year. ... Read more

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Worth finding
I somehow doubt this book will suddenly pop up brand-new again, but if it does? Go for it.

Most editions of Ibsen plays don't give much. Three plays if the publisher's enjoying ripping people off, and generally four. Barnes and Noble Classics, which are a pretty good, provide us with perfection in the form of a book - six of Ibsen's most popular and important plays.

A person really need not go much further. This has the plays people like to read ("Hedda Gabler" and "A Doll's House"), as well as one of my favorites ("Ghosts"), and another Ibsen classic, "Peer Gynt". It's not slim, but it was once a grand deal, and perhaps a bit more enthusiasm will encourage it to become an incredible deal once again. If only... ... Read more

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The foremost dramatist of his age, Ibsen changed theatre forever with his realistic dialogue and depiction of contemporary social problems. Here are four of his greatest works: Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Lady From the Sea, and John Gabriel Borkman.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An Enemy of the People
I intend only to review one play of these four, An Enemy of the People. As for the Signet editions and their translations, well, in terms of paper and print, you get what you pay for. You can carry them in your jeans pocket, but don't wait too long to read them, lest the paper yellows and crumbles in your fingers.

An Enemy of the People is Ibsen's most explicitly political play, and the one that critics refer to most often when attempting to pin down the playwright's political stance. The fourth act of the drama consists chiefly of Doctor Stockman's spontaneous ranting and raving against the tyranny of the majority - the democratic mass of ignorant and short-sighted ordinary people who have failed to accept his advice. "The majority is never right!" he declares; "That's one of those social lies that any free man who thinks for himself has to rebel against.... all over this whole wide earth, the stupid are in a fearsomely overpowering majority..... The right is with me, and the other few, the solitary individuals. The minority is always right." Later in his tirade, he continues: "I'm thinking of the few, the individuals among us, who've mastered all the new truths that have been germinating. Those men are out there holding their positions like outposts, so far in the vanguard that the solid majority hasn't even begun to catch up..." Such anti-democratic, anti-liberal declarations have earned Ibsen a reputation among some critics of being a prophet of fascism -- he was in fact Hitler's favorite playwright -- but a careful comparison will show that Doctor Stockman sounds a good deal more like a character in an Ayn Rand novel than like the 'hero' of Mein Kampf. Listen to Stockman's last words, at the end of act five, standing in the middle of his vandalized clinic and confronting a ruined career: "I've made a great discovery!... the strongest man in the world is the one who stands most alone!"

Recent audiences seem disposed to take Stockman at his own estimation. The BBC adaptation of Enemy transposes the danger to the community that Stockman has discovered from sewage contamination of the Spa to chemical pollution, and portrays Stockman as a staunch monitor against environmental catastrophe. It would, I think, be quite easy to rewrite Ibsen's play as an outcry of alarm against the deniers of global warming. But frankly, I don't think Ibsen had anything so obvious and unambiguous in mind. Perhaps I'm just reluctant to accept the idea that a great playwright could be a total fool. The play is clearly not about pollution, but about the 'balance' of values between the exceptional individual and the ordinary throng.

Doctor Stockman, by his own evaluation, is the exceptional individual, and for the moment at least the embodiment of the "prophet without honor in his own country."However, the play is rife with clues that we the audience are not required to accept Stockman's self-assessment. First, of course, any rash madman can proclaim himself a genius, and Stockman is plainly a bit of a madman. He has, after all, put himself and his family in dire straits. He's also, by his own admission, remarkably naive for an "exceptional" mind -- utterly blind to the possibility that others might have other understandings than his. He loudly declares his indifference to public opinion of his personal worth, yet in fact he is painfully susceptible to the doubts of others about his motives and hysterically committed to vindicating his "honor'. In the end, he'd rather 'be right' - in his own mind - than 'do right'. His bizarre father-in-law, in fact, provides him with the chance to do something concrete - not without struggle and cost, but effectively for the best interest of the community - to take on the pragmatic task of cleansing the Spa of disease organisms. The mere possibility that the community might suspect him of self-interest, however, throws him into a tizzy of abnegation and isolation, and the scary scheme of 'educating' his sons and a few other children essentially as disciples of his proto-Objectivist philosophy. Stockman may be totally right about the hazard of pollution and yet be recognized as a quixotic megalomaniacal crank, a man of no possible use to his community.

What then did Ibsen intend? After all, in Peer Gynt he'd already expressed his horror of everything mediocre; Doctor Stockman would have no reason to fear the "button-maker" who comes to recycle the 'souls' of ordinary men. But "An Enemy of the People" is too rich in irony and tragicomedy to be another affirmation of libertarian individualism. It can only be coherently read as proof of the futility of the 'superior' outsider.It's just a quick half-turn from Doctor Stockman to Ralph Nader... or to my own Harvard classmate Ted Kaczynski.

Are the Pillars of Society, Really Pillars of Society?
Four Major Plays, Volume I (Signet Classics)

An Enemy of the People


Dr Stockman: "The whole Bath establishment is a whited, poisoned sepulcher. I tell you - the gravest possible danger to public health!All the nastiness up at Mollidol, all that stinking filth, is infecting the water in the conduit pipes leading to the Reservoir.
(Pointing to letter)Here it is!It proves the presence of decaying organic matter in the water; it is full of infusoria.The water is absolutely dangerous to use... either internally or externally." (An Enemy of the People, Act I)

Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" tells the story of a conscientious man of science, Dr. Stockman, who, as the public health official for his town, feels duty bound to report scientific evidence of disease; and the burgomasters and civic leaders who see his warnings about pollution of the new public baths as a negative factor in the city's progress. The play can be read as a corollary on global warning, dependence on oil, or conspicuous consumption and Wall Street Greed. Or, as Arthur Miller interpreted it in his 1950's adaptation of Ibsen's play, a commentary on the folly of popular opinion: expressly, the public hysteria over McCarthyism.

