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 Marvin Cafhon 
 
HENRIK IBSEN 
 
Br MONTROSE J. MOSES 
 
 CHILDREN'S BOOKS AND READING 
 HENRIK IBSEN THE MAN AND HIS PLAYS 
 FAMOUS ACTOR FAMILIES IN AMERICA 
 LITERATURE OF THE SOUTH In preparation 
 
 EDITED Br MR. MOSES 
 
 EVERYMAN A Morality Play 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924073163051 
 
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HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 THE MAN AND 
 HIS PLATS 
 
 MONTROSE J. MOSES 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 MITCHELL KENNERLEY 
 
 2 East 2gth Street 
 
Copyright igo8 by 
 Mitchell Kennerley 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Prefatory Chapter 1 
 
 I. The Entrance op Henrik Ibsen 11 
 
 II. Grimstad Days 27 
 
 III. Christiania 47 
 
 IV. Bergen (1852-1857) 63 
 V. " Fru Inger of Osthat " and 
 
 " The Feast at Solhaug " 79 
 
 VI. Christiania (1857-1864) 102 
 
 VII. A Satiric Interruption 119 
 
 VIII. The Last of the Saoas 134 
 
 IX. The History of Brand 152 
 
 X. Brand Interpreted 171 
 
 XI. Peer Gynt 202 
 
 XII. The First of the Social Dramas 233 
 
 XIII. Ibsen in an Unfamiliar Light 262 
 
 XIV. Emperor and Galilean 283 
 
 XV. A Modern Joshua 313 
 
 XVI. The Torpedo Beneath the Ark 344 
 
 XVII. An Enemy of the People 381 
 
 XVIII. Ibsen the Feminist 401 
 
 XIX. Ibsen the Symbolist 439 
 
 XX. Henrik Ibsen's Epilogue 470 
 
 XXI. The Man and His Plays 499 
 
 Bibliographical Note 519 
 
PREFATORY CHAPTER 
 
 The developnjent of Henrik Ibsen is a thoroughly 
 consistent one if taken in connection with the intel- 
 lectual fermentation which followed the Revolution 
 of 184<8. It is a wrong point of view that strives 
 to over-emphasize the emotive value of the dramatist's 
 work, and to separate the individual plays, with their 
 dominant ideas, from the conditions, both social and 
 temperamental, which preceded their composition. On 
 the other hand, that criticism is false which ignores 
 the artistic characteristics, and attempts to explain 
 every situation, every psychological phase by some- 
 exterior fact. 
 
 After following the incidents in the life of Henrik 
 Ibsen step by step, one is impressed by the meagre- 
 ness of detail, but also by the intensity with which 
 the few details were met. The moments worthy 
 of record constitute events of importance either to 
 the world or to Scandinavia ; the man came from his 
 inner self only when he could sound a trumpet blast 
 or applaud the trumpet blasts of others. But, curi- 
 ously, isolation was necessary to a spirit such as his ; 
 he was endowed with the gift of seeing better from 
 afar ; his aggressiveness, the result of inheritance, of 
 environment, of individual genius, cut him off from 
 the natural progress of society, and by his isolation 
 he was enabled to form a perspective without which 
 he could not have developed. 
 
2 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Curiously, this same isolation was characteristic 
 of Ibsen's mental growth, for while he read consider- 
 ably and promiscuously, it cannot be said that he 
 was in any way a man of culture in the academic 
 sense. He was endowed with a certain intuitive force 
 that drew from events and from the spirit of the 
 time what was necessary for him ; hA seemed to grasp 
 instinctively that which others obtained from books. 
 He went through the world, a student of men, keenly 
 observing, as every dramatist should, the living flow 
 of life, asking others to give him whatever technical 
 data he might need. 
 
 At first glance it would appear that Ibsen was 
 little more than an intellectual machine, but this is 
 not so: no more human example is to be found in 
 literary history. The obscuration of the man, on the 
 one hand through mystification and on the other 
 through unnecessary gossip and popular astonish- 
 ment, has resulted in an isolation from his public, 
 which Henrik Ibsen does not deserve. But since his 
 death, after the final word was spoken by him, the 
 publication of the Ibsen letters has done much to 
 illuminate the silence which characterized his life. 
 One can look back over the years and say of him that 
 never was there a truer patriot, a firmer friend, and, 
 even in the face of his wilful separation from his 
 family, a more zealous head of the household. Some 
 critics have called his a suburban type of mind, yet 
 no man drew more from the current press than Ibsen ; 
 no man saw the modern movement more clearly than 
 he; and he translated all facts in terms of the in- 
 tensity which they might add to the current of time. 
 
 Ibsen was fortunate in his friends ; those may not 
 
PREFATORY CHAPTER S 
 
 be said to lack the opportunities of a broad culture 
 of association, who can claim intellectual kinship with 
 such types of mind as Bjornstjeme Bjornson and 
 George Brandes possessed. Critics are heard to ex- 
 press surprise that Wordsworth, in the quietness of 
 Grasmere, apparently aloof from the world's activity, 
 was yet so keenly in touch with philosophic thought 
 and with political situations, even though he was 
 more persistent than Ibsen in his tendency to ignore 
 books. But it must be borne in mind that the stimu- 
 lation received from the contact with Coleridge was 
 a university education in itself. Brandes stood in 
 like relation toward Ibsen. 
 
 The type of personality whose growth we are to 
 trace is one which develops early in life; the change 
 which characterizes it is of depth, of intensity, of 
 concentration; its realization is subjective and its 
 limitations, as far as expression is concerned, are very 
 evident. There is more variety in the Ibsen of the 
 romantic period than of the modern social phase; 
 yet even in the saga dramas and in the satires, where 
 his imagination and his humour ' were given certain 
 freedom to disport themselves, the germs of future 
 plays and the motives or suggestions for later situa- 
 tions are to be detected. Ibsen was not a man of 
 rich narrative invention. 
 
 Having identified himself so closely with what we 
 are pleased to term modern problems, having almost 
 determinedly killed a lyrical Pegasus from under him, 
 instead of having had it killed, as Brandes suggests, 
 Ibsen fell into the natural error, beginning with 
 " The Wild Duck," of gathering his philosophical 
 theories together and of introducing them by means 
 
4 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 of symbols into his plays. He found his poetry not 
 so facile as heretofore, and his taste not so content 
 with the stark and naked details of " Ghosts." The 
 result was an indefiniteness which was coincident with 
 the spiritual alteration detected in " The Wild 
 Duck," and which, with the exception of " The Mas- 
 ter Builder," marked every drama in his final period — 
 a period of decadence rather than of positive illumi- 
 nation. 
 
 To understand the Henrik Ibsen that ^ exists be- 
 tween the writing of his poem on " Resignation " 
 (1847) and of his epilogue, "When We Dead 
 Awaken" (1899), necessitates a consideration of 
 history, of philosophy, and of social revolution 
 through evolution. From the time when his verses 
 — no less than six individual poems — contained the 
 glint of moonlight, to the time when he himself be- 
 gan to estimate the true value of his fight, calls for 
 the adjusting of legitimate cause and eifect, and be- 
 hind every one of his productions a dynamic force 
 has to be considered. 
 
 We cannot very well separate the man from his 
 work; we must, to some extent, reach an estimate 
 of the man's ability by means of the full value which 
 he himself places upon the work. At the last, Ibsen 
 reminds one of an extinct volcano ; we look down the 
 crater of his life and wonder whether he has obtained 
 the most from the fires which burned and flickered 
 and went out in the ashes of old age. There is a note 
 of vain regret sounded during his final years which 
 would indicate that much of the truth of life was 
 missed by him in his zealous regard for the welfare 
 of humanity. The sarcastic laugh at his own ex- 
 
PREFATORY CHAPTER 6 
 
 pense in " The Wild Duck " represents a change of 
 base from the cynical levity at the expense of society 
 in " Love's Comedy." 
 
 Had Ibsen ceased to exist after the publication 
 of " Emperor and Galilean " (1873), he would have 
 been a great poet among Scandinavians; he would 
 have been a man of one poem, " Brand," in Ger- 
 many. It was through his modem social and sex- 
 ual dramas that his name became international, 
 and that his technique overcame in an interesting 
 struggle the prevailing technique of Scribe and 
 Dumas in the theatres. But should one ask whether 
 these social studies, despite their mechanism and their 
 psychological analyses, are permanent contributions 
 to the stage, we are tempted to say no. " The Vi- 
 kings at Helgeland " and " The Pretenders " will out- 
 live " A Doll's House " and " Rosmersholm " ; " Peer 
 Gynt " and " Brand," because of a certain large 
 human universality of character which they both 
 contain, will be of more Value by reason of their 
 imaginative conception than " Pillars of Society " 
 and " An Enemy of the People," which are more local 
 and timely in their social and political scope. 
 " Ghosts," representing a modern example of Greek 
 precision, of fatal inevitableness, of perfectness in 
 marshalling circumstances, will become individualized 
 because of the Greek characteristics. 
 
 But Ibsen's modern social dramas, once they have 
 passed the line where their purpose becomes inactive, 
 and their point of view merely an historical one, will 
 represent only the value of Ibsen's technique, which 
 they typify. It is the spiritual bravery of the man 
 and the technical craftsmanship of the playwright 
 
6 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 which command and assure his future recognition. In 
 perspective, after events and circumstances have been 
 marshalled in consecutive order, Henrik Ibsen's pes- 
 simism will be found to be due not to moral hopeless- 
 ness but to moral indignation : his ethical significance 
 is active, his social dream optimistic. In no way did 
 he temper the wind to the shorn lamb, nor protect the 
 parts he vaccinated ; but, though his realism is some- 
 times unnecessarily severe, though by nature he with- 
 drew into the silence, a study of Henrik Ibsen will 
 not be devoid of a romantic glow, will not be lacking 
 in a poignant humour which lay concealed in idea 
 and personality. Despite the narrowness of his char- 
 acter, and however antithetical the statement might 
 seem, the figure of Ibsen is many-sided. 
 
 In this study, the groundwork has been based upon 
 Mr. William Archer's definitive English edition of 
 Ibsen's dramas, the publication of which, has just 
 been completed. It is out of the question for those 
 unfamiliar with the Scandinavian tongues to under- 
 stand anything of the Ibsen diction ; we know by his 
 letters how he strove for the pure element in lan- 
 guage, and how he was especially bitter against those 
 writers who avoided the use of distinctively Nor- 
 wegian words and phrases for Danish equivalents. 
 In the metrical pieces, it is difficult for the English 
 translator to escape a certain commonplace phrase- 
 ology closely akin to the stilted and stereotyped style 
 of the modern opera libretto. 
 
 When " Love's Comedy " was given its first pro- 
 duction in America (New York, 1908), the couplets 
 and alternate rhymes of Professor Herford's transla- 
 tion sounded awkward in the stage rendering. " Peer 
 
PREFATORY CHAPTER 7 
 
 Gynt " at times escapes the prosaic, although Mr. 
 Richard Mansfield's reading of the lines emphasized 
 the meagreness of the English evaluation of word- 
 colour. " Brand," comparable in scope with 
 " Faust," is somewhat thin in its sonorousness. The 
 lyric, the epic, and the saga qualities, the ballad char- 
 acteristics and spirit, lose their spontaneousness. Yet, 
 taken aU together, the translations of the poetic 
 dramas are commendable, however literal, while the 
 prose dramas possess a marked literary style. 
 
 As for the poems, individual pieces have been in- 
 differently turned into English, and the reader who 
 wishes the complete collection has either to resort to 
 the German translations of Emma Klingenfeld, Lud- 
 wig Fulda, Max Bamberger and Christian Morgen- 
 stern, or to the French of Vicomte de CoUeville and 
 F. de Zepelin. In my own case, I have used both, 
 not having full confidence in the faithfulness of 
 translations, and feeling that one might act as a 
 check upon the other, especially in those cases where 
 Ibsen's uncomplimentary references to the Germans 
 have been known to be omitted from some of the 
 German editions. For example, when Passarge trans- 
 lated the " Balloon Letter to a Swedish Lady," he 
 cut out all intended thrusts at Bismarck and Moltke 
 — innuendoes joyously retained by the French. Ib- 
 sen's international reputation rests upon translation, 
 and he thus stands pecuharly at the mercy of the 
 literary middle-man. That he is so well understood 
 and so largely appreciated is thus partly due to the 
 sincerity of the translators. 
 
 The Ibsen bibliography is naturally large, for the 
 dramatist has dealt with theories and problems that 
 
8 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 have had to battle for recognition; each play has 
 had to progress from post to post, and each publica- 
 tion encouraged or challenged a deluge of comment. 
 The biographies are numerous, but I am especially 
 indebted to Jaeger, Brandes, and the Ibsen Letters 
 edited by John Nilsen Laurvik and Mary Morison. 
 Mr. Edmund Gosse's " Life " has served to place Ib- 
 sen in his Scandinavian literary setting, although I 
 doubt whether, for English-speaking readers, it is 
 quite necessary to enter minutely into a compara- 
 tive analysis of the Ibsen motives with those of his 
 Northern contemporaries. However, most of the 
 works of Brandes and Bjornson are accessible in 
 translation, and to supplement the Scandinavian ref- 
 erences, Paul Botten-Hansen's " La Norvege Litte- 
 raire au 19^ Siecle. Catalogue Systematique " 
 ( Christiania, 1868) and Frederik Winkel Horn's 
 " History of the Literature of the Scandinavian 
 North " (translated by Rasmus B. Anderson) will 
 be found particularly useful. The latter contains a 
 " Bibliography of the Important Books in the Eng- 
 lish Language Relating to the Scandinavian Coun- 
 tries," compiled by Thorvald Solberg (1895). J. B. 
 Halvorsen's " Bibliografiske Oplysninger til Henrik 
 Ibsens Samlede Vserker " (Kj0benhavn, 1901) is of 
 inestimable worth to the student, however much it 
 may ignore English and American criticism and stage 
 history. In particular, I wish to emphasize my 
 appreciation of Mr. Archer's researches, covering a 
 period since Ibsen was introduced into England by 
 Mr. Gosse, who wrote the first estimate for the Lon- 
 don Spectator of April 22, 1872 ; his work has been 
 indefatigable, and his critical introductions for the 
 
PREFATORY CHAPTER 9 
 
 new edition of Ibsen are excellent examples of the 
 surety with which he handles detail. 
 
 I shall have to let my bibliographies convey my 
 indebtedness to my varied sources, biographical and 
 otherwise. The commentaries, which are so plentiful, 
 indicate how prone criticism is to wander far from 
 the main line of argument. On the whole, it would 
 seem to me that the French appreciation of Ibsen is 
 more systematic than the German in its attempt to 
 measure the social and artistic value of the dramatist. 
 But it is very evident, on the whole, that as far as 
 a book is concerned, Henrik Ibsen has not yet received 
 full credit as a man and as an artist. There is a 
 mean between the extremes of " Mr. Punch's Pocket 
 Ibsen " and Auguste Ehrhard's " Henrik Ibsen et le 
 Theatre Contemporain " — yet there is truth in both. 
 To approach the Norwegian dramatist without ob- 
 truding personal theories, to be blind to the symbol 
 within the symbol, are qualities which a biographer 
 should strive to attain. There are sufficient actuali- 
 ties in the life of the man and in the working out of 
 his plays to keep one within certain bounds. 
 
 I wish to express my indebtedness to the librarians 
 of Columbia and Harvard Universities for the un- 
 usual facilities placed at my disposal, and in especial 
 my thanks are due to Mr. Frederic W. Erb of Colum- 
 bia University, whose bibliographical assistance was 
 of great value. In this connection, I wish to record 
 my grateful recognition of the services rendered by 
 my sister. Belle Moses. Other acknowledgments will 
 be found in their appropriate places. 
 
 M. J. M. 
 New York, November, 1908, 
 
HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE ENTRANCE OF HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 In 1720, a Danish sea-captain, bearing the name 
 of Peter Ibsen, set his face toward Norway and en- 
 tered the town of Bergen, a seaport on the rugged 
 southwest coast of the Scandinavian peninsula. He 
 hailed from Moen, to the southeast of Zeeland, and 
 the blood of the Vikings flowed in his veins. ^ But 
 no sooner had he become a full citizen of the provin- 
 cial community than he married a German lady, and 
 by this union Henrik Petersen Ibsen, the great- 
 grandfather of the dramatist, was born. 
 
 At the outset we thus note the two prevailing na- 
 tional strains in the family : but a third infusion was 
 to result by the marriage of this son with Wenche 
 Dischington, whose father, a thoroughgoing Scots- 
 man, had settled in Norway for business reasons. 
 The foundations of the Ibsen temperament were 
 therefore somewhat foreign to the native soil of 
 Bergen or of Skien, where the great-grandfather and 
 his wife settled, and where Henrik Ibsen, grandfather 
 
 ' The genealogical chart prepared by Haldane Macfall for his 
 book on Ibsen, while confusing in arrangement, substantially 
 agrees with JiEger's account. 
 
12 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 of the famous namesake, entered the world. This 
 representative was of the third generation to follow 
 the sea, and he it was who emulated the example of 
 his grandsire by seeking the hand of a daughter of 
 one Plesner, whose stock was distinctively German. 
 
 Unfortunately, after the birth of his only child, 
 the married life of Henrik Ibsen I. was of short dura- 
 tion, for, setting sail in command of his own ship, 
 he was wrecked off Hesnass, near Grimstad, the ves- 
 sel foundering with the loss of all on board. 
 
 Ibsen's father, Canute (Knud) Henriksen, a mer- 
 chant by trade, became enamoured of Maria Cornelia 
 Altenburg, whose family was not only of German 
 origin through many uninterrupted generations, but 
 whose father had likewise gone to sea. Thus, upon 
 the entrance of Henrik Ibsen into the world, it is 
 evident that his hereditary endowments were varied; 
 the strain was predominantly German, broken only 
 once by the bequeathment of Scotch characteristics, 
 and based upon a Danish foundation. Norway's 
 claim on him, therefore, is one dependent upon the 
 influence of external environment, for temperament 
 is affected by climatic changes, by social conditions, 
 and by natural and local impressions. 
 
 An inventory of this inheritance would therefore 
 account for Ibsen's frugality and his proneness to si- 
 lence, from the Scotch; for his earnest philosophical 
 tendency, from the Germans; and for his imagina- 
 tion, from the North. His three-sided nationality 
 gave him a certain cosmopolitan taste, at the same 
 time that, once exiled from Norway, it developed in 
 him his sense of aloofness as well as his Scandinavian 
 proclivities. Ibsen's pride in his ancestry was shown 
 
ENTRANCE OF HENRIK IBSEN 13 
 
 on many occasions. From the Tyrol, he wrote to 
 George Brandes in 1882, correcting statements in the 
 latter's account of him, and indicating that the Ibsen 
 family was one of the most respected in Skien. Ibsen 
 had not lost sight of the fact that Chief Magistrate 
 Pans, who represented the town in the Storthing, 
 was half-brother to his father, as well as being cousin 
 to his mother. Besides, which, a point which might 
 not seem important to Brandes, but which Ibsen's 
 pride treasured, he was connected with the Plesners, 
 the Von der Lippes, the Cappelens, and the Bloms, 
 all patrician families of influential standing in the 
 town. 
 
 Mr. Gosse speaks of the dead-level persistency, 
 the middle class respectability of the Ibsen family, 
 yet, in a provincial community of a conservativeness 
 which amounted to the strictest Puritanical narrow- 
 ness, respectability and spiritual worth were meas- 
 ured by the absence of much stimulation or ambition. 
 
 On his mother's side, Ibsen inherited his reserve; 
 from his father he drew the keen wit which made 
 the sire popular and feared, and which brought the 
 wrath of nations down upon the head of the son. 
 Ibsen's character, however, was diiferent from that 
 of both parents ; his mother was quiet, lovable, sacri- 
 ficing, with none of the bitterness in her nature which 
 fermented in the soul of her offspring; his father, 
 despite the quick lash of his tongue, was cheerful 
 and noted for his sociability. In fine, this couple 
 was thoroughgoing and content within the narrow 
 boundaries of Skien. Ibsen's ancestry were identified 
 with the two Norwegian towns which figured largely 
 in the first twenty years of his life. Read that 
 
14 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 graphic narrative poem of his entitled " Terje 
 Vigen," and it will be realized how thoroughly the 
 sea spirit was ingrained in his being — a love for the 
 free abandon of the waves which he comments upon 
 throughout his letters and in his plays. When he 
 wrote those verses he was probably imagining the 
 tragic fate of his grandfather. 
 
 We have thus outlined the human setting for the 
 entrance of Henrik Ibsen. But there is more ; there 
 is the physical background which overshadowed the 
 narrowness of Skien and Bergen and Grimstad, which 
 encouraged Ibsen to twilight brooding, and intense 
 struggles through the long nights.^ One cannot 
 ignore the value of wild fiord and mountain solitude 
 in the make-up of a man. They either quicken in 
 him the love for such legendary lore as runs through 
 " Peer Gynt " or affect him with the varied humours 
 characteristic of " Brand." The temperaments of 
 Ibsen and Bjornson are both products of this natural 
 ruggedness, Ibsen dwelling within the continual 
 shadow of sheer rock, Bjornson seeking the sunshine 
 of the valley. 
 
 The political situation in Norway was likewise of 
 a peculiar temper in the year 1828. The history of 
 modern Scandinavia seems to have comprised hope- 
 less endeavours to unite the three countries under 
 
 'Of the Norwegians, Ossip-Lourid writes: "La pauvretd du 
 sol lui a impost le goflt des r^alit^s." Jules Lemaitre says: "La 
 plupart des Norv^giens vivent sous I'influence d'une nature tr6s 
 dramatiqnc." 
 
 The Norwegian people are estimated at length by Garborg 
 in his " Henrik Ibsens Keiser og Galiloeer, en Kritish Studie " 
 (1874), quoted in translation by Prof. Julius E. Olson in his 
 edition of "Brand" (1908), Introduction. 
 
ENTRANCE OP HENRIK IBSEN 15 
 
 one head, but against such a coahtlon there appeared 
 to be pitted the whole tenor of separate intellectual 
 as well as social ideals. There was something in the 
 Norwegian that was thoroughly democratic, while in 
 the Swedes a strong aristocratic attitude offered them 
 an opportunity of looking down upon their neigh- 
 bours in superior condescension. Yet the two so far 
 forgot their own individual national instincts as to 
 draw their artistic and spiritual sustenance from 
 Denmark. Therefore, Scandinavian history com- 
 prises largely a discussion as to how far Denmark 
 and, more centrally speaking, Copenhagen gripped 
 the peninsular territories to the north. Wherein the 
 three differed we shall see later on. 
 
 As a result of the Napoleonic wars, the year 1814 
 began with Denmark's loss of Norway, which country 
 was at the time resisting the strong efforts to effect 
 some sort of union with Sweden. But, after electing 
 a king, after framing a constitution, the Norwegians 
 found themselves involved in a war with Sweden, 
 whose army was immediately directed across the bor- 
 ders. Then it was that the King of Norway abdi- 
 cated, and the Storthing, weakened in its national 
 position, was now content to sue for a constitutional 
 union with Sweden. This opposition on the part of 
 Norway was not a stand indicative of a consuming 
 patriotic consciousness, nor was her national sense, 
 however apparent, wholly awakened until the figures 
 of Ibsen and Bjornson loomed upon the horizon.^ At 
 
 ' An excellent critique of Bjornstjerne Bjornson is contained 
 in Boyesen's " Essays on Scandinavian Literature.'' (Scribner, 
 1895.) See also Brandes' " Bjornson," included in the same 
 volume with his consideration of Ibsen. See Bjornson's article 
 
16 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 first glance it would appear that these two were work- 
 ing with the same intent — ^to make the Norwegians 
 aware of themselves — and this is true to the point 
 where Ibsen's perspective view of the situation made 
 him politically much more in favour of the Scan- 
 dinavian coalition than Bjornson, who was a most 
 ardent democrat. 
 
 It is necessary to bear this status in mind; other- 
 wise it is not essential to involve the development of 
 Henrik Ibsen with the political wranglings of the 
 Storthing. He was content to remain outside of the 
 discussions, and if he was at all deeply interested in 
 political matters, they were those larger movements 
 which affected Europe and not alone Norway. 
 
 Henrik Ibsen was consistent in his aloofness as re- 
 gards party politics. But his youth was influenced 
 by the revolution of 1848 much in the way that 
 Wordsworth was gripped by the French Revolution. 
 His patriotism consisted in that nationalism which 
 was the result of intellectual initiative. Being 
 against the idea of the State, he yet contended per- 
 sistently for those marks of nationality which would 
 distinguish the Norwegian from the Dane, in purity 
 of language, in pride of historical tradition, and in 
 the creative endowments which drew material from 
 the soil. In this respect, therefore, it might be 
 claimed for Bjornson and for Camilla CoUett, who 
 both wrote of the Norwegian peasant and middle 
 class peoples, that they perhaps realized more prac- 
 tically than Ibsen the value of intimate detail in their 
 literary endeavours ; they might be said to have used 
 
 on " Norway's Constitutional Struggle." (^Scribner, 21 : 603, 
 February, 1881.) 
 
ENTRANCE OF HENRIK IBSEN 17 
 
 their realism to greater artistic advantage, to have 
 harmonized their purpose more effectively with local 
 colour. In his modern social dramas, Ibsen's philos- 
 ophy nearly always overflowed the limitations of his 
 suburban characters. 
 
 The northern nature thrives on factions, and the 
 Norwegians, the Swedes, and the Danes fought over 
 their art canons as well as ©ver their State differences. 
 The land that produced Ibsen and Bjomson de- 
 manded of Sweden the retention of her national char- 
 acteristics, and only a conciliatory policy kept mat- 
 ters from open rupture between the two. Norway 
 clamoured for equality; Norway abolished her rank 
 of nobility ; Norway applied for a national flag and 
 persisted in doing away with the post of viceroy. 
 The official relations between the conjoined territories 
 depended upon what political faction in Norway — 
 whether Radical or Conservative — was in the ascen- 
 dency. The sensitive questions involved conflicting 
 points created by the loose wording of a constitution, 
 and by the human suspicion which constitutes the 
 chief characteristic of party warfare. 
 
 Upon the entrance of Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian art 
 was exotic ; the stage was modelled along Danish lines, 
 the poetry was inspired by Danish examples — culture 
 itself was regarded as counterfeit unless it came from 
 Copenhagen. Norway had ceased to be aware of the 
 significance of the past ; her originality lay dormant 
 beneath a slavish dependence and imitation. Nowhere 
 does literary history afford a more interesting strug- 
 gle for the assertion of independent traits than in 
 the persons of Bjornstjeme Bjornson, born in 1832, 
 and Henrik Johan Ibsen, born on March 20, 18^8, 
 
18 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 in the little town of Skien. The one was the son of 
 a parish priest, and in his person represented one 
 generation removed from the soil; the other was the 
 son of a merchant, in whose veins flowed the courage 
 of hardy Danes. It was not a thought of class dis- 
 tinction which was to come between the two at a 
 later time, but the distinction was that which exists 
 between the views of a constitutional radical and of 
 an intellectual radical. 
 
 The stage setting for Ibsen's birthplace has been 
 very graphically sketched by liim ; the family dwelling 
 was situated in the centre of the little town and bore 
 the pretentious name of Stockmann House, and it 
 was near all of the important edifices of which the 
 three thousand inhabitants could boast. But the fact 
 that Ibsen's father carried on a brisk merchant's 
 trade indicates that the community, however primitive 
 in some things, was active in commercial ingenuity. 
 
 That portion of Skien to be described was in later 
 years totally destroyed by fire, some of the portions 
 familiar to Ibsen being wiped out in 1854, while 
 others went the same way in 1886. Then it was that 
 Ibsen, in his familiar, blunt manner exclaimed, " The 
 inhabitants of Skien were quite unworthy to possess 
 my birthplace." 
 
 From the windows of Stockmann House, one could 
 see the church with its tower ; while not far from the 
 meeting-house loomed forth the town pillory, the 
 town hall, the lock-up, and the mad-house — a suffi- 
 ciently gruesome assemblage to grip tlic mind of any 
 sensitive, reflective boy. Ibsen seemed to resent the 
 fact that this ground-plan was chiefly architectural; 
 probably he accounted for the absence thereafter of 
 
ENTRANCE OF HENRIK IBSEN 19 
 
 any vivid nature description in his early poetry, by 
 the absence of nature from the streets of Skien ; one 
 of these thoroughfares afterwards bore his name. 
 Some of the first sounds that became familiar to the 
 boy's ear were the rush and roar of nearby fosses, 
 and the persistent grating of innumerable saw- 
 mills. " When I read of the guillotine afterwards," 
 Ibsen records, " I always had to think of these saws." 
 
 After the church was burned in 1854, through the 
 careless action of a serving maid, it was replaced by 
 a more substantial building, in which stood a bap- 
 tismal font supported by the figure of an impossible- 
 looking little cherub which became indelibly fixed 
 upon Ibsen's memory, for, in writing to his sister 
 Hedvig as late as 1891, he referred to " the old 
 church with the angel of baptism under the raftered 
 roof." 
 
 This retentive memory was not prone to forget the 
 belfry of the church, wherein, tradition held, there 
 roamed a black poodle, with fiery red eyes, who so 
 frightened the night watchman that the poor man 
 fell out of the window; nor did youthful conscience 
 spare the little fellow when, evidently indulging in 
 forbidden sport, he rolled a coin, given him on his 
 christening day, into a crack, and thereafter con- 
 sidered himself a species of criminal fit for the dis- 
 cipline of policeman Tysker. 
 
 Thus passed the first four years of Ibsen's life; 
 and then the father, prospering still more, moved 
 his family into a sumptuous house uptown, where, 
 it seems, no small amount of entertainment was done, 
 around Christmas being the signal for open festivi- 
 ties. Now followed the rudiments of education, not 
 
20 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 received in the common school under the direction of 
 Beadle Iver Flastrud, who likewise boasted the pro- 
 fession of village barber, nor under Rector Oem, who 
 superintended the Latin school, but presumably under 
 private tutorship. Ibsen grew up in the midst of 
 the usual pranks of village boys, but he does not seem 
 to have had any great inclination to play in normal 
 manner. It pleased him far better to brood over the 
 pillory around which a morbid imagination disported 
 itself, or to look within the grated openings of the 
 dungeon in search of pale and wasted faces, than to 
 join in the healthy exercises of the village scholars. 
 
 But there were a few festivities for this unusually 
 moody youth, otherwise his recollections of the balls, 
 musicals, and visiting guests would not have remained 
 so distinct; there was the Fair, with its mysteries of 
 honey-cakes and rope dancers ; there was the 17th of 
 May, when the young men of Skien would celebrate 
 with fireworks the adoption of the Norwegian con- 
 stitution. Then came the night of June 23d, St. 
 John's Eve, with the lighting of bonfires, which 
 burned all the more brightly since they were largely 
 composed of tar barrels begged at the wharves. 
 
 The social position of the Ibsen family was, how- 
 ever, soon to be jeopardized, for, when Henrik was 
 but eight years old, an adverse turn of the tide of 
 fortune brought financial ruin to his father. Three 
 characteristics marked the town of Skien ; it was ripe 
 soil for the pietistic movement of Pastor Lammers ; 
 it had its social castes, the distinction being rigorously 
 maintained ; and, moreover, this discrimination was 
 based, as it generally is everywhere, upon a worldly 
 calculation. When, therefore, the stolid aristocracy 
 
ENTRANCE OP HENRIK IBSEN 21 
 
 of the lumber town heard of the Ibsen reverses, they 
 looked askance, nor did any of the good wives ride 
 out to the suburbs to call at the Venstob farmhouse, 
 where the family were forced to move. " In conse- 
 quence," confessed Ibsen, " we got out of touch with 
 the society to which we had until then belonged." 
 
 At this point we may begin to note the future 
 dramatist's keen resentment of provincial prejudices: 
 from now on life seemed to offer every opposition to 
 his naturally aristocratic feelings. There were four 
 other children in the family beside Henrik, and, by 
 all accounts, they must have suffered from the vaga- 
 ries of his nature. One sister remembered him as an 
 " uncomfortable boy " whom they would have to prod 
 into action, and then he would bungle through the 
 games, unless it happened that they were playing 
 fort, when his ingenuity at building and manoeuvr- 
 ing was remarkable. He would find especial enjoy- 
 ment in cutting figures from pasteboard and arrang- 
 ing them in groups, indicative of certain situations, 
 and foreshadowing the playwright's instinct; but 
 from this inclination likewise developed his pronounced 
 artistic tastes which drew him strongly toward paint- 
 ing as a future profession. 
 
 Yet notwithstanding all the accounts of his interest 
 in sleight of hand performances, given public exhibi- 
 tion in one of the spare rooms, Henrik Ibsen was first 
 and last a lad of thought, whose larger and more 
 significant life was spent within himself. The school- 
 ing received by him from one Johan Hansen, a theo- 
 logian, was characterized by an austerity which found 
 ready response from the boy, who learned Latin suf- 
 ficiently well to write some imitative verses, and who 
 
22 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 became so engrossed in theology, according to Jasger, 
 that he " would sit for hours with his text-book, 
 hunting up in the Bible the passages referred to." 
 Though radical principles were to be the dominant 
 elements in Ibsen's mature nature, yet there is truth 
 in Nordau's statement that the dramatist's mind could 
 never be wholly rid of its theological crease. By 
 1843, the boy was confirmed and taken from school. 
 " Brand " affords one a glimpse of the narrow 
 traits of the Skien community as well as of that offi- 
 cialdom by which religion was regulated. In Peer 
 Gynt's first greeting of his mother Ase, we detect a 
 suggestion of the comfort that once enveloped the 
 Ibsen family in the persons of Rasmus Gynt and 
 " Gold-bag Jon." Reflections of Ibsen's reading 
 tastes at this time are as clearly stated in " The Wild 
 Duck " as are Lamb's own impressions of the Stack- 
 house Bible in his Elia essays. Gregers asks little 
 Hedvig whether she reads books — Hedvig, the most 
 delicate of all Ibsen children, and coloured with a 
 tender memory of his own sister, the only relative 
 to whom he used to confide his secret hopes and am- 
 bitions, and with whom he never entirely lost inter- 
 course. " Oh, yes," replies the child, " when I get 
 the chance. Most of them are English though, and 
 I don't understand English. But then I look at the 
 pictures. There is one great big book called ' Har- 
 rison's History of London.' It must be a hundred 
 years old ; and there are such heaps of pictures in it. 
 At the beginning there is Death with an hour-glass 
 and a woman." All of these treasures, so Hedvig 
 adds, were left behind by an old sea captain who was 
 drowned. 
 
ENTRANCE OF HENRIK IBSEN 23 
 
 Thus does art entwine itself about past incidents, 
 disguised however they may be ; in subtle manner does 
 imagination grapple with well-nigh forgotten hap- 
 penings. But the years 1842 and 1843 burned 
 deeply into the soul of Henrik Ibsen ; at the age of 
 fourteen he was thrown upon his own resources, and 
 thenceforward began that cleavage between himself 
 and his family which he encouraged because he felt 
 how different his spirit was from theirs, how radical 
 his opinions were as compared with theirs. His 
 parents were not of the character to relent in their 
 disapproval of their son's independence ; and Hedvig 
 alone seems to have exerted that wisdom which agrees 
 to disagree, yet, at the same time, to practise toler- 
 ance. 
 
 Leaving the orchards of Venstob and returning to 
 Skien, Ibsen alone of his family seems to have been 
 unable to countenance the condescension of the neigh- 
 bours. Many a line in his early poems bears traces 
 of the smart and sting and the indignities which 
 his sensitiveness dwelt upon and probably over-em- 
 ]phasized ; the fermenting spirit was making him rest- 
 less. Financial meagreness was now to pursue Hen- 
 rik Ibsen for many years ; it was his first encounter 
 with such facts that turned him away from painting 
 as other than a' side issue — ^his father's practical voice 
 for the last time strengthening his son's intentions 
 of obtaining some salaried position. Such employ- 
 ment was not to be had in Skien and Ibsen was glad 
 to turn his back upon a place whose littlenesses fur- 
 nished food for all his social types in such pieces 
 as "The League of Youth" and "Pillars of So- 
 ciety." 
 
24 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 The stoicism of Ibsen's attitude toward his family 
 savours of the egotism of " Brand " ; mayhap, toward 
 the end of his hfe he saw clearly his failure to 
 acknowledge that there was a mean between the world 
 as it is and the world as he would have it. It was 
 not hard-heartedness or indifference that kept him 
 away. His poverty prevented him from sending his 
 parents any aid and so he never wrote to them. No 
 sooner did he seriously contemplate a literary career 
 than this earnestness changed into a consuming be- 
 lief that his talent, his genius, God-given, should re- 
 ceive consideration over all things else. Like Brand, 
 he must stand alone, tearing from him every thought 
 of parental love, keeping uppermost in his mind the 
 only half -true belief that his radical duty had made 
 him an irreconcilable stranger to his home. 
 
 When news reached him at Munich in 1877 of the 
 death of his father, Ibsen wrote to Christian Paus 
 thanking him for his kindness in tones of true appre- 
 ciation. He outlined the long hard struggle he had 
 had to gain a footing, and in his acceptance of the 
 Paus's consideration of his family, Ibsen revealed his 
 own belief that the universe had so willed others to 
 do as they did do, in order that he might accomplish 
 his predestined work. Never once did he make any 
 strong effort to see his parents ; for there always 
 loomed up to prevent him that detestation of the pre- 
 vailing tendencies in Skien, against which he feared 
 to brush, and which might result, as he seemed to 
 think, in unpleasant consequences. On his first visit 
 to Norway in 1874!, after his exile, Ibsen bethought 
 him of Skien, but hke Brand, turned his back upon 
 smaller duty, not fully realizing that the true worth 
 
ENTRANCE OF HENRIK IBSEN 25 
 
 of the larger facts in life is dependent upon the 
 strength of the lesser actions comprising it. 
 
