Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, theater remained a vehicle of entertainment. Insights into the human condition were merely incidental factors in the dramatist’s art. Ibsen, however, contributed a new significance to drama which changed the development of modern theater. Discovering dramatic material in everyday situations was the […]
Read more Critical Essays Ibsen’s Contributions to the TheaterCritical Essays Drama of Ibsen
Although the plays are interesting for their social message, Ibsenite drama would not survive today were it not for his consummate skill as a technician. Each drama is carefully wrought into a tight logical construction where characters are clearly delineated and interrelated, and where events have a symbolic as well […]
Read more Critical Essays Drama of IbsenCritical Essays Characters and Symbols in The Wild Duck
As in all of Ibsen’s plays, the characters in The Wild Duck reflect each other and by mutual comparison amplify the dramatic theme and hasten events to their conclusion. In this play, however, the characters are not only related among themselves; they each bear relation to the integral symbolism of […]
Read more Critical Essays Characters and Symbols in The Wild DuckCritical Essays Structure, Technique, and Theme in The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck’s thematic duality — reality versus idealism — becomes a structural feature of the play. Each scene illustrates this dualism. First Gregers confronts his father, a realist, and accuses him of a life built on lies and deception. In the following scene, Gregers confronts Hialmar and begins to […]
Read more Critical Essays Structure, Technique, and Theme in The Wild DuckHenrik Ibsen Biography
Once the subject of public controversy, defended only by the avant-garde theater critics of the nineteenth century, Ibsen’s prose dramas now appear as successful television plays and are an essential part of the repertory theaters all over the world. No longer inflaming audience reactions, the dramas are now acceptable fare […]
Read more Henrik Ibsen BiographyCharacter Analysis Lieutenant Ekdal
Werle’s former partner is now a broken old man. He does odd jobs of copy work for Werle’s bookkeeper which provides him with enough means to buy an occasional bottle of cognac. Fourteen years ago, when old Ekdal was active at the Hoidal works, the company appropriated a large quantity […]
Read more Character Analysis Lieutenant EkdalCharacter Analysis Hakon Werle
The old man himself, Hakon Werle, has allegedly driven his sick wife to her death by carrying on love affairs in his own home. First he caused his young serving girl, Gina, to become pregnant. Arranging her marriage with Hialmar Ekdal, the son of his former partner, Werle also provided […]
Read more Character Analysis Hakon WerleCharacter Analysis Gregers Werle
Gregers Werle is the son of a man he detests and he has avoided his father by spending the past fifteen years in the family mining concern, the Hoidal works, in the northern forests of Norway. In the course of the play Ibsen establishes that, because he is so unattractive […]
Read more Character Analysis Gregers WerleSummary and Analysis Act V
Summary Cold, gray morning light illuminates the stage, and Hialmar has not returned. Dr. Relling informs them he is asleep on the sofa in his apartment. “How can he sleep?” asks the despairing Hedvig, and Gregers answers that the man needs rest after “the spiritual conflict which has rent him.” […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act VSummary and Analysis Act IV
Summary It is later in the afternoon, and Gina and Hedvig wonder where Hialmar is. Dinner is late, a feature unusual in the Ekdal home. Finally Hialmar arrives, looking tired and worn. They think he is ill because he refuses to eat. He increases their anxiety by announcing that from […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act IV