HOVSTAD: The man who would ruin a whole community must be an enemy of society!
DR. STOCKMANN: It doesn't matter if a lying community is ruined!... You'll poison the whole country in time; you will bring it to such a pass that the whole country will deserve to perish. And should it come to this, I say, from the bottom of my heart: Perish the country! Perish all its people!

Ibsen is a tragedian in the tradition of the Greeks, Marloweand Shakespeare. His language may be a bit stilted for today's tastes, but his message is still relevant.

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Product Description
The three plays in this volume cover the period during which Ibsen (1828-1906) was preoccupied with realistic problems of personal and social morality. Even in his most "social" plays, however, it is the poet in Ibsen that illuminates with unforgettable intensity. Collected in this title are: PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY, THE WILD DUCK and HEDDA GABLER. ... Read more

Product Description
THIS 72 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: The Works of Henrik Ibsen, by Henrik Ibsen. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 0766184285. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Do people need a "life illusion" to live happily?

Werle is a successful merchant. His previous partner Ekdal was found guilty of a crime, although it becomes clear in Ibsen's play that Werle committed it. Ekdal served time in prison for Werle's crime and is now, after his release, a broken man. Werle eases his conscience by giving him some copying work to do, so that he has pocket money.

When Ekdal went to prison, Werle also gave Ekdal's son, Hialmar, money to start a photography business on a small scale, a business that Hialmar does not like very much. And he gave him his mistress as a wife without telling him of his relationship with her.

Hialmar's wife has a daughter with an eye disease. She is now fourteen years old. Hialmar has been married for under fifteen years. Ekdal lives with his son and his family and raises some animals in the garret, including a wild duck that Werle shot but did not kill because he has an eye disease. The duck was snatched and bitten by one of Werle's dogs and is slightly lame. It tried to hide in water and is hurt for being there too long. Werle told one of his men to kill the duck, but Ekdal rescued it.

Werle has a son, Gregers, who considers himself a friend of Hialmar. Gregers is bothered by his involvement in the nefarious deeds of his father. He believes in the ennobling value of truth, sincerity, and the ideal. He feels that he must reveal all the things that Hialmar does not know about his wife. He is misguidedly convinced that that the revelation of the truth will make Hialmar's marriage ideal.

The wounded wild duck is obviously a symbol. Gregers thinks that Ekdal and his son have "something of the wild duck" in them. Are they the only ones? Is everyone in the play a wounded wild duck? How can a wounded duck be cured?

After Gregers reveals Hialmar's wife's past to Hialmar and Hialmar is distraught, Hialmar's doctor tells Gregers that he will heal Hialmar by "cultivating the life-illusion in him." The Norwegian word literally means "the life-lie." The doctor says, "Rob the average man of his life-illusion, and you rob him of his happiness at the same stroke." The doctor is clearly saying that the average person needs "the life-lie" in order to live, and cannot survive happily with the truth or the ideal.

Must people tell themselves lies in order to live?
The Ekdals - Hjalmar, his wife Gina, and their daughter Hedvig live a decent life. It has it's frustrations but they get by and they care for each other. One day an old friend of Hjalmar's, Gregers Werle, shows up. He's learned some family history, and, being an idealist, as someone who thinks truth should reign at all costs, he turns the Ekdal's world upside-down. How this little family deals with this news is the crux of the play.

It's a provacative read. It may seem slow at first but it picks up considerably and moves along swiftly towards the end. The characters are well drawn, that is, they're recognizable. They have their personal idiosyncrasies, their faults and virtues and ideals. I was impressed by how much they reminded me of people in my own life.

There are many ideas to play with when reading this. Is it possible to live a life completely free of self-delusion? Do we all tell ourselves lies in order to live? I would call it a play of ideas but that might make it sound didactic or doctrinaire, which it isn't (to me anyway, I think some people disagree).

I've read a fair sample of Ibsens work and I think this is the best of the bunch.

There are so many layers in this tragic play!
This is a very complex play although it seems simplistic at first.There were a lot of changes going on in society when Ibsen wrote this play in 1884 And not everyone was adapting to these changes.Some still tried to cling to the old way of doing things, and others were trying to force changes within their own sphere. (Is that so different than now?)Anyway, Ibsen portrays these varying degrees of acceptance with his characters in this play.And he does a masterful job of it.How can so much be depicted about the heartache and pathos of the human psyche within the limits of a five-act play?That is Ibsen/s genius.

a vast masterpiece
so hilarious, so poignant, so daring, and so dense - teeming with life - the characters speaking their characterization - and such beautiful characters - and so wacko

The Wild Duck We Know
Many find Ibsen difficult to understand. I certainly did. However, byreading The Wild Duck, I was introduced to an entire new world of symbolismand creative writing. Like the master he was, Ibsen paints a portrait of afamily, representing all of us, living on a lie. Cruelty in our midst,innocent victimes and pragmatists losing to the vindictive, it's all there.The touches of comedy and tragedy just increase the impression that it doesconcern us, that really, he's looked into our lives and seen our lies,although hopefully in a less extreme version. And don't we all know aHedvig, a Gina, a Hjalmar and a Gregers? Maybe there's something of the allin all of us... The book sucks you in, creeps under your skin and staysthere, along with the horror, the anger and the sympathy you feel whilereading. In my opinion, one of the best examples of Ibsen's less romanticperiod of writing. ... Read more