 But he had already schooled himself to this hard- 
 ness of attitude, for his mother had died in 1869, 
 and the repression he had shown in a letter to Hed- 
 vig was pitifully evident. " I look into myself," he 
 said, hoping that one would understand ; " there is 
 where I fight my battles." Those who would remain 
 in sympathy with him must learn to attribute right 
 motives for those things left undone which the ordi- 
 nary order of society would require us to do ; they 
 must take his word for the declaration that warmth 
 was not lacking in his heart. In family ties, in na- 
 tional interests, he must have a far view, yet even 
 toward Skien he seemed willing to make concessions 
 and to write a letter in 1891 which, in default of an 
 " occasional poem " — a type of verse he had then 
 given up composing — ^his sister Hedvig might read 
 to the simple citizens at the opening of the new Pub- 
 lic Hall. Before the people, this little great man, 
 not averse to honours, wished to flaunt some of his 
 acknowledged worth. To his sister he emphasized his 
 characteristic watchfulness of stormy weather, in 
 whatever land it might be brewing. She had joined 
 the Lammers community, and Ibsen assured her that 
 when the spiritual tornado struck the narrow town 
 from which he had fled, he also had followed the out- 
 come with peculiar satisfaction. No event, with any 
 appreciable significance, could pass without bring- 
 ing grist to his dramatic mill, and so Lammers per- 
 meates the pages of " Brand." There were no com- 
 promises in Ibsen's actions; he must either have the 
 Ibsen good or the Ibsen bad, and outside of that, the 
 
26 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 world was wrong. This is the spirit in which he 
 wrote Bjornson from Rome in 1867: " Do you know 
 that I have entirely separated myself from my own 
 parents, from my whole family, because a position of 
 half -understanding was unendurable to me?" 
 
CHAPTER n " 
 
 GRIMSTAD DAYS 
 
 Ibsen's struggle began, therefore, when he had 
 scarcely reached the age of sixteen. His course took 
 a south-easterly direction to the town of G;rimstad, 
 which was situated on the coast of Skager Rak, be- 
 tween Arendal and Christiansand. The place was 
 even more stagnant than the community he had left ; 
 a cluster of little red houses domiciled the five hun- 
 dred inhabitants who had the appearance of abso- 
 lute inertia, with no interests to raise them above the 
 petty routine of daily existence. The whole place 
 might be described as a sparse fringe of life between 
 the hills and the sea. 
 
 But here there happened to be an apothecary, one 
 Reimann, who needed an apprentice, and into his 
 dark shop young Ibsen passed to face a sorry exist- 
 ence. He never had heard of Keats, who had ex- 
 perienced the same dead hopelessness that he now 
 felt. To C. L. Due's recollections, the biographer 
 Is indebted for details of this period. 
 
 Ibsen's walk through the town was not Inspiring; 
 the sewers opened In the middle of the streets, and 
 at night there were no lamps to give one a hint as 
 to how the road lay. There was constant possibility 
 of lurking danger, and as he passed the houses with 
 their shadeless windows, he could look within and 
 see the families gathered around the bare tables with 
 home-made tallow dips shedding a feeble light over 
 the walls and making dense shadows. Arrived at his 
 place of business, he went into his cheerless room, 
 adjoining that of his employer, and eat his soul out 
 In wretchedness. From this " cell " he would emerge 
 
28 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 into the store, with its ceiling so low as to be readily 
 touched from the floor. 
 
 Two facts constituted a saving grace in his monot- 
 onous existence. Ibsen brought with him his art 
 tastes, which for some time he persisted in cultivat- 
 ing. In 1889, he wrote to Halvorsen, telling of the 
 course he had taken at the Skien Drawing School, 
 and how he had learned oil-painting from a. young 
 landscape artist, Mandt, who occasionally came from 
 Telemarken. Then he added : " At Bergen, I did 
 some water-colour painting under the supervision of 
 the late Mr. Losting. After my return to Christi- 
 ania, I painted a little in oil under the direction of 
 Magnus Bagge. But, in 1860, I began to be much 
 occupied with preparations for writing ' Love's 
 Comedy ' and ' The Pretenders,' and thencefor- 
 ward the art of painting was entirely neglected 
 by me." 
 
 His technique seems to have been more or less imi- 
 tative of the Romantic school, but the deftness of his 
 pencil served him well in cartooning, and later on 
 in sketching; for he designed many of the costumes 
 to be used in the dramas which he mounted while 
 theatre manager. 
 
 The Grimstad clerk soon gathered around him a 
 number of friends who willingly made his room at 
 the drug store a rendezvous for Sunday meetings and 
 for long evening talks. The assemblage must have 
 shocked the citizens, for Ibsen began to be considered 
 not quite nice, and people looked askance at him as 
 they passed him by the way. In appearance, he was 
 somewhat uncouth, but beneath the savage manners 
 which he is said to have sedulously cultivated, there 
 
GRIMSTAD DAYS 29 
 
 was a certain exuberance that made for fellowship 
 among some temperaments. 
 
 Grimstad days were not prosperous times. Due 
 tells how, with Ibsen and Ole C. Schulerud, the three 
 experienced some anxious hours ; Ibsen was the one 
 wholly without capital, for the others were more or 
 less comfortably circumstanced, while he even went 
 so far as to go without stockings and without an 
 overcoat, yet never did he suffer any constitutional 
 set-backs as a consequence. In their individual ways, 
 these young men fought their battles for existence. 
 With his artistic endowments, Ibsen added much to 
 the evening's pleasure in the shop ; there was either 
 verse making; or the sketching pencil lashed particu- 
 lar citizens in unsparing cartoon. One of these pic- 
 tures sarcastically ridiculed the man who prided him- 
 self on his honours and decorations, a curious state 
 of mind considering Ibsen's later stand on the subject. 
 
 Throughout this time, the enduring powers of the 
 youth were marvellously taxed; he never seemed to 
 tire over the day's work, and at night he became 
 noted for the late hours he kept — either in talk, or 
 at his studies, for he was fully determined to attempt 
 his university examinations. Perhaps it was well 
 for Henrik Ibsen that he could not gain entrance 
 into the small but exclusive society, even though Due 
 and Schulerud were of excellent standing. Their 
 friendship meant much to the lonely boy; it was to 
 them that he used to read his verses, and they each 
 could boast of having had a hand in his first literary 
 ventures. 
 
 These effusions were written in the usual romantic 
 style which draws upon intimate personal emotions. 
 
30 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Under the pseudonym of " Brynjolf Bjarme," Due 
 persuaded Ibsen to send his lines on " Autumn " to 
 the Christianiaposten. When the newspaper sheet 
 containing the cold type was brought to him, his face 
 paled and he was somewhat staggered, but no sooner 
 had he become accustomed to the sensation than he 
 wrote another poem, " When I saw my first in print." 
 As yet the pure novelty of being alive had only 
 touched his feelings ; art took the happy form of 
 " Springtime Memories," which Due set to music ; and 
 " The Skald in Valhalla," composed at the time of 
 Oehlenschlager's death, would indicate that the young 
 poet was particularly drawn to him and to his ro^ 
 mantic spirit. For the Danish writer, actor, pro- 
 fessor, playwright, and poet was a pioneer, in so far 
 as he drew literary Denmark away from the clas- 
 sicism of Holberg, and turned attention to the Eddas 
 and Sagas of Scandinavia; his poems are full of 
 nature love, his tragedies coloured with romance. 
 Ibsen's " Catilina " bears the same characteristic 
 traits, although the spirit prompting it was too orig- 
 inal to be completely imitative. However, his early 
 poems bear evidence of the Danish influence. 
 
 Due records that during these years Ibsen's re- 
 ligious belief was far from orthodox, in fact it drew 
 its sustenance from Voltaire's deism. His friends 
 argued with him, but to no avail, and probably his 
 defection from the conventional ideas, if it may so 
 be called, helped to cast upon him the queer looks 
 of people and caused them to skirt around him as he 
 passed. Like all youth at a certain age, he possessed 
 strong ideas on marriage, which were far removed 
 from those he practised when the actual time arrived. 
 
GRIMSTAD DAYS 31 
 
 But he was just ripe for the turbulent period of 
 1848, which swept over him with great force, draw- 
 ing from him an outburst of resentment against the 
 lack of initiative amongst the Norwegians, and help- 
 ing to develop his ideas as to the duties of the indi- 
 vidual and the state. 
 
 His was not the nature to abide by the decrees of 
 kings and princes. The revolution of 1848 served 
 to change Ibsen into a republican ; he was soon ready 
 to join in speech against any and every form of 
 popular oppression ; he wrote sonnets to King Oscar, 
 pointing to the duty of Scandinavia to unite in the 
 war which centred about Sleswick-Holstein and in- 
 volved Denmark, Prussia, and Germany. Another 
 appeal was sent under the title of " Scandinavians, 
 Awake ! "^ meaning that only by assisting Denmark 
 could Norway and Sweden ever hope to keep his re- 
 gard. Many points resulted therefrom. This gene- 
 ral upheaval in the centre of Europe drove Ibsen 
 from Grimstad to Christiania, and thence eventually 
 into voluntary exile; he considered the defeat of 
 Denmark as Norwaj''s disgrace, as an indication of 
 Norway's lack of will to act, as a poverty in that 
 racial feeling which should always link people to- 
 gether. His conscience was beginning to make him 
 realize that his people at home were not sensible on 
 the one hand to any national pride, and on the other 
 to any realization of what modern changes were tak- 
 ing place among the middle classes of the world about 
 them. But, while Ibsen was talking Republicanism 
 'An essay on Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven [by 
 W. M. P.] is in " Warner's Library of the World's Best Litera- 
 ture.'' See especially translation of poem, " The Revolution of 
 1848." 
 
32 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 among his friends, he was also evolving in his mind 
 some large work which would embody these consum- 
 ing views ; he was likewise so far relenting as to wear 
 a dress suit; and, so it is told of him by a certain 
 lady, despite his shyness, he consented to put him- 
 self under her care and to be taught to dance. Peer 
 Gynt's arrival at the Hegstad farmhouse savours of 
 this incident. It is even said of him that on one 
 occasion he condescended to sing a song, his voice 
 wandering in untunef ul ways, despite the fact that his 
 ear for melody was acute. 
 
 This was the mental and worldly condition of Ibsen 
 when he turned toward Christiania; he had formed 
 strong associations with Due and Schulerud, who pre- 
 ceded him to the city, and twice, in tributes which 
 Ibsen's nature was not prone to scatter broadcast, 
 his deep sense of gratitude found expression. " If 
 friendship were dependent on a continuous inter- 
 course," so he wrote to Due around 1851, " then it 
 would be all over between us; but if it be dependent 
 on sympathy and the flighj; of spirit within the same 
 sphere, then our friendship can never die." So 
 thought he a second time when he went into voluntary 
 exile, and a third time when the preface to the jubi- 
 lee edition of " Catilina " (1875) was printed; his 
 pledge remained unbroken in renewed recognition. 
 
 He did not seek Christiania without being intent 
 on the approaching examinations. In preparation, 
 it is claimed that his prose composition was super- 
 intended by Paul Jansenius Stub of Bergen,^ who 
 
 ' In the German edition to Ibsen's works (vol. 1, edited by 
 Brandes, Elias, and Schlenther), there is included a review by 
 Ibsen: "Paul Stub als Theatre Kritiker (1851)." 
 
GRIMSTAD DAYS 33 
 
 gave him lessons by correspondence and who after- 
 wards boasted that " he taught the boy to write." In 
 1851, Ibsen considered him as a theatre critic in a 
 paper of some length. Then he was further strength- 
 ened in his Latin by a Mr. Monrad, the university 
 having selected as the subject for quizzing " The 
 Conspiracy of Catiline," as determined in the history 
 of Sallust and in the oration of Cicero. 
 
 Mental condition is thus affected by chance oc- 
 currence. When he reached Christiania, Ibsen was 
 already the author of many lyrics and had completed 
 a rough sketch of a one-act drama entitled " The 
 Normans," which afterwards became " The War- 
 rior's Tomb." This subject, together with the con- 
 templated composition of a romance, " The Prisoner 
 at Akershus,"^ which never materialized, likewise in- 
 dicate how close his inspiration was to Oehlenschla- 
 ger's influence. Besides which, emulating the Dane 
 to a further degree, he was contemplating a tragedy 
 about Olaf Trygveson (1849-1850), which Mr. Gosse 
 believes might have been " Olaf Liljekrans," begun 
 in Grimstad also. The apothecary's clerk never 
 could be accused of creative inaction. 
 
 His friends, who were already ahead of him when 
 he reached Christiania, had in their possession long 
 before this a much more important bit of informa- 
 tion than the fact that his indignation had overflowed 
 in verse with the defeat of the Magyars during 
 August, 1849 ; they were both intent upon other hap- 
 
 ^ One chapter and part of second written. See J. B. Hal- 
 vorsen, 1898, No. 52, 53. Bin^eren. Also letter to Schulerud 
 dated Grimstad, January 5, 1850. Consult also, in German 
 translation of Ibsen's poems, " Auf Akershus." 
 
34 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 penings in the apothecary's shop at Grimstad, for 
 Ibsen had whispered it to Schulerud a year before 
 and he had in turn confided it to Due, that in the 
 long hours of the night, a tragedy was being writ- 
 ten, with Catiline as the chief figure. Considering 
 the tenor of the times and the youthful response of 
 Ibsen to Republicanism, it was hardly likely that this 
 Roman anarchist should not be made to utter some 
 of Ibsen's own revolutionary ideas, that he should 
 not be depicted with a certain sympathetic largeness 
 that tended to throw all sympathy in the balance for 
 individualism, rather than for a senate-ridden govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Very probably more attention was bestowed upon 
 " Catilina " during the last year in Grimstad than 
 upon the examination, as the results of the latter will 
 show. There were many dramatists in Germany who 
 were selecting the same subject as Ibsen, prompted 
 also by the revolution of 1848,^ but up in Norway 
 there was little chance of his seeing any but the Latin 
 originals he was studying, even though some believe 
 he may have heard of Dumas's play produced in the 
 Fall of 1848. However faithfully he drew material 
 from both sources, the vigour of his imagination and 
 the spontaneous enthusiasm of his youth infused a 
 personal value which overbalances the historical. 
 Regarding these days, Ibsen always spoke with pleas- 
 ure. There is some remark about his own " Catilina " 
 ^ The reader is referred to the following interesting pamphlet : 
 " Katilina in Drama der Weltliteratur : Inaugural Dissertation.'' 
 By Hermann B. G. Speck. (Leipzig, 1906.) [References to 
 Ibsen are to be found on pp. 23-27; individual pieces dealing 
 with the subject of Catiline, p. 46. Topics are discussed in re- 
 lation to the Revolution of 1848.] 
 
GRIMSTAD DAYS 35 
 
 in his letter of 1870 to Hansen : " The play was 
 written in a provincial town, where it was impossible 
 for me to give expression to all that fermented in 
 me except by mad, riotous pranks, which brought 
 down upon me the ill-will of all the respectable citi- 
 zens, who could not enter into that world I was 
 wrestling with alone." 
 
 When the time arrived for the writing of the 
 " fair-copy," Due made it in a wonderful, clear 
 script,^ while Schulerud, who seems to have possessed 
 some spare money of his own, set off toward Chris- 
 tiania with the manuscript under his arm. This was 
 in September, 1849. There is no describing the 
 agony experienced by Ibsen, left in Grimstad during 
 the interim; what to him seemed to be an intermin- 
 able time elapsed without a word as to the fate of 
 his manuscript, and he then wrote a letter, full of 
 ill-temper and impatience, to Schulerud, who was suf- 
 ficiently familiar with his comrade's moods to under- 
 stand his irritability. Then Ibsen repented of his 
 haste; and Schulerud's next act was still more a test 
 of his deep interest in this venture. 
 
 The play was offered to the Christiania Theatre^ 
 as being by " Brynjolf Bjarme," but in view of the 
 theatre situation then existent in Norway, it was 
 speedily declined ; it was likewise refused by the pub- 
 
 ' See reproduction of pages from original manuscript — Lothar 
 (1902), p. 19, insert. 
 
 ' Halvorsen mentions a production of " Catilina " at Stock- 
 holm, December 3, 1881. The play was published in 1850; a 
 second edition, Kbhvn, 1875; a third edition, Kbhvn, 1891. In 
 translation, note A. Johnstone's version of the first act, for 
 " Translations from the Norse." A German rendering was 
 made by Hugo Greinz, 1896. 
 
36 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 lisher to whom it was offered. These two defeats 
 indicate — regardless of the crudities contained in 
 " Catilina " — how little confidence Norwegians dis- 
 played in native material ; and, in recollection, maybe, 
 of this time, Ibsen, in talk with Hegel,* the publisher, 
 at a later day, blamed his country for the manner in 
 which her young and promising authors were driven 
 to Denmark, their first works usually bearing the im- 
 print of Copenhagen. 
 
 When the play was finally published in 1850, 
 Schulerud, who defrayed the expenses and was gen- 
 eral literary sponsor to the venture, and his young 
 author-friend were not immediately overpowered by 
 the rapidity with which the edition was sold; for 
 tradition treasures up the information that only 
 thirty-two copies were disposed of, the rest being 
 utilized as wrapping paper by a kind grocer near by. 
 Thus " Catilina " was forgotten by everyone but 
 Ibsen himself, who waited until the twenty-fifth an- 
 niversary of his matriculation and of his entrance 
 into authorship, when he wrote Hegel from Dresden 
 (November 23, 1874), proposing to revise his old 
 manuscript^ and to issue it as a species of sidelight 
 upon his character. He realized its immaturity ; at 
 the same time he never lost sight of its good quali- 
 ties both in spirit and in freshness of verse. 
 
 With that almost studied attitude which he as- 
 sumed toward himself — an aloof and conscious view 
 of his own development — he told Hegel that those 
 
 ' Mr. Archer, explaining why he omitted " Catilina " from his 
 edition, gives as an important reason that in 1875 Ibsen so 
 changed the text, in order to obliterate its crudities of style, 
 that the manuscript lost its biographical value — which is its 
 chief value. 
 
GRIMSTAD DAYS 37 
 
 critics were right who closely connected " Catilina " 
 with the crisis of his life at this period. His pub- 
 lisher readily agreed, with characteristic gracious- 
 ness, to Ibsen's plan — ^not only to reissue the youth- 
 ful drama, but also to have him prepare for it an 
 analytical preface, which should give the piece its 
 proper autobiographical setting. This willingness 
 on Hegel's part was probably a concession, for he 
 was averse, as we shall see, to Ibsen's examination of 
 himself. " I should make no change in the thoughts 
 and ideas," says the author, with that tone which 
 plainly assumes that such a change might disturb 
 the continuity of his development which he desired 
 to trace, " only in the language in which they are 
 expressed; the verse is, as Brandes has remarked, 
 bad." It is hardly possible, as Ibsen claims, that this 
 deficiency in style was due to the rough draft, which 
 in the early days had gone to the printer without his 
 final supervision, but more likely to a certain imma- 
 turity which could only be changed through long and 
 diverse experience. 
 
 But he was right in the assertion that it repre- 
 sented his state of unrest in 1849; that, in the per- 
 son of Catiline, he infused some of his own ideals, 
 some of his own conceptions of a liberty which had 
 not yet grown into a full-blooded individualism, but 
 which stood forth in almost heroic proportions, from 
 the midst of petty state and local conditions. In 
 the yearnings of Catiline we detect the ambitions of 
 the poet, who used to confide his dreams of the future 
 to his sister during their walks around Skien, and 
 who, like Catiline, would willingly die after having 
 once gained the heights. 
 
38 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 The study of Sallust and Cicero, nevertheless, 
 while it afforded Ibsen a solid background, did not 
 prevent him from altering the situations according 
 to his temperament. Personality moulds details in 
 its own way. Ben Jonson gave us a " Catiline," and 
 his Elizabethan ornateness, together with his method 
 of character-unfolding, lacked the clear directness 
 of history and made the most of unessential details 
 for the sake of poetry. Dumas, whose drama on 
 the subject appeared in Paris while Ibsen was writ- 
 ing his at Grimstad, aimed for and successfully 
 gained the intensity of melodrama, better suited to 
 a Robespierre than to a Roman ; nor was he as care- 
 ful of facts as Jonson, who drew from Cicero, Sal- 
 lust and Plutarch. It is of little consequence how 
 much of this literary situation was familiar to Ibsen ; 
 no evidence points to his ever having read Jonson, 
 and, though his " Catilina " ^ is full of resemblances 
 to Shakespeare's " Julius Caesar " and " Corio- 
 lanus," Jasger is authority for the statement that 
 tlius early Ibsen had no knowledge of the English 
 dramatists. 
 
 " Many things and much upon which my later 
 work has turned " — says the author in his preface 
 to the new edition — " the contradiction between en- 
 dowment and desire, between capacity and will, at 
 once the entire tragedy and comedy of mankind and 
 of the individual — may here be dimly discerned." 
 This psychological determination of how far " Cati- 
 lina " measured Ibsen is hardly essential, nor would 
 
 ' I have considered this play from the French translation 
 made by Le Vte. De CoUeville and F. de Zepelin; and from the 
 German translation by Christian Morgenstern. 
 
GRIMSTAD DAYS 39 
 
 it bring much fruitful result other than that it was 
 immature, like himself. At any rate, as it repre- 
 sented him then, and as it established in his technical 
 method an almost stereotyped theatric subterfuge 
 and situation which he often resorted to, the play 
 is worth recording in some detail. 
 
 The development of the plot shows the hand of 
 the zealous student, who has not yet conceived narra- 
 tive in the terms of action, but who has a full amount 
 of sympathy for his characters, and does justice to 
 them in the manner he has conceived them. It is char- 
 acteristic of his method of treating historical data, 
 that, while never falsifying them, Ibsen was accus- 
 tomed, as all artists are, to accentuate what best 
 suited his individual purpose. Thus, while we are 
 made aware of the licentiousness of Catiline, our 
 whole sympathy is engaged in the struggle carried 
 on by a man whose better nature, always to the fore, 
 is yet unable to dominate his darker side.-^ 
 
 Into a Roman conception, Ibsen has poured the 
 hardihood of the North; his Furia is much nearer 
 the heroic figure of Hiordis, the Saga heroine, than 
 like the Roman women of Shakespeare; Aurelia's 
 delicacy is the artistic contrast which offsets intense 
 shadow by light. Ibsen's triangular plots were nearly 
 all conceived in the same mould, and the situation here 
 dealt with, where the nature of Catiline is torn be- 
 tween two women typifying his two-sided inclination, 
 appears again in " The Vikings at Helgeland," 
 
 'See Valfrid Vasenius; In his analysis of "Catilina," ac- 
 cording to Jaeger, Vasenius tries to prove that, through intuition, 
 Ibsen has reached the true conception of the Roman's character. 
 Consult the Latin authorities. 
 
40 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 where the struggle has the same dynamic value, but 
 where the clash becomes double. 
 
 The opening words in " Catilina " reveal Ibjen, 
 the revolutionary, speaking through the Conspirator, 
 whose repression, whose dignity is never once sacri- 
 ficed to the ranting of youthful polemics. " You 
 must, you must ! From the depths of my soul, a voice 
 commands. I shall obey ! Have I no longer the en- 
 ergy nor the desire to reach this noble end and to do 
 away with my miserable existence.'' " These are the 
 Avords of the apothecary's clerk at Grimstad, whose 
 employer was more intent upon profit and loss than 
 upon iambics ; the meaning in the lines was prophetic 
 in view of Ibsen's social ostracism. He conceives his 
 Catiline in terms of himself; they both longed for 
 the good which is in danger of being swallowed up 
 by the false ; they both are regarded askance, 
 though their thoughts are of the highest and their 
 strength is only waiting the test. 
 
 Who in the Norway of that day would understand 
 the idealism of Ibsen, which he infused into Catiline.? 
 In Grimstad, as in Rome, there were those who re- 
 garded ambition only as worth while when estimated 
 by the measure of money standards. Catiline joins 
 the young malcontents who are plotting to overthrow 
 a grasping senate, in turn themselves to grasp what 
 is not theirs the instant they are in power. " Civil 
 liberty and the good of all " was Catiline's cry, how- 
 ever. And his ambition and sincerity are of that 
 height which measures Ibsen's own outlook upon his 
 poetic talents. ' " Oh, if only for a short instant," 
 is Catiline's plea, " as a brilliant star, I was able to 
 bum before going out ! Oh, if only for a short while. 
 
GRIMSTAD DAYS 41 
 
 it was possible for me, by some heroic act, to render 
 immortal, yea, legendary, the name of Catiline ! 
 Right gladly then would I give up everything after 
 such a victory." 
 
 This is the pardonable overflow and exuberance of 
 youth. Catiline almost lacks an element of world- 
 liness, and instead of the tyranny of the seasoned 
 plotter, he exhibits the contriteness of a regenerated 
 spirit that cannot escape the consequences of his past. 
 Ibsen's republicanism is not, therefore, so evident in 
 utterance as in attitude. He adds to Catiline a moral 
 consideration which history does not give him; the 
 Conspirator here is not a pest to society, but the 
 one brave figure in whom is typified the patriot de- 
 siring to make Rome whole again ; he is not the selfish 
 dictator or the murderer of history, but a noble 
 character who forgives treachery when his designs 
 are betrayed, and who is willing to make sacrifices 
 for others. 
 
 In construction, the play is lavish with its distribu- 
 tion of scene. Catiline is first introduced on a hill- 
 side without the walls of Rome. Here he dreams of 
 all his secret aspirations, and here it is that he tells 
 the Ambassadors from Gaul to what pass the once 
 noble city has fallen; how egoism and arbitrariness 
 rule; how equity and justice are bartered for the 
 sake of unrighteous power and ill-gotten gold. Then 
 the scene shifts to a portico in Rome, where a group 
 of young politicians bemoan their poverty, while 
 Manlius, a seasoned warrior of Sylla's victories, 
 stands by, bereft unjustly of position and fortune. 
 The temper of this group is ripe for insurrection, 
 based less on high-mindedness than on personal bene- 
 
42 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 fit. They turn to Catiline for leadership. But he 
 hastens instead to the temple of Vesta, where Furia, 
 one of the attendants, confronts him; he braves the 
 streets of Rome, despite the danger to his life, be- 
 cause there is a peculiar fascination about this 
 woman, whose sister has been ruined by him. When 
 she discovers that he is the man who has betrayed 
 the honour of that sister, she vows vengeance on him 
 for his crime, at the same time combating the love 
 which she, herself, has for him. It is Furia who 
 shows him the vista of possible greatness, who tempts 
 him to his ruin, who poisons his mind when he would 
 respond to his human side. 
 
 The action again shifts to the house of Catiline, 
 where, haunted by Furia's idea of the Nemesis which 
 hovers over his head, his wife, gentle, watchful, and 
 loving, undoes the dark work of this other woman's 
 opposing influence by throwing in the balance the 
 weight of her conjugal love. The final scene to this 
 first act shows a subterranean vault into which erring 
 vestal maids are thrust for punishment, and from 
 which Furia Is saved by a boy lover, whom Ibsen 
 develops for his dramatic need, instead of having 
 Catiline kill his own son, as in real history he did. 
 Escaped from death, Furia now wanders in the wake 
 of Catiline, drawing, luring him on with a peculiar 
 thirst, so diflFerent from Hedda's desire to control a 
 human life, yet of the same heedless tenacity as such 
 a woman would have who can hate, love, glory in her 
 power, and at the same time long to see power in 
 others. 
 
 These are the motives developed by Ibsen in scene 
 after scene. With the hand of the novice, he resorts 
 
GRIMSTAD DAYS 43 
 
 to the weakest form of psychological analysis — the 
 externalizing of mental states, the indiscriminate use 
 of the supernatural — which lacks the romantic glow 
 of reality, and is less subtle than it is elementary. 
 Catiline in this play is a man of conscience ; the gentle- 
 ness of Aurelia makes him realize what he has been 
 in days gone by, and carries him to that point where 
 he would fly with her and dwell only in her love, in- 
 stead of heading the young conspirators. 
 
 But Furia develops in Catiline the man of action, 
 makes him shudder over a lethargic existence with his 
 wife, akin to death, and, by picturing the debauchery 
 of his past, pushes him to ambitious schemes. " I 
 am only the image of thy soul," she tells him, and 
 later she adds, " Night Is our kingdom ; in the midst 
 of darkness we reign," a statement which zealous 
 commentators always note, believing it reflects Ib- 
 sen's long nights in the apothecary room, the only 
 uninterrupted time he had for his writing. 
 
 The greatness of Catiline, as Ibsen sees him, is thus 
 retarded by the malleability of his nature through 
 the scheming of one woman and through the love of 
 another. He is sometimes sacrificed in order the 
 better to bring Furia's temper into high light. At 
 one moment he is intent on saving the spirit of solid- 
 arity which has deserted the people of Rome; he 
 would break the chains which keep them naught but 
 bondmen and raise their greatness from the dust ; at 
 another he is as quickly changed to inaction by the 
 pale beauty of Aurelia. 
 
 Catiline is far nobler than those who gather round 
 his standard; his vengeance is that of a man denied 
 his desire, and spurned by those no better in rank 
 
44 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 than he, perhaps not so honest in citizenship as him- 
 self. And when he is finally won over from Aurelia 
 by Furia, who forces him to do battle, he cries : " Ven- 
 geance! Yes, that is the word; that is my device, 
 my war cry. Bloody vengeance! Vengeance for all 
 my hopes and all my dreams that a hateful destiny 
 has destroyed ! Vengeance, vengeance for my broken 
 life." 
 
 The value of Aurelia's love is purely romantic; it 
 serves to deter the onslaught of Furia's conflicting 
 love and hate ; it enters his dreams to offset the rest- 
 less turmoil of the other. Ibsen has spoiled the dig- 
 nity of the last act by the indiscriminate use of phan- 
 toms to draw Catiline's agony to a close. " He is 
 the only man in the midst of this miserable band of 
 degenerates and criminals," declares the commander 
 with the insurrection army in Etruria; yet one can- 
 not reconcile this strength of bearing with the general 
 instability and indefiniteness of his object, as traced 
 by Ibsen. 
 
 The psychology of atonement for his past is very 
 indistinct in the portrayal of Catiline; the workings 
 of his feelings up to the point where the dagger is 
 thrust into Aurelia's breast, as well as into his own, 
 are confusedly indicated, and culminate in the usual 
 scene of restored love and understanding before death 
 puts a seal upon the two. Furia is left unaccounted 
 for, and silently disappears ; showing a lack of tech- 
 nical skill, to my mind, since, had she been of organic, 
 rather than of theatric, use, her personality would 
 not have been so unessential at the close. 
 
 This ending, however, is indicative of an Ibsen 
 characteristic. We will find in " Brand " and in 
 
GRIMSTAD DAYS 45 
 
 " Peer Gynt " the same romantic glorification of 
 love that here lifts the gloom, bringing peace to the 
 soul. The play closes with the rising of the sun as 
 it does in " Ghosts," and Catiline's final conquest over 
 Furia, if it may so be called, is somewhat like 
 Hiordis's separation from Sigurd at the end of " The 
 Vilijings at Helgeland." After death, destiny sepa- 
 rates them. 
 
 On the whole, " Catilina " is crude, and its only 
 great interest is personal; in expression it is some- 
 what commonplace, though its verse cannot be judged 
 in translation. Thus early has Ibsen worked the old 
 saga groupings, in his contrasts of Furia and Au- 
 relia, in their contending love for Catiline. But how- 
 ever artificial the methods, Ibsen was, in a youthful 
 way, struggling very creditably to make an intensive 
 character study. Jasger says : 
 
 " There is no question of real counter-play, for 
 not one of Catiline's opponents appears in the cast ; 
 action is reduced to a minimum and dramatic situa- 
 tions are almost wanting. . . The conflict is al- 
 together an internal one, and the development occurs 
 only in Catiline's soul, yet it is not wholly without 
 dramatic interest." 
 
 Considering the inexperience and unrest in Ibsen, 
 the play exhibits a wonderful amount of restraint; 
 one French critic called it, in fact, objective in its 
 handling, and the composition of a man who was mas- 
 ter of himself, as far as knowing what he wanted to 
 do with what he had learned from Sallust and Cicero. 
 It certainly exhibited a sparse inventive power, which 
 never became largely developed. Situations from 
 play to play are all reminiscent, and most of his 
 
46 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 women characters of the future bear some kinship to 
 Aurelia and to Furia. The text, even in translation, 
 carries evidence of Ibsen's unfamiliarity with much 
 literature. He was always to be at a certain disad- 
 vantage because of the lack of a generous education. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CHRISTIANIA 
 
 When Ibsen reached Christiania in 1850, he im- 
 mediately entered the famous school of Heltberg, 
 where students were " crammed " for examination. 
 Here he was first brought into contact with Bjornson 
 and Jonas Lie. As usual, he found Schulerud staunch 
 and true, willing to share his last penny with him; 
 and had it not been for his friends, it is doubtful 
 how Ibsen would have fared. Little is known of his 
 personal condition during these days ; from March 
 until August he applied himself assiduously to his 
 studies, not, however, without finding time to put the 
 finishing touch to his new one-act play, " The War- 
 rior's Tomb," which was completed during May. 
 This same month, an adventurous fellow by the name 
 of Harring, who had come to Norway from Denmark 
 with the glow of Greek freedom in his heart, and 
 who had written an over-bold play entitled " The 
 Testament of America," was banished from the coun- 
 try; he was hastily seized by the police and put 
 aboard a vessel. Ibsen and Bjornson both signed 
 their names to a protest which was made against this 
 act, and which failed to bring the desired results, al- 
 though Harring had the empty satisfaction of receiv- 
 ing a deputation and of hearing the cheers from his 
 ardent sympathizers. 
 
 The examination report which was signed by J. S. 
 Welhaven, the poet, and dated September 3,- 1850, 
 indicates that Ibsen failed in his mathematics and his 
 Greek ; nor does it appear that he received sufficent en- 
 couragement to prepare himself for re-examination.^ 
 
 ' A reproduction of Welhaven's report is to be found in Lo- 
 thar (1903), p. 18, insert. 
 
48 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 The times were ripe to fire the mind of a youthful 
 literary man ; Ibsen saw around him a growing want 
 for a real National Literature; and there were some 
 few who were making a brave fight to accomplish 
 this end. Even the name of Welhaven on his uni- 
 versity card must have brought strongly to his mind 
 " The Twilight Eeud," which had significant bearing 
 upon the future of Norwegian Poetry. In addition 
 to this, Ibsen and Schulerud gathered around them 
 a group of young men, intellectually alive to the 
 importance of this transition stage.^ There was 
 Aasmund Vinje, of peasant birth, nationalist to so 
 great an extent as to champion a patois tongue in 
 all writing, sceptic to such a degree that truth was 
 only relative, and had, at all stages, to undergo 
 change; and yet who, despite aggressiveness, was 
 ready for retreat at any time, as Peer Gynt was. 
 Such a man would readily gain Ibsen's sympathy, 
 for he, also, was a sceptic of twenty-two ; when he 
 became older, and Nationalism faded before the larger 
 dream of Scandinavianism, then he became directly 
 opposfed to the theories of his young companion, who 
 was ten years his senior. 
 
 Then there was Paul Botten-Hansen, the book- 
 worm of the group, who instilled into Ibsen some of 
 
 ^I would refer the reader to the following: "Norway. Ofl- 
 cial Publication for the Paris Exhibition, 1900." Sten Konow 
 and Karl Fischer. Christiania, 1900. [An interesting report 
 containing special chapters on history, political conditions, so- 
 cial conditions, ecclesiastical organization, language, education, 
 literature, the press, the arts.] " Denmark, Norway, and 
 Sweden.'' W. Eleroy Curtis. Saalfleld Publishing Co., 1903. 
 [Special chapters on Christiania, government and politics; fa- 
 mous Norwegians.] 
 
CHRISTIANIA 49 
 
 his blase attitude toward life and at the same time 
 introduced him to the works of Ludvig Holberg, 
 whom Ibsen afterwards declared he never tired of 
 reading. There are two views to take of the friends 
 that the young man drew around him; only charm 
 and the strength of personality could have won from 
 them the untiring support which Ibsen always had 
 from them — Schulerud, Botten-Hansen, Bjornson, 
 and later, Hegel and Brandes — groups that meant 
 everything, materially and intellectually, to his fu- 
 ture development. Critics say that to Botten-Hansen 
 Ibsen owes some of the satire of " Love's Comedy " ; 
 undoubtedly the former was in a position to attract 
 the admiration of a struggling author who had not 
 yet determined what he was to do in years to come; 
 From 1850 to 1860, Botten-Hansen was the centre 
 of a learned and literary circle known as " The 
 Dutchmen," and in this way Ibsen was brought in 
 touch with many of the most brilliant minds in 
 Norway. 
 
 One more person needs to be named in order to 
 complete the editorial staff of " The Man "— Abild- 
 gaard, a wild figure, who might in these days be re- 
 garded as an anarchist, but who to his friends was 
 only an ultra-republican, whose one idea was to upset 
 the rule of king and have a democracy instead. He 
 was heart and soul pledged to the labour movement 
 which had been set in motion by Marcus Thrane, and 
 through the incendiary character of his work, he came 
 near involving Ibsen in a conflict with the law. Abild- 
 gaard lived in the same house, and his room was 
 raided by the police on July 7, 1851 ; the young men 
 had time to conceal some of the papers scattered 
 
50 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 about, among which probably there were some mild 
 opinions of Ibsen. Searching the room, nothing was 
 found to throw suspicion upon the latter, although 
 his socialist companions suffered imprisonment. 
 
 Jaeger gives a full account of " The Man," which 
 in intent was semi-political, occupying a middle course 
 for a while, but showing finally a much further lean- 
 ing toward opposition, than the opposing party it- 
 self. For, says Jaeger, " the Norwegian opposition 
 in the Storthing of 1851 was . . . the weakest 
 and most tractable opposition in the world." Ibsen's 
 disgust over these political conditions was expressed 
 in his musical tragedy, " Norma ; or, A Politician's 
 Love," which was a burlesque of Bellini's opera. But 
 it seems that, notwithstanding the revolutionary ar- 
 dour of the youthful editors of " The Man," the 
 paper was not as savage in tone as they intended to 
 make it. Probably their enthusiasm was checked by 
 the fate of Abildgaard; more likely Botten-Hansen, 
 the student, held impulsiveness at bay. The name 
 was soon changed to the " Andhrimner," and it ran 
 for only a short while afterwards. Ibsen's contribu- 
 tions all indicate imitations. " He has come," writes 
 Jaeger, " under the influence of the study of litera- 
 ture." 
 
 In November, 1851, Ibsen was ready to leave for 
 Bergen, but before then there were certain influences 
 at work which bear directly upon his career. The 
 conditions of the theatre in Norway were critical, 
 confidence in native talent, native ability being at the 
 lowest ebb. For many years the national instinct was 
 gathering strength for recognition. From 1834) to 
 1838 there had been a struggle between Henrik 
 
CHRISTIANIA 61 
 
 Wergeland ^ and Sebastian Welhaven in their eiForts 
 each to establish a school of poetry. The former, 
 who was the author of an all-embracing epic entitled 
 " Creation, Man and the Messiah," flaunted a wild 
 revolutionary style, loose in construction, independ- 
 ent of models, perhaps native in tone, but lacking 
 restraint; the latter was more formal, more well- 
 balanced; Gosse compares his genius with the poise 
 and cultured precision possessed by Matthew Arnold ; 
 his style was subject to the refinement which indicated 
 Danish influence and which well exemplified his own 
 contention that a national literature " cannot be 
 created out of nothing ; that to promote this develop- 
 ment it is absolutely necessary to continue the asso- 
 ciations which have hitherto been common to both 
 Norway and Denmark, and thus to keep in rapport 
 with the general literature of Europe." 
 
 The feud that followed was characteristic of Nor- 
 way ; the people separated into parties, and accusa- 
 tions were thrown from one to the other. Said one: 
 Wergeland's genius is kept up by brandy; said an- 
 other, Welhaven is receiving bribes from Copenhagen. 
 Yet beneath the superficial recriminations there was 
 a vital principle at stake ; in a blind fashion, Norway 
 was seeking to free herself from Danish influence. 
 
 This fight for Nationalism was bound to result in 
 such ungovernable independence as Wergeland ex- 
 hibited; on the other hand, it was natural that it 
 should likewise call for the academic side of Wel- 
 
 ' Through Wergeland's national enthusiasm the 17th of May 
 was adopted as a national holiday. Wergeland's party was 
 known as the " ultra-Norwegian " ; Welhaven's party as the 
 " Intelligence." 
 
52 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 haven's critical ability. These two men were aware of 
 the awakening of national consciousness ; one wished 
 to break wholly with Danish tradition, the other was 
 conservative, and it was with the conservative that 
 Ibsen's sympathies lay, even though " The Twilight 
 Feud " had long ceased to be an active influence when 
 he began to write. Even Denmark was aware of the 
 rich tradition of Norway, for Oehlenschlager himself 
 had once proposed that Norse mythology be used in- 
 stead of the Greek by all Scandinavian writers. In 
 this spirit, we find him dealing with " Hakon Jarl," 
 a period when Christianity was first introduced into 
 Norway, and with " The Gods of the North." ^ 
 
 There was, in 1851, when Ibsen went to assume 
 control of the theatre at Bergen, another phase of 
 the subject of nationalism — ^that which applied to 
 creative dramatic art in Norway, for, between the 
 year of independence and this time, there were but 
 two names that had received any prominence, one, 
 Henrik A. Bjerregaard, who had composed an opera, 
 and the other, Wergeland, whose farcical attempts 
 were receiving consideration more because of his per- 
 sonal prominence than because of their inherent merit. 
 This art stagnation was largely due to the fact that 
 nearly every movement in Norway was somehow in- 
 volved with politics. Even " The Twilight Feud " 
 had split into " parties " ; and, moreover, it must be 
 'The reader is referred to W. M. Payne's account of 
 Adam Gottlob Oehlenschlager, In the " Library of the World's 
 Best Literature"; also to the same writer's account of Johan 
 Sebastian Caramermeyer Welhaven, in the same collection. Con- 
 sult Horn's " Scandinavian Literature " (1884), pp. 294-299. 
 For those familiar with the language, Jaeger's Danish Litera- 
 ture is invaluable. 
 
CHRISTIANIA 63 
 
 remembered that Welhaven himself, as one of the 
 faculty at the University of Christiania, was intent 
 on preserving some of the Danish characteristics. 
 
 The balance of intellectual inclination, therefore, 
 pointed toward Copenhagen; however much Norwe- 
 gians might go to see the farces of Wergeland, they 
 did not consider that actor of any importance who 
 had not received a training in the Danish theatre, 
 or who was not himself a Dane. This was carried 
 to such an extent that the Christianians, and the 
 people of Bergen even, were partial to the diction 
 of Copenhagen ; society aped the manner of the Dan- 
 ish capital. So that in the theatre, in the university, 
 in the home, the cultural taste did not take to the 
 national movement; it was only in the Storthing. that 
 the parties wrangled over the name. 
 
 The ground-work of Ibsen's intellectual life was 
 laid in this atmosphere. The literary world, as far 
 as he was concerned, ended where Copenhagen ended. 
 He was familiar with Oehlenschlager ; and Botten- 
 Hansen had initiated him into the comedy-spirit 
 of Holberg; he was ignorant of the world-litera- 
 ture and his native environment was provincial. 
 But his intellectual assets were more than this. If 
 we consider the unrest of his mind, and the dissatis- 
 faction of the times, we can explain much in the char- 
 acter of Henrik Ibsen, as he was about to leave for 
 Bergen. And it is interesting to note in his fugitive 
 poems and initial dramas the acquirement of certain 
 tones which were never to desert him, however much 
 they might alter in intensity. 
 
 Between 1847 and 1851, there are not more than 
 twenty-six of his poems preserved, and these are 
 
54 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 chiefly indications of his youthful moods. After a 
 man has achieved, then we are constantly trying to 
 build his greatness up by gathering together the 
 strands of his past. The verses entitled " Resigna- 
 tion " are not so remarkable for a youth of his tem- 
 perament ; it is easy to develop a sceptic out of a boy, 
 and Ibsen's training threw him upon his own resources 
 very early in life, when those resources were scarcely 
 evident. Therefore, it is natural that he should have 
 questioned the future poetic success of his muse. Per- 
 haps, like the' waves in his poem, " By the Sea " 
 (1848), his whole effort to create will break against 
 the cliff, and disperse, leaving no trace behind! In 
 " Doubt and Hope " (1848), we find his soul steeped 
 in a night of terror; the storm rages and beats 
 against his mind in the form of endless questioning 
 as to his faith. 
 
 "The Sources of Memory" (1849), in a way, 
 forebodes the future attitude of Falk in " Love's 
 Comedy " ; it is the typical mood of the inexperienced, 
 whose ideal love for an ideal being surpasses any 
 possible realization, and the memory of which is 
 greater than the actuality. Many and many times 
 over does Ibsen cling to this idea with a certain happy 
 melancholy. When he bids farewell to Schulerud in 
 a song (1849), his consolation is that memory can- 
 not rob him of what has already been. The observa- 
 tion of nature in " The Harvest-Season " or " Au- 
 tumn " piece brings to him the same consuming 
 thought; the plaintive song of the wind, and the 
 pathetic picture of falling leaves cannot alter the 
 memory of a summer freshness. " Spring Time," 
 for which Due wrote the music, vibrates the same 
 
CHRISTIANIA 55 
 
 chord. Scarcely twenty-two, yet Ibsen has already 
 bethought him to depend on that within himself which 
 is immutable. His joy of life, his song of thanks- 
 giving are more to him as a memory than as a reality. 
 
 In part these poems indicate a poverty of healthy 
 imagination ; there is no elasticity, no rebound, but a 
 settled attitude, a Byronic old-age of youth. Con- 
 tinuing his fascinating regard of the gruesome, Ibsen 
 tried his hand at a dismal description of " The Dance 
 of Death " : the graveyard, the moonlight, the head- 
 stones, and the hour of midnight, such is the local 
 colour. Ibsen seems wilfully to avoid the cheerful 
 aspects ; even in nature, he prefers during an " Au- 
 tumn Evening" (1849) to hear the rain beating 
 against the window and to bethink him of his heart's 
 ideal. 
 
 His romanticism also is fraught with a similar fas- 
 cination for the sombre; he may conjure up the sea 
 by moonlight, or sketch an evening stroll in the for- 
 est — there is always some blot on the landscape, his 
 eye sees a disfigurement, his ear catches the hoot of 
 a far-off owl in the stillness. But he appears content 
 with such sadness, for he sings : 
 
 " Here in this wild and stormy place 
 My soul at last finds rest. 
 And here to me seems Nature's face 
 Reflected from my breast." ' 
 
 The other aspects to be detected in these poems ^ 
 
 * Tr., Payne in Jaeger. 
 
 ''See "Ein Nachtrag zu den Gedichten" in Henrik Ibsen's 
 Samtliche Werke ... von Georg Brandes, Julius Elias, 
 Paul Schlenther. [Vol. 1.] The translations are made by Emma 
 Klingenfeld, Ludwig Fulda, Max Bamberger. See also Jaeger's 
 biography. 
 
56 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 have already been commented upon Indirectly; there 
 was his political indignation expressed over Norway's 
 lukewarm attitude toward Denmark in 1848; there 
 was his interest in the national revival which was 
 largely furthered in him by his reading of Oehlen- 
 schlager and which is to be found in his poem " To 
 the Norwegian Skalds" (184!9); therein he asks the 
 significant question why they persist in centring 
 their attention on Northern nature, forgetting that 
 Norway has a human heart; the native singer must 
 draw life from the native soil. This attitude is one 
 which indicates the dramatist's tastes ; for, even 
 though "Brand" and "Peer Gynt " and "When 
 We Dead Awaken" dwell much upon mountain scenes, 
 still, Ibsen's characteristic tendency was to contem- 
 plate the heart of man rather than the heart of na- 
 ture, save in so far as it had its psychological bear- 
 ing upon one's development. 
 
 Thus early iri life Ibsen's moods were crystallizing 
 his ardour, or more properly speaking encrusting it, 
 because, on a very few rare occasions it would spurt 
 through in surprising strength, indicating a delight 
 at being free, even though late in life. Ibsen did not 
 seek the healthiest out of youth, no more so than Falk, 
 who was constantly sceptical as to the validity of 
 joy. Peer Gynt threw himself heartily into the romp 
 and frolic at Hegstad; Falk always looked at the 
 brilliancy with somewhat of a sneer as to the hol- 
 lowness of life. You may criticise this as the Byronic 
 youthfulness of Falk; it was the picture indeed of 
 Ibsen, such a lad as would gaze upon a throng de- 
 scribed in his " Ball-room Memories " and ponder 
 on their aims in life. Rather than give himself up 
 
CHRISTIANIA 67 
 
 to the spirit of the moment, it suited him better to 
 draw some figure from that dancing throng and talk 
 with him thus. 
 
 " What is it that animates all these joyous and 
 smiling faces ? They have come hither expecting con- 
 tentment and pleasure; have they found what they 
 sought? Does not the ball rather present an ideal 
 picture of the great drama of human life? And 
 what is this ideal? Anticipation, hope, and disap- 
 pointment! In these three words behold the whole 
 story of human life ! "^ And in this same piece he 
 falls to dreaming of his heart's ideal; he places his 
 arm around the slim substance of a shadow, uncon- 
 scious of the many actualities, and when he awakens 
 to the music and to the brilliant lights, the hideous 
 reality makes him thankful that his vision is safe in 
 his memory. 
 
 This sarcasm in its incipiency, these romantic par- 
 oxysms were fortunately consigned to paper only on 
 rare occasions ; they in no ' way presage the stature 
 of the future playwright ; they are ordinary and 
 unoriginal in sentiment. But they are a fair indi- 
 cation of his intimate cast of thought at the moment ; 
 they point to his being alive to the issues of the day ; 
 and what saved the Ibsen of 1850 from himself was 
 the external national unrest, and the group of young 
 men, more violent perhaps in expression, but more 
 practical at the time, as far as their ideals were con- 
 cerned, than he was himself. Had Ibsen's father re- 
 mained wealthy, his future might have been far dif- 
 ferent; it is the necessity for the immediate facing 
 
 'Tr., Payne in Jasger. Note that this poem is half poetry 
 and half prose. See the German version. 
 
58 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 of facts which often saves a man, during the first 
 stages of his storm and stress period. 
 
 The play completed by Ibsen just before he went 
 up for his examinations has never been translated 
 into English; its romanticism is less virile tlian in 
 " Catilina " and its note less personal, though its 
 atmosphere is far more native and sincere. In Sep- 
 tember, 1850, it was presented, with slight notice 
 taken of it, at the Christiania Theatre; and several 
 years after was first printed as a feuilleton in a Ber- 
 gen paper. The spirit of the piece is thoroughly of 
 the school of Oehlenschlager ; in fact, a faint echo of 
 " Hakon Jarl " is heard in the lines of " The War- 
 rior's Tomb." The old and seasoned dramatist of 
 Denmark was the power directing Ibsen toward his 
 great and interesting Saga period. In fact, " The 
 Warrior's Tomb " in situation is a pot-pourri of 
 Danish influence, a borrowing from many of Oehlen- 
 schlager's Norwegian attempts. Some critics con- 
 tend that Ibsen surpasses his master in the poetic 
 skill with which he handles the brutality and hardi- 
 ness of the Viking physique, but in comparison with 
 his own work, the spirit of this piece is not to be 
 compared with " The Vikings at Helgeland." For 
 its significance lies only in Ibsen's attention being 
 drawn to Norway's past, and not in the artistic 
 strength of its workmanship. It possesses a certain 
 simplicity, a certain hint of the grandeur of such 
 manhood ; in Blanka, the girl, there is an ideal charm 
 that is natural, considering Ibsen's romantic suscep- 
 tibility. But the plot and motive are mediocre, as yet 
 exhibiting small contrast of character, as yet devoid 
 of intensive and subtle change. 
 
CHRISTIANIA 69 
 
 The story is of the simplest.^ A Viking, Roderik, 
 swoops down upon a Southern warrior, spreading 
 havoc and destruction in his path. His followers 
 leave him behind as dead, and he is cared for by a 
 maiden, Blanka, who converts him to Christianity. 
 He thereupon relinquishes his piratical life, burying 
 his shield and spear beneath a mound, which is ever 
 kept covered with green and flowers by his foster 
 child. But in years to come, this old man's son, 
 swearing blood vengeance for his father's life, comes 
 to this isle and meets Blanka; the mound before him 
 stands witness to his father's sacrifice and his father's 
 death. Though he loves the maid at sight, and 
 though her Christian sweetness makes instant appeal 
 to his sympathy, his warriors would have him visit 
 his wrath upon her and the old man. Then Roderik 
 reveals himself to his son, and Gandalf soon sails 
 North with Blanka as his bride, leaving the grey- 
 haired sire to live out his hermit's life alone. 
 
 This being the bare skeleton, wherein lies the 
 value.'' If any, in the impatient tone, the discontent 
 over the miserable generation which forgets the full 
 stature of Norwegian men. Blanka has her ideals 
 of the Northern Vikings, the heroes who do things, 
 who act. Here, Ibsen contrasts the Christianity of 
 the girl with the pagan spirit of Roderik's son, not 
 philosophizing as he will do later in " Emperor and 
 Galilean," but externalizing in the contrast of gen- 
 tleness with hardy boldness. 
 
 The whole dramatic dialogue is an operatic sketch. 
 
 ' I follow here the French translation, " Le Tumulus " — le 
 Vicomte de Colleville et F. de Zepelin. See Introduction 
 thereto; also Brandes' study of Ibsen. 
 
60 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Blanka's dream of the vague blue of the North Is 
 Ibsen's dream of Norway's past; Gandalf's discon- 
 tent over his kingdom's lethargy since the glory of 
 his father has departed, is Ibsen's dissatisfaction 
 with the present time. When the son discovers what 
 he believes to be his father's tomb, he deplores the 
 fact that here in the South an old hero's mound finds 
 a place. It is the Midi that has killed the North! 
 he cries, thus echoing Oehlenschlager. i The many 
 worn-out situations have been oftentimes used in 
 romantic pieces ;^ the father and son unknown to each 
 other; the old man trying to save Blanka's life by 
 claiming that upon him all vengeance must fall; the 
 melodramatic disclosure of identity; there is little 
 of the future Ibsen in this. Yet in the final words 
 of the play, there is a note of prophecy, indicative 
 of the dramatist's youthful hope : 
 
 "The Northern glory, purified, will rise anew. 
 This time victorious in spirit true." 
 
 The little that Ibsen had seen, heard, and read of 
 the Storthing's inaction, and apparent indifference 
 to the state of the country and the development of 
 European matters, stung him to the quick, for early 
 as it was, his banner was flung against compromise, 
 and the political connection between Norway and 
 Sweden was maintained purely in such manner. This 
 
 ■ As a matter of interest, it is well to record Gosse's statement 
 that Blanka was played by Laura Svendsen, afterwards one of 
 Ibsen's best interpreters, but then a debutante. On Ibsen's 
 seventieth birthday the Berlin Press Society had the manu- 
 script read. The date of presentation at Christiania was Sep- 
 tember 26, 1850; at Bergen, January 2, 18S4. 
 
CHRISTIANIA 61 
 
 condition next prompted him to combine his love of 
 caricature with his incipient ability to satirize cur- 
 rent weaknesses, in a piece modelled after Bellini's 
 " Norma," and entitled " Norma ; or, A Politician's 
 Love." The outline of the " score " is thus given 
 by Jseger:-' 
 
 " Political nobilities take the place of the charac- 
 ters of the opera, and the most powerful blows are 
 dealt out. In the figure of Norma, the opposition 
 in general is derided as characterless, while at the 
 same time several members of the Storthing are 
 singled out by name and branded as fortune-hunters." 
 
 This production saw the light only as a contribu- 
 tion to the Andlirimner, and as that paper could boast 
 of but a meagre circulation, Ibsen's wit and skill at 
 verse-making had limited appeal. When finally he 
 prepared a foreword for the book, he made a dec- 
 laration as to the particular figures lampooned; in 
 the composition, he sought to infuse some of the 
 sprightly imagination that seemed rampant when he 
 attended the Tribune of the Storthing, and looked 
 down upon the perruqued heads of the members, who 
 were debating in what seemed to him to be a futile, 
 half-hearted fashion. But in the evening of that 
 day, happening to go to a performance of Bellini's 
 opera, the whole satiric panorama unfolded itself; 
 
 ' While speaking of unpublished and unfamiliar plays of 
 Ibsen's, note Brandes' mention of "Den Ensomne " (" The Lonely- 
 One"), dated 1886. According to Jaeger, at the same time he 
 was writing " Catilina," Ibsen was contemplating a dramatic 
 version of the story of " Justedalrypa." Two acts were finished 
 and then cast aside, bearing the title, " The Grouse of Justedal : 
 a National Play in Four Acts." Alfhild in *' Olaf Liljekrans " 
 Is taken from this earlier drama. 
 
62 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 each member fell into his natural place. Ilolmboe, 
 the noble father; another dignitary as the peevish 
 old uncle who had lost all feeling for the poetry 
 of life, {ind so on: thus combining his morning and 
 evening's experiences. There is no doubt that this 
 mood with which he regarded the government was 
 the same which later gave impetus to the mature sa- 
 tires; the Storthing afforded him an opportunity of 
 estimating the political character which was to find 
 expression later in definite personages.^ 
 
 This was the status of Ibsen's activity when he 
 received his appointment at Bergen ; and when he 
 left to assume his duties, he had the gratification 
 of realizing that even though "The Warrior's Tomb " 
 had brought him almost nothing as far as pecuniary 
 gain was concerned, it had at least attracted the 
 attention of Ole Bull,* whose role, it seems, was to 
 encourage incipient genius, and who recognised in 
 Ibsen the same possibilities which he discovered in the 
 talent of Edvard Grieg. 
 
 'See foreword, "Norma oder die Liebe eines Politikers": 
 MusiktragBdie in drei Akten (1851) and note, p. 299 and p. 
 636 of volume 1, " Henrik Ibsen's SSmtliche Werke in deutscher 
 Sprache." Brandes, Elias, Schlenther. 
 
 ' See " Life of Ole Bull," Mrs. Sara C. Bull ; (dso see under 
 Bull, in Halvorsen's "Norsk Forfatter-Lexikon," 18U-1880. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 BERGEN (1852-1857) 
 
 The awakening of Norway is part of the life his- 
 tory of Henrik Ibsen. In his early years, when the 
 desire to study art was uppermost in his mind, his 
 canvases exhibited the influence of whatever small 
 national school of painters was then in existence. As 
 he advanced in years, his point of view became less 
 personal ; his attention concentrated on civic matters, 
 and this change represents the difference between the 
 sentiment of his early verses and the satiric experi- 
 ment in " Norma ; or. The Politician's Love." 
 
 In all directions, there was effort made to stamp 
 the cast of Norway upon language, upon subject 
 matter, upon culture in general, but the change was 
 slow and the opposition strong. Even though at a 
 later period Ibsen was overzealous in his diction, and 
 in his criticism of the diction and style of others, so 
 much was he influenced by Danish taste in these ini- 
 tial years, that his vocabulary was far from the pure 
 Norwegian. 
 
 In respect to the theatre, the national note was 
 weak, and the hope for a distinctively native dramatic 
 and histrionic talent was almost nil, so thoroughly 
 had the Danish system gripped the country. There 
 had been some effort the year previous to Ibsen's birth 
 to establish a National theatre, J. P. Stromberg, a 
 Swede, supporting the movement. The political his- 
 tory of the country, while in one way quieting the 
 restiveness of the people, in another way left them 
 deplorably inert. This same inertia characterized the 
 art movement in Norway. 
 
 Ibsen reached Bergen in November, 1851, there- 
 
64 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 fore, with little more than a faint idea as to what 
 Ole Bull wanted him to do ; he was told that he was 
 to be the playwright and stage manager of a house 
 which the musician had established the year before, 
 and had christened the Norwegian Theatre, perhaps 
 in the belief that the centre of dramatic art could be 
 developed in Bergen rather than in Christiania; but 
 more likely intent on taking some part of the strength 
 and prestige away from Copenhagen. The salary 
 was to be a bare pittance ; to this was added a grant 
 of four hundred specie-dollars or about £90 to enable 
 Ibsen to travel for a few months, beginning in April, 
 1852,^ the theatre being far behind in methods and 
 deplorably lacking in actors, to say nothing of the 
 material for the players when they were obtained. 
 
 The Bergen experience was in a way an education 
 for Ibsen, since his reading was but meagre, and his 
 acquaintance with drama confined to a very few au- 
 thors. But during the time he held office at the 
 theatre, he superintended the staging of one hundred 
 and forty-five plays, a large percentage of which 
 was by Scribe-^ — an undeniable proof that he learned 
 much from the external trickery of this Frenchman, 
 evidences of which may be detected in all of his plays 
 from " Lady Inger " to " The League of Youth." 
 
 His travelling stipend also enabled Ibsen to cast 
 off his provincial views and to meet many of the im- 
 portant men of the- theatre. In Christiania, he was 
 brought in contact with the writing of Henrik Hertz, 
 the Danish dramatist, whose delicate style had won 
 him success in two masterpieces entitled " Svend Dyr- 
 
 ' In this same year, 1852, a school for the training of Nor- 
 wegian actors was begun. 
 
BERGEN 65 
 
 ing's House " and " King Rene's Daughter." At the 
 Theatre Royal in Copenhagen, Ibsen was introduced 
 to Councillor Heiberg. The letter written to the 
 management of the Norwegian Theatre at Bergen 
 on May 16, 1852, indicates some of the work accom- 
 plished by him on this trip ; besides procuring a few 
 plays and a great deal of second-hand music, he 
 made it a point to study the theatrical methods put 
 into practice by other managers in actual presenta- 
 tions then on the boards. Here, perhaps, for the 
 first time he was familiarized with several of Shake- 
 speare's plays, and he witnessed some of Holberg's 
 comedies, as well as Scribe's " Bataille de Dames." 
 But, during his absence, he was uncomfortably 
 pinched for money. His plans were extensive, and 
 had he been given additional sums he might have ac- 
 complished more for his theatre by travelling sys- 
 tematically through the cities of Germany. But in 
 August, 1852, he and the actors who had accom- 
 panied him to Copenhagen returned to Bergen ; they 
 had been successful to a small degree ; yet the largest 
 gain for Ibsen was personal, for the influence of Hei- 
 berg-* and of Hertz upon this period of his writing 
 is acknowledged. In the way of friendship, he had 
 become acquainted with Hans Christian Andersen and 
 the painter, J. C. Dahl. 
 
 The young stage manager now had thrust upon 
 him additional duties ; he was to be the official author 
 of the house, preparing an original drama for Foun- 
 der's Day of each year, and, furthermore, he was to 
 
 • Ibsen wrote a poem to Heiberg at the time of his death 
 (1860), entitled "To the Survivors." See Gosse, p. 50, for 
 translation. 
 
66 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 design the costumes, sketches of which are said to 
 exist in a large book in Bergen ; a few of them have 
 been reproduced in Rudolph Lothar's study of the 
 dramatist. The repertoire required a considerable 
 amount of translating, and in this part of the work 
 Ibsen secured the good services of his future mother- 
 in-law, Magdalene Thoresen, into whose family he 
 appears to have had an early introduction. 
 
 In his business capacity, the young director was 
 far from genial; in fact his overseriousness, which 
 verged on aggressive directness, was one of the rea- 
 sons for his final resignation; and, in contrast with 
 Bjornson, who afterwards assumed the post, it was 
 much akin to ill-temper. Yet, despite the fact that 
 the exactions and routine must have taxed his rest- 
 lessness, Ibsen seems to have accomplished his work 
 faithfully. Through the untiring labours of Mr. 
 Archer, one is able to reach a few conclusions as to 
 the extent of this work, by arranging a tabular list 
 of some dramas superintended by Ibsen during his 
 tenure of office ; it is based on an article whose main 
 object was to illustrate that while Ibsen owed little 
 or nothing in the way of influence to George Sand or 
 to Zola, and though he was deplorably unfamiliar 
 with the French language, still his apprenticeship at 
 the Bergen theatre brought him in direct contact 
 with the constructive methods of the French drama- 
 tists of the first half of the nineteenth century. 
 
 The list is intended to do no more than to indicate 
 a few of the most characteristic plays. Mr. Gosse is 
 somewhat extravagant when he writes : " No Bergen 
 in 1851 ... no 'Doll's House' or ' Hedda 
 Gabler' ... to follow." 
 
BERGEN 67 
 
 French Influence on Ibsen. 
 
 Table made from William Archer's " Ibsen's Apprenticeship.'' 
 
 Fortnightly, n. s. 75, January, IQOl. 
 
 1851. 
 Four French Plays Presented. 
 Scribe's La Somnambule. 
 Two plays by M61esville. 
 One play by Ancelot. 
 
 1852. 
 
 Eighteen French Plays Presented. 
 D'Ennery's Don Cisar. 
 Scribe's Bataille de Dames. 
 
 L'Ambitievx, 
 
 La Tutrice. 
 Two plays by Bayard. 
 
 Alexandre Duval's La Jeunesse de Henri V. 
 Ponsard's Charlotte Corday. 
 
 1853. 
 Fourteen French Plays Presented. 
 Ibsen's 8t. John's Night (Founder's Night, Jan. 2). 
 Sandeau's Mademoiselle de la Seigliire, 
 Dumas's Catherine Howard. 
 M^lesville's Chevalier de 8t. George. 
 Leuven's and Brunswick's Le Mariage a/a Tambour. 
 Bayard's and Bi^ville's Si Dieu le veut. 
 
 1854. 
 
 Fourteen French Plays Presented. 
 Ibsen's Warrior's Tomb (Founder's Night, Jan. 
 Scribe's Adrienne Lecouvreur. 
 
 Les Contes de la Reine de Navarre. 
 
 Les IndSpendants. 
 Dumas's La Fille du Regent. 
 Bayard's Vn Fils de Famille. 
 Arago's and Vermond's M4moires du Diable. 
 
68 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 18SS. 
 Twelve French Plays Presented. 
 Ibsen's Fru Inger of Ostrdt (Founder's Night, Jan. 2). 
 [Showing the influence of Adrienne Lecouvreur and 
 of Les Contes de la Reine de Navarre; revealing 
 also, according to Archer, German mysticism and 
 romanticism. The grave-vault idea was a remin- 
 iscence of Dumas's CatMrine Howard.^ 
 Scribe's La Part du Diable. 
 Mon Etoile. 
 
 18S6. 
 Ibsen's Feast at Solhaug (Founder's Night, Jan. 2). 
 
 [Showing reminiscent touches of Bataille de Dameg.] 
 Scribe's Le Verre d'Eau. 
 
 1857. 
 Ibsen's Olaf Liljekrans (Founder's Night, Jan. 2). 
 Augier's and Sandeau's Le Gendre de M. Poirier, 
 
 Note: Statistically arranged, Mr. Archer declares that 
 while at the Bergen Theatre, Ibsen mounted 145 plays, 
 of which seventy-five were French, twenty-one out of 
 that number being by Scribe. 
 
 It would be unwise to discount the importance of 
 this repertoire upon the technical development of Ib- 
 sen ; we are also told that he was, at this period, read- 
 ing a small book on the technique of the drama by 
 Hermann Hettner, who was pleading assiduously for 
 a psychological treatment of drama, rather than the 
 loosely constructed chronicle play. These points, 
 taken into consideration with the facts of Ibsen's 
 theatregoing in Christiania and Copenhagen, will 
 sufficiently explain the superiority of " The Feast at 
 
BERGEN 69 
 
 Solhaug" over " Olaf Liljekrans," for the latter 
 was much earlier in point of conception, if not in 
 actual presentation. 
 
 Another influence which one has to consider was 
 Ibsen's interest in the national impulse toward the 
 study of folk-lore. Jorgen Moe and Peter Christian 
 Asbjornsen had individually and together gathered 
 the old popular tales and peasant traditions, re-tell- 
 ing them in such style as to retain to a surprising 
 degree their original naive flavour. Many of these 
 stories were obtained directly from the peasants, in 
 much the same manner as L. M. Lindeman had col- 
 lected the peasant melodies. About the same time M. 
 B. Landstad was seeking to preserve the national 
 songs and distinctive ballads, and, furthermore, 
 through N. M. Petersen's paraphrases of the Ice- 
 landic legends, Ibsen was gaining some knowledge of 
 the ancient sagas. 
 
 Ibsen's enthusiasm over this nationalism was shown 
 in his repeated analyses of the exact nature of its 
 characteristics. As JiEger points out, " St. John's 
 Night " was heralded by Ibsen's definition of national 
 poetry, and " Olaf Liljekrans " followed by an earn- 
 est essay " Upon the Battle-Song and its Poetic Sig- 
 nificance." After having defined the national writer 
 as " one who understands how to impart to his work 
 the fundamental tone that greets us from mountain 
 and valley, from hillside and shore, and that, most 
 important of all, is 'heard within the depths of our 
 own being," he added some remarks to his " Catilina " 
 concerning his historical viewpoint, for he used facts 
 only in so far as they abetted his idea ; " it is to be 
 hoped that the author will be pardoned for having 
 
70 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 given historical names to persons who, both as to 
 character and other circumstances, appear otherwise 
 than as history reveals them to us ; and all the more 
 because these names are hardly so conspicuous that 
 their appearance under circumstances which history 
 does not record should make a confusing impression." 
 This is an opinion protecting his use of historical 
 data in " Catilina " and forestalling his " Fru Inger 
 of Ostrat " and " Emperor and Galilean." When we 
 come to discuss the individual plays, we shall take 
 up the undoubted historical forces behind each one, 
 quoting at length from his preface to " The Feast 
 at Solhaug." Suffice it to say that his attention was 
 now largely engaged in a contemplation of the past. 
 To his romantic sense he had added a deep feeling 
 for tradition. 
 
 It is hard to imagine Ibsen as a susceptible youth, 
 and yet we have already mentioned his " Ball-room 
 Memories," based on am infatuation of the summer 
 of 1849, when Rikke Hoist had flung a bunch of flow- 
 ers in his face. Long years after, when he was near- 
 ing the end of his career, another figure of a sixteen- 
 year-old girl was to enthral him, and maybe when 
 the fair maid of Gossensass inspired him in the con- 
 ception of the character of Hilda Wangel, there en- 
 tered also into the image some memory of this earlier 
 time. In 1856, however, Ibsen's attentions were 
 centred elsewhere, for Dean Hans Conrad Thoresen, 
 of the Collegiate Church of Bergen, had a daughter 
 Susanna, " the only one," as Ibsen called her, and 
 despite the slim condition of his purse, he was deter- 
 mined to marry her. In a rhymed letter addressed 
 to her— a second ball-room poem — ^he feels that in 
 
BERGEN 71 
 
 that gay, heedless throng where " the weary burden 
 of earth " is unrealized " because of the unthinking," 
 there is one in particular into whose spirit-tide he 
 would like to plunge himself: 
 
 " Ah, yes ! there is one, one only. 
 
 Among so many but one. 
 Her eyes have a secret sadness; 
 
 I read in them sorrow begun — 
 I read in them dreaming fancies. 
 
 That rise and sink without cease — ■ 
 A heart that longs and throbs upwards. 
 
 And finds in this world no peace.'' 
 
 This is a characteristic failing of Ibsen's, to trans- 
 late all experience in terms of the intellectual, to 
 doubt his own emotion unless it be tested by the sad 
 undertone of life. However, writing to Hansen in 
 1870, he referred to his marriage in words of true 
 thankfulness ; it was only after he had assumed this 
 deep responsibility that serious life-interests gripped 
 him ; he spoke of his wife as having " exactly the 
 character desiderated by a man of mind — she is il- 
 logical, but has a strong poetic instinct, a broad and 
 liberal mind, and an almost violent antipathy to all 
 petty considerations." 
 
 With the whole Thoresen family he was on terms, 
 much more so than with his own ; his love and regard 
 for his mother-in-law, Magdalene Thoresen, who was 
 herself a novelist of some considerable talent, were 
 always of the highest and form an agreeable phase 
 in Ibsen's career. 
 
 Jaeger and Professor Gosse * disagree as to the 
 
 * Concerning these data see Dr. Julius Elias in Die neue 
 Bnndschaw, Dec, 1906, p. 1463; also article by Brahm. In his 
 
72 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 exact date of Ibsen's marriage; the former claims 
 that he returned to Bergen in 1858 to get his bride; 
 the latter fixes the date as June 26, 1856, hinting that 
 he left the Norwegian Theatre for Christiania crip- 
 pled by debt and by a wife. But that the marriage 
 was a happy one there can be no doubt; Ibsen must 
 have been a somewhat difficult temperament to please, 
 yet the poem to his wife, entitled " Thanks," in- 
 dicates his deep love for her. Save as an inspira- 
 tion for the character of Elina in " Lady Inger of 
 Ostrat," she figures only incidentally in the finished 
 product of her husband's work; he seldom referred 
 to her in his letters, yet in their social life it was al- 
 ways her especial duty to do the many little amenities 
 which he left undone. The Ibsen home life, however, 
 was by no means a meagre one ; nor did Ibsen remain 
 callous to the duties of a father. In this capacity 
 we find in him a tender regard. 
 
 From the time that Ibsen left Bergen in the sum- 
 mer of 1857, until the publication of " Brand," he 
 was destined to undergo the ordeals of unremitting 
 struggle; the royalties gleaned from his plays were 
 insignificant, the salary given him at the Norwegian 
 Theatre in Christiania insufficient, and debts were 
 piling up and were paid in part through the untir- 
 ing devotion of friends. Those who did not actually 
 give him pecuniary aid were nearly all solicitous 
 about his receiving grants. Such was the dire con- 
 dition at times that he could not put the necessary 
 postage on his correspondence. But when Ibsen left 
 
 petition to the Norwegian Government (Correspondence, Let- 
 ter 13), March 10, 1863, Ibsen plainly states that he was mar- 
 riecl in 1858, 
 
BERGEN 73 
 
 Bergen, lie had done some work which showed signs 
 of abiHty, though not of any very marked originaUty. 
 He had gained a store of useful experience, his at- 
 tention had been turned upon that source which was 
 to prompt his first distinctive period — that of the 
 saga — as a dramatist. The plays he had presented 
 on Founder's Day each year had created no noticeable 
 comment, but his mind was actively engaged in the 
 working out of suggestions which were finally to 
 become " The Vikings at Helgeland " and " The Pre- 
 tenders." 
 
 For the sake of agreement with Mr. Archer's edi- 
 tion, our discussion of the plays must, in the begin- 
 ning, be slightly changed about. " St. John's 
 Night " was given to the public in 1853 ; " Lady 
 Inger of Ostrat " in 1855 ; " The Feast at Solhaug " 
 in 1856, and " Olaf Liljekrans " in 1857; but since 
 the first and the last have never been printed in Eng- 
 lish, being disregarded by Mr. Archer as of inferior 
 interest, it is well to consider them briefly in passing. 
 Ibsen himself was averse to having them included in 
 any definitive edition. 
 
 Again, the student has to acknowledge indebted- 
 ness to Jasger for a sketch of " St. John's Night," 
 a piece of fairy lore akin to " A Midsummer Night's 
 Dream," a mixture of elfin fancy in the midst of 
 every-day surroundings. The plot runs as follows :^ 
 
 " The scene is laid upon a farm in Thelemarken, 
 where ladies and students have assembled on St. 
 John's Eve. A betrothal is about to be pronounced, 
 and in celebration of the occasion, punch is brought 
 
 • This synopsis of Jaeger's is based on an account given in 
 Blanc's history of the Bergen Theatre. 
 
74. HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 into the garden. Here the nixies come in and ex- 
 press the juice of a mysterious plant into the punch 
 bowl. Whoever drinks of this juice is no longer daz- 
 zled by outward appearances ; the scales drop from 
 his eyes, and he beholds ' the inner life, that sits in 
 the secret recesses of the soul.' . . . After the 
 couples in the piece have partaken of the punch, 
 they stroll out to the St. John's hill, where the moun- 
 tain opens for those whose sight has been made clear, 
 so that they see the mountain king surrounded by 
 dancing elves and hillfolk. The prosaic natures, on 
 the other hand, see only girls and boys dancing about 
 a St. John's fire, and take the mountain king for a 
 member of the festival committee. A romantic poet 
 is one of these common-place people. A play of 
 elective affinities now takes place, under the influence 
 of the magic draught of the nixies ; the poetically 
 inclined natures now understand each other, and are 
 brought together in spite of the betrothal that had 
 separated them before, while those of prosaic disposi- 
 tion also join forces. At the same time, an ancient 
 wrong that had been done the romantic lover is dis- 
 covered and righted, and all is brought to a satis- 
 factory ending." 
 
 Such artificiality of situation and sentiment is fur- 
 ther seen in " Olaf Liljekrans." The legend from 
 which Ibsen took suggestions for his plot is contained 
 in Landstad's " Norwegian Folk-Songs " and is char- 
 acterized by certain supernatural qualities resorted 
 to in " St. John's Night " ; but he likewise drew upon 
 the tale of " Justedalrypa." The piece was never 
 a success, and a few years after, prompted by a de- 
 sire which he had always manifested to write the 
 
BERGEN 75 
 
 libretto for an opera, he proceeded to revise " Olaf " 
 for this purpose, even sending part of the manuscript 
 to the composer, Udbye, but the idea was for some? 
 reason abandoned. 
 
 The play marks a certain change in Ibsen's view- 
 point ; it is the last of his work to be purely romantic 
 in tone, and it is a transition from the ballad to the 
 saga style. His romantic period did not wholly suc- 
 ceed in making him lose his interest in the life around 
 him; even his fancy was connected, however unor- 
 ganically, with the types of people he saw; and, in 
 " Olaf Liljekrans," his attention became more con- 
 centrated upon his dramatis personce, although the 
 developing of the plot was wholly inconsequent and 
 without any particular motive prompting it. 
 
 When the manuscript was completed, it was sent 
 to the Christiania Theatre, but was immediately de- 
 clined by the artistic director. Ibsen's relations with 
 this Borgaard were not cordial; the two differed on 
 many essential points, one being that the latter 
 wished certain changes made in " Lady Inger " which 
 Ibsen refused to make; this aggressive attitude on 
 his part may have caused Borgaard's later refusal 
 of " The Vikings." Considering the ferment in Ib- 
 sen's mind as to the national qualities in art, and 
 realizing how persistently he was reading the eddas, 
 the sagas, and the ballads, it is strange, as Brandes 
 asserts, that the diction of this piece should be so thor- 
 oughly Danish; an examination of the text will em- 
 phasize the absence of distinctively Norwegian words. 
 As yet Ibsen was still a student of the drama; he 
 was neither independent in style nor spontaneous in 
 imagination ; he was experimenting with what he had 
 
76 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 learned from Oehlenschlager, Holberg, and Hertz. 
 After all, it is marked how prone he was to imitation ; 
 he never himself made an original break, but only 
 deepened, and perfected the experiments of others — 
 a species of dramatic Edison. We shall find him 
 working upon a form of expression that would suit 
 the drama yet contain the ballad swing ; this was not 
 pioneer effort on his part, but a continuation of what 
 Hertz himself had attempted; we shall find him fol- 
 lowing the example of Bjornson's "Bankruptcy" 
 and " The Editor " and surpassing them both in 
 point of style and vitality. " Olaf Liljekrans " in 
 this respect was anything but noteworthy; its sig- 
 nificance is neither personal nor artistic. 
 
 As for the mere story, it is trite in the telling. 
 Olaf Liljekrans-' is betrothed to Ingeborg Guldvik; 
 the marriage is to be one of convenience, since the 
 estate of Dame Kirsten Liljekrans is in sore need of 
 financial backing, which the peasant, Arne Era Guld- 
 vik, might give it, while the latter is intent on an 
 alliance with a family whose social position he covets. 
 But the two parents have not reckoned with their 
 children. On the day set aside for the final meeting, 
 Olaf is nowhere to be found ; he has hied him to the 
 mountain valley and has become passionately enam- 
 oured of Alfhild, daughter of an old musician, Thorg- 
 jerd, while Ingeborg Guldvik in her turn is casting 
 longing looks upon another man, Hemming, her 
 mother's equerry. 
 
 Olaf is a weak individual; he has no sense of re- 
 sponsibility ; Ingeborg passes from his mind as easily 
 
 ' See the French translation of " Olaf " by Vlcomte de CoUe- 
 ville and F. de Zepelin. ' 
 
BERGEN 77 
 
 as AlfhiW, when she is later on persuaded to go with 
 him from hor mountain isolation to his own village, 
 wIuTc, no soonor (UTJvcd, than he rciilizcs tlie awk- 
 ■Hfird situnlion niui succumbs to his mother's plead- 
 ing. The course of events is now haphazard; Alf- 
 hild, a wild being, somewhat similar to Gerd in 
 " Brand," sets fire to tl\c house in which Ingeborg 
 is to become tlic wife of Olaf, and flees to the moun- 
 tains, pursued by l"'ru Kirsten's people. To add 
 to the coustoriuition, at the same moment that Alf- 
 hild throws the lighted torch, Hemming and Ingeborg 
 depart; but their love is of tlie kind tliat Ibsen later 
 is to cartoon in " Love's Comedy." Olaf returns to 
 the mountain valley; there he comes upon Alfhild, 
 who naturally doubts his avowals, having been once 
 deceived; then he meets with Ingeborg and Henmiing 
 and they all reach some understanding. When, 
 finally, Fru Kirsten and Arne Era' Guldvik capture 
 Alfhild, it is likely to <;o hard with the elf-like creat- 
 ure, for she is accused of witchery which they be- 
 lieve she has practised upon Olaf, who for a second 
 time i\as disappeared. The girl hears her crimes nar- 
 rated ; what she has done is no more than what has 
 been done to her; she boldly faces the cross-examina- 
 tion and listens calmly to the sentence passed upon 
 her of instant death, since she refuses to tell of Olaf's 
 abiding place. But just at the moment when she is 
 to be sjuM-illced, Fru Kirsten offers her one more op- 
 p(U'tunity, not knowing that near by and witness to 
 tins scene is Olaf himself. Every condemned person 
 has the right to be championed, and if among those 
 around her there is one who is willing to uphold her 
 iiuuH-ence and to marry her, then she may go fi'ee. 
 
78 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Olaf claims this right. In the end, the pairing off 
 is quickly done. Arne blesses his daughter, and Fru 
 Kirsten, still intent on worldly gain, hearing of the 
 rich lands which, as events disclose, belong to Alfhild, 
 is reconciled, and, in operatic style, the drama is 
 brought to a close. 
 
 Throughout the text, song and folk-lore are in- 
 terspersed, and the lines are efflorescent and senti- 
 mental. There is a certain abandon in the narra- 
 tive which portends " Peer Gynt," although the scenic 
 background is hardly as vital. The dramatic im- 
 pulse is not as dominant as the lyric, nor are the char- 
 acters marked by any interests which would appeal 
 to the sympathies of modern readers. 
 
 Barring this one play, Ibsen's saga period exhibits 
 marked advance from piece to piece. The works so 
 far considered have been fragmentary and largely 
 significant only as they indicated the elements which 
 later would affect his craftsmanship and his critical 
 attitude toward life. Even in its fragmentary bear- 
 ing, Ibsen's advance, however slow, has been thor- 
 oughly consistent, though at times somewhat indis- 
 tinct. But from now on, the appearance of each 
 new play represented a positive value, had a distinct 
 history of its evolution ; and furthermore, what is of 
 decided importance to English readers, is available 
 in faithful translation. In a certain sense, the first 
 two plays in the saga period of Ibsen's career might 
 be regarded as part of his apprenticeship days ; but 
 they contain so many excellencies that they justify 
 our considering the experimental stage as over. Hen- 
 rik Ibsen was now beginning to realize his mission 
 both as a poet and as a playwright. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 "feu INGER of OSTRAT " AND " THE FEAST AT 
 
 The important question regarding the use of bal- 
 lad and saga material in drama involved the difficulty 
 of adapting the material to drama, in view of its 
 formal metre. In the beginning, interested as he 
 was in the whole body of this particular class of 
 literature, Ibsen did not trouble himself about the 
 philosophy of style, which, however, was soon to 
 impress itself upon him. He imbibed, as it were, the 
 method of Henrik Hertz, whose " Svend Dyring's 
 House " had dealt with Danish folk song in an orig- 
 inal verse that seemed to overleap the difficulties of 
 narrative ; and thereto he added many of the artifices 
 which marked Scribe's so-called " well-made " play. 
 
 In 1883, when he came to write a preface for the 
 second edition of " The Feast at SoUiaug," Ibsen 
 was loath to acknowledge this literary indebtedness, 
 refuting George Brandes' statement that the piece 
 was fashioned under Hertz's influence; in fact, he 
 asserted that he was not particularly impressed with 
 Hertz as a dramatist. Ibsen was, however, always 
 oversure as to his own interpretation of himself, and 
 I venture to agree with Mr. Archer's belief that to 
 Hertz belongs the original impulse which started this 
 saga period.^ 
 
 But thus far we may rely upon Ibsen's statement, 
 that in his development a definite progressiveness is 
 
 "Ibsen has expressed his wish that those who would see him 
 well represented should consult Valfrid Vasenius's " Henrik 
 Ibsen's Dramatic Poetry in its First Stage" (1879); as well 
 as "Henrik Ibsen: The Portrait of a Skald" (1882). 
 
80 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 to be detected. During 1854< he became somewhat 
 familiar with the literature and history of his own 
 country in the Middle Ages. " Lady Inger of Os- 
 trat " points to an easy familiarity with the mediaeval 
 manners as well as with the political temper of that 
 era. Not finding the period so very pregnant with 
 dramatic opportunities, however, he turned, with half- 
 hearted interest, to the sagas of the kings and to 
 traditional as well as legendary incident, which he 
 also found difficult to use at the moment. 
 
 Happening upon the Icelandic " family " sagas, 
 he instantly recognised more of the human atmos- 
 phere which drama required, more of the personal 
 character which afforded an outlet for individual 
 passion. And so he studied carefully and to good 
 purpose the Petersen translations — while gradually 
 there was shaped in his mind the whole skeleton of 
 " The Vikings at Helgeland." The cross-purposes 
 between his two women heroines, the banquet scenes, 
 the quarrels were all ready to hand. " In short," so 
 he confesses, " it was my intention to reproduce 
 dramatically exactly what the Saga of the Volsungs 
 gives in epic form." 
 
 Other inclinations were to intervene, for Landstad's 
 ballads were also claiming Ibsen's attention, and the 
 romanticism which was still strong within him would 
 not allow him to pass such data by. " My mood of 
 the moment," he said, " was more in harmony with 
 the literary romanticism of the Middle Ages than 
 with the deeds of the sagas, with poetical than with 
 prose compositions, with the word-melody of the bal- 
 lad than with the characterization of the saga." 
 That is why " The Feast at Solhaug " usurped his 
 
"FRU INGER OF OSTRAT " 81 
 
 attention and was completed before " The Vikings 
 at Helgeland." In every essential it is the immature 
 placing of saga figures within a lighter, lyrical set- 
 ting of the ballad spirit. 
 
 The year following the completion of " The Feast 
 at Solhaug " he wrote his essay, " Upon the Battle- 
 song and its Poetic Significance," which was sent 
 to his friend, Botten-Hansen, who was then editing 
 the newspaper Illustreret Nyhedshlad. It is to be 
 remembered that here was a dramatic author who 
 was scouring the popular remains of his national 
 literature for material containing dynamic power. 
 He was not satisfied with the form at his command — 
 a form which required the commingling of the lyric 
 with the ballad and with drama style. These elements 
 dominate the finished play of " The Feast at Sol- 
 haug " and constitute the chief reasons for its artistic 
 weakness. 
 
 Moreover, Ibsen's zealous desire to reproduce the 
 spirit of a past age kept him at first from conceiving 
 clearly the main motives of his characters; but he 
 chafed beneath his own imitation and kept working 
 until the surety of his technique made him bold to 
 be freer in his use of materials. His essay^ very 
 clearly indicates his mental attitude toward his new 
 data, and, for an understanding of the artist at the 
 time, the significance of his arguments needs to be 
 thoroughly grasped. 
 
 • This essay is contained in the first volume of Henrik Ibsen's 
 Samtliche Werke; ed. George Brandes, Julius Elias, Paul 
 Schlenther, p. 337; translated by Ethel H. Hearn under title, 
 "The Saga and the Ballad," Contemporary Review, 90:318-31, 
 September, 1906. 
 
82 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 He writes : 
 
 " The real people, who in Norway, as in other 
 places, have stood apart from all direct influence 
 of the poetry of art, have found in their ballad poesy 
 a satisfying expression for their inner life, which 
 has here found a form whereby to reveal its intel- 
 lectual contents to all and everyone. The ballad is 
 not written by a single individual ; it is the sum total 
 of the poetic strength of a whole people; it is the 
 fruit of its poetic endowment." 
 
 Ibsen therefore believes that the objectivity which, 
 characterizes the ballad has kept people aloof from 
 national literature in poetry. It is his belief that 
 poetical subjectivity has no meaning to the people, 
 and unlike in every way are those very people to the 
 theatregoers who only seek a new situation or a new 
 mtrigue. 
 
 " This need for poetic self -activity," he continues, 
 " is a characteristic of the whole Teutonic race, and 
 hence it is that only certain forms of art are truly 
 demotic in this race, while the other forms have 
 through civilization become the property of the cul- 
 tured alone, and are still to this day dead and foreign 
 to the mass of the people." 
 
 Thus, in the south of Europe, Ibsen calls atten- 
 tion to the fact that with the Greeks and Romans 
 and with the Romance peoples in general there was 
 no bulk of folk-poetry to compare with the Norwe- 
 gian ballads. This passive relation to their art ac- 
 counts for the importance placed upon plastics in the 
 south; a form of art which calls for contemplation 
 rather than for activity of mind. Therefore, with 
 some show of pride in the contrast, Ibsen writes: 
 
"FRU INGER OF OSTRAT " 83 
 
 " He [the Northerner] asks for the outHnes only 
 of the drawing, to which he will himself put in the 
 last touches, all according to his own requirements; 
 he does not, like the Southerner, want the artist to 
 point to his work and show him where the centre lies 
 — he will find the centre for himself, and that, not in 
 any prescribed way, but through that radius which 
 the individual shading of the folk character indicates 
 to him as the nearest." 
 
 A strong sense of possession lies in ballad history ; 
 it is an important part of popular life. Flourishing 
 in a free atmosphere, when once confined, it droops 
 and dies. Fresh from his investigations, Ibsen is 
 thankful, however, for the husk. And though it 
 has declined, the ballad, per se, has given rise to an- 
 other form. 
 
 " The time will come," he declares, " when national 
 art poetry will go to ballad poetry as to an inexhaust- 
 ible mine. Cleansed, led back to its original purity 
 and raised throughout, it will again strike root 
 among the people. The beginning has already been 
 made in the case of the sagas; Oehlenschlager's 
 genius guessed at the necessity of a national basis 
 for the national poetry. . . . That Oehlen- 
 schlager threw himself on the saga, and not on to 
 the ballad, was a natural consequence of the state 
 of things at the time of his first appearance." 
 
 The reason for this was that research had been 
 long engaged on the sagas, and only through Oehlen- 
 schlager's individual work with the ballad form could 
 a way be prepared for a thorough appreciation of 
 the value of the ballad. While Oehlenschlager drew 
 material from the ballad, Ibsen sees in him a peculiar 
 
84 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ignoring of " the difference in treatment required 
 by the ballad and by the saga." Probably he recog- 
 nised that the content of the ballad was better suited 
 to drama than the saga, which " is a great, cold, iso- 
 lated epos, in its inmost essence objective and igno- 
 rant of everything lyric." For, to Ibsen: 
 
 " The drama, as we know, is a high connecting 
 link between the lyric and the epic. . . . By 
 means of dramatic treatment the saga period does 
 indeed enter into closer relations with reality ; but 
 this is just what it should not do; the statue gains 
 nothing by being given the natural colour of skin, 
 hai^r, and eyes." 
 
 Herein lies the fault Ibsen finds in Oehlenschlager, 
 for he might just as well have told " Hakon Jarl "^ 
 in prose as in five-footed iambics, which are foreign 
 to the national metre. He writes further: 
 
 " The saga is, as I have already remarked, entirely 
 epic; in the ballad, on the contrary, the lyrical is 
 present, not in the same proportion, indeed, as in the 
 drama, but still present — and the dramatic writer 
 who goes to the ballads for his material need not 
 subject their matter to so much alteration as he who 
 takes it from the sagas." 
 
 Hence, the ballad, affording a freer form, gives 
 the dramatic writer more opportunity to embody feel- 
 ing and atmosphere in his work, while the metres 
 suggest larger liberties in dialogue form. He con- 
 tinues : 
 
 " Therefore this poetic source will probably be 
 
 ' An English version of Oehlenschlager's " Hakon Jarl," 
 James Christian Lindberg. University Studies. Vol. V., No. 
 1, Jan., 1905. University of Nebraska. 
 
"FRU INGER OP OSTRAT " 85 
 
 diligently used by future writers who will build on 
 the foundations laid by Oehlenschlager. . . . The 
 national art poetry of the North began with the saga, 
 it is now the turn of the ballad; Oehlenschlager's 
 treatment of the saga corresponds to the variations 
 of a musical genius on a popular theme ; the dramatic 
 treatment of the ballad may be the popular melody 
 itself, artistically treated and artistically executed." 
 
 In comparison with all sagas which are pagan, 
 Ibsen thus calls attention to the ballad form as dis- 
 tinctively Christian: 
 
 " It does indeed contain a heathen element, but 
 this is present in a quite different and higher phase 
 than in the mythical sagas, and it is in this that the 
 poetical offspring of Christendom, the Romance, 
 manifests its influence on ballad poetry." 
 
 In other words, according to Ibsen, the ballad con- 
 tains something of the miraculous, which the saga 
 will not admit. The ballad echoes Shakespeare's 
 " There are more things in heaven and earth than 
 this world dreams of." We find, therefore, the bal- 
 lad linking closer the folks of all lands; in Scandi- 
 navia, in Germany, in France, the material is con- 
 fined within a " closely-aUied range of ideas." On 
 the whole, Ibsen's minute analysis defends the posi- 
 tion and rich worth of this form of poetry. 
 
 Such may be said to have been the final outcome 
 of his practical working with the ballad form, and 
 his return to the saga material. Both " Lady Inger 
 of Ostrat " and " The Feast at Solhaug " contain 
 the two elements and they both were written when 
 the personal note in the man was thoroughly attuned 
 to romance; the feeling in the treatment, therefore, 
 
86 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 dominates over any attempt to create large character, 
 yet the plays are distinctive, in especial the first, of 
 a mannerism which Ibsen never fully shook off until 
 the rebellious Nora declared her independence — a 
 mannerism marked by theatrical subterfuges of mis- 
 understandings and similar artificiahties. 
 
 " Lady Inger of Ostrat " was written for the anni- 
 versary of the foundation of the Bergen Theatre, 
 and was played there on January 2, 1855 ; two years 
 after, it appeared in five numbers of Botten-Hansen's 
 paper, and then was issued in book form, not being 
 sufficiently popular to warrant a second edition until 
 December, 1874, when, as was Ibsen's usual custom, 
 the manuscript was subjected to a thorough revision.-' 
 In the letter of 1870, to Hansen, Ibsen frankly lays 
 the inspiration of this piece to the love affair with 
 Rikke Hoist, which, however much of a mild flirta- 
 tion, was hastily stopped when the father of the girl 
 discovered secret wanderings of the two around Ber- 
 gen. The mood of the moment inspired his poems 
 " Field Flowers " and " A Bird Song," but the figure 
 of the girl herself entered into the invention of Elina 
 Gyldenlove. Whether this be so or not is of small 
 consequence; reasons of this sort are of the most 
 illusive kind. 
 
 Ibsen's manipulation of the Catiline theme had af- 
 forded him experience in the handling of historical 
 materials, and the liberties he took in that piece were 
 likewise perpetrated in his use of Norwegian history. 
 The exact period selected was the one which would 
 
 'According to Halvorsen, the third edition was printed in 
 1891. Two German translations are noted: the one by Bmma 
 Klingenfeld (1877), the other by M. von Borch (1891). 
 
"FRU INGER OF OSTRAt^' 87 
 
 show Norwegian nobility and peasantry at the low- 
 est ebb of national consciousness. It was the time 
 of the Reformation; and the impress of Luther's 
 teachings, while it had been felt in Sweden and Den- 
 mark, had passed over the rest of Scandinavia with- 
 out so much as disquieting the grip of Catholicism. 
 Therefore, Ibsen showed his customary irritation 
 when he insistently sounded this national poverty. 
 Moreover, his choice of the reign of Duke Frederick 
 of Holstein, known as Frederick I. (1524733), pre- 
 sented to hand the character of Fru Inger of Ostrat, 
 as well as her daughters, who were married to Danish 
 nobles and to Swedish pretenders, in order to satisfy 
 the unquenchable ambition of their mother. 
 
 The discrepancies between Ibsen and history^ are 
 many, but in no way do they detract from the drama, 
 however much they may distort truth. Ibsen has en- 
 dowed Fru Inger with a patriotic zeal which she never 
 actually possessed, and with a large amount of human 
 warmth in which she was really lacking. He has 
 painted the lover. Nils Lykke, in idealistic colours, 
 ignoring the crime committed by him upon Lucia, 
 which in reality was incest and which brought him 
 in consequence to the dungeon. History mentions a 
 son of Sten Sture — or at least a peasant who claimed 
 to be the son — ^but it was a pure invention on Ibsen's 
 
 ' For historical data the reader is referred to R. Nisbet 
 Bain's " Scandinavia " in the Cambridge Historical Series, 
 University Press, 1905; Chapter III., " Gustavus Vasa of 
 Sweden, 1533-1560, and the War of Liberation," p. 44 seq.; 
 Chapter V., " The Reformation in Scandinavia, 1520-1560," p. 
 99, seq. See also H. H. Boyesen's " The Story of Norway." 
 (Story of the Nations Series), Putnam, 1886; and Jaeger's 
 biography. 
 
88 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 part to make him an illegitimate child of Fru Inger. 
 This Swedish impostor, according to Boyesen, was 
 betrothed to Fru Inger's fourth daughter. 
 
 The use that Ibsen made of these facts was per- 
 fectly legitimate, provided it was not his intention 
 to aim at an exact historical portraiture. A drama- 
 tist has the right to shape his material to particular 
 dramatic needs, and Ibsen appears literally to have 
 built his scenes on the principles which he had learned 
 from plays forming the Bergen repertoire. 
 
 The piece presents many excellent qualities ; it re- 
 veals Ibsen's theatrical powers, which were strong, 
 even at this initial point; it shows a conflict of mo- 
 tives which is handled with some skill; it emphasizes 
 that the central figure, in her vocation, was typifying 
 the young dramatist's belief in everyone's vocation 
 being God-sent. For a young man to be able to 
 create an undoubted tragic tone and in such a digni- 
 fied fashion is no mean accomplishment. 
 
 This drama of intrigue is in its main handling 
 most conventional, and in the jugglery between the 
 use of historical detail and theatric effect, Ibsen has 
 fallen into confusing situations which are not suffi- 
 ciently explained and therefore are misleading. This 
 was the effect produced upon the Bergen audiences 
 in 1855, as well as upon the London audiences when 
 the play was performed by the Stage Society on 
 January 28, 1906. The discrepancies are instantly 
 detected when one comes to analyze the plot.-' 
 
 ' According to Halvorsen, the following perfonnances of 
 "Fru Inger of OstrSt" are of interest: Trondhjem, 18S7; 
 Christiania, 1859, 1875; Stockholm, 1877; Copenhagen, 1895; 
 Berlin, 1878, 1888. 
 
"FRU INGER OF OSTrAt " 89 
 
 Norway being in a state of torpor, her nobles ex- 
 iled, and even Fru Inger lukewarm in her attitude 
 toward Denmark, the play from the beginning is 
 based upon distrust and gloom. While in history, 
 Lady Inger has naught to fear from Denmark, and 
 her sympathies are not torn between her people and 
 the rulers in power, Ibsen, nevertheless, strives to 
 sound the trumpet of nationalism. The daughter, 
 Flina, eyes her mother askance because of her inac- 
 tion; the retainers would arm themselves and would 
 hasten to assist the uprising peasants in Sweden, yet 
 they are stopped by their mistress, who has upon 
 her conscience the dread of discovery of an illegiti- 
 mate child by a former Swedish king, and, in con- 
 sequence, dare not move against that country. 
 
 At Ostrat, there arrives a stranger, Olaf Skak- 
 tavl, an outlawed Norwegian noble, but why he comes 
 or why Nils Lykke, the Danish knight, follows soon 
 after is not sufficiently explained. We are made to 
 realize that Lady Inger is a figure of large propor- 
 tions ; into whichever balance of the Scandinavian 
 scale she might throw her power it would be of con- 
 sequence to the fortunate side. As she has advanced 
 in years, her ambition has been put above all things 
 else, an ambition which, through misunderstanding, 
 was finally, in the Ibsen play, to result in the un- 
 doing of all her children. One feels by the manner 
 of the dramatist's treatment the. national inertia of 
 the moment, and the importance of Fru Inger's move 
 when she makes it. 
 
 Skaktavl has come to Ostrat, mayhap, to gain 
 this powerful woman's support ; in Sweden the Dales 
 are ready to rise against the nobles, Peter the Chan- 
 
90 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 cellor is leaning toward them in sympathy, and Skak- 
 tavl is himself waiting for a stranger who is to meet 
 him at Ostrat. Now Lady Inger is expecting Nils 
 Lykke, and she has a high and varied game to play. 
 She is hedged all around with motives ; she would 
 keep a way open with Denmark ; she would hold the 
 favour of Norway; she would avenge the shame of 
 Lucia, her dead daughter, by inveigling Nils Lykke 
 into the love charms of her other daughter, Elina, 
 and thus punish the knight for his wrong-doing — 
 she would accomplish this, the secret knowledge of 
 her and Sture's illegitimate son all the while gnaw- 
 ing in her breast. 
 
 This complication is purely the dramatist's scheme ; 
 there are no significant reasons given why Skaktavl's 
 stranger guest should meet him at Ostrat, but, on 
 the other hand, it is natural that since the meeting 
 is thus arranged. Nils Lykke should be mistaken for 
 the man. And so the latter arrives with a Swedish 
 troop at his back ;. he would fain play the game with 
 Fru Inger alone, since the more would be his glory 
 in the eyes of his king if without assistance he 
 gained advantage over her. In truth, he and his 
 soldiers are after Nils Sture, the real son of Sweden's 
 king, he who might be monarch, if the popular up- 
 risings willed it. Perhaps this stranger on the way 
 to Ostrat is the very man they are after. Nils Lykke 
 doubts Fru Inger's motives and he has cause to fear 
 her duplicity, since he brought Lucia to a shameful 
 grave. 
 
 Between the woman and her Danish guest, there- 
 fore, the action is a game with keen-edged tools, and 
 much is taken from the strength of Fru Inger, the 
 
«FRU INGER OF OSTRAT" 91 
 
 shrewdness and poignancy which history bestows 
 upon her, in contrast with the skill and irresistible 
 attractiveness of Nils Lykke. Elina only betrays 
 the feminine human when her heart goes out to him. 
 Even after her mother, seeing the odds turning 
 against her, reveals to Elina that this lover of the one 
 child is the seducer of the other, she still persists in 
 her romantic infatuation for the man. 
 
 What Nils Lykke has schemed is this: he would 
 create a new King of Sweden, whose throne is given 
 him through Denmark's assistance ; he would do this 
 and more. Yet his real intention is to trap Fru Inger 
 into betraying the hiding place of Nils Sture, so that 
 the troops with him, which are Swedish troops, may 
 snap up the heir, and the pride and position of Inger 
 Gyldenlove may thus be lowered to the dust in the 
 eyes of Norway, Sweden and Denmark. 
 
 Now, Skaktavl and Lykke being brought together 
 in mistaken manner, the latter is quicker to grasp 
 the situation than the former; he learns that Peter 
 Kanzler has appointed the meeting with the stranger, 
 and has confided to his secret emissary papers for 
 Skaktavl which should be delivered to Skaktavl at 
 any moment. But in quick fashion, passing himself 
 off as this messenger, Lykke postpones the time for 
 delivering the papers, knowing that soon the real 
 stranger will appear with the documents of import, 
 which he can secure by another subterfuge. 
 
 Elina enters Nils Lykke's heart as quickly as he 
 conquers hers ; nor can we help admiring the plead- 
 ing of his cause. The girl is one of Ibsen's sweetest 
 characterizations ; she succeeds in drawing the noblest 
 qualities out of the man ; she makes him feel the de- 
 
92 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 grading weight of his past deeds. " Had I met a 
 woman proud and noble and high-souled, even as 
 you," he said, " then had my path been different. 
 . For this I believe : a woman is the mightiest 
 power in the world, and in her hand it lies to guide 
 a man whither God Almighty would have him go." 
 They are both completely under the spell, and 
 though they both are constrained in their speech. Nils 
 Lykke is too old a hand at love-making not to com- 
 prehend the meaning of her question, " Can I look 
 towards Denmark from this hall.'' " 
 
 No sooner is Lykke left alone than the stranger 
 arrives, Nils Stensson, the messenger from Peter 
 Kanzler, bearing the despatch. Another misconcep- 
 tion ensues, Lykke being taken for Skaktavl by the 
 boy. So it is that the Danish knight obtains easy 
 possession of great and important news : firstly, that 
 the stranger before him is not Nils Sture; secondly, 
 that the heir to Sweden's throne is dead ; thirdly, that 
 Nils Stensson, so like the noble line, has been mistaken 
 by people along the way for the dead Count; and 
 fourthly, through the notes and papers, that Inger 
 Gyldenlove has a son who has been held in hostage 
 by Peter Kanzler, who is fearful of her treachery and 
 of her insatiable ambition. 
 
 The aspect of the intrigue changes. Nils Lykke, 
 quick to reach inferences, makes bold to teU the boy 
 that he is in truth Sten Sture's son, though he is 
 at first in ignorance of the identity of his real mother. 
 He learns soon after, under pledge of secrecy, that 
 she is Fru Inger of Ostrat. From this point the play 
 progresses with considerable action, the whole de- 
 nouement being dependent entirely upon misunder- 
 
"FRU INGER OF OSTRAT " 93 
 
 standings. No sooner does Fru Inger discover that 
 her hidden sin is known, no sooner does she, taken 
 unawares, confess all to both men, than snares and 
 treachery develop thick and fast. The woman's char- 
 acter is shown torn between two loves — that of a 
 mother and that of a patriot; she has been willing 
 to sacrifice all her children to her ambition; now she 
 is anxious to sacrifice still more in order to have her 
 son with her. 
 
 The surest way for Fru Inger to accomplish this 
 end is for her to aid in placing her son's half-brother 
 on the Swedish throne, unless — Here it dawns upon 
 her that maybe she might elevate her own child to 
 the kingship and herself be mother to a king. Nils 
 Lykke's wiles are now full grown ; they work despite 
 in the end he would stop events onrushing to destruc- 
 tion. And this end is simply that, believing the 
 stranger to be Count Sture, and there having grown 
 in her heart the consuming ambition to crown her son, 
 Fru Inger has Nils Stensson killed, not knowing until 
 too late that she has been the murderer of her child. 
 To add to the tragedy, her supposed vengeance upon 
 Nils Lykke results in a heavier blow falling upon her 
 daughter, whose whole being has gone out to this 
 undoubted knight of chivalry — a true wooer in the 
 romantic style. 
 
 The weakness of Fru Inger's character is due to 
 the flaws in Ibsen's constructive abilities ; a woman 
 as easily duped as she could never have remained 
 so long a political power in her country, at the same 
 time courted and distrusted on all sides because of 
 her determination not to declare her faith with any 
 faction. Her tragic brooding, in contrast with the 
 
94 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 pure tenderness of Elina, is Ibsen's first thoroughly 
 realistic balancing of the dark woman beside the 
 touching figure of feminine trust. In his Saga period, 
 the dramatist has not surpassed the beauty of Elina's 
 character though he has excelled Fru Inger. This 
 may be because later his technique was to be more 
 coherent; and he was then less likely, when seeking 
 to make a character stand out in undoubted great- 
 ness, to obscure it by having all vital motives, all 
 romantic interest centred against her. 
 
 Those anxious to stamp Ibsen with a phrase have 
 called " Lady Inger of Ostrat " the " Tragedy of 
 the Candelabra," because the scenes all occur in the 
 dim light of the evening. It is a tragedy of ambi- 
 tion, the same as " Macbeth," inasmuch as the her- 
 oine of each is a woman of consuming and dark 
 designs. Ibsen's manner of depicting Fru Inger was 
 his manner of drawing Catiline — idealizing history 
 in many essentials, and, in the process, adding, as 
 his own particular contribution, an inchoate mass 
 of involved intrigues. This is sufficient to make it 
 difficult to follow the story consistently in the course 
 of spoken dialogue; otherwise, the play, both in at- 
 mosphere and in point of curiosity, possesses con- 
 siderable stage appeal. 
 
 Ibsen's own interest in the piece was marked by 
 his desire to revise it in 1873. He did not always feel 
 this way toward his work, for, in 1870, he wrote to 
 Botten-Hansen, disowning " The Feast at Solhaug," 
 and indicating that he would fain forget it, except 
 that it had some personal value. What this value 
 might have been other than that between the perform- 
 ance of " Lady Inger " and the completion of " The 
 
"THE FEAST AT SOLHAUG " 95 
 
 Feast at Solhaug," he had come to know Susanna 
 Dae Thoresen, and that a few days after the per- 
 formance of the play, he had gained entrance into 
 the Thoresen household at Bergen, is not stated. 
 
 An unexpected success greeted Ibsen when this lat- 
 ter piece was presented at the theatre on Founder's 
 Night in 1856.^ Being stage manager, he was en- 
 abled to cast and rehearse the drama himself, and 
 not only was he called before the curtain, but he was 
 likewise serenaded afterwards by the orchestra. " I 
 almost think that I went so far as to make some kind 
 of speech from my window," he wrote ; " certain I 
 am that I felt extremely happ3\" 
 
 The play was soon on the boards in Copenhagen, 
 Stockholm, and Christiania; in the Norwegian capi- 
 tal, it met with severe handling, the cause being sur- 
 veyed by Ibsen in his 1883 preface to the second 
 edition. It had been kindly received by the audience, 
 and Bjornson, in an overflow of friendly feeling, had 
 noticed it in the Morgenblad; but the " real " critics 
 scored it mercilessly. This Ibsen considered was due 
 to the second-hand professional training which most 
 
 ' The play was given at the Christiania Theatre, March 13, 
 1856, and then published by Tonsberg. Bjornson's "Crip- 
 ple Hulda " deals with a similar situation. See Jseger's Biog- 
 raphy, p. 104; also see Vasenius. Halvorsen's record runs: 
 For the Bergen Theatre production, music was written by F. 
 G. Schediwy; for the Christiania performance, music by Paolo 
 Sperati and in 1897 by Lange-Miiller. Other dates are: Stock- 
 holm (1857) ; Copenhagen (1861, music by Glaeser) ; Copen- 
 hagen (1886); Vienna (1891); Munich (1897). German trans- 
 lations of the play have been made by Emma Klingenfeld 
 (1888) and Christian Morgenstern (1898). A Norwegian 
 parody of the play was made in 1876. 
 
96 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 of them had — young men who extracted ideas from 
 Heiberg's essay " On the Vaudeville," and from the 
 dramatic controversy between Heiberg, Oehlen- 
 schlager and the poet Hauch. These so-called critics 
 had certain artificial canons of taste; one of which 
 seemed to be that they must foam at the mouth when- 
 ever a new author came to the fore. They were not 
 thinkers, they were not original, " their very frame 
 of mind was borrowed." 
 
 Thus, Ibsen says, they were only too eager to draw 
 a likeness between " The Feast at Solhaug " and 
 Hertz's " Svend Dyring's House," a comparison 
 which the author resented. At this time Ibsen held 
 the opinion that dramatic literature was original, no 
 matter where one procured the material for the plot 
 or story, provided the personality was indelibly 
 stamped upon it. At the age of fifty-five he wrote, 
 with naive frankness : " A light summer breeze plays 
 over the rhythm of my verse; over that of Hertz's 
 brood the storms of autumn." 
 
 The piece could with ease be discarded from the 
 body of Ibsen's work, for its construction is feeble, 
 or, at least, is French. As Mr. Archer has said : " It 
 may indeed be called Scribe's Bataille de Dames writ 
 tragic." The intermingling of the lyric with the 
 melodramatic, of the human with the ballad story, is 
 inartistic; in addition to which the English reader 
 has a translation which contains no feeling for verse 
 perfection or for the choice of words. Nevertheless, 
 the mere dramatic outline contains a certain power 
 of contrast in the two sisters, Margit and Signe, 
 later to be developed in " The Vikings at Helgeland." 
 Perhaps the critical differences concerning the piece 
 
"THE FEAST AT SOLHAUG " 97 
 
 lay in the decision as to whether or not Hertz could 
 handle the metre of the Danish battle-song^ more skil- 
 fully than Ibsen. Had the reviewers objected openly 
 to the clap-trap stock incidents, typified by the cup 
 of poison, they would have been only too correct in 
 their estimate; but their spleen was personal and 
 vicious. 
 
 We must, therefore, take " The Feast at Solhaug " 
 as a transition sketch which carries Ibsen from his 
 pure romantic period into the saga ; here he was also 
 experimenting, however slightly, with prose ; here the 
 Viking spirit was contending with the narrative of 
 the ballad. 
 
 Margit is married to Bengt, the rich master of 
 Solhaug; she has gained wealth, but not the happi- 
 ness of love. In the midst of her oppressive existence 
 there moves the graceful figure of her sister Signe, 
 whose hand is being sought by Knut Gesling, the 
 king's sheriff; his vows that he will marry her are 
 more to him in their fulfilling than his manners are 
 gentle in the fulfilment. But the two women are both 
 of them somehow held in thrall by the memory of 
 Gudmund Alfson, who left them years before, when 
 Margit was free to love him, and when Signe was 
 naught but a slip of a girl. 
 
 Now three years had Margit been wed to Bengt, 
 and beneath his caresses, the wife endures the tor- 
 tures of this memory. The vista of years with such 
 a husband stretches out in unending misery, while 
 Gudmund's songs keep sounding in her ears. 
 
 This is her frame of mind when Signe, now grown 
 into womanhood, tells her of the return of their kins- 
 man, Gudmund, whose harp has been Signe's care 
 
■98 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 through the years of his absence. They all rejoice 
 over their guest's arrival, even Margit, who decks 
 herself in scarlet and vair, while within her breast is 
 locked the tragedy told in the song of the Hill-king 
 and his maiden bride. 
 
 Then follows the parrying of blows between Gud- 
 mund and Margit, her whose pride would keep hidden 
 her overwhelming feeling, him whose warrior's eye has 
 caught the glint of Signe's glance. Thus we have 
 the Ibsen equation — this time a man between two 
 women, both contending for his love. Margit's hus- 
 band is blind to all but his own power as a spouse ; 
 some find in him a foreshadowing of the simple Tes- 
 man in " Hedda Gabler." 
 
 Instead of Gudmund's returning to Solhaug in 
 honour, he is in truth outlawed, not only in love, 
 since Margit is now a dame, but in worldly ways, 
 since, having journeyed to France with the Chancellor 
 to gain a fair princess for his king, on the return, 
 the Chancellor and princess had fallen in love, and 
 rather than she should be mated to the king, the two 
 plotted to take his life. Being discovered, they 
 planned to shift the treachery to Alfson's shoulders, 
 but he fled from the court before the fatal hour of 
 his banishment arrived. 
 
 Gudmund shows Margit the very phial which was 
 to have ended the king's life, and there creeps into 
 her brain the idea that maybe this same poison might 
 rid her of Bengt, when she would be free herself to 
 win her only love! And soon the kinsman of these 
 two sisters sings to them, and in the hearts of both 
 grows the passion of love — to one a matured feeling, 
 to the other a realization of innocent dreams. 
 
"THE FEAST AT SOLHAUG " 99 
 
 Once more does Ibsen excel in his lyric love-pas- 
 sages. To Gudmund there dawns the full truth about 
 these sisters ; he realizes the wide contrast in the pride 
 of Margit, whom he had once loved so deeply, and 
 the sweet nature of Signe, now no longer a child. 
 
 When the time arrives to declare openly his posi- 
 tion, Margit misunderstands, thinking that Gudmund 
 longs for her. It is the misunderstanding charac- 
 teristic of the French plays, which Browning uses 
 more skilfully in his dramatic sketch, " In a Bal- 
 cony," and which here involves the sisters as well as 
 Gudmund and Knut in a double complication; for 
 the latter, when he discovers the identity of this guest 
 at Solhaug, agrees to forget that Margit's kinsman 
 is an outlaw, in the belief that Gudmund will be of 
 service to him in his suit for Signers hand. 
 
 Thus the story develops through legend and song, 
 so selected by Ibsen as to harmonize with the brood- 
 ing of Margit's soul. She begs the poison from 
 Gudmund, pretending to throw it away, yet slipping 
 it deftly into the folds of her gown. But when the 
 misunderstandings are cleared, when both she and 
 Knut Gesling realize that Gudmund and Signe have 
 vowed their love to each other, then the evil plotting 
 begins. Knut flings defiance in the outlaw's face, 
 while Margit determines that the phial's contents 
 must break the chains which bind her to a detested 
 husband, before it is too late. 
 
 The poisoned cup of mead which she prepares 
 never reaches Bengt, however; he is about to drink 
 of it when he hears the rapid approach of Knut Ges- 
 ling with his armed men. Then Signe and Gudmund 
 enter the room, planning their flight, and are about 
 
100 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 to drink from the vessel, when the latter discovers 
 that the liquid in its red glow is like the draught he 
 took from Margit's hand when he went away, in fact 
 the very beaker, and he is kept from drinking thereof 
 because of the memory aroused. Whereupon Margit 
 returning to the room is fearful lest she has caused 
 their doom, and by her grief does Gudmund come to 
 understand the evil which circumstance has thus 
 averted. 
 
 In the fray which follows, Margit's husband is 
 slain, but too late for her to claim her heart's desire ; 
 as for the outlaw, he soon finds his enemy, Knut, 
 in chains ; and, furthermore, a messenger brings him 
 news that the king no longer holds him responsible 
 for the tragedy of the princess. Margit turns to- 
 ward the cloister in customary romantic fashion, 
 while Gudmund and Signe, left together, turn to 
 greet the morning of their love. Ibsen always ex- 
 presses this sentiment of true living by the rising of 
 the sun, the flooding of the stage with light, indica- 
 tive of the heart's fulness. 
 
 There is nothing particularly striking in this story, 
 unless we take it in connection with " The Vikings at 
 Helgeland." It represents certain characteristics 
 found in the Ibsen of Bergen days^ in treatment it is 
 much nearer " Olaf Liljekrans " than " Lady Inger 
 of Ostrat " ; in fact, the latter, in technique, is a close 
 second to " The Vikings at Helgeland." It is signifi- 
 cant that between the completion of this latter, which 
 is the culmination of what might be termed the ob- 
 jective use of ready-made situations, and " The Pre- 
 tenders," which represents more of Ibsen's spiritual 
 attitude, and which in treatment has a more intensive 
 
"THE FEAST AT SOLHAUG " 101 
 
 way of unfolding character, — between these two in 
 time of writing, Ibsen had gained a surety of tech- 
 nique without which his epic satires could never have 
 teen penned. He was thus disciplining his thought, 
 which, as it became more original and drew more from 
 the current life, forced him to recognise the limita- 
 tions of verse as a medium of expression. This was 
 perhaps brought home to him at the time he was 
 planning " Love's Comedy," and when his roman- 
 ticism, which in these early dramas took away from 
 tragedy much of its cruelty, faded before his social 
 satire, which looked for truth above any picturesque 
 effectiveness of situation or of expression. 
 
 This, therefore, constituted Ibsen's work while in 
 Bergen, although, when he left for Christiania, he 
 had in his mind more than the mere outlines for his 
 next play. Besides, though poor in purse, he re- 
 turned to the capital, much surer of recognition than 
 when he had left it in 1851. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 CHRISTIANIA (1857-1864) 
 
 EvEEY genius seems to have allotted to him a 
 period of direst poverty, and Ibsen was now to go. 
 through his Biblical quota of seven years. His mar- 
 riage put upon him great responsibilities, which 
 were further increased by the birth of a son, Sigurd, 
 on December 23, 1859. As Director of the Nor- 
 wegian Theatre he was scarcely able to make ends 
 meet with the scant monthly allowance, and once more 
 he turned to his friends, who stood by him in great 
 need. There were debts behind him in Bergen, and as 
 head of the secondary playhouse in Christiania, it 
 was not to be supposed that his position would offer 
 much hope for future increase in salary. 
 
 Whatever there was of true worth in the man 
 would have had small showing but for many, among 
 Botten-Hansen's circle, who put in his way the im- 
 mediate means of helping him over difficulties. The 
 Illustreret Nyhedsblad published his work and some 
 appreciative reviews of his plays ; and it would seem 
 that everyone with whom he came in contact was in- 
 tent on obtaining for him a grant of some kind. 
 These men were to be the prime movers in Norwegian 
 life: their scholarship was to form one of the chief 
 sources from which Ibsen was eventually to draw de- 
 tailed information. The efforts of this group in in- 
 tellectual ma,tters were to tell in the Norwegian ad- 
 vance a. decade or so later. When they first began to 
 meet under Botten-Hansen's leadership they were 
 strong in their radical opinions and in their national 
 attitude, but their discussions were soon so tempered 
 through the restraining hands of a few members as 
 
CHRISTIANIA (1857-1864) 103 
 
 to make them more conservative, while their patriot- 
 ism became wider and embraced the idea of a union 
 of all Scandinavia. While the arguments were 
 hottest, Ibsen would remain quietly observing every- 
 thing, but refusing to indicate by word or gesture 
 on which side his judgment leaned. And in their 
 separate appeals the members of both factions 
 claimed Ibsen as their own because of his quiescence 
 and non-committal attitude. 
 
 The days were black for the poet ; his letters meas- 
 ure the mood, and events conspired to make things 
 appear desperate. He felt the chagrin over being 
 left out of a compilation entitled " The Modern Nor- 
 wegian Poets " (1859), and he saw his theatre dwin- 
 dling in the little attractiveness it might have had at 
 the first. But during this stress he and Bjornson 
 were again thrown together, for the latter's tenure 
 at Bergen had been short-lived. They were drawn 
 together as early as 1850, Bjornson being in many 
 ways far ahead of Ibsen in success ; their ideas in 
 the beginning were, however, not so separated as they 
 soon came to be ; in fact, " The Pretenders " exalted 
 a thought, a kingship idea which Bjornson had him- 
 self worked out in " Between the Battles." Likewise, 
 at this moment they were both intent on Nationalism, 
 a point which was to become one of the causes for 
 their estrangement. On November 22, 1859, the two 
 founded the " Norwegian Society," which included 
 men who were fully determined to break up Danish 
 supremacy in literary and dramatic lines. So ar- 
 dent were they that they dubbed themselves " Nation- 
 alists," and, at their meetings, which were held in 
 Botten-Hansen's rooms, he being one of the great 
 
104 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 forces of the. day, Ibsen so far came out of his soli- 
 tude as to recite " Terje Vigen " and " Paa Vid- 
 derne" ("On the Heights"). To some extent the 
 idea prompting the organization was provincial — a 
 desire to check all intellectual superiority that was 
 not " home-brewed." 
 
 In the different responses which Ibsen and Bjorn- 
 son were to give to this national movement lies the 
 explanation for the difference in their character. 
 The latter's personality was warm and large and en- 
 thusiastic ; it was hard to destroy his faith, nor could 
 one easily withstand the optimistic spirit which he 
 always showed. On this account, he was to infuse 
 into Ibsen a little of the confidence of which he was 
 sorely in need. This did not mean, however, that 
 Ibsen was ever to unfold, to become less aloof, to be- 
 come less silent. Probably the wide difference in 
 character between the two only served to draw them 
 together, although Ibsen's reticence must have often 
 been shocked by Bjornson's openness and trust. 
 
 " The Vikings at Helgeland " had already been 
 completed (1858), and it was possibly the manner in 
 which it was treated by a Danish company at the 
 Christiania Theatre that filled Ibsen's heart to over- 
 flowing in the newly organized national society.-' 
 Bjornson also was loud in his demand that the new 
 piece be played. But by the time the theatre which 
 Ibsen controlled had slipped completely into insolv- 
 ency, depriving the playwright-manager of back sal- 
 
 ' See " Ein Stiicklein von der Dlrektion des Christianiaer 
 Danischen Theatres;" Saiutliche Werke, Bde. 1, p. 396 [1858]. 
 See in this same edition, " Vorwort zur ersten deutschen 
 Ausgabe der Helden auf Helgeland," p. 509 [1876]. 
 
CHRISTIANIA (1857-1864) 105 
 
 ary and of his position, he had become absolutely cal- 
 lous to the theatre as a practical proposition; he 
 seemed to owe it a grudge for coming between him 
 and his progress as an author. The bitterness was 
 still rife within him when he wrote from Rome, on 
 December 28, 1867, to Bjornson, " For a poet the toil 
 of a theatre is equivalent to a daily foeticide. The 
 civil laws make this a punishable crime ; I do not know 
 if God is more lenient. ... A man's gifts are 
 not a property ; they are a duty." 
 
 His next appointment (1863) was as " aestetisk 
 konsulent " of the old Christiania Theatre, with a 
 salary of less than £6 a month. His situation became 
 moi'e desperate still, and such friends as Bernard 
 Dunker and Johan Sverdrup, no less than Bjornson 
 and Michael Birkeland later on, came to his assist- 
 ance. There was likewise the added anxiety of waiting 
 upon the decisions of those in authority to whom ap- 
 plications for monetary grants were made. It is 
 agreeable to record one bright flash in this year 1863, 
 when Bjornson, after a two years' trip abroad, and 
 Ibsen again met at Bergen, where during the month 
 of June there was being held a Festival of Song. 
 The two wrote poems for this occasion, and Ibsen was 
 as near in holiday humour as he ever got to be. 
 " The festival itself," so he wrote to the shipowner 
 with whom he had stayed, " and the many lovable, 
 unforgettable people I met at it, acted upon me like 
 an inspiring church service. . . . They were all 
 so good to me at Bergen." 
 
 This was the grateful cry of a man who within a 
 few months had petitioned the King twice for aid, 
 and in whose behalf Bjornson was busy gathering to- 
 
106 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 gether some private donations. Though Ibsen had 
 gained the reputation of being aloof, of being cold 
 and difficult to approach, there was, beneath his rough 
 exterior, a longing and a sympathy for just that 
 youthfulness of soul which he found in his Bergen 
 host ; being alive to the rich quality of life in others, 
 enjoying the chivalric way some people had of look- 
 ing at things, — there is a peculiar tragedy in his 
 studied restraint, which was to grow into a settled 
 habit. 
 
 On August 6, 1860, Ibsen addressed a petition to 
 the King, asking for 400 specie-dollars (£90) from 
 the fund for artists and scientists to travel abroad, 
 so that he might spend some six months in London, 
 Paris, and other large cities in Europe, Germany 
 being mentioned in especial, in order to study dra- 
 matic art. Even thus early he was conscious of his 
 own ability, and he did not regard the assistance he 
 sought so much as a favour to himself, as the duty 
 of the State to encourage the development of art and 
 poetry. As Ibsen outlined in his petition, drama had 
 heretofore received but scant national assistance, 
 whereas in all other realms, large contributions had 
 been forthcoming. This hesitancy on the part of the 
 State to acknowledge the theatre was not due to any 
 ignorance that of all arts drama dealt closest with 
 reality; it was based entirely on the fear that any 
 grant which might be made would go toward benefit- 
 ing individual theatres or increasing private build- 
 ing funds. As a manager, playwright, and scenic ar- 
 tist, Ibsen felt that his experience warranted the 
 grant being made him, but he was unsuccessful in 
 his appeal. 
 
CHRISTIANIA (1857-1864) 107 
 
 He struggled through the next two years as best 
 he could, and finally, on March 14, 1862, appealed to 
 the Council of the University of Chrlstiania for 120 
 specie-dollars (£27) from the fund for scientific re- 
 search, to enable him, during the summer, to collect 
 songs and legends current among the people of the 
 remote coast districts. In March of the following 
 year he made his report, intimating that he had con- 
 tracted with the publisher, Tonsljferg, to issue in book 
 form the results of his journey; but the work never 
 appeared, and the only published data on the subject 
 were a few legends in the Illustreret Nyhedshlad. He 
 had only been granted, after all, 110 specie-dollars, 
 and so in recording the results of his first trip, he ap- 
 plied again for another 120 specie-dollars, receiving 
 instead a sum equal to £22 10s. Ibsen was conscien- 
 tious in asking only for the minimum sum, since he 
 knew the localities richest in legendary lore,^ and 
 could reach the sources in the quickest manner pos- 
 sible. He must have displayed not only persistency, 
 but keen discrimination and tact in his researches, for 
 in one district alone he was successful in gathering 
 seventy or eighty hitherto unpublished examples of 
 popular Norwegian songs. 
 
 Financial obligations were pressing hard upon him, 
 and he was determined to leave no channel unex- 
 plored; in quick succession, on March 10, 1863, and 
 on May 27, he petitioned the King. In the first, he 
 outlined his career, characterizing his several plays 
 and laying particular stress upon the reception given 
 
 • The lasting effects of these investigations are to be found 
 in the folklore background dominating " Brand " and " Peer 
 Gynt." 
 
108 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 to " The Vikings at Helgeland " throughout Scandi- 
 navia, and upon the completion of his rhymed satire, 
 " Love's Comedy." He was likewise preparing an 
 edition of his isolated poems. That his struggle was 
 an imminent one, this petition of his for a yearly pen- 
 sion or salary of 400 specie-dollars bears evidence. 
 He carried debts amounting to about £112, and the 
 year's work on " The Vikings at Helgeland " had 
 only netted him a profit of £31. In this condition, he 
 felt that he would be forced to forsake Norway 
 in an attempt to better his prospects. In April, 
 1863, Bjomson received a pension of 400 rix-dollars 
 and this encouraged Ibsen to ask for a travelling 
 grant of 600 specie-dollars (£135) to spend a year 
 in Rome and Paris. Thus we see that his eyes were 
 looking toward the far horizon ; perhaps poverty was 
 forcing him away, but there was something deeper 
 within the man, something that rested in his convic- 
 tions which was prompting him away. It was in re- 
 sponse to this last petition that Ibsen received on Sep- 
 tember 12, 1863, a grant of 400 specie-dollars, and, 
 in the spring of the next year he set out, via Copen- 
 hagen and Berlin, for Rome, in which city he re- 
 mained until the spring of 1868. The press was very 
 bitter over Ibsen's receiving this grant, for the sting 
 created by the publication of " Love's Comedy " in 
 1862 had not yet been forgotten. 
 
 When Ibsen left Christiania in 1864 there was an- 
 other national Influence which was to have some ef- 
 fect upon his future realistic period, and which, to 
 some extent, directed him to the theme of " Love's 
 Comedy," with its commonplace characters : a new 
 school of prose fiction had developed in Norway, typi- 
 
CHRISTIANIA (1857-1864) 109 
 
 fied in the works of Bjornson and Camilla CoUett.* 
 In the midst of the former's dealing with the same 
 heroic materials which Ibsen was using, his peasant 
 nature prompted him to write " Synnove Solbak- 
 ken," ^ in which the characters " are all good, esti- 
 mable people, and their gentle piety, without any 
 tinge of fanaticism, invests them with a quiet dig- 
 nity." This was a new impetus for Ibsen. On the 
 other hand, Mrs. Collett was, through the years, to 
 have a distinct effect upon his social dramas, since 
 most of her writing is marked by her desire to further 
 the interests of women. Ibsen was always warm in 
 his regard for her efforts. From Sorrento, in 1881, 
 he wrote her, " The ideas and visions with which you 
 have presented the world are not of the kind destined 
 merely to live a barren life in literature " ; and upon 
 the celebration of her seventieth birthday, in 1883, his 
 tribute to her culminated in these words : " Ideas grow 
 and propagate themselves slowly with us in the 
 North; progress is unobservable ; nevertheless it is 
 made. The Norway now in process of development 
 will bear traces of your intellectual pioneer-work." 
 
 It might well be claimed that " The Vikings at 
 Helgeland " is the last of Ibsen's plays in which the 
 idea was definitely centralized in a romantic atmos- 
 phere, and made subservient to it ; it ends the period 
 of artificial picturesqueness, and points toward an 
 artistic era in which his characters do not act by 
 romance alone, but have a consuming theory of life 
 which prompts all their actions. What " The 
 
 ^ Camilla Collett was Henrik Wergeland's sister. 
 ' See Flora's preface to his edition of Bjbrnson's " Synnove 
 Solbakken." John Anderson & Co., 1905. 
 
110 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Vikings at Helgeland " demonstrates more than any- 
 thing else is that fact of Ibsen's imaginative power, 
 whereby, even though he try to squeeze the large, 
 broad motives of legendary people into human pro- 
 portion,-^ he thoroughly succeeds in creating an 
 atmosphere of tragedy. It is not a preordained 
 catastrophe; the incidents do not push the current 
 inevitably forward; still is Ibsen within the grip of 
 French methods. 
 
 He had read extensively in the saga literature and 
 he did not hesitate to draw generously from his 
 sources ; but his result was not a mere dramatization.^ 
 The plundering, of which he had been accused, was 
 
 * Edmund Gosse finds significant profit in comparing this 
 drama with Morris's " The Lovers of Gudrun." He claims that 
 in the latter " we are conscious of a less painful effort and of 
 a more human result." 
 
 ' The reader is referred to " Origines Islandicae ; a collec- 
 tion of the most important sagas and other native writings 
 relating to the settlement and early history of Iceland." Gud- 
 brand Vigfusson and F. Y. Powell. [2 vols.] Oxford. 1905.— 
 " Saga Time." J. F. Vicary.— " Story of Egil Skallagrimsson 
 ... an Icelandic family history of the 9th and 10th cen- 
 tury. Translated from Icelandic by Rev. W. C. Green." — 
 "Extracts from the Njkla." [In "Great Britain — ^Master of 
 the Rolls, Chronicles and Memorials." 1887, v. 88,' pp. 319- 
 343; 1894., v. 88," pp. 344-365.]— "La Saga de Nial." Tr. Ro- 
 dolphe Dareste. — " Laxdsela Saga." Tr. from the Icelandic by 
 M. A. C. Press. Temple Classics. — " Volsunga Saga: The Story 
 of the Volsungs and Niblungs, with certain songs from the 
 Elder Edda." Edited, with Introduction and notes, by H. 
 Halliday Sparling. — "The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and 
 the Fall of the Niblungs." William Morris. — " Icelandic Lit- 
 erature. The Sagas. Ninth to Thirteenth Centuries." Wil- 
 liam Sharp. "Library of the World's Best Literature," Vol. 
 14, p. 786S. 
 
CHRISTIANIA (1857-1864) 111 
 
 perfectly justifiable, and, as a mere piece of welding 
 the sources together, the finished drama is unique, 
 for the unity of its design is unbroken. As a mere 
 outline, it were well to consider exactly the amount 
 of credit which should be given to the Icelandic 
 literature. The main plot is dependent upon the 
 " Volsunga Saga," embellished by incidents and mo- 
 tives taken from " Egil's Saga," " Laxdaela," and 
 " Njala " ; of course these have more or less been 
 modified. Jaeger leans absolutely to the extreme 
 side of doubting the intimate relation between " The 
 Vikings " and the " Volsunga Saga." One may point 
 to Sigurd Viking and Sigurd Fafnersbane, who both 
 accomplished the same deed of daring for Hiordis 
 and Brynhild; yet the women are not of the same 
 value. There is also some relation between Dagny 
 and Gudrun, who both try to temper the insatiable 
 anger of their opposites, with the same consequences. 
 From " Egil's Saga " Ibsen took the suggestion for 
 Ornulf 's dirge, and further traces are thus concisely 
 recorded by Jaeger: 
 
 " Ornulf's question concerning the death of Thor- 
 olf and the observation made by him in that con- 
 nection, are suggested by Kveldulf's words upon the 
 death of his son Thorolf ; what Hiordis says of the 
 bowstring is taken from Halgerde's famous saying 
 upon the occasion of Gunnar of Hlidarende's last 
 fight; while finally, in the tragic story told of the 
 love of Kjartan and Gudrun in the ' Laxdaela Saga,' 
 we have a narrative presenting many analogies to 
 the fate of Sigurd and Hiordis." 
 
 A comparative study of these sources might be of 
 interest to the saga student, but after it is generally 
 
112 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 realized that Ibsen was thoroughly acquainted with 
 them, one must then judge his play on its own merits ; 
 he himself stated clearly wherein these family sagas 
 afforded him opportunity for drama treatment; 
 therefore one must take his portraiture at the value 
 he intended to place upon it. The measure of Sigurd 
 Viking's stature with that of Sigurd Fafnersbane is 
 the measure of the difference between Ibsen's treat- 
 ment and the original saga spirit. In this difference 
 lay the reason why the Scandinavian public regarded 
 the play askance; they would have accepted their 
 heroes in heroic proportions, but, reduced to human 
 size, with a failure on Ibsen's part to reduce likewise 
 the primitive passionate instincts, they saw the dig- 
 nity and grandeur of^ their saga figures disappear 
 entirely. Hiordis, instead of being a magnificent 
 Valkyrie woman, descends to petty scheming, in order 
 to satisfy in her breast the fermentation of mere 
 sexual inclinations. If he had adhered to the Oehlen- 
 schlager desire to reproduce in true magnitude the 
 life of this saga era, his men and women would have 
 been somewhat different.-' " It was not my aim," so 
 he wrote, " to present our mythic world, but simply 
 our life in primitive times." The fault is that in 
 attempting the one he has confused them both. Yet, 
 as a whole, " The Vikings at Helgeland " is a far 
 
 ' In the foreword to the first German edition of " The 
 Vikings at Helgeland " (1876), Ibsen emphasizes his position. 
 See Samtliche Werke [ed. Brandes, Elias, Schlenther], p. 509. 
 Editions of the play appeared 1858, 1873 [two], 1875, 1878, 
 1885, 1894, 1898. French translation by Jacques Trigant- 
 Geneste; German translations by Emma Klingenfeld and M. 
 von Borch. See Halvorsen, 
 
CHRISTIANIA (1857-1864) 113 
 
 advance, both in technique and in colour, over any- 
 thing Ibsen had yet accomplished. 
 
 The modern note in the play is an ethical one; it 
 exhibits the Norwegian's inclination to show the con- 
 sequences attendant upon a large flaw in character; 
 Ibsen is later on to reinforce the idea, here brought 
 forward, that such a lie as Sigurd told for Gunnar, 
 when he slew the white bear guarding the bedchamber 
 of Hiordis — the whole story is the dramatization of 
 a Lie — is fraught with no lasting good, but may 
 be the source of all evil. In the wild, intemperate 
 feelings of these people, Ibsen had hopes of showing 
 his own generation by contrast how weak they were 
 beside the grandeur of a past age ; but he frustrated 
 his own schemes in his failure to create heroic illusion. 
 The human standard requires a different scale of 
 estimate. 
 
 The motive power of the piece centres in the char- 
 acter of Hiordis; she fills the canvas here as wholly 
 as does Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare; throughout 
 the scenes she moves with the subtle grace of a panther 
 in the dark, lying in wait, poisoning by suggestion 
 that grows upon such a simple character as Dagny. 
 She has none of the nobility of Brynhild; she pos- 
 sesses much more of the sensuous upheaval of Hedda 
 Gabler. She is the libertine in romantic garb; to be 
 near her is to realize the throb of dangerous prox- 
 imity; it is such feminine attractiveness which holds 
 both Gunnar and Sigurd in thrall. Whether or not 
 Ibsen intended it, she is much nearer the leman than 
 the saga heroine. Professor Boyesen says, with con- 
 siderable discrimination : 
 
 " She appeals to no modem sentiment ; and the 
 
114 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 demonic grandeur of her speech, which might well 
 befit a Valkyrie, is simply repellent and unnatural in 
 a mortal woman. Not a glimpse is there in Hiordis 
 of the joyous and loving womanhood which is so 
 beautifully revealed in the scene of the Edda, where 
 Sigurd awakens Brynhild, and they burst into a paean 
 of praise of the sun. . . ." 
 
 This is the woman for whom Sigurd held a love 
 which he sacrificed in order to aid Gunnar ; there were 
 three involved in that midnight venture — two Viking 
 warriors and a ferocious white bear. It was not 
 Hiordis's intention to gain a husband by testing his 
 manhood ; it was her desire to tempt ; it was the ani- 
 mal nature within her that thrilled when she felt her- 
 self in the arms of someone. I quite agree with Max 
 Beerbohm's feeling that she would have been as well 
 satisfied in the embrace of the bear. And so these 
 Icelandic Vikings hie themselves in different direc- 
 tions from Ornulf's abode; Gunnar with Hiordis, 
 whom he did not win, and Sigurd, who contents him- 
 self with the fragile, conventional Dagny, to whom 
 he gives the ring which Hiordis had that night taken 
 from her bare arm for him, not knowing but that it 
 was Gunnar himself. 
 
 The play begins at this point. Ornulf sails forth 
 to reckon with these Vikings, and through four acts 
 Hiordis, ever after blood, stirs up one furor upon 
 another. Always suspicious, it is through her savage 
 treatment of Kare, the peasant, that Ornulf goes with 
 his sons to rescue her child, whom she has sent away, 
 fearful of her foster-father's intent. Through the 
 workings of her fitful moods, the old warrior not 
 only loses his grown sons, but even the youngest is 
 
CHRISTIANIA (1857-1864) 115 
 
 killed by reason of Hiordis's fanning the anger and 
 suspicion of Gunnar into flame. 
 
 Against such feminine outbreaks a nature like 
 Dagny's, sweet though it might be, is no match. In 
 a fit of boasting, the secret escapes her that Sigurd 
 was really the one to bear Hiordis from her bower. 
 In all that preceded this, in all that follows, there is 
 not exhibited in Hiordis any of the instincts of a full- 
 blooded saga woman of nobility, or any realization 
 of the power within her for good or evil. The Hiordis 
 of this drama is a type of physical maturity moved 
 by a purely physical desire to gratify her passion. 
 Such is not the Brynhild as we know her, and Ibsen 
 was fully cognizant of that fact. His creation of 
 the character of Hiordis is not limited by any at- 
 tempt at verisimilitude ; his strokes are freer than in 
 his delineation of Catiline or even of Lady Inger ; 
 yet, on the other hand, she is more of a portrait, 
 more of an impersonal type, subject to forces outside 
 of herself. 
 
 She did not know the meaning of love, talk though 
 she might of being herself the only proper wife for 
 Sigurd, since within her was the force to supplement 
 that energy of the warrior — a force which she flaunts 
 before the colourless femininity of Dagny. In the 
 end, when she gives Sigurd his death wound, she would 
 ride with him to Valhalla, and one is not convinced 
 that when there she would sit beside him, content with 
 him alone. 
 
 Now it is that Ibsen falls into bathos; one might 
 accuse him of sentimental artificiality; there is none 
 of the Christian spirit in Sigurd, yet in the end he 
 cannot go with Hiordis on the last ride to Valhalla, 
 
116 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 since he prays to the White God. Such a meting out 
 of justice upon Hiordis is wholly the unwarranted 
 mistake of the dramatist, whose inventiveness seems 
 suddenly to have stopped. The feeling of the reader 
 is one of undeniable indifference which way the story 
 ends. Ornulf is the only figure for whom any sym- 
 pathy is due; the others may go on their way, and it 
 matters not whither their footsteps tend. The char- 
 acters are all passionate, but their motives are not 
 prompted by any legitimate reasons, save that they 
 hate because it is their nature to hate, and that they 
 love because they have gained something to love 
 through the strength of their might. Therefore, one 
 would almost be justified in., denying them passion 
 altogether, reducing their sensation to that of mere 
 physical energy. The fault with " The Vikings at 
 Helgeland " is that it errs in the name of humanity 
 and does injustice to the superman. 
 
 Still the atmosphere of this drama is truly tragic ; 
 in its development it is indicative of the uncertain 
 genius of a genuine dramatist, experimenting with 
 material shaped by the known elements of a tradi- 
 tional life. The artist is advancing, feeling his way, 
 practising with all species of literary form, using 
 a very direct prose, yet not sure whether the poet 
 in him is not, after all, his real nature. He adheres 
 to his grouping which began in " Catilina," and 
 which places Sigurd between Hiordis and Dagny, as 
 it is later to place Brand between Agnes and Gerd. 
 Hiordis becomes the mouthpiece for such a sentiment 
 as "the strong women that did not drag out their lives 
 tamely,", which echoes the more positive sentiments of 
 Solveig and her picture of the woman's saga. Again 
 
CHRISTIANIA (1857-1864) 117 
 
 she says : " Happiness is worth a daring deed ; we 
 are both free if we but will it," yet her expression of 
 such a philosophy is foreign to her nature. There are 
 several passages like this which are indicative of 
 flashes of the personal Ibsen which would creep in. 
 But this play is further from Ibsen, the man, than 
 his preceding experiments, even though in it Ibsen, 
 the artist, may be said to have found himself. It is 
 neither romantic nor philosophic ; it is neither wholly 
 picturesque nor human, nor heroic ; it contains power, 
 and because of this power it is effective in the general 
 movement on the stage.-' Granting that the char- 
 acters are as they are, the second act is incomparably 
 worked; the psychological machinery most skilfully 
 manipulated. 
 
 The play is an excellent acting drama, despite 
 the enormous demands created by the role of Hiordis, 
 which it is difficult for any actress entirely to en- 
 compass. It is almost too far-fetched to accept Ib- 
 sen's avowal that in the depiction of his Valkyrie 
 heroine he used the same model as was in his mind 
 when Svanhild of " Love's Comedy " was conceived, 
 
 ' A performance of the play was given at the London Im- 
 perial Theatre in 1903, with Ellen Terry as Hiordis; Gordon 
 Craig, during the production, experimented with his theory of 
 stage lighting. See Max Beerbohm in Saturday Review, 
 April 25, 1903, vol. 95, pp. 517-18; also Huneker's description 
 in "Iconoclasts." In America the play was for the first time 
 given, and very creditably so, by the students of the American 
 Academy of Dramatic Art. This was in the spring of 1907. 
 Halvorsen notes performances at Trondhjem, February 10, 
 1859; Stockholm, 1875; Munich, April 10, 1876; Dresden, Octo- 
 ber, 1876; Vienna, October 26, 1876; Berlin, February 11, 1890. 
 See Halvorsen for other dates. 
 
118 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 yet so he confessed to Peter Hansen in 1870. Not- 
 withstanding the negative characteristics of the 
 piece, it contains much of the very highest poetic 
 f eeHng, and the surety 'of its treatment, if not of its 
 characterization, lends to it undoubted distinction. 
 
 The play was published in 1858 through the assist- 
 ance of Botten-Hansen, and in his petition of 1863 
 to the government Ibsen refers to it as his " best paid 
 work." ^ As we have noted, it was refused by the 
 Theatre Royal of Copenhagen, but Ibsen had the 
 satisfaction of recording later on that between 1875 
 and 1877 it was performed there twenty-nine times. 
 The following dates, however, will serve as an excel- 
 lent indication of the fact that although such men 
 as Heiberg criticised the play unthinkingly — or at 
 any rate allowed their provincial prejudices to run 
 away with them — the majority of verdicts through- 
 out Denmark and Sweden, as well as Norway, were 
 favourable. The Christiania Norske Theatre on No- 
 vember 24, 1858, the Bergen Theatre on March 4!, 
 1859, and the Christiania Theatre on April 11, 1861, 
 all gave performance of " The Vikings at Helge- 
 land," showing that, although Ibsen pecuniarily 
 might be in a difficult position, he was nevertheless 
 on the road to serious recognition. 
 
 'On March 27, 1881, Ibsen wrote to Hagbard Berner from 
 Rome regarding the matter of copyright, and outlined the fate 
 of " The Vikings," which the Christiania Theatre had threat- 
 ened to use without royalty, provided Ibsen did not accord 
 with their terms. See Correspondence, Letter 151. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 A SATIEIC INTERRUPTION 
 
 Chronologically, " Love's Comedy " seems to 
 be misplaced, for in its spirit it belongs virtually to 
 Ibsen's second period, although in actual conception 
 it preceded " The Pretenders." Yet few critics have 
 emphasized the fact that, for some years before, the 
 germ for this satire had been percolating through 
 his isolated poems which have already been noted; 
 not only was there felt therein the presence of a keen 
 cynical streak, but there was also the same laudation 
 of memory, over and above any attainment of the 
 object of one's desire — the very thought upon which 
 his play was to be founded. Away with summer, he 
 sings, there is the memory of it to send one on his 
 road; what are the joys of a brief spring-time to 
 the recollection, the vibrant remembrance which lasts 
 one throughout old age! The whole subject of 
 " Love's Comedy " is couched in one line of Ibsen's 
 " Ball-room Memories," referring to the ideal love : 
 " Ich habe sie gefunden — was will ich noch mehr.'' " 
 He would rather see the woman he loved in dreams 
 than find her a reality ! 
 
 These poems were forerunners of the larger idea, 
 more fully, more brilliantly worked out, although, 
 in its logical conclusions, leaving the reader in doubt 
 as to whether Ibsen at this time had any solution at 
 all to this problem of love and marriage other than 
 the solution which he had but recently followed him- 
 self — ^marriage based on a compromise between Guld- 
 stad's and Falk's ideas. 
 
 In matter of form, " Love's Comedy " exhibits an 
 impatience on the part of the author; he had tried 
 
120 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 prose and evidently had become dissatisfied, inasmuch 
 as, upon the authority of Gosse, there is still extant 
 in manuscript a rough draft of this play, entitled 
 " Svanhild : A Comedy in Three Acts and in Prose : 
 1860." But there is likewise a juggling with the 
 rhymed couplet in the final version which might well 
 indicate his dissatisfaction with the ballad measure. 
 As Mr. Her ford has translated it,^ the drama jars by 
 reason of its evident straining after the word end- 
 ings; the human flashes, the darts of bravado and 
 wit are so plentiful, so spontaneous, that they only 
 make one realize how artificial is the medium of 
 rhyme. In point of arriving at any definite conclu- 
 sions, it is doubtful whether Ibsen knew exactly where 
 his Pegasus or his pen was going to take him. Un- 
 doubtedly the play represents his unsettled state of 
 mind, and on that account it betrays a certain im- 
 mature struggle with any phase of life worth strug- 
 gling with. Here, for the first time, we receive at 
 full tilt the force of his indignation, not definitely 
 aimed, but still foreboding future social criticism. 
 
 It has been noted that Ibsen was much interested 
 in the pioneer work of Bjornson and Mrs. CoUett. 
 The latter had issued her " The Sheriff's Daughters," 
 in which she had attacked the shams underlying en- 
 gagements and marriages, customs which Ibsen him- 
 self soon after assailed, even going so far as to ap- 
 ply certain similes which she had used in her novel. 
 But Mrs. Collett was seriously interested in the 
 woman's side and in the woman's fate, whereas, de- 
 spite the fact that Ibsen has been over-emphasized 
 
 ' See edition: Love's Comedy. Tr. by C. H. Herford. Duck- 
 worth, 1900. 
 
A SATIRIC INTERRUPTION 121 
 
 as showing sympathy in the feminine plea for more 
 freedom, he was far from being wholly absorbed in 
 their welfare as women; to him they merely repre- 
 sented a certain weight in the general balance of the 
 human and social scale, and it was the larger problem 
 of humanity which interested him. On the other 
 hand, though Ibsen might declare his attitude to be 
 the. true attitude, none the less, there is, in the per- 
 son of Svanhild, as well as in Solveig, Agnes, and 
 Hilda, a suspicion of glorification, a tinge of the 
 romantic, which always dominated in his regard for 
 womanhood. It is said that he read Mill's " Subjec- 
 tion of Women " with great show of irritation ; and 
 his impatience became still more apparent in his re- 
 sponse to a toast given one day before a ladies' 
 club in Christiania. His solution of the woman ques- 
 tion, whether it relate to Nora's or Mrs. Alving's or 
 Rebecca West's fate, always bore in mind the con- 
 sequences to society at large. His opinion is thus 
 plainly stated: 
 
 " All that I have composed has not proceeded from 
 a conscious tendency. I have been more the poet 
 and less the social philosopher than has been be- 
 lieved. I have never regarded the women's cause as 
 a question in itself, but as a question of mankind, 
 not of women." 
 
 " Love's Comedy " represents more the imperti- 
 nence of youth than the daring of the philosopher; 
 it is a brilliant bit of wild nature let loose; it has 
 some of the abandon of " Peer Gynt " as well as some 
 hints of small characterizations in " Brand." One 
 might even stretch a point and say that Ibsen had 
 set himself the task, without quite realizing it, of 
 
122 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 finding a third kingdom of marriage and love com- 
 bined, which he found afterwards would have to 
 establish itself in its own natural way, even as he 
 found, after his own marriage, that his ideals regard- 
 ing how he and his wife of the future would dwell 
 together upon separate floors beneath one roof, had 
 to be changed to accord with the conditions of serious 
 living. 
 
 In 1870, Ibsen wrote to Peter Hansen: 
 
 " Not until I was married did more serious interests 
 take possession of my life. The first outcome of this 
 change was a long poem — ' Paa Vidderne ' ( ' On the 
 Heights '). The desire for emancipation which per- 
 vades this poem did not, however, receive its full ex- 
 pression until I wrote ' Love's Comedy,' a book which 
 gave rise to much talk in Norway. People mixed up 
 my personal affairs in the discussion, and I fell 
 greatly in public estimation. The only person at 
 that time who approved of the book Tvas my wife. 
 My countrymen did not understand, and I 
 did not choose to make them my father-confessors. 
 So they excommunicated me. All were against me." 
 
 The reasons for the sudden disapproval of 
 " Love's Comedy " are stated in Ibsen's preface ^ to 
 the second edition of the play (1867). In the course 
 •of his remarks, he said: 
 
 " I committed a grave error in publishing the book 
 in Norway. The time, as well as the place, was unfor- 
 tunately chosen. The poem aroused a storm of oppo- 
 sition more powerful and more far-reaching than most 
 books can boast of — ^and this, amidst a people whose 
 overwhelming majority was either antagonistic to all 
 ' See Henrik Ibsens Samtliche Werke. Vol. I, p. SOS. 
 
A SATIRIC INTERRUPTION 123 
 
 things literary, or else totally without interest in 
 them. 
 
 " The reception did not greatly surprise me. ' The 
 healthy realism ' — and if not healthy, then the real- 
 ism, to which we Norwegians may rightly lay claim, 
 compels us, in a very evident and a very natural way, 
 to seek for the idea in the solution of the problem. 
 This point of view creates an inner consolation, but 
 does not exactly produce clearness. 
 
 " As I therefore strongly criticised love and mar- 
 riage in my comedy, it was no more than natural to 
 expect the public to raise a cry of protest in the name 
 of love and marriage. The disciplining and train- 
 ing of thought which are necessary for the full 
 understanding of the errors underlying this love 
 and marriage problem have not been experienced by 
 the majority of my reading public. And it is not 
 my intention here to give them that necessary in- 
 struction. A preface is no A B C." 
 
 As we have said, there is no definite objet de guerre 
 in " Love's Comedy " ; Ibsen had been engaged in 
 many enterprises conducing toward national further- 
 ance, and he had seen the so-called aristocratic peo- 
 ples looking askance at him ; since his " Norma : a 
 Politician's Love," the civic conditions in Norway 
 had settled down into such an indifferent state that 
 nothing could be drawn from them at the moment to 
 serve his satiric aims. He therefore decided to throw 
 a bomb into the intimate social midst — to attack mar- 
 riage and the panoply of love. But, in doing so, he 
 committed the same error that he made in pitting 
 against Fru Inger a power as mighty as herself, if 
 not more picturesque, in the figure of Nils Lykke. 
 
124 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 In this present instance, he took from the weight of 
 his argument by approving the marriage of conve- 
 nience which Guldstad in the end arranges between 
 himself and Svanhild. Such a mixture, such a con- 
 tradiction as he thus deals with obscures the human 
 application of his story, leaving one high and dry 
 as to the sane solution — giving the reader much that 
 is brilliant, something that is partly true, but, never- 
 theless, a great deal that is futile, like Bernard 
 Shaw's " You Never Can Tell." 
 
 That " Love's Comedy " raised a storm of pro- 
 test, however, is of small wonder. It was completed 
 in 1862, and during the same year Jonas Lie gave 
 Ibsen £35 for the privilege of printing the piece as 
 a supplement to his paper.^ Its sting was instantly 
 recognised, and its one-sidedness became more evi- 
 dent in its negative than in its positive aspects. At 
 the University of Christiania, when it was learned 
 that Ibsen had applied for a grant, some dignitary 
 was heard to exclaim that " the person who had 
 written ' Love's Comedy ' deserved a stick rather 
 than a stipend ! " 
 
 The opinions were diverse as to its merits ; there 
 were those ready to raise the cry of immorality and 
 others to rail against the inartistic rhyme, and still 
 other conventional souls to deplore the caricature of 
 
 'The second edition, 1867, and thereafter, as follows: 1873, 
 1877, 1884, 1891, 189S. French translation by Vicomte de 
 CoUeville and Fritz de Zepelin. See also Mercure de Prance, 
 Feb.-Mar., 1896; St. James's Magazine, vol. 40, London, 1881. 
 German translation by M. von Borch. See Morgenbladet, 1863, 
 Nos. 74-81, M. J. Monrad; also Mercure de Prance, July, 1897 
 [Per Eketra]. 
 
A SATIRIC INTERRUPTION 125 
 
 Mr. Strawman,^ one of the first pastors at whom 
 Ibsen so loved to point his finger of scorn. Reviewers 
 began to look for analogies.^ And, regarding the 
 play from a distance of years, the later critics hit 
 upon the statement that thus early, in his attitude 
 for and against the social institution of marriage, 
 the young dramatist was serving as a mouthpiece 
 for a re-statement pf the views of Kierkegaard, in 
 his " Either— Or " and " Stages on the Path of Life," 
 upon the same subject. It is rather futile, from the 
 Ibsen standpoint, to spend much time in contrasting 
 the latter's position with that of Plato; Professor 
 Gosse has done this and has also, with little signifi- 
 cance, save to emphasize the racial difference between 
 Englishmen and Norwegians, noted the fact that at 
 the period when Ibsen was finishing his piece of pun- 
 gent satire, Tennyson in his " Sea Dreams " was de- 
 claring that as for himself he loathed satire. 
 
 We are overstretching the critical province when 
 we apply standards to Ibsen far beyond him and in 
 no way commensurate with his limitations. One al- 
 ways has to grant him a point to stand upon, and 
 then he is thoroughly capable, through the dexterity 
 of craftsmanship, of maintaining his argument; but 
 his weakness nearly always is to be found in the very 
 point upon which he stands. A gifted tongue may 
 argue truly from one side, making the reader for an 
 instant forget the value of the other side; yet none 
 the less does this other value exist. On the one hand, 
 
 ' In 1866 the Storthing had occasion to refer to Strawman in 
 refusing Ibsen his petition. 
 
 ' A comparison is often made between " Love's Comedy " and 
 Heiberg's " Inseparables." 
 
U6 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 we may say that idealism is prone to afford a man or 
 a woman poor preparation for facing the practicali- 
 ties of life — that, on the heights, neither of them is 
 capable of fathoming dual responsibility ; and on the 
 other hand, we may say that realism is only one phase 
 of life after all — a phase where men and women are 
 sometimes prone to forget that the spirit needs 
 exaltation. 
 
 The subject of " Love's Comedy " is a juggle be- 
 tween two extremes, and in the end we almost detect 
 another example of the characteristic which Ibsen at 
 isolated periods in his life exhibited; I refer to his 
 habit of laughing at his own foibles. For Guldstad, 
 at the close of the play, is willing to let Falk go his 
 way with the memory of his love for Svanhild, while 
 the " official " forms of love-making continue in the 
 world undisturbed. As for Guldstad, after having, 
 in his matter-of-fact business way, given every chance 
 for Falk and Svanhild to argue whether in the years 
 of marriage together they could maintain the inten- 
 sity of their present passion, he slips in and claims 
 the prize, knowing full well that the married life 
 does not consist wholly of dreams. 
 
 Despite its brilliancy, Brandes was right when he 
 declared " Love's Comedy " to be lacking in refine- 
 ment. One's curiosity is intellectually piqued to fol- 
 low the consequences, but the world was never won by 
 a sneer nor has sympathy ever been gained for a 
 boor. Falk's name is perhaps used symbolically. In 
 his translation of the piece, Gosse goes so far as to 
 speak of " Hawk " and " Miss Magpie," thus retain- 
 ing some elements of a morality play. The bitter- 
 ness in the hero's soul is that which Ibsen had pent 
 
A SATIRIC INTERRUPTION 127 
 
 up in his own breast ; it is not a deep searching after 
 great truths, but a fitful flashing that burns and 
 irritates and creates only a small amount of good. 
 By its very indefiniteness, by its lack of remedy and 
 its lack of any clear statement as to the solution, the 
 effect produced by " Love's Comedy " is that it gives 
 an impertinent wrench to conscience. At first the 
 public was incensed ; then Ibsen found his own private 
 life defamed ; but by degrees people began to' look 
 within themselves to see whether there was truth in 
 it, and they hated him for the doubt he cast upon 
 them and their holiest bonds of attachment. 
 
 Rather than bring upon himself the existence which 
 custom has said must attend every marriage, Falk 
 would love and then renounce love, feasting instead 
 on its memory ; mayhap there is a bit of the old 
 Schopenhauer in this pessimism.^ But when he leaves, 
 after Svanhild is made to choose between him and 
 Guldstad — reminding one of the situation of Can- 
 dida placed between Morrell and Marchbanks — Ibsen 
 does not develop in Falk any vivid characteristics — 
 he disappears as a theory, whereas Shaw's Shelley 
 prototype is a man when he is turned out in the night. 
 
 But even though bravado, and irony, and pessi- 
 mism are the uppermost notes sounding through 
 " Love's Comedy," none the less is Ibsen an idealist 
 and a romanticist — for the poetry of his piece cer- 
 tainly does exist in his near approach to a very noble 
 conception of love in the abstract, even if the mani- 
 
 ^ Boyesen also sees in Ibsen this Schopenhauer mood, cen- 
 tring in his personal resentment, which changed to the Vol- 
 taire attitude, then to the revolutionary radicalism of Rous- 
 seau, thence to the roaring indignation of Carlyle. 
 
128 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 festatlons, the possible applications, seem absurd. In 
 his railing over a pseudo-love which social conditions 
 have created, one is probably only too prone to iden- 
 tify his ill-temper with the acceptance of no love at 
 all. Svanhild's remarks bear impress of Ibsen's men- 
 tal attitude, while Falk's defiance only represents a 
 part of his critical bearing. 
 
 The defiant ring was that of youth; in view of his 
 own indignation and of his own theory, Ibsen was in 
 no position to realize that the world also had a view- 
 point which was entitled to respect and to considera- 
 tion ; he was an iconoclast in a thoughtless way. But, 
 nevertheless, the originality and advance in this play 
 are to be discovered in the fact that he here has the 
 point-of-view ; that he is regarding humanity and 
 society closely in order to establish a better, a fuller 
 system of life. It is not the sweeping improvement 
 he is after ; it is an evolutionary change he would 
 exact in the world. In other words, Arthur Symons 
 is correct in his statement that " the man of science 
 has already laid his hand, upon the poet." 
 
 For the better protection of true love, Ibsen places 
 an anathema upon the old order ; with extreme con- 
 fidence in an idea more immediately consuming than 
 permanent in truth, he almost borders upon frivol- 
 ity, parrying blows and giving thrusts that are more 
 striking than they are telling. " With Ibsen," says 
 Symons, " it is a petty anger, an anger against 
 nature, and it leads to a transcendentalism which is 
 empty and outside nature." 
 
 It is hard to believe that Falk's renunciation added 
 strength and sweetness to his personality, nor is it 
 made very evident in the text that Svanhild, in her 
 
A SATIRIC INTERRUPTION 129 
 
 ready acceptance of Guldstad in the end, was at all 
 matured by the memory of her ideal love for an- 
 other. The merchant, keen and cold and calculating 
 though he might be, was, nevertheless, an idealist 
 after his worldly fashion; he was not impervious to 
 the laws of nature, neither was he anxious to over- 
 ride the laws of custom. What he offers in his own 
 way — and it is a way which, Ibsen wishes to impress 
 upon us, represents the prose of life — is a great 
 deal; with all his youthful and ardent idealism, Falk 
 cannot offer anything that will outlast the wear and 
 tear of time. Guldstad might almost be regarded as 
 the normal point in the comedy — the sane view, even 
 though not the highest view. 
 
 The quality of humour in " Love's Comedy " is not 
 of the kindly order ; but though it is bitter, it is not 
 the stagnant, brooding spleen of quietude which 
 threatens to make one temperamentally unhealthy. 
 It is an active irritant. Ibsen's observation of hu- 
 manity is here for the first time given its modern ex- 
 pression ; it was to gain in unerring skill through 
 " Peer Gynt " and " Brand," until it began its defi- 
 nite cast of social contrast in " The League of 
 Youth " and " Pillars of Society." 
 
 Ibsen " scourged love in the name of love itself " ; 
 this is the opinion of Jffiger, but he did not go far 
 enough; he championed the rationalism of Guldstad 
 above the infatuation or perhaps natural inclination 
 of Falk, but he was in reality groping for something 
 else. The one positive worth of the play, from an 
 ethical side, was that it stirred up Scandinavia to 
 weigh the truth of the accusations, however protests 
 might be raised as to the value of the argument. 
 
130 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 There is a difference in being a " lady-love " and 
 in being a " wife " ; this difference is to be found in 
 the recognition of mutual obligations between the 
 man and the woman. The varnish and veneer of ro- 
 manticism and sentimentalism are repellent to the 
 vision of Ibsen. All is vanity, saith the preacher, 
 but I do not believe, with Huneker, that Ibsen saw 
 nothing good in love. 
 
 The dialogue of " Love's Comedy " gives one a 
 sense of dealing with real characters in a small com- 
 munity of Norway : Talk, the author ; Lind, the divin- 
 ity student; Guldstad, the merchant; Stiver, the law 
 clerk ; Strawman, the country clergyman, are sketched 
 in very skilful manner; they gravitate around this 
 theme of love — each representing a particular phase, 
 but all, save Falk, being on the side of convention. 
 The ladies, with the exception of Svanhild, are of 
 the accepted class — Miss Jay, a chatterer of the 
 sentimental kind, who upholds the idea of certain 
 " official " stages in the lover's progress from engage- 
 ment to marriage ; Mrs. Halm, a mother of the " mar- 
 riageable daughter " type ; Mrs. Strawman, the ma- 
 tron. The many scenes, as they unfold themselves, 
 serve as examples of a consuming quality found in 
 the entire Ibsen repertoire — the exalting of triviali- 
 ties, which, per se, are valueless, but which, in the 
 general effect, are dramatically essential. The power 
 to hold the interest through the sheer force of talk, 
 and of " gossipy " talk at that, is not given to every 
 dramatist. Herein, Ibsen must have profited by his 
 French associations, though, with his accustomed 
 method of improving upon others, he added to his 
 dialogue the pregnant value of the commonplace. 
 
A SATIRIC INTERRUPTION 131 
 
 The three scenes of " Love's Comedy " transpire 
 in the garden of Mrs. Halm's villa on the Drammen- 
 svejen at Christiania. In brilliant rapidity, the gush 
 of sentiment, the thrall of custom, the prosaic accept- 
 ance of life are unfolded in their several ways. Once 
 more, Ibsen resorts to the worn-out stage subterfuge 
 of misunderstandings. Falk at first is aware that 
 ■Lind loves Svanhild, when he is really in love with her 
 sister Anna ; then Falk believes that Guldstad is after 
 destroying Lind's chances with Anna, while all the 
 time he really is casting looks toward Svanhild. It 
 is a cheap way of developing situation, but one in 
 vogue at the time " Love's Comedy " was written. 
 Ibsen probably could not then have managed his plot 
 in any other fashion. 
 
 Talk's character offers glints of Ibsen himself as 
 well as suggestions for the masculine selfishness which 
 dominates the persons of all of the Ibsen men, like 
 Helmer in " A Doll's House." " Darkness to me is 
 fair and light is cheerless," he says, echoing the poet 
 who once was apothecary ; "Personality's one aim and 
 end. Is to be independent, free and true," he con- 
 tinues. Falk does not seek the highest results of love ; 
 he wishes to live, live, not caring for the outcome of 
 love. 
 
 As far as analysis is concerned, the love he offers 
 to Svanhild is almost as wild and as impossible as the 
 love he demands from her. Ibsen, in most of his early 
 plays, was unfortunate in creating the impression 
 that the only love a woman should consider full and 
 true was of the kind outlined by Falk: 
 
 "To me you must present 
 What God to you so bountifully lent. 
 
132 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 I speak in song what you in dreams have meant . . . 
 O yield your music as she [the bird] yielded hers! 
 My life shall be that music set to verse!" 
 
 Does Ibsen mean to say that those who marry 
 should not be in love ; and that those who love should 
 not marry ? -^ I think he was ironical, growling be- 
 cause it was his nature to, but not with the mastiff 
 growl of Carlyle. In the very fact that he nowhere 
 stated definitely his exact position as to this love he 
 rails about and this other love which Falk champions, 
 Ibsen was showing his usual reticence about answer- 
 ing questions. But he was thoroughly in earnest in 
 his attack, much more so than Shaw when he wrote 
 " Man and Superman." 
 
 There is some of Brand in Falk ; both held stead- 
 fastly to their convictions, both were willing to face 
 the consequences. In the dialogue, we catch faint 
 Ibsen tones relating to the ill-starred times in Nor- 
 way, and one clear conviction which, though coming 
 from Falk, represents the sincerity of the author: 
 
 "Be citizens of the time that is — but then 
 Make the time worthy of the citizen." 
 
 And so the general impression left in the mind of 
 the reader is that the main theme of " Love's Com- 
 edy " represents Ibsen's whole mood at the time rather 
 than his full conviction. Inasmuch as he felt himself 
 excommunicated by the tumult created by the ap- 
 pearance of his drama, one is not surprised to find that 
 
 ^Wicksteed states the proposition more clearly than most 
 commentators : " Being ' in love ' is essential to an ideal mar- 
 riage, but upon the other truth [stress should be laid as well], 
 that it is not enough for an ideal marriage." 
 
A SATIRIC INTERRUPTION 133 
 
 the theatres remained shy of It until November, 1873, 
 when Josephson presented It in Christiania.^ By that 
 time the third edition of the book had been issued, the 
 text having been subjected to the customary revision. 
 While Ibsen was in Frascati, during August, 1866, 
 he proposed the second edition to Hegel, who pub- 
 lished it at Copenhagen in May, 1867, having pre- 
 viously manoeuvred to suppress any of the old copies 
 remaining. 
 
 If regarded in its entirety, " Love's Comedy " is 
 fraught with no grandeur of defeat ; the exit of Falk 
 is not elevating, but is indicative of the desolation of 
 utter loneliness ; his renunciation left him impover- 
 ished in spirit as well as made him a beggar in hap- 
 piness. None of Ibsen's plays is quite so barren of 
 positive results. 
 
 ' The drama did not reach Stockholm until November, 1889 ; 
 Berlin, December, 1896; Theatre de I'CEuvre, June, 1897 
 [Lugn6-Poe] ; Copenhagen, May, 1898. In America It was 
 given at the Hudson Theatre, New York, on March 23, 1908. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE LAST or THE SAGAS 
 
 The kingdom of God lies within us. The value to 
 be drawn from Ibsen's work rests in the evolutionary 
 aspect which dominates his dramas. Although he 
 might attack the social shams underneath love and 
 marriage, the official chains that shackle the free 
 exercise of will, he was none the less only a destruc- 
 tive critic of the hypocrisy underlying love, and of 
 the blind ignorance exhibited by those men and women 
 assuming the responsibilities of the marriage bond. 
 It is this individual responsibility which is the redeem- 
 ing side of all the Ibsen theories. Though he might 
 attack false love, he was the firmest believer in the 
 regenerative qualities of true love ; though he might 
 denounce the religion that hides truth behind a veil 
 of dogma, he was a man of almost severe spiritual 
 self-examination. In his ethical quandaries he brings 
 himself to the state of hyper-sensitiveness. 
 
 " Love's Comedy " might be considered purely as 
 an example of youthful indignation ; it was, however, 
 a very natural transitory stage from a period of sup- 
 pressed resentment to a greater, more lasting and more 
 mature period of thought. It will be remembered that 
 after writing " The Vikings at Helgeland," Ibsen 
 had bethought him of " The Pretenders," his interest 
 being absorbed, as early as 1858, in Hakon Hakons- 
 son's Saga, which for the time being was brushed 
 aside in favour of the satire. But though Ibsen might 
 vent his anger in a bold and confident manner, there 
 was entering within him a doubt as to his own cap- 
 abilities. He was somewhat older than Bjornson, but 
 he was not regarded as of the same weight, and so he 
 
THE LAST OF THE SAGAS 135 
 
 commenced the analysis of this discrimination of for- 
 tune between the two, which is assuredly a part of 
 the contrast between Hakon and Skule. This concept 
 began to assume shape soon after his meeting with 
 Bjornson at the Bergen Festival of Song. In the 
 summer of 1863, he was hard at work upon the manu- 
 script, and, on his own authority, the book was com- 
 pleted in a very short while, for it was published .in 
 October, 1863, bearing the date 1864. 
 
 Ibsen had much material at hand to work upon ; 
 there was the suggestion of this contrast of person- 
 ages already existing in Oehlenschlager's "Aladdin" ;^ 
 there was the actual history, which he distorted less 
 than in any of his other historical dramas ; there was, 
 as Mr. Archer suggests, the model for Bishop Nich- 
 olas in Bjomson's "King Sverre"; and, further- 
 more, his smaller poems were indicative of the spir- 
 itual uncertainty which is the consuming theme of 
 the play. 
 
 In his treatment of facts, Ibsen no longer finds need 
 to mould them, to shift them to his artificial require- 
 ments ; in " Catilina," in " Lady Inger," be did not 
 hesitate to take away from historical character its 
 true perspective ; but now, instead of foreshortening, 
 he worked a deeper scheme with his art. He added to 
 
 ■"Aladdin: oder, die Wunderlampe." Dramatisches Gedicht 
 von A. G. Oehlenschlager. 2 vols. Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1820. 
 See also the English version of Oehlenschlager's "Correggio," 
 containing sketch of the autobiography of O., translated by- 
 Eliza B. Lee. Boston: Phillips & Sampson, 1846. In addition 
 see Longfellow's translations. See "Library of the World's 
 Best Literature," under Oehlenschlager, for introductory essay 
 by W. M. Payne, and translations taken from Sir Theodore 
 Martin's version of " Aladdin." 
 
136 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 his faithfulness of portraiture the substance of his 
 own philosophy of doubt; instead of relying solely 
 on a romantic value, he essayed and successfully 
 created a more significant worth, a more vital 
 thought. 
 
 The incident in Oehlenschlager of the stealing of 
 Aladdin's lamp by Nureddin was more subtly used by 
 Ibsen in his depiction of Skule's taking the king- 
 thought from Hakon ; and Skule's failure at the mo- 
 ment when victory seemed nearest is counterbalanced 
 by Nureddin's letting slip the lamp just when the 
 genie awaited his dictates. Taking J. E. Sars as a 
 basis for the historical,^ it beconjes instantly ap- 
 parent how closely Ibsen adhered to actual fact. Ha- 
 kon IV. ruled in Norway from 1217 to 1262; his 
 grandfather, Sverre, had been crowned at Bergen in 
 1184, meeting opposition from the clergy; these lat- 
 ter were in such power that they were feared greatly, 
 even by royalty ; for Norway, in 1162, had been made 
 a fief of St. Olaf, and it had been decreed by the 
 Church that only he was the prince of the land who 
 received through the Pope's representative the right 
 to rule. This explains the importance attached in 
 the play to the failure on the part of Skule to have 
 homage done him on St. Olaf's shrine, and to Peter's 
 desecration of the holy altar. Hakon represented 
 the idea of divine right; his faith rested in a firm 
 conviction that the people were with him. Skule was 
 the aristocrat whose daughter had married the king ; 
 he was leader of a party whose power had waned; 
 this realization made his opposition to the king all 
 
 ■ ' The reader is also referred to " Scandinavian History." 
 E. C. Ottd. London; Macmillan, 
 
THE LAST OF THE SAGAS 137 
 
 the more persistent, but no movement, as events prove, 
 can succeed without the support of popular senti- 
 ment. Ibsen goes deeper than this; he attributes 
 Skule's failure to a lack, within him, of the innate 
 qualities of kingship. As he states, a man may die 
 for another's cause, but in life he must live for his 
 own. This is just where Skule of the play is weakest ; 
 having no abiding belief in his own right to be king, 
 he attempted to base that belief upon the thought of 
 another; but his spiritual confidence eventually de- 
 serted him and sent him to his ruin. It is curious to 
 note the tendency Ibsen had to make use of the old 
 Catholic theory of retribution, of atonement, of chas- 
 tisement. 
 
 In what way are critics justified in comparing 
 Hakon-Bjornson with Skule- Ibsen? By the time the 
 former had returned to Norway in 1860 from his trip 
 through Italy, fortune was smiling upon him as 
 persistently as it was frowning on Ibsen. The per- 
 sonality of Bjornson was more popular than that 
 of Ibsen, and with the success which followed the 
 publication «f his genial sketches, there came also an 
 exultant confidence in his power. In his secretive 
 way, Ibsen was working just as assiduously; to his 
 manner of thinking he was just as faithfully fulfilling 
 his mission. But when he came to regard Bjornson, 
 his confidence in himself and in his abilities failed him. 
 Since the publication of " Love's Comedy," he had 
 been regarded slightingly; critics, in their estimates, 
 had spoken of him in an off-hand manner ; and only the 
 publication of the melodramatic "Terje Vigen," which 
 in narrative power is not unlike Browning's " Ivan 
 Ivanovitch," saved him from being wholly ignored. 
 
138 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Here the comparison ends ; while in Skule's scepticism 
 we note the scepticism of Ibsen, the latter was only 
 gathering strength to combat the elements; he did 
 not succumb to this momentary doubt. As Jaeger 
 aptly says, " His was one of those natures which are 
 not subdued, but rise under adverse conditions. As 
 the bitter quinine gives strength to the nerves, so 
 the bitterness of his circumstances strengthened, little 
 by little, his confidence in himself." 
 
 " The Pretenders " is one of Ibsen's strongest 
 dramas ; from the standpoint of construction, he has 
 become more generous in his distribution of scene, 
 portending the variety and scope of his succeeding 
 satires. This is the first play which depends upon 
 the originality of its characters through the reflective 
 power of the poet ; if its failure in regard to construc- 
 tion is to be found anywhere, it lies in the mistake 
 made of killing Bishop Nicholas when the play was 
 but half finished. This throws the plot into two dis- 
 tinct divisions — one in which the Bishop serves as the 
 hero; the other in which the doubt created by the 
 Bishop acts in his place. A certain amount of melo- 
 dramatic interest is lost with the removal of this 
 figure — a figure suggesting in every outline a picture 
 of Sir Henry Irving as Becket. The Bishop is far 
 more individually conceived in his Mephistophelian 
 guise than any character thus far drawn by Ibsen. 
 
 The literal translation of the word " Kongs-Em- 
 nerne," which has been rendered into the shortened 
 form of " The Pretenders," is " the stuffs from which 
 kings are made." According to Ibsen's analysis, he 
 is ruler, he is right, he is king who has fortune on his 
 side. Hakon's claim to the throne is based on the fire 
 
THE LAST OF THE SAGAS 139 
 
 ordeal; it is proved by his originating of the King- 
 thought. From the midst of a number of pretenders 
 to Norway's crown two types are made prominent for 
 the sake of contrasting two mental attitudes, which 
 Ibsen believed he thoroughly understood. Between 
 them he places the crafty Bishop, who, now upon this 
 side and now upon that, is the cause of Skule's plan- 
 ning to gain all the power, since he already holds the 
 state seal. This Duke seems intent upon being first 
 man in the realm, although at the outset there is 
 that within him which would fain make peace with 
 conditions as Olaf willed them — the conditions which 
 mark Hakon as the duly elected ruler. The Bishop 
 moves slowly, sowing seeds of dissension — petty 
 manoeuvring which sets at variance the subordinates 
 of the court, as well as unsettling confidence on all 
 sides. 
 
 Nicholas learns of Skule's life curse, " to stand so 
 near to the highest — with an abyss between " ; he is 
 keen enough to realize the weakness in Skule's make- 
 up — the weakness of indecision closely akin to the 
 philosophical inaction of Hamlet. He uses this weak- 
 ness as capital for his own dark designs. He learns 
 from the Duke the tragedy of ill-fortune which has 
 always pursued him through life, which has kept him 
 from the throne, bringing him nearer step by step, 
 until now he possesses all but the highest post. 
 
 Then and there they have it out — this Bishop and 
 this would-be ruler. Nicholas declares that Skule 
 dare not break all bridges behind him, defending one 
 alone with his life. That is what Hakon does, and 
 that is why he is King. The greatest work, perhaps, 
 is done by the greatest man, and he may be, most 
 
140 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 likely, the bravest man. Despite the villainy of Nich- 
 olas, he has an infinite amount of perspicacity, and 
 there is some truth in what he further says: 
 
 " The most fortunate man is the greatest man. It 
 is the most fortunate man that does the greatest deeds 
 — ^he whom the cravings of his time seize like a pas- 
 sion, begetting thoughts he himself cannot fathom, 
 and pointing to paths which lead he knows not 
 whither, but which he follows and must follow till 
 he hears the people shout for joy, and, looking around 
 him with wondering eyes, finds that he has done a 
 mighty deed." 
 
 But in this analysis of the right of Hakon to rule 
 Nicholas shows his lack of moral view. His idea of 
 the right is the stoic Brand's attainment at the cost 
 of lives nearest and dearest, but devoid of Brand's 
 religious enthusiasm. He questions the right of Ha- 
 kon's right ; he advises Skule to win the top by exert- 
 ing his strength and standing upon others ; to hate 
 a party not because of the principles underlying it, 
 but simply should it happen that the constituents of 
 that party were against him ; to uphold the belief that 
 a party should not represent conviction, but should 
 bring, primarily, personal gain. " Whatever is help- 
 ful to you is good," whispers the evil-tongued Bishop, 
 behind whose suavity lies the unextinguishable thirst 
 for dissension. Since he, Nicholas, cannot be the 
 highest in the realm, he will play with the highest as 
 though they were pawns upon a chess-board. The 
 Bishop, likewise, possesses his kingship ambitions. 
 
 In this humour is born the idea of planting in the 
 mind of Skule a doubt as to whether Hakon's title to 
 the throne is clear — a complication which, however 
 
THE LAST OF THE SAGAS 141 
 
 accurate from an historical view, serves as a theatrical 
 and a cheap accessory to further the action of the 
 play. What if Hakon were not king-born? Ibsen 
 is prone to over-depend upon the subterfuge of ille- 
 gitimacy; even Skule, as it later seems, has a son 
 born out of wedlock — the very Peter who displays 
 the confidence in his father's power, which the father 
 does not have in himself. There is that in the work- 
 ing out of Ibsen's idea which only accentuates the 
 artificial planning of his situations. No matter how 
 swift the action, Skule is always sounding the doubt ; 
 he knows that while Hakon believes himself king, no 
 ill-savoured report concerning him can undo his girdle 
 of strength which lies in his unshakable belief in him- 
 self. The distinction between Skule and Hakon is 
 therefore one dependent entirely upon the utter hope- 
 lessness of making any effective attack upon Hakon's 
 strength in the face of Skule's weakness. " I am a 
 king's arm," cries the latter, " mayhap a king's brain 
 as well ; but he is the whole king." 
 
 Professor Dowden interprets " The Pretenders " 
 tersely in the sentence : " Faith and unf aith can ne'er 
 be equal powers." It is probably because of these 
 co-existing and opposing elements that Mr. Huneker 
 recognised here a glimmer of the " Emperor and 
 Galilean " motive. But while in the fomier drama 
 Ibsen proved very conclusively that naught could 
 come of a compromise between doubt and faith, he 
 most assuredly established his argument in the latter 
 that out of a balance of full-blooded paganism and 
 unadulterated Christianity might spring the accom- 
 plishment of his third estate. 
 
 By the end of the second act, Bishop Nicholas is 
 
142 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 master of the situation ; events concur, put in motion 
 by this venerable devil, to set the Earl against the 
 King. Skule is thrust in a position to misjudge 
 Hakon; otherwise, there is a vein of noble amenable- 
 ness to reason in him, which would prompt him to 
 submit to the inevitable once the right of Hakon was 
 proved, once the doubt of his illegitimacy was re- 
 moved. 
 
 The death scene of Nicholas is mightily conceived ; 
 its effectiveness on the stage is in striking contrast 
 with the other parts of the drama, which are more 
 in the chronicle spirit. The slenderness of his life's 
 thread now makes the Bishop zealous to cram all of 
 his work within the limits measured by the rounds in 
 his almost empty hour-glass. If he must die, then 
 Norway must be left with something by which to 
 remember him; he would attack the King's soul, and 
 the Duke's soul as well; he would set in perpetual 
 motion a doubt which he tells Skule will unsettle the 
 steadfast faith Hakon has in himself. When he dies, 
 he has indeed accomplished his ambitions well, the re- 
 mainder of the play serving to show how well. 
 
 Skule and Hakon are placed on either side of Mar 
 grete, daughter and wife ; here again the Ibsen balance 
 is used. Fortune has further smiled upon the King in 
 assuring him a successor to the throne, even though 
 the right to that succession be not thoroughly estab- 
 lished, because of the suspicion cast upon It by Nich- 
 olas. But the old Bishop dies, having burned before- 
 hand a document which might have dispelled the doubt 
 in Skule's mind, and having failed to unsettle Hakon's 
 confidence. 
 
 Skule's position Is one of continual wavering, al- 
 
THE LAST OF THE SAGAS 143 
 
 though he compromises by proposing to Hakon that 
 they share the kingdom, each independent of the 
 other. Hakon, freed of the doubt which Skule has, 
 stands upon a firm foundation of belief in his divine 
 right ; he will therefore rule over all or none. Never, 
 in all Skule's opportunities, has he done a single 
 King's task, whereas there lay clearly before Hakon a 
 distinct realization of what the King's task should be. 
 The realm has been built up, a mass unconsecrate ; it 
 lacks life wherewith to make it vital. What, therefore, 
 is Hakon's King- thought ? "Norway has been a king- 
 dom, it shall become a people," he declares, Skule, 
 the aristocrat, is shocked by the daring boldness of 
 the idea; yet he little knew that this was the mo- 
 ment of temptation for him. Throughout Hakon's 
 speeches, which are the measure of his confidence, we 
 detect the iteration of Ibsen's belief in his own per- 
 gonal and God-imposed mission. " I have done so 
 little yet," declares the King ; " but I hear the un- 
 erring voice of the Lord calling to me: Thou shalt 
 do a great King's-work in Norway ! " The sense of 
 this responsibility was always uppermost in Ibsen's 
 mind ; it made him sacrifice in life that which otherwise 
 would have brought him contentment. But he was 
 never without this sense ; it is one of the fundamental 
 causes of his isolation. Brandes wrote: 
 
 " Ibsen, I may safely assert, is inclined to believe 
 that he has received his endowments at a time when 
 there were very few with whom to divide the sum. He 
 has, therefore, no consciousness of being the child of 
 a people, a part of the whole, the leader of a group, 
 a member of society; he feels himself exclusively a 
 gifted individual, and the sole object in wliich he 
 
144 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 believes, and for which he cherishes respect, is per- 
 sonality." 
 
 In the execution of his drama Ibsen's solicitude 
 appears to have been threefold. There was the un- 
 erring interest in character; there was the personal 
 reflection of his own spiritual attitude; and, finally, 
 there was his growing sense of the national require- 
 ments. As we have said, the last two acts of " The 
 Pretenders " are an amplification of the struggle 
 aggravated by Bishop Nicholas. The gradual under- 
 mining of Skule's will, after success has attended his 
 military movements against the King, is analyzed with 
 much cleverness by Ibsen. No one is fit to hold the 
 sceptre who wavers, who possesses the moral doubt 
 that one man may take " God's calling from another, 
 as he takes weapons and gold from his fallen foe ! " 
 " Can a Pretender clothe himself in a King's life-task, 
 as he can put on the kingly mantle .'' " There must 
 be conviction bred in the bone. Even in his converse 
 with Jatgeir, the skald, King Skule recognises his 
 weakness ; he hears that in life one should either be 
 strong in his belief or possess the strength of doubt — 
 but he who doubts his doubt might as well be dead. 
 
 In other words, Skule is barren of all that which 
 combines to make a ruler; had he a son who j^hoUy 
 trusted him, then might his faith be great indeed. He 
 never once realizes the import of Jatgeir's admonition 
 to trust in himself, since he is the only one to save him- 
 self. When, finally, Peter, his ill-begotten son, com- 
 mits sin for the sake of the faith he has in his father, 
 the wavering of Skule gains full sway ; the return of 
 the ghost of Nicholas, reminding one of the external- 
 izing of Hamlet's mental state, on one hand, and of 
 
THE LAST OF THE SAGAS 145 
 
 Peer's encounter with the Button-Moulder on the 
 other, awakens him to an understanding of the evil 
 workings of the Bishop's mind. Yet, in another in- 
 stance does Ibsen put into the latter's mouth the 
 utterance of his own outlook upon national conditions 
 — making all the more poignant his contempt for the 
 irresolution of the Norwegian people. What says the 
 ghost of Nicholas — a veritable emissary from the 
 realm of darkness? 
 
 " In Norway my Empire forever is founded, 
 Though it be to my subjects a riddle unsounded. 
 While to their life-work Norsemen set out 
 Will-lessly wavering, daunted vnth doubt, 
 While hearts are shrunken, minds helplessly shivering. 
 Weak as a willow-wand wind-swept and quivering, — 
 While about one thing alone they're united, 
 Namely, that greatness be stoned and despited, — 
 When they seek honour in fleeing and falling 
 Under the banner of baseness unfurled, — 
 Then Bishop Nicholas 'tends to his calling, 
 The Bagler-Bishop's at work in the world ! " 
 
 The characters of Peer Gynt and King Skule have 
 much in common, especially in their mutual desire to 
 leave ways open for retreat. They face defeat in the 
 same way, returning to a full comprehension of what 
 they have missed in the sacrifice of love. Broken in 
 mind and in body, Skule seeks the convent where his 
 wife, his daughter, and his sister abide his coming ; " I 
 sought after happiness abroad," so he cried, " and 
 heeded not the home wherein I might have found it." 
 
 Thus, shorn of his ambition, divesting himself of 
 the grip of Nicholas's influence, he would atone by 
 ridding King Hakon of his own presence — for the 
 rightful King had sworn to bring Skule to his death, 
 
146 HENRIIv IBSEN 
 
 telling Margrete so with some of the stoical cruelty 
 of Brand's conversations with Agnes. By this act 
 of Hakon's an estrangement would have been wrought 
 between Margrete and himself. King Skule has this 
 in mind when he and Peter, his son, pass through the 
 convent gates, outside of which they meet death at the 
 hands of the people who are enraged by Peter's dese- 
 cration of Olaf's shrine. 
 
 Throughout " The Pretenders " we note variations 
 of themes which Ibsen had either made use of before 
 or was evolving for future dramas. It is surj)rising to 
 mark the innumerable suggestions for " Brand " and 
 for " Peer Gynt " found in the last two acts of this 
 play ; in matter of versification, of actual wording, of 
 character portrayal, it becomes surprisingly evident. 
 Herein the full force of the romantic influence is for 
 the last time felt; Bishop Nicholas might have been 
 cast in the mould of Victor Hugo or of Dumas ; Ibsen 
 makes no further use of the romantic type of his pro- 
 portion. As an indication of Ibsen's proneness to 
 repetition of idea, Gunnar, in " The Vikings at Helge- 
 land," takes unto himself the glory of an achievement 
 which belonged to another ; here Skule appropriates a 
 thought which originated in Hakon's mind. Later on 
 the Mayor, in " Brand," steals the priest's idea of 
 building the larger church. This persistence in motive 
 is also evident in the scene where Ingeborg, Skule's 
 mistress, speaks :' " To love, to sacrifice all and be 
 forgotten, that is my sag'a." She is content with this 
 task which she interprets as the woman's duty, nay, 
 more, as her own happiness. Despite the wrong done 
 by Skule, Ingeborg is prompted by the idea — one 
 ' See Brandes's " Ibsen." p. 39. 
 
THE LAST OF THE SAGAS 147 
 
 which shows Ibsen's continued attitude toward the 
 woman question — ^that it is man's right, as well as his 
 privilege, to forget. This quiescence on her part is 
 characteristic of Agnes and Solveig. 
 
 Skule is at first the political weakling going around 
 and never facing an issue, never being wholly any- 
 thing. This is TN'here he resembles in general idea the 
 portraiture of Peer ; but where he differs is in his so- 
 lidity of character, his seriousness. Later, despite 
 the fact that within his soul he cannot dispel doubt, 
 Skule is turned into a political fanatic, and when Ha- 
 kon confronts him with the proposal to share the 
 kingdom — a proposal which he finally makes himself 
 to the King, only to be refused — he utters the very 
 intention of Brand — the demand of " All or Naught." 
 
 These are but a few of the analogies in which the 
 play abounds. One or two incomparably tender 
 scenes centring around Margrete are indicative of 
 the poet in Ibsen— flashes of that exquisite senti- 
 ment which later he tried almost religiously to stifle. 
 In the occasional versification through the last act, 
 noticeably in the scene with the Bishop's ghost, there 
 is the inconsequent ring of " Peer Gynt." In fact, 
 " The Pretenders " typifies the very highest attain- 
 ment of the historical period on the one hand, and 
 on the other forebodes the dexterity of the satiric 
 dramas.^ 
 
 Nothing is more significant than the deepening of 
 Ibsen's art ideas ; they did not broaden, but glowed 
 inwardly, and thus, while putting on fuller meaning, 
 
 ' Regarding the psychology of " The Pretenders," Boyesen 
 suggests that a comparison be made with Schiller's "Wallen- 
 stein." 
 
148 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 were virtually the same throughout the plays. His 
 development from the romanticist to the realist, and 
 thence to the symbolist was simply the acquirement 
 of three habits of mind in reference to the sam6 facts 
 of life. " The Pretenders," however, exhibits a new 
 acquisition on the part of Ibsen — an acquisition 
 which carries the play far above " The Vikings at 
 Helgeland " in point of vitality. Once wholly ab- 
 sorbed in history — partly showing thereby his devo- 
 tion to Oehlenschlager — Ibsen now stands forth as a 
 psychologist, who is intent on understanding the in- 
 dividual and the individual's moral relation with the 
 facts of life. As Brandes avers, his interest in the 
 inward struggle of Hakon and Skule was much more 
 absorbing to him than the literal occurrences of his- 
 tory. Still, because of this very use of the historical, 
 Ibsen felt himself constrained to adopt a' technique 
 which would harmonize with the material. We see 
 him, however, breaking from his wornTOut models — 
 restive in the handling of the data which he had 
 drawn from the past. For " The Pretenders," even 
 though of the thirteenth century, in general colour, 
 is modern in its intellectual attitude. 
 
 The political tendency in the play exalts the doc- 
 trine of unification of Scandinavia as one people. Be- 
 ginning with the zeal of a nationalist, as soon as he 
 was enabled to view the situation from a distance, 
 Ibsen became imbued with the consuming desire of 
 bringing about this larger state of things. As we 
 shall see, during his residence in Italy and Germany, 
 he was persistently preaching his doctrine, having 
 more faith in the welding together of folks with va- 
 rying prejudices, than the actual conditions would 
 
THE LAST OF THE SAGAS 149 
 
 warrant. Brandes' penetrating discernment saw 
 these frailties in Ibsen; defects in his intellectual 
 training due in part to a lack of definite restraint 
 attendant upon his defective, or rather, incomplete, 
 education. 
 
 The sum total of the opinion written about " The 
 Pretenders " has the predominating tone of unusual 
 praise. Ibsen was for a long time maturing in his 
 stagecraft, and in respect to this, " The Vikings at 
 Helgeland " is probably more close in its external 
 treatment, though lacking in its spiritual weight. 
 " The Pretenders " is a tragedy of great beauty, 
 in which the interest in character is more universal 
 than it is Norwegian, for the actual local, political, 
 or historical worth is slight in comparison with the 
 broad human significance. In workmanship, in con- 
 ception, it denotes a surety of power which continues 
 and is sustained throughout the piece, despite the 
 artificial effect of the final acts. 
 
 The first edition^ of " The Pretenders," issued by 
 Johan Dahl in October, 1863, contained a musical 
 setting to Margrete's Cradle Song, composed by Fru 
 Emma Dahl; in November, 1870, the second edition 
 was brought out in Copenhagen. The piece met with 
 much favour, as was shown in a letter written by 
 Ibsen to Gosse from Dresden, on October 14<, 1872. 
 The English critic had made a statement in the 
 
 ' Separate editions of " The Pretenders " were issued in 1870, 
 ]872, 1875, 1879, 1883, 1889, 1894, 1898. A French translation 
 was made by Jacques Trigant-Geneste in 1893; a German trans- 
 lation by Adolf Strodtmann, 1872. See Halvorsen. Also see 
 Ibsen's " Correspondence (35) " giving John Grieg, brother of 
 Edvard, permission to translate " The Pretenders." 
 
150 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 London Academy that A. Munch's drama on " Duke 
 Skule " by a curious coincidence appeared about the 
 same time as " The Pretenders." As a matter of 
 fact, annoyed as he always was by any suggestion 
 of literary similarity, Ibsen hastened to let Gosse 
 understand that Munch's play appeared at a slightly 
 later date, and added with some show of pride: 
 "'The Pretenders' has all along enjoyed, both on 
 the stage, and with the reading public, a far greater 
 measure of favour than ' Duke Skule.' "^ This he 
 does confess to Hansen, however, which not only ex- 
 cuses his begrudging Bjornson his fortunate cir- 
 cumstances, but likewise emphasizes the penalty one 
 has to pay for longing to gain complete emancipa- 
 tion, which prompted his poem " On the Heights," 
 or for wishing to better society, which resulted in 
 " Love's Comedy " : " The fact that all were against 
 me — that there was no longer any one outside of 
 my family circle of whom I could say : ' he believes in 
 me ' — must, as you can easily see, have aroused a 
 mood which found its outlet in ' The Pretenders.' " 
 
 In 1870, Ibsen revised " The Pretender^ " for He- 
 gel, and while so doing he showed his evident sat- 
 isfaction over the early construction of the piece. 
 His zeal for the triple coalition in Scandinavia was 
 carried to the extent of adhering in his proof to 
 the orthographical decisions which were tending to 
 
 ' The reader is referred to the first volume of Ibsen's " Samt- 
 liche Werke" (ed. Brandes, Elias, and Schlenther) for the fol- 
 lowing poems: " Konig HSkons Festhalle," p. 3; " Ornulfs 
 Drapa,'' p. 57. Halvorsen refers to the following German 
 criticisms: Ad. von Hanstein: "Ibsen als Idealist" (Lpz., 
 1897) ; Morgenbladet, 1864. No. 13, 20, 23— M. J. Monrad. 
 
THE LAST OF THE SAGAS 151 
 
 unify the Scandinavian languages. By 1870, when 
 he was in correspondence with Hegel, the rupture be- 
 tween Bjornson and himself had existed for some 
 years. The fact is, Ibsen was beginning not only to 
 wish for a reconciliation but also to feel around for 
 some means of bringing this about. The discussion 
 of a second edition of " The Pretenders " opened a 
 way, but it was almost immediately closed. Ibsen, 
 throughout his life, was a keen business man; un- 
 sparing in his expenditure of money on his son, 
 Sigurd, yet in other particulars he was known to 
 stint in such manner as only a miser could. No 
 sooner did he grow into a man of affairs, than he 
 watched every opportunity to make his investm-ents 
 work for him. He might have dedicated the new 
 edition of " The Pretenders " to Bjornson had not 
 the latter's political behaviour, according to Ibsen's 
 views, been detrimental to the welfare of Norway. 
 In that country, it is true, the acceptance of litera- 
 ture was partly dependent upon one's political con- 
 victions, and a certain part of the book-buying pub- 
 lic might have refrained from purchasing any volume 
 which had Bjornson's name Inscribed on the dedica- 
 tory page. This hesitation may have been solicitude 
 on the part of Ibsen for Hegel's interest, but it was 
 also a little shrewdness displayed on his own behalf. ^ 
 
 'The performances of "The Pretenders" may be noted as 
 follows: Christiania Theatre, January 17, 1864; Copenhagen, 
 January 11, 1871; Hof Theatre, Meiningen, 1875; Berlin, June, 
 1876; Munich, 1875; Hof Theatre, Schwerin, November 15, 
 1875; Stockholm, January 19, 1879, etc. See Halvorsen. In 
 America the first performance of "The Pretenders" was 
 given by students of Yale University, organized as " The Yale 
 University Dramatic Association" (1907). The text was judi- 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Ibsen left Norway in a mood which might well be 
 described by a passage in Kierkegaard's " Either — 
 Or " : " Let others complain of this age as being 
 wicked. I complain of it as being contemptible, for 
 it is devoid of passion. Men's thoughts are thin and 
 frail as lace, they themselves are the weakling lace- 
 workers. The thoughts of their hearts are too pal- 
 try to be sinful." Ibsen's indignation had found 
 expression before in his dramas ; but now he was to 
 test it by long distance view. Strange to say the 
 
 ciously cut, and was published under the supervision of Dwight 
 Raymond Meigs. The volume contains an introduction by 
 William Lyon Phelps, Professor of English Literature at Yale 
 University. The spirit of the whole play, as given by the com- 
 pany, was admirably conceived. This was not so in the case 
 of the performance given at Smith College on June 12, 1908. 
 Through the solicitude of the faculty the young ladies cut the 
 text so as to improve the " moral tone " of the theme, espe- 
 cially in the instance of Ingeborg and the illegitimate Peter. 
 ' At the very outset I wish to express my indebtedness to Mr. 
 Julius E. Olson, Professor of the Scandinavian Languages and 
 Literature in the University of Wisconsin, who, in the midst 
 of preparing his definitive and annotated "Brand: Et Drama- 
 tisk Digt," was courteous enough to send me the proofs of his 
 introduction and notes. The book is to be issued during 1908 
 by the John Anderson Publishing Co., and will contain in the 
 appendix " Till de Medskyldige ! " besides a select bibliography 
 referring to " Brand." In his work as editor and commenta- 
 tor. Professor Olson's illuminating viewpoint will do much to 
 give the English reader an insight into Ibsen's orthographical 
 artistry, as well as a clearer understanding of the poem's sig- 
 nificance. As the first of Ibsen's dramas to be edited critically 
 for the English student. Professor Olson's book should be 
 welcomed. 
 
THE HISTORY OF BRAND 153 
 
 result was to make of him a better Norwegian than he 
 had ever been at close range. 
 
 Many months passed before he could concentrate 
 his attention upon work. Political events were oc- 
 curring only to verify his own belief in the weak- 
 ness of the state and in the lack of ideal energy in 
 the Norwegian people. For the second Danish war 
 had already begun and the Scandinavian unity of 
 which he had hoped was proving a futile thing. Den- 
 mark was struggling in Holstein, unaided by Nor- 
 way ; and Ibsen was pouring forth his sympathy for 
 the sorely stricken nation, sounding the alarm at the 
 quiescence of his countrymen. His verses to " A 
 Brother in Distress (December, 1863) " pulse with 
 the shame over the broken faith, the forgotten 
 pledges made to Denmark; he found that the words 
 vainly spoken meant nothing without the intent, the 
 will to do, behind them. The betrayal of Judas was 
 naught beside the inaction of Norway. Had the peo- 
 ple forgotten that a brother was in danger, or were 
 they cowards, all of them? 
 
 This intense feeling increased when Ibsen reached 
 the actual scenes of war. On his way to Rome he 
 passed through Copenhagen, leaving his son and wife 
 in that city until the following October. He then 
 proceeded to Berlin where the people were celebrat- 
 ing the recent victory over the Danes at Dybbol, ^ 
 shouting around the gun carriages, even spitting into 
 " the cannon that received no help and yet went on 
 shooting until they burst." Such ignominy Ibsen 
 could not stand. " If I had stayed longer in Berlin," 
 
 ' See Wilhelm MuUer's " Political History of Recent Times 
 (1816-1875)." Harper. 1882. 
 
154 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 he wrote in -retrospect to Bjornson, " I do not know 
 how much of my reason I should have retained." The 
 sudden transition he experienced when he reached 
 Rome, where " there is a blessed peace for writing," 
 was to force him into a consideration of new elements 
 and for the moment was to engross his attention in a 
 civilization far removed from that of the North, and 
 in responding to which he was to reveal his own na- 
 tional limitations. 
 
 He had left Copenhagen on borrowed money, as a 
 letter to his barrister friend Bernhard Dunker will 
 show:^ and in addition, the warmhearted Bjornson 
 had obtained many private donations for him. Not 
 only was he thus behind the endeavour to let his 
 brother-worker escape for a while the narrowness of 
 Norwegian life, having himself enjoyed a long stay 
 abroad, but he was also in a large manner responsi- 
 ble for the bettering of Ibsen's condition in the years 
 to come, through the introduction given to Frederick 
 Hegel, head of the famous Copenhagen Gyldendalske 
 Boghandel. It was after the publication of " Peer 
 Gynt" that the estrangement between Bjornson and 
 Ibsen was to take place. 
 
 When the poet's family joined him in October, 
 1864, he was struggling to adjust himself to a change 
 in scene; he was also revealing to Bjornson through 
 correspondence that there was within him something 
 which would not allow him to cut aloof from his na- 
 tive land. He was torn between antique expression, 
 on the one hand, and the immediate condition of af- 
 fairs on the other. On his part, he was showing 
 Bjornson how sincere and open he wished to be in 
 
 * He also accepted aid from Sverdrup, the liberal leader. 
 
THE HISTORY OF BRAND 155 
 
 all of his transactions — an openness which immedi- 
 ately set matters right when it was a question 
 whether the Christiania Theatre would elect Bjomson 
 to the post of director, even though the committee 
 could not approve of his insistence upon a free, un- 
 trammelled regulation of affairs, or whether they 
 would try to force Ibsen back — an openness, further- 
 more, which dispelled any suspicion Bjomson may 
 have had that Ibsen would accept the appointment. 
 This suspicion, as Ibsen confessed, was partly his 
 own fault. " I know it to be a defect in me," so he 
 wrote, " that I am incapable of entering into close 
 and intimate relations with people who demand that 
 one should yield one's self up entirely and unreserv- 
 edly. I have something of the same feeling as the 
 Skald in ' The Pretenders ' ; I can never bear to strip 
 myself completely." This is the attitude he assumed 
 on nearly all occasions ; if he was silent it was be- 
 cause of an inability to give proper expression to 
 his inner self. Ibsen's friends had to make many 
 allowances for these pronounced shortcomings. 
 
 The little family that moved into lodgings at the 
 corner of Due Macelli and Via Capo le Case pos- 
 sessed scant means of livelihood — not more than forty 
 scudi (£8 10s.) a month. With wonderful tact — for 
 Ibsen was a difficult person to deal with in delicate 
 matters — Bjornson came to the rescue again and 
 practically served as his banker, sending him monthly 
 allowances which were received with a sense of grati- 
 tude as well as with a naive belief that he was justi- 
 fied, by reason of his mission, in accepting this assist- 
 ance from others. 
 
 In his surroundings he was trying to connect an 
 
156 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ancient art with his own time; he was not carried 
 away aesthetically ; to him, Keats's " thing of beauty " 
 was not "a joy forever," unless he could read into 
 it a broad significance other than that which its own 
 age gave it. He could not arrive at any relation be- 
 tween this past art and the present. But despite the 
 strangeness he felt, he had begun to write a tragedy, 
 " Julianus Apostata," as well as a long poem, based 
 on this past civilization. 
 
 Two letters, written to Bjornson, indicate this fer- 
 mentation within him — this opposing of the ancient 
 and the modern spirit. But in the midst of his try- 
 ing to reconcile the two elements there would loom 
 up before him the awful lies, the idle dreams sur- 
 rounding the life at home.^ From his many re- 
 marks, one cannot feel that either Rome or Greece 
 had much effect upon the character of Ibsen's work, 
 except, as he acknowledged, to drive out from him a 
 narrow sestheticism, which in its isolation is " as great 
 a curse to poetry as theology is to religion." He 
 may have come to understand antique sculpture, but 
 Italy never gave him the artistic impulse that it gave 
 to Byron, to Shelley, to Keats, or to Browning; it 
 simply afforded him an opportunity of gaining some 
 rest and of gathering his strength instead of dis- 
 seminating it at the slightest local provocation. 
 
 There is something peculiarly rare about the char- 
 acter of Henrik Ibsen — a simplicity which demands 
 sympathy at unexpected moments and in the midst 
 of harsh, cold situations ; he possessed many of the 
 qualities exhibited by Brand on his march to destruc- 
 tion. He gives a picbure of himself, dreaming by the 
 ' See Correspondence, Letters 17, 18. 
 
THE HISTORY OF BRAND 157 
 
 half day on the Via Latina and the Applan Way; 
 we hear his exclamation over the " indescribable har- 
 mony " of scenery. He remained hopeful, energetic, 
 in the darkest pecuniary storms; he felt that in his 
 work he could not fail, though, despite his happi- 
 ness, despite the natural beauty of his surroundings, 
 he instinctively felt that whatever writing he would 
 do " will be rather sombrely coloured." 
 
 The fact is that Ibsen's Scandinavianism consumed 
 him, and drew him as one of the moving spirits, into 
 the little coterie established at Rome ; he was even 
 hoping — a hope not fulfilled because of better times 
 ahead — to succeed Lorentz Dietrichson as librarian 
 of the Scandinavian Society, which he used to fre- 
 quent, sitting there by the hour, emitting terse opin- 
 ions and gruff remarks about pictures. Here he first 
 became acquainted with his life-long friend, Count 
 Carl Snoilsky, the Swedish poet. 
 
 Clad in a velveteen jacket, which had seen better 
 days, with his hands thrust far into his pockets, 
 silent, taciturn, or suddenly fulminating some gen- 
 eralization regarding the State and the larger idea 
 of the Nation^— this picture of Ibsen at thirty-seven 
 is not so different from the others we have at later 
 periods of his career. ^ The outer crust became 
 more accentuated as the inner spirit became deeper. 
 Now, as hereafter, he drank his light wine, he read 
 his newspaper, " self-sufficient and self-contained," 
 to quote Gosse, meanwhile criticising Norway yet 
 boasting of the indestructibility of the Scandinavian 
 temperament, even though the states should crumble 
 into oblivion. Though the outward facts were diffi- 
 ' See the recollections of Christian Molbech, quoted by Gosse. 
 
158 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 cult to reconcile with his opinions, still the Ibsen of 
 this period was firm in his belief that the " national 
 spirit has life enough to thrive in and on misfor- 
 tune." 
 
 This broad conception of the state versus the na- 
 tion will be considered in a later summary ; it will en- 
 ter into the satiric discussions in " Brand " ; here it 
 is only necessary to note that events were pushing 
 within Ibsen the formulation of definite political con- 
 ceptions ; his were not the incendiary outbursts of a 
 fanatic ; they were not the iconoclastic views of a de- 
 structive anarch ; he was trying to construct a state of 
 things that would correspond with his broadest ideals. 
 
 Notwithstanding the pecuniary pressure which al- 
 ways stared him in the face, Ibsen managed to make 
 short excursions, now to Genzano or Albano, and 
 again planning a trip to the Sabine Hills. His work 
 upon the Emperor Julian tragedy had likewise taken 
 sufficient shape to warrant his basing an appeal to 
 the Royal Norwegian Scientific Society in Trondhjem 
 for £90, not only to aS^ord him an opportunity of 
 travelling but to relieve him of some of the strain 
 of daily life in Rome. The petition, dated March 
 25, 1865, was presented through Bjornson, but 
 failed, despite the latter's solicitous endeavours to 
 bring about results ; then largely upon his own initi- 
 ative, Bjornson made a second application with the 
 result that in August, £22 10s. (100 specie-dollars) 
 was awarded, with the idea that it would assist Ibsen 
 in completing his drama based on Roman history. 
 1873 was to arrive before the poet could make to 
 the Society any report upon his play. 
 
 This lapse was due to one of those vagaries of 
 
THE HISTORY OF BRAND 159 
 
 genius which often turn the tide into unexpected 
 channels. Ibsen had never, thus far in his stay at 
 Rome, been wholly engrossed in his composition; he 
 was feeling his way, working on ideas which did not 
 quite fit in with his mood but which had to wait for 
 the voice within him to bid him go. When the de- 
 mand fell upon him, it was of another character ; the 
 scales dropped from his eyes ; he saw what his mood 
 needed; he instinctively grasped the secret that his 
 mental vision, his physical energy was seeking an out- 
 let for Norse expression, not for the appreciation of 
 Roman antiquity. He had been vainly endeavouring 
 in a long poem which Professor Olson adds in part as 
 an Appendix -^ to his edition of " Brand," to give his 
 expression to views which had for so many months 
 weighed heavily upon him; now, suddenly, while 
 strolling within the shadow of St. Peter's, he saw the 
 form he had been waiting for. With all the force of 
 his being he set himself to the task, and as the con- 
 ception grew, he felt his grasp becoming firmer, he 
 recognised that if the poem did naught else than 
 steady his own soul, it would be serving a great pur- 
 pose. With the relief which follows the lifting of a 
 mood which he described as having weighed on him for 
 more than a year, Ibsen became absorbed in his com- 
 position.^ It mattered little whether or not it was 
 hot July, he plied his pen morning and afternoon, 
 prompted by a power which he had never before ex- 
 perienced. He seemed to have come into a full reali- 
 
 ' See Olson, Introduction, note, p.- 38. 
 
 ' The reader is advised to read Chap. VI of Rudolph Lothar's 
 " Henrik Ibsen." It contains some vital colour, besides being 
 illustrated with portraits. 
 
160 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 zation of his expression, which had heretofore been 
 restricted. He had moved to Ariccia, a small village, 
 eighteen miles from Rome, in a southeasterly direc- 
 tion. The light of God had descended upon him 
 while he was in the city doing errands, mayhap in a 
 garb which won him a particular name from the Ital- 
 ian peasants. They could always recognise " II cap- 
 pellone " on the road-way by his big hat with the 
 broad brim lined in sky blue — the Blue Grotto as it 
 was called by his friends. 
 
 Although living in the midst of great wealth of 
 natural surroundings, it is strange to find Ibsen con- 
 juring up the most austere of Norwegian scenery 
 for his new poem. Luxuriance and brightness had 
 greeted him along the road from Trieste to Rome 
 and the soft Italian atmosphere had bathed him in 
 languorous fashion, but still his imagination played 
 upon fjord and mountain fastness. Jaeger, and all 
 critics after him, have remarked on Ibsen's peculiar 
 attitude in respect to the sombre aspects of nature; 
 he was perhaps the first poet of Norway to fail to 
 emphasize the brighter phase ; some fiash of sunlight, 
 some beneficent sign, whether from stream or forest 
 or bird, gleamed in the lilt of other poets' song. 
 Bjornson tried to express some rebound of heart in 
 " Synnove Splbakken " ; if to him the surroundings 
 became oppressive, then he would hie him in thought 
 to places better fitted to youth, where apple trees and 
 the breath of summer add gaiety to the view, where 
 the outlook is not confined by infinite barriers which 
 keep the sun away. The desire to break from the 
 sombreness of earth and sky permeates such a lyric 
 as Bjornson's " Over the Lofty Mountains," found in 
 
THE HISTORY OF BRAND 161 
 
 " Arne." But Ibsen's regard was always tempered by 
 sadness ; note the melancholy of " In the Autumn," * 
 and the shadows running through the verses " In the 
 Mountains." ^ The persistency of this brooding 
 is indicative of Ibsen's temperament. 
 
 Ariccia and the luxuriance of Italy therefore 
 faded before the memory of his tramp during the 
 summer of 1862 through the Jotunheim mountains in 
 his search for ballads. The home which Agnes and 
 Brand call the parsonage in Act III was such an one 
 as he found during his tour. Agnes says : 
 
 "So prone 
 Beetles yon jutting mountain-wall. 
 That, when the leafy spring is near. 
 The brimming avalanche vaults sheer 
 Over our heads, and we lie clear 
 As in the hollow of a fall." 
 
 Indeed, just such a situation had confronted Ibsen 
 at Hellesylt in Sundelven, and, when he there visited 
 the pastor's wife, he found her holding the same con- 
 fident ideas that he afterwards assigned to Agnes 
 regarding the safety of her home. In general, Ib- 
 sen's types of ideal women were always similar, 
 though usually modelled each upon some person he 
 had met ; he was, as all dramatists are, keenly alert to 
 store up experiences and traits for eventual service. 
 He did not allow his reality of Agnes to simmer as 
 long in memory as he did his prototype of Hilda 
 Wangel; for during his sojourn in Genzano, in 1864, 
 he met, according to Paulsen, a widow, Fru Lina 
 Brunn, and her daughter Thea, the latter being a 
 
 ' See German edition, p. 193. 
 " See French edition, p. 143. 
 
162 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 sensitive, self-sacrificing person who eventually died 
 as a result of nervous strain attendant upon the 
 death of her brothers. There is no direct acknowl- 
 edgment from Ibsen that this girl influenced him in 
 his conception of Agnes, though he was always in- 
 terested in the Brunn family ; and, during 1902, Mr. 
 Olson visited the brother and was shown a marble 
 bust of Thea, whom everyone regarded as the origi- 
 nal Agnes.^ 
 
 The form of " Brand " seemed to spring into being 
 instantly; little else was thought of, even in spare 
 moments; at such times, Ibsen sedulously omitted 
 outside reading, a habit always resorted to in his 
 periods of composition. What he did, however, 
 was to devote himself to the Bible in spare hours, 
 drawing from it some of its vigour and spiritual up- 
 lift. He found himself relieved of the necessity of 
 seeing callers, since he and his family were strangers 
 in the vicinity of Ariccia. There were two moods at 
 work in the Ibsen of this time ^ — one which, as he con- 
 fessed to Bjornson, made him feel exalted like the 
 Crusaders of old, confident of ultimate victory; the 
 other which delighted in watching the movements of 
 a scorpion placed in a glass on his desk, a vicious ani- 
 mal that used to vent his poison into a piece of fruit, 
 thereby becoming mollified. " Does not something of 
 the kind happen to us poets ? " asked Ibsen in a let- 
 ter. " The laws of nature regulate the spiritual 
 world also." 
 
 He was not aiming to write a peaceful drama. 
 There was something of the belligerent in him all 
 
 ' See Olson's " Brand," p. 41. 
 
 ' See Correspondence, Letters 20, 24, 74. 
 
THE HISTORY OF BRAND " 163 
 
 through, and he knew well that others would proba- 
 bly resent his innuendoes. If the members of the 
 Storthing had heretofore regarded him with ill-fa- 
 vour, " Brand " would in no way improve their opin- 
 ion of him. He was harassed with worldly vexation, 
 but on no consideration would he modify his opinions 
 for personal gain — therein lay the moral value of his 
 fight to overcome the lie. And so, to Bjornson, he 
 exclaims : " Hang me if I can or will, on that account, 
 suppress a single line, no matter what these 'pocket- 
 edition ' souls think of it ! " 
 
 In the fall of 1865, Ibsen had, as we have said, 
 been introduced to Frederick Hegel, and in November 
 of that year the latter proposed to bring out 
 " Brand." In one respect, Ibsen was not only flat- 
 tered, but encouraged by the proposal; yet, notwith- 
 standing, he was annoyed that Norway was appar- 
 ently willing to have her authors seek publishers 
 abroad, a custom which would eventually redound to 
 her shame.-' On November 16th the last pages of 
 manuscript left Ibsen's hands, and on the 15th of 
 March, 1866, the book appeared in Copenhagen. 
 
 Immediately upon completion of the almost in- 
 spired task, a tide of thankfulness swept over Ibsen ; 
 more than ever was he conscious of his divine mission 
 to awaken his brethren in Norway — a life-task, he 
 called it, in which he must force the regard of men 
 upon the great questions of life ; he looked upon He- 
 gel as a vital point in this work ;in a sense he regarded 
 himself as a national representative, willing to do 
 atonement for Norway's and Sweden's crime in re- 
 
 ' See particularly Correspondence, 118. To Johan Vibe, Dres- 
 den. March 3, 1875. 
 
164 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 spect to Denmark. But there likewise came over him 
 the absolutely lost feeling that the removal or com- 
 pletion of a piece of work usually creates. He had 
 time on his hands to ponder over his worldly pos- 
 sessions, which seemed never so slim as at this moment 
 when he was on the threshold of widespread recogni- 
 tion. For a while he was to utter some heart-rending 
 appeals, revealing in stark and naked distinctness 
 his aloofness of body and spirit. " Dear Bjornson," 
 he writes, " it seems to me as if I were separated from 
 both God and men by a great, an infinite void." 
 
 Yet, always he was the Scandinavian dwelling in 
 Italy ; he spoke of the Scandinavian Club as " our " 
 society; he, with the others, delighted in listening 
 evening after evening to Nordraak's musical setting 
 for Bjornson's " Sigurd Slembe." He found appar- 
 ent pleasure in meeting his countrymen, although, to 
 judge by a letter to his mother-in-law, Magdalene 
 Thoresen,-*^ Ibsen was thoroughly disappointed over 
 the spiritual depravity among them. In the very 
 temper of Brand, he uttered his diatribes against the 
 lukewarmness among Norwegians which lurked be- 
 hind the mistaken reputation they had gained for 
 national discretion. At this time he was very 
 solicitous about making sure of the few friends 
 around him; a slight misunderstanding as to money 
 matters with Bjornson tortured him at the same time 
 that it raised his ire, since outside persons had ques- 
 
 ' Fru Thoi-esen had herself issued about this time " The 
 Story of Signe" (1864) which Ibsen called "that most beau- 
 tiful worls." It dealt with Norwegian peasant life. The year 
 previous, Ibsen had printed a short account of Fru Thoresen's 
 tales. See German edition, p. 496. 
 
THE HISTORY OF BRAND 165 
 
 tioned his honesty. " Such words," he wrote in some 
 heat, " must not be written about me. The man who 
 said them to me, I would kill on the spot." . There is 
 a premonition of an eventual break with Bjomson in 
 this letter of March 4, 1866. 
 
 " Brand " is the poem of Ibsen's which first won 
 him international reputation. The fourth edition * 
 appeared on December 14, 1866, only four months 
 having elapsed since the third. The Scandinavian 
 world seemed to be overpowered by its significance 
 and were eager, so good authority has it, to read 
 the book because of its priest hero. But Ibsen would 
 not countenance this reason for interest in his poem — 
 there was a deeper purpose in it than that which 
 was symbolized in Brand's holy costume. He felt 
 that his work was being admired rather than being 
 understood, and he never could abide adulation of any 
 kind, however much he might have a sneaking lik- 
 ing for personal honours. 
 
 Ibsen's estimate as sent to Brandes on June 26, 
 1869, must not be wholly accepted; he assuredly had 
 some design, some intention, conscious or otherwise, 
 
 ' According to Halvorsen, note the following concerning 
 "Brand" : 3nd. ed., Kbhvn, [34 May] 1866; 3rd. ed., Kbhvn, 
 [16 Aug.] 1866; 4th ed., Kbhvn, [14 Dec] 1866; 6th ed., Kbhvn, 
 [1 Oct.] 1868; 6th ed., Kbhvn, [31 Sept.] 1871; 7th ed., Kbhvn, 
 [16 April] 1874; 8th ed., Kbhvn, [21 Dec.] 1876; 9th ed., 
 Kbhvn, [30 June] 1881; 10th ed., Kbhvn, [23 April] 1885; llth 
 ed., Kbhvn, [6 June] 1889; 12th ed., [8 Sept.] 1893; 13th ed., 
 Kbhvn, [4 Sept.] 1895; 14th ed., [1 Dec] 1898. Gosse states, 
 however, that the proceeds from the first four editions amounted 
 to little over £100', Ibsen, in the meanwhile, being forced to 
 borrow from the Danish Consul in Rome. In a letter dated 
 Frascati, July 22, 1866, Ibsen said that he had saved the man- 
 uscript of "Brand" for Botten-Hansen. 
 
166 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 in making Brand a priest and thereby in making the 
 problem concerned with religious topics. He said : 
 
 " I could have constructed the same syllogism just 
 as easily on the subject of a sculptor, or a politician, 
 as of a priest. '^ I could have found an equally satis- 
 factory vent for the mood which impelled me to cre- 
 ate, if, instead of Brand, I had written, say, of Gali- 
 leo — making him, of course, hold his ground, and not 
 admit that the earth stands still. Indeed, who knows 
 but that I might, had I been born a hundred years 
 later, have dealt just as well with you and your battle 
 with Rasmus Nielsen's philosophy." 
 
 Assuredly, as Ibsen insists, this drama contained a 
 deal of masked objectivity, which, when Dr. Brandes 
 came to estimate it, the Danish critic failed to rec- 
 ognise ; there is in it a reminiscence of Pastor Gustave 
 Adolphe Lammers, who dwelt in the parish of Skien 
 until his troubled and rebellious mind forced him 
 to give up his flock and seek broader fields. The es- 
 tablished church no longer satisfied the pastor ; he 
 founded a " Free Apostolic-Christian Communion," 
 and, as would be natural in a conservative community, 
 he won many enemies and scorners, but he also gained 
 some disciples. Through his severe dictates, he 
 shook Norwegian religious conscience as it had never 
 been shaken before. For he was keen to make large 
 demands upon the spiritual side of persons, and held 
 punishment in store for all who fell short of his prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 In Lammers' final sermon,^ as outlined by Jaeger, 
 
 ' See Corrtspondence, Letter 59. 
 
 "Jaeger analyzes the sermon, and refers to Lammers' pub- 
 lished work, Skien, 1856. See H. Woerner, " Henrik Ibsen," 1, 
 
THE HISTORY OF BRAND 167 
 
 delivered immediately before he gave up his evangeli- 
 cal work and his crusade against the Norwegian 
 church as it then existed, he was as bitter against offi- 
 cialdom in religious matters as Ibsen was against the 
 same officialdom in affairs of state; his desire was to 
 bring the sacrament back to its heights of attainment, 
 casting off the undeserving from partaking in this 
 holiest of functions. He was iconoclastic as respects 
 infant baptism; he pointed a finger of scorn at the 
 marriage service and the burial service as then gov- 
 erned by petty social restrictions ; he was against all 
 semblances. Had he not even gone so far as to call 
 churches comedy-houses ? 
 
 We must, therefore, in arriving. at some under- 
 standing of " Brand," bear in mind the ascetic 
 Lammers, whose severity was preached among a peo- 
 ple whom he took, even as Brand took his, to the 
 mountain-side for divine service. Ibsen resented the 
 supposition that he drew his philosophy from Kierke- 
 gaard; he would rather acknowledge Lammers, 
 though he was loath to be beholden to either. Even 
 in those unconscious subtle influences which affect 
 thought, Ibsen wished to cut himself aloof. A man 
 cannot pick and choose the elements which enter into 
 his composition. Ibsen would have Brand naught 
 but a human being — it matters not whether his voca- 
 tion be in the realm of art or religion — ^but essential 
 it was that the type make the demand of " All or 
 Nothing " ; inasmuch as Brand makes this demand, 
 inasmuch as any one determined to reach the accom- 
 plishment of ideals, must fight for them in this way, 
 
 177, where this sermon of farewell is discussed. Edouard Rod 
 accepts the Lammers theory as well as the Kierkegaard theory. 
 
168 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 such a hero cannot help but bear a certain likeness 
 to this Danish thinker of the first half of the nine- 
 teenth century.-' The diiFerence between these two 
 prototypes of Brand was largely a matter of exter- 
 nal estimate on the part of Ibsen ; Lammers was not a 
 closet philosopher, whereas Kierkegaard was, and, 
 therefore, should people absolutely need to have a 
 model for Brand, they had best take the former. 
 
 Ibsen was always zealous in his desire to connect 
 his efforts ultimately with himself; he believed con- 
 fidently that a thorough, systematic self-analysis 
 would bring to light all the necessary stuff out of 
 which the characters of Brand and Peer Gynt and 
 Stensgard were evolved. " Brand is myself in my 
 best moments," he wrote with some show of pride. 
 
 In the firm belief that English readers should 
 know something of Kierkegaard and his philosophy, 
 M. A. Stobart ^ considers a few points which to him 
 appear to bear directly upon " Brand." The latter's 
 philosophy, admitting of no concessions to human 
 weakness, so runs the argument) is not palliative in 
 its influence nor external in its accomplishment. Ac- 
 cording to Stobart, Ibsen veiled under Brand's striv- 
 ing, the fundamental principle in the belief of Kier- 
 kegaard. 
 
 This Danish philosopher, this upholder of the full- 
 blooded will, believed that in life necessity demanded 
 
 ^ Ibsen wrote to Hansen, in 1870, that he had " read very little 
 of Sbren Kierkegaard and understood even less," an irritated 
 outburst which was perhaps later modified. See Revue de Paris, 
 July, 1901. 
 
 "See M. A. Stobart's "New Light on Ibsen's 'Brand.'" 
 Fortnightly, August 1, 1899, 73: 337-239. Kierkegaard (1813- 
 1855). See Brandes on Kierkegaard. 
 
THE HISTORY OF BRAND * 169 
 
 the sacrifice of all " earthly encumbrances." There- 
 fore in " the crucifixion of the human element lies 
 man's sole chance of ultimate reconciliation and union 
 with God." Will-power and not lip service will do 
 away with the rottenness of Christianity. Now 
 Kierkegaard and Brand, according to Stobart, agree 
 on three cardinal points : first, that the specious con- 
 ception of God has ruined Christianity; second, 
 that from this it must be seen that religious truth is 
 only to be found in subjective force (will-power) ; 
 and finally, that in the " willing sacrifice of ' All or 
 Nothing ' lies salvation." 
 
 This is indeed very much the picture of Brand, 
 but Stobart advances further, encouraged by the phi- 
 losophy of Kierkegaard: the latter's consideration 
 of human action was always viewed from the aesthetic, 
 ethical and religious standpoints. In terms, there- 
 fore, of this philosopher, since Brand is a species of 
 self-appointed Redeemer, his ethical responsibility for 
 the deaths of his mother, his child and his wife dwin- 
 dles before the " inheritance-debt," " guilt predeter- 
 mined by the necessities of Destiny." Therefore, 
 Ibsen's superlative treatment makes of Brand's ac- 
 tion not a crime, but something of a glorified obli- 
 gation or responsibility. For, writes Stobart, " As 
 the gods required the life of Antigone in final expia- 
 tion of the crimes of CEdipus, so did the God of 
 Brand require, in atonement for the sins of his fore- 
 fathers, the utmost treasures his Will could sacrifice." 
 
 After all, in our eager search for the source of in- 
 spiration in " Brand," it is well to remember, how- 
 ever strong the claims of Lammers and Kierkegaard, 
 that so general in one respect is the philosophy of 
 
170 • HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Brand, and so human in the other, is the struggle 
 of the manhood in Brand to realize itself fully, that 
 the interpretations will admit of many variations, 
 according to the temperament of each reader. Ibsen 
 builded better than he at first knew ; he started out to 
 discuss in a general way some abstract ethical prob- 
 lems, and because his hero was a priest people mis- 
 took those problems for religious ones. He also be- 
 gan with the idea to satirize the weaknesses of his 
 own countrymen. But gradually he found growing 
 side by side with these conscious, almost polemical 
 characteristics, a third and saving element — the hu- 
 manity of character ; his philosophical principle took 
 on flesh and became the pitiable, tragical struggle of 
 a concrete man as well as of an abstract soul; while 
 his pictures of Norwegian life contained definite in- 
 dividual types, whose values were more real in their 
 separate existence than distinctive in their general 
 application. 
 
 Ibsen once told Mr. Archer that it was easier to 
 write " Brand " than " John Gabriel Borkman," in- 
 asmuch as the latter demanded close, logical sequence, 
 while the former allowed of free handling. In this 
 very reason lies the difficulty of interpreting 
 " Brand." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 BRAND INTERPRETED 
 
 All of us have had at certain moments some of the 
 spiritual intensity of Brand; and there have been 
 other moments when we have undergone the same cru- 
 cifixion; but it is such an example as Brand which 
 adds to our valuation of the human responsibilities in 
 life, and which makes us try to reconcile the human 
 with the spiritual demands. Nansen, on board the 
 Fram, with nose pointed toward the Arctic Pole, has 
 averred that the ringing notes of Ibsen's hero helped 
 him mightily in his ice-bound voyage, giving him 
 strength by example of the tremendous energy in 
 Brand's struggle. Doubtless this is so; it indicates 
 the potential force in the poem and the value of the 
 thought suggestion. 
 
 In scenery, the play is rugged and cold; the 
 mountains serve as an opposition barrier for Brand 
 to surmount by a practice of physical daring. We 
 meet him with stick and wallet, a pilgrim of unswerv- 
 ing determination ; he would push on over the rotten 
 crust, while his peasant guides, cautious and fearful, 
 would keep him from doing so. These latter are on 
 their way to the bedside of a dying girl, yet their 
 faith will not carry them through foss and flood — is 
 not akin to Christ's faith, which made Him walk the 
 sea. Brand would have them give up life if they 
 must in the attempt to gain an ideal end; though 
 stern to them, he would have taken these two from the 
 beaten track of faint-hearted endeavour, had they the 
 will to do. But this will they lack, so Brand leaves 
 them, sore vexed that in life the average man would 
 
172 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 save his own neck rather than his own soul and the 
 souls of others. 
 
 On the road, emerging into sunlight, he meets with 
 Einar and Agnes, who come toward him, singing with 
 all the romanticism of their love. Theirs is the mis- 
 taken gilded dream of " Love's Comedy," a taste of 
 abandonment; in contrast with Brand's stem scru- 
 tiny, and his puritanical demands, their union thus 
 far would seem to be almost the wild example of free 
 love. Einar soon discovers in Brand an old school- 
 mate, and in the boyhood recollections that follow 
 there are evident flashes of Ibsen's own youth and 
 of his customary habit of holding nature accountable 
 for his austerity of mood. 
 
 Though Brand returns home, his path, so it ap- 
 pears to him, lies beyond the narrow village of his 
 boyhood; he is a mission priest, as Lammers was at 
 Skien ; mayhap he and Einar and Agnes will sail away 
 together. How different, though, their goals — ^these 
 lightsome spirits bound to the semblance of Love, 
 Brand intent on burying the God who is the gener- 
 ally accepted God of the miserably weak world. In 
 his speeches, showing the canker at the heart of Chris- 
 tianity as well as of himself, we realize Ibsen's mind 
 to be partly engrossed with the subject of the Em- 
 peror Julian; his religious doubt is the reflection of 
 doubt in the Apostate. His speech seems to Einar 
 as heretical as Lammers' piety and his demands 
 seemed to the worthies of Skien ; ^ Brand turns upon 
 him, noting in his waywardness the tendency of an 
 entire nation. " Be what you are with all your heart, 
 
 ' Olson says that in Klelland's novel, " Skipper Worse," the 
 pietistical movement in Norway receives adequate treatment. 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 173 
 
 and not by pieces and in part," he thunders, forestall- 
 ing Peer Gynt,^ in his picture of the fragmentary 
 life, each part serving to vitiate the rest. Brand 
 will have naught to do with Einar's conventional God, 
 the picture of an old patriarch dealing out bliss ; he 
 would face the storm where the God of his own con- 
 ception is young, where there is no creed, but where 
 Everlasting Right is immutable. From the scraps of 
 spiritual life, especially evident in Norway, he would 
 build a whole man. This is a world task, only once 
 before attempted in the expiation of Christ for the 
 sins of the world. And so, when Brand leaves Einar 
 and Agnes, he has left the former untouched, but to 
 the girl he has appeared in large proportions ; her 
 change in soul somehow deepens her understanding; 
 the roseate universe of a few seconds before has 
 ceased to be so warm and bright. 
 
 When Brand reaches the crags overlooking the 
 dull sleepiness of his former home, he feels settling 
 upon him the restraining grip of a stagnant com- 
 munity. The farm, the sheds, the cliffs, all charac- 
 teristic of the mountains, arise as the reality of an 
 early nightmare. Here he will find sluggard spirits 
 content with nothing more than prayer and daily 
 bread, daily bread and prayer. In this mood he 
 meets with Gerd, the externalizing of his worst mo- 
 ments, even as Pippa in Browning's poem represents 
 the redeeming influence among those with whom she 
 comes in contact, however indirectly. Gerd is chas- 
 ing a falcon, which stands in peculiar relation to 
 Brand, as does also her Ice-Church among the snows. 
 
 ■ See " Peer Gynt," Act v, Sc. vi, in which Peer is confronted 
 by the Thread-balls, etc. 
 
174 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 The church in the valley is foul, that on the cold 
 heights is dangerous, far up yonder where the Mass 
 is sung to the roar of the cataract. Brand recognises 
 in Gerd a certain irresistible evil, but it is more to be 
 hoped that evil may be changed into good than that 
 Einar's dulness can ever be conquered. After the 
 girl dashes off, Brand muses and frames his call; he 
 talks in allegory, though burning with the engrossing 
 enthusiasm which always seized Ibsen when he con- 
 templated his life work. It is a large task to make 
 the sick earth whole again ! 
 
 Thus, all the motives of the play are stowed away 
 in this first act, the gathering chords of the tragedy. 
 Brand now enters the little fjord-side village, where 
 there is a famine and where a Mayor and his clerk 
 are dealing out scant provisions to the starving 
 crowd ; officialdom receives its first rap in this provin- 
 cial group. The starving are numbered and parcelled 
 in divisions and grain is given them, the last kernel 
 being accounted for ; Einar and Agnes have emptied 
 their purses and the Mayor now turns to Brand for 
 contribution. But the latter would feed hunger with 
 ideals ; if he gave, would it raise the people to a 
 fuller life.'' They are sluggish, they are idolatrous, 
 they allow themselves to be economically overpowered ; 
 they have naught to fall back on in their time of mis- 
 ery? Are they then worth saving.'' Here is the moral 
 quibbling of a Hamlet. 
 
 The people's ire is raised and Brand is threatened 
 with stones. But suddenly a woman comes into the 
 midst, crying aloud for a priest ; her husband, dwell- 
 ing across the fjord, in mad fury has slain his starv- 
 ing child and in consequence " he cannot live and dare 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 175 
 
 not die." The Mayor Is not interested in this nar- 
 ration; the case Hes outside his division. Brand, 
 nevertheless, sees his duty ; he orders a boat un- 
 moored and makes ready to go, although a storm 
 is brewing. The people fall away from him, even 
 the distraught woman would not dare the waves with 
 him, giving as her village excuse that " the Dean 
 would put the service off " in such weather. But 
 Brand, notwithstanding, would risk his life, and he 
 asks for one other to offer up his life also ; the suc- 
 cess of this voyage is to be no God's luck, but the de- 
 mand of will. At first Agnes believes that Einar will 
 respond to the call, yet he is pale and weak, and clings 
 to life, and will not go, and thereby he forfeits the 
 love of the girl; for the gap becomes deep betwixt 
 them, and she is drawn nearer to Brand, perhaps due 
 to a romantic thrill of adulation as well as to a ripen- 
 ing of spiritual realization. She goes with him and 
 buffets the wind and the storm, while the men and 
 women on shore watch breathlessly, and Gerd from 
 the heights is seen with her witch ways. Brand wins 
 the regard of the village folk, not by the willing he 
 has done, though to him the will is the deed, but 
 through the mere physical daring of the moment ; he 
 has done it bravely, though the Mayor could not see 
 why he should have gone outside of his division. Ib- 
 sen loses no opportunity of satirizing frailty. 
 
 The man dies in the lonely hut, eased by the pres- 
 ence of the priest, but Brand has misgivings whether 
 his children will not carry upon their 'own shoulders 
 the heritage of their father's sin. In thus mixing up 
 the questions of parental responsibility, Ibsen con- 
 fuses the acquired with the innate; the reference Is 
 
176 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 significant only as being the earliest suggestion in 
 his theatre of the scientific principle of heredity. 
 
 In this frame of mind the peasants seek him, 
 beg him to be their pastor; they would welcome to 
 their fold one who has fervour such as his. Brand 
 hesitates ; his eye is upon vaster fields. Is it right to 
 be sacrificed to a narrow berth.'' The large ambition 
 is his very life. Here the peasants gain the better of 
 him; according to his own words, he must give up 
 life if necessary ; he must always be ready to sacri- 
 fice ; therefore it is his duty to remain. Brand's self- 
 ishness rises up in rebellion ; he does not regard the 
 people's momentary enthusiasm for his deed ; he is re- 
 garding individuality and personality as abstract 
 virtues. His. mistake lies in attempting to clothe the 
 peasant stature in a cloak of universal size. For he 
 says sternly: 
 
 " If you cannot be what you ought. 
 Be in good earnest what you may; 
 Be heart and soul a man of clay." 
 
 This cry of his is the one idea permeating " Peer 
 Gynt." After the peasants depart. Brand recognises 
 the boldness of his determination to refashion man — 
 to bring him away from sin and back to the image 
 of God. He and Agnes are now alone ; the latter has 
 altered completely, her life work has become vivified 
 to her ; with her exulting nature she realizes that she 
 shall people the world anew; whatever befalls, she 
 will face pain and accomplish her work. Brand also 
 feels a new world unfold within himself; if aught 
 should prevent his will from accomplishing the Nir- 
 vana, he will slay, rather than fail to fulfil. Self. Yet 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 177 
 
 always he feels thrust upon him some heritage of 
 debt, some great responsibility. 
 
 Then comes to him the dried-up figure of his 
 mother, blinking out of the darkness of her home. 
 " Sun's light ... I never saw at all," confesses 
 Ibsen through Brand. In the scene between the two, 
 there are emphasized the cynicism of the priest and 
 the sordid keenness of the parent. The latter had 
 made her son a priest, the better to intercede for her 
 at the last hour. He must not stake his life thought- 
 lessly as he did in the storm, she whines, for he will 
 inherit her treasures — in worldly number a fair be- 
 queathment- — which he must not squander. There is 
 no love lost between these two ; the woman is a miser, 
 her soul is gold-valued, and her son has fathomed 
 the secret of her ill-gotten wealth; for she sought 
 money in her husband death-room, disgusted that 
 there was not more than she found, and Brand wit- 
 nessed the scene ; his love for her was naught from 
 that time. 
 
 The old woman barters love for gold ; her mnrriage 
 with Brand's father had been on this basis. Here is 
 where she found it necessary to make of her son a 
 priest, so as to save her peasant soul. But, Brand 
 argues, is the child steward of a parent's sin.? In 
 taking her riches he would assume her soul-debt ; must 
 not that soul-debt be settled before she dies ? She has 
 debased her body ; and the spirit, the dwelling-place 
 wherein God abides, she has desecrated. His analysis 
 is two-fold ; he will take his mother's debt, God's image, 
 which she has blotted out in her soul; and within 
 himself, " will-cleansed," he will realize this image 
 anew; but her sin she herself must answer for; no 
 
178 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 priest's work this ! Her sin lies in the losing of her 
 native human worth.' If she needs him in the last 
 hour he will come, provided she will repent before- 
 hand; then he will shield her in all tenderness as 
 priest and son. Brand's gentleness comes in flashes, 
 followed always by the gathering of harshness. She 
 must give up her riches, not bestow a mere money- 
 alms here and there. Like Job, she must die in the 
 ashes of repentance. This exaction of the priest is 
 sufficient to distract his mother, who leaves, torn by 
 fear, and ignorant of how Brand really feel's. He 
 is the sin-subduer of the age; in the struggle of his 
 Night he sees the vision of his future way ; Agnes is 
 similarly awakened, her former happiness with Einar 
 now being to her as mere dross. Is there not daily 
 duty to perform here among peasant people.'' The 
 God Brand is to slay shall be slain slowly ; the peo- 
 ple must be made whole, but not by " high heroic 
 changes " ; the priest in him will glorify the power 
 of will; he needs must purify the folk in the valley, 
 and scourge them through this will of his. 
 
 Einar now confronts the two, demanding Agnes; 
 the situation is much like that between Falk and 
 Guldstad in " Love's Comedy," where Svanhild had 
 to make a choice. Einar pleads with Agnes, but she 
 will not leave Brand, her master, friend and brother. 
 Then the priest warns her to be careful; his de- 
 mand is " All or Nothing " ; " no abatement in dis- 
 tress, and for sin no tenderness." But despite the 
 sternness of the demand she would go through night 
 in order to face Brand's dawn, which her youthful 
 elasticity imagines will assuredly come. 
 
 Three years roll away, and Agnes's first words 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 179 
 
 show that the two are now united in marriage, with 
 a son as the issue. Their parsonage is in a cheer- 
 less place. Evidently Brand's wife is trying to temper 
 his stoicism ; the old mother lies at death's door, and 
 the priest awaits a summons from her ; even though 
 it be his mother, he will not idolize kinship and go to 
 her unsought. Yes, he is stern where principle is 
 concerned, yet he begins to be racked by conscience. 
 From Agnes the bloom has departed, so desolate the 
 location of their home; their baby boy's very life is 
 threatened by the chill and sunless waste. ■ Yet 
 Brand's wife and child have brought brightness into 
 his life, brightness and tranquility ; his martyrdom 
 has been turned into the sweetness of success. Has 
 he no duty to perform for them.'' The thorns are all 
 to come at the moment when love is crowning him. 
 Through his family he has grown to know his parish- 
 ioners ; for before enfolding all with one's sympathy, 
 a soul must have experienced the love such as he has 
 experienced for Agnes. She understands this, but 
 furthermore she knows that the kind of love Brand 
 gives is merciless, even though it chastens where it 
 falls. 
 
 It is not that Brand is cruel; it is only that few 
 can satisfy his demand of " All or Nothing " ; even his 
 wife, though confident that she can always meet it, 
 has misgivings as to its right or necessity. Brand 
 scourges the popular love; he champions only God's 
 love based on God's justice of the Old Testament 
 type, the inscrutable Father- who forces one to drain 
 the cup of bitterness to the lees. One must not hag- 
 gle over compromise ; even though lacking in will- 
 power, one must struggle up to the very extent where 
 
180 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 that lack begins ; there must be no compromise such 
 as Peer submits to ; we must learn to live and not to 
 preach our beliefs. Thus, in a sweep of passion, 
 Agnes's faith is renewed by his words ; she would fol- 
 low him, confident in Brand's assurance that " no 
 precipice is too steep for two." 
 
 With the Doctor, Brand is immovable ; the former 
 regards the priest as hard; in no respects does he 
 find Brand doing the common, ordinary duty — he is 
 impossible! Why wait for the summons from his 
 mother? Why not act as a son.'' The Doctor de- 
 plores the fate of Agnes, the " hapless blossom," be- 
 neath a " pitiless grasp " ! What avails it that 
 Brand's will-account is full — is it right to neglect 
 the love-account.'' But though the priest loves Agnes 
 in his own way, he scorns the love which is a " smirch 
 of lies." His wife, none the less, begins to wonder if 
 will should be placed above human love. While 
 much of this human contentment is a matter of will, 
 and while by its exercise a man and his wife are able 
 the better to pass through the agonies of daily exist- 
 ence, yet is the love which is known to the w'orld, the 
 ordinary world, so false after all? 
 
 Agnes clings to her husband, for she realizes that 
 her spirit is judging his ; even when Brand goes to 
 the sick baby's crib, and sweats in anguish of soul, 
 she deplores his fast-bound mission. " Oh, what a 
 wealth of tender ruth," she exclaims, " lies hidden in 
 this breast of steel." From one anguish to another 
 the priest passes. A messenger arrives from his 
 mother; she wishes her son and will give half her 
 goods. It must be the whole, is the stern rebuke ; then 
 he will hasten to her. Another follows with the news 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 181 
 
 that she will give nine-tenths, yet still it must be all 
 or nothing for Brand. Indeed, God Himself would 
 not be so hard ! It is a mistaken imposition of duty 
 which Brand takes upon himself. There are tears 
 in his voice, nervousness in his manner ; he is not blind 
 to Agnes's trembling; he must suffer as Christ suf- 
 fered. The task is hard ! 
 
 "Is there real sacrifice anywhere in this world.''" 
 he cries. Agnes has the right view of things. Since 
 humanity is in truth falling, is it not best to save 
 them in their fall rather than to demand the whole, 
 which they cannot give, and let them sink in default 
 thereof.? This is no easy mission of Brand's, which- 
 ever way he turn with his motto. Though he preach 
 that death cannot touch the blameless, he knows his 
 boy's life is in jeopardy; though he propound the 
 doctrine of sacrifice, he realizes that his has been no 
 real sacrifice according to his hard demands, since 
 he has had Agnes with him to give him courage. 
 What he really must have is the stern self-denial of 
 which Pastor Lammers preached. 
 
 The Mayor visits him in his parsonage, well-mean- 
 ing perhaps-^a little man described graphically as 
 " a bracketed parenthesis." He has come on a deli- 
 cate mission, which he performs " diplomatically " ; 
 he has heard of Brand's inheritance from his mother, 
 which means that the priest will be able to obtain 
 whatever worldly position he seeks ; money furthers 
 ambition : this is the practical view of " Love's Com- 
 edy." The fact is that the Mayor invites Brand to 
 go elsewhere — to go away from them ; he knows the 
 limitations confronting Brand in a small community 
 are binding; the people are not of a piece or of the 
 
182 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 same calibre with him ; they are peasants ! What he 
 needs for his stoical demands are citizens. Here, Ib- 
 sen, through Brand, lashes Norway. Is there any 
 excuse to whine, as Norway whined in the '60's, that 
 " we're small foes." The Mayor represents the short- 
 sightedness of Ibsen's country. 
 
 From a practical side the Mayor is assuredly cor- 
 rect, however. The references to Norway occur con- 
 stantly, and they are all of the same character — • 
 deploring national inaction and national smug- 
 ness ; the reader feels, especially in the last act, that 
 Ibsen borders upon the verge of unnecessary propa- 
 gandism ; but if his purpose was to create colour 
 thereby, he succeeded well. The Mayor is a living 
 figure, fully developed in all his immense failings and 
 small virtues. He glorifies the deeds of past history, 
 those very deeds which, in Ibsen's belief, have im- 
 pressed their deceptions upon the countenance of the 
 Norwegian race. But the Mayor is content with 
 moderation in life, and here is where he differs from 
 Brand ; for he says : " You desire, with main and 
 might, at the same time to plough and fight." If 
 Brand should leave them, then the Mayor himself 
 would attend to his little flocks, would by degrees 
 lift them to purer air, to the atmosphere which would 
 best suit them. However Ibsen might satirize the 
 Mayor's plain speech, the little dignitary is, none the 
 less, better cognizant of the capabilities of the peas- 
 ants than Brand; to make them aware of Faith and 
 the real life, to have them realize the difference be- 
 tween mere Doctrine and Will, they must not be con- 
 fused as Brand has confused them. They must be 
 appealed to according to the plane of their own in- 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 183 
 
 tellects and vision. Therefore, should he persist in 
 remaining, he must be content to stay within con- 
 ventional bounds ; he must not try to make " every 
 working-day a Sabbath." 
 
 This is too much for the priest ; he turns with sav- 
 age spleen upon the Mayor ; to do as thus commanded 
 would be to change his soul. No, it shall be war to the 
 end ; he will free the people, as Ibsen would free Nor- 
 way, from the " bureaucrat-crew." He will, at all 
 hazards, be himself,^ which, as Herford claims, means 
 that his character shall triumph " over impulse and 
 over circumstances." The Mayor sees it in another 
 light; to fight his tiny community with a world-pol- 
 icy means destruction to the one who tries ; he is not 
 totally devoid of ideals, but his will is of the com- 
 mon level and within easy comprehension; he be- 
 lieves in the support of numbers rather than in the 
 quality of a few. Brand watches him go, and thinks 
 him a man not half bad of heart and head, yet just 
 the sort to deter progress — a narrow soul that makes 
 concessions at all steps. 
 
 When the doctor brings news of the death of his 
 mother — still unrepentant— Brand is not callous ; 
 he receives his first crushing disappointment with sup- 
 pressed emotion. The doctor tries to make him see 
 that the world must regard the limitations of hu- 
 manity. This is an opportunity for Brand to criti- 
 cise the idea of the human, as he before scourged the 
 popular conception of Love; he is irritated by that 
 word humane; when Jesus died, was God humane? 
 There are two things to consider here, as pointed out 
 
 • Olson calls attention to a poem by Wergeland in which the 
 doctrine, " Be yourself," is upheld. 
 
184 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 by Olson. To Brand, God is the God of Law and 
 not the God of Love; Christ to him is the martyr, 
 according to Herford, and not the Redeemer. 
 
 The child's condition takes a sudden turn for the 
 worse ; is the finger of the Lord pointed in righteous 
 wrath at Brand? When he hears that naught will 
 save his son but immediate departure from the dank 
 environment, he loses perspective of his purpose and 
 immediately prepares to leave. Is this his philoso- 
 phy- — ^to demand of the world what he himself can- 
 not countenance.'' He could see others drown, but 
 now, when he is the one in danger, to the winds with 
 his philosophy ! The doctor does not blame him ; 
 but he cannot resist calling Brand's attention to the 
 fact that even he, when the demand is made, can- 
 not face the consequences ; it is the natural father 
 cropping out. 
 
 The momentary spasm leaves Brand ; he slowly re- 
 gains the consciousness of his mission. The Mayor 
 spreads report of the priest's shortcomings, and 
 Brand is met by a peasant who twits him with his 
 weakness when he will not allow the same weakness 
 in others. For the first time Brand realizes how 
 hard others may be, not comprehending that this is 
 but a faint reflex of his own world policy. 
 
 Agnes stands ready to go, while Brand, stunned by 
 the reality, is torn by the agony of necessary de- 
 cision. At this critical point Gerd appears. Her 
 external significance is the working of Brand's con- 
 science ; she hints that after all he is not the whole 
 man — not the parson that he pretended to be; the 
 parson has flown on the back of her falcon — a sym- 
 bol which places the bird of prey in the same line 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 185 
 
 with Peer's Boyg ^ — both, spirits of compromise, 
 Gerd, anyway, in the fanciful vigour of her concep- 
 tion, reveals how naturally Ibsen found himself pre- 
 pared to write his next drama. Her appearance at 
 this point precipitates matters; she possesses the 
 imagination of Peer, only she serves as a force work- 
 ing on character outside of herself. 
 
 Between Agnes and Brand comes the terrible reali- 
 zation of their duty. Which one of them shall decide 
 the thing to do.? She is mother; is it not with her to 
 act.'' Still more, she is wife, and she must regard 
 her husband's mission. Brand dreads the ordeal, yet 
 it is his duty to remain — otherwise his whole faith has 
 been a mere husk. I cannot quite understand the 
 full psychology of Agnes's quiescence here ; much 
 more can Brand's logical cruelty be justified. Lift- 
 ing the child on high, Agnes consecrates him to the 
 issue. Brand is the one who totters and shows his 
 weakness. Pie calls on Jesus- — the Son of divine 
 mercy; in his Gethsemane hour, the Jehovah of his 
 early struggle will not do. By his weeping. Brand 
 shows that his heart is realizing the necessity for a 
 God of Love. 
 
 In the next act, conflicting motives crowd one upon 
 the other. The child is dead, and Agnes treasures 
 the memory of his , little life. Over some material 
 things connected with him her nature trembles ; it is 
 just with these things that Brand intentionally chafes 
 the wound that scars her soul. Is it that his added 
 
 ' Prof. Olson refers the reader to Jonas Lie's stories, " Weird 
 Tales from Northern Lands," translated by R. Nisbet Bain, 
 containing the same fantasy used by IbSen in conceiving Gerd 
 and Peer. 
 
186 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 harshness toward her serves to cover up his own ag- 
 ony? Agnes watches the terrible stain of suffer- 
 ing in his face, the heart's dew in his eyes. Now, 
 more than ever, he needs her, yet how much harder 
 for her who remains at home inactive, crooning the 
 woman's saga, the same song of Ingeborg, in " The 
 Pretenders." 
 
 What has the sadness done for Brand.'' It has 
 made him long more and more for a loving God, but 
 since God to him still remains the Master, he must 
 cling to Agnes's love instead. Again Ibsen indi- 
 cates his theory of feminine dependence. Perhaps 
 this is her work, but the memory of her child comes 
 between her and the vision of her goal. Once and for 
 all. Brand would harden for Agnes the memory of 
 the dead, even though she shrink from him; his 
 measures are always heroic, whereas what she needs 
 is gentleness. The realm he seeks is too vast for 
 her, which shows her that perhaps the church in 
 which she has been nurtured is too small. This last 
 supposition seizes hold of Brand ; Gerd likewise has 
 sneered at the church in the valley. It dawns upon 
 him to build the church into a greater edifice. Again 
 has Agnes by her suggestion guided him; she had 
 heretofore shown him where his work lay; she has 
 now pointed to the next urgent need. Once more 
 Agnes is lifted to the sphere of exaltation by the 
 thought of her service. 
 
 The Mayor, meanwhile, acknowledges defeat in 
 the face of Brand's success with his people. But has 
 he not now gone far enough.'' No, the battle Brand 
 wages never ends ; still must there be sacrifice' and 
 more sacrifice. Is there not, however, a point where 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 187 
 
 the world's humanity will mitigate the cost? The 
 Mayor has this view — if after working along one 
 course, no results are gained, then were it best to 
 compromise with conditions. He will take the av- 
 erage and not the exceptional nature ; he will seek the 
 common good; his ideas must bud into material im- 
 provement, else he believes that he has failed. He 
 will, therefore, build anew the favour he seems to 
 have lost by Brand's presence; he would frame for 
 his campaign some popular slogan to catch the votes. 
 It shall be his desire to mitigate civil evil through 
 public institutions which he shall erect; in this work 
 he would have Brand's co-operation, but the priest 
 is building too — ^he is to tear down the little church, 
 and in its place to erect the large conception. Again, 
 he and the Mayor are brought in opposition. The 
 Mayor cannot see why the old church will not do in 
 its present state — a patch here and there — but the 
 other institutions, the mad-house, the pest house, and 
 the rest, are urgent ! 
 
 But, when Brand says that his building shall be 
 paid for by himself, the Mayor is staggered — he is 
 won over through the external magnificence of the 
 scheme — he does not see that the priest would trans- 
 form the spirit and only consider the material as the 
 symbol. The Mayor is a typical magistrate. 
 Brand's life is that of the Christian deprived of the 
 humanitarian impulse, or more probably with that 
 impulse stifled. His constant iteration of expiation 
 and retribution is no excuse for his unswerving 
 course ; we realize all his anguish, but "part of the 
 sympathy is wasted since the sacrifice was neither 
 inevitable nor essential. 
 
188 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Agnes, meanwhile, begins to decorate a Christmas 
 tree in memory of last yule-tide's happiness: the 
 scene recalls Nora's situation, when she moves about 
 under stress of mind. Brand tramples on all her lit- 
 tle subterfuges to allay her grief. Has she not more 
 to give to the great cause? Does not the demand of 
 " All or Nothing " require her to relinquish even her 
 memories.'' Agnes is nearing despair, Brand is 
 deluged in grief almost beyond the point of endur- 
 ance. He realizes that the strain is telling on his 
 wife's physical condition; to lose her will be too 
 much. He suffers because his love is human, while 
 his task is superhuman, if it is not inhuman. 
 
 Now comes the height of sacrifice. While Agnes 
 goes over the dead baby's clothes, an old woman en- 
 ters with a child; it is the final test — ^Agnes must 
 give to her. The gypsy woman is sympathetically 
 drawn, a fact which Olsen acknowledges to be a rare 
 instance in Norwegian literature. The situation 
 mounts from point to point in intensity. Agnes 
 finally gives all of her baby trinkets, not gladly, but 
 through a sense of duty. That spirit is not right, 
 according to Brand, so the supernal effort follows; 
 she has concealed in the bosom of her gown one small 
 cap, and in the end that goes too ; with it there seems 
 to be lifted a weight from Agnes. It is the last sac- 
 rifice, greater perhaps than Brand could ever make — 
 for she has seen him under varying circumstances. 
 Once more he needs must make a choice. She has 
 given and by giving has sealed her death doom, for 
 the mother in her requires the idols that bring with 
 them the comfort of memory. Either Brand must 
 descend from his dizzy height and give her what 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 189 
 
 her sorrow needs, or else he must face the penalty. 
 Yet, if he relent, then what of his mission ? 
 
 Brand was wholly capable of active love; he wil- 
 fully sacrificed it to the fulfilment of his will. With 
 the death of Agnes, there now creeps over him a 
 change, which, after a year and a half, has had time 
 to ripen and to deepen. The last act of the drama is 
 a conglomerate mass of theory, preaching, character 
 flashes, and crumbling of the ideal conception. The 
 church is completed, and " officialdom " gathers 
 around it in the shape of the sexton and the school- 
 master; in them Ibsen has his sportive time, which 
 means that he vents his sarcasm upon the weakness 
 of national intention. There is constant return to 
 this topic. 
 
 Later, we shall find it necessary to analyze the dis- 
 cussions upon church and state that occur between 
 Brand and the Dean ;it is only essential here to gather 
 together the points transforming the priest. He re- 
 alizes that, by the death of Agnes, the element of 
 affection has been removed from his work; all of his 
 striving seems to have been in vain without her. A 
 doubt arises in his mind as to whether the people's 
 spirit has grown with the enlarging of the church. 
 The Mayor, the Dean, do not understand his point 
 of view. They think the consecration of the building 
 is all that is now necessary to impress the people with 
 the immensity of the church. But Brand asks for the 
 cleansed soul to dwell therein. The Dean, now that 
 the church is built, suggests that Brand must bring 
 his congregation into some uniformity of belief — 
 " use the same comb for all the flock." The Church 
 owes its duty to the State, according to the Dean; 
 
190 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 therefore the priest is a servant of the State. At last 
 Brand comprehends his meaning; he is slowly being 
 dragged into " officialdom " — a thing he has most 
 dreadfed. But the way is still open to him for escape. 
 Brand's faith is not the same as the Dean's — it is 
 bound up in the daily life he leads and is not forth- 
 coming only on special occasions. The Dean's faith 
 is made for Sundays. No, Brand will not give up an 
 iota of his Ideal for the State ; he will not bend his 
 will to another's. It is this unyielding will that is his 
 final undoing. 
 
 Though the Dean is grossly worldly, he still dis- 
 plays some human insight. Indeed, " no man wins 
 the fight with fortune, but in alliance with his time," 
 in some things if not in all. Brand revolts against 
 the Dean's official regulations for religion. Did he 
 give up so much for this result.'' Here is the first 
 suggestion that in Brand's mind there enters the 
 thought that he might have accomplished his aims 
 through other means less hard; Ibsen, later in life, 
 was to have the same misgivings. In his dilemma he 
 feels more and more the loss of Agnes, who was 
 always his support and comfort. 
 
 The last time Brand confronts Einar, he finds the 
 latter in a transition stage, a man who has been 
 saved from a fallen state ; who has been transformed 
 from gambler and drunkard into a missionary — an 
 Ibsenism, suggesting Peer's Bible-trading in Africa. 
 The dramatist is doing something he often prac- 
 tised in his plays ; he is forcing Einar to satirize 
 himself. His pietism is insufferable, and. In a half- 
 humorous fashion, he knows it. He has been made 
 religious by being wrung through the mangle of 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 191 
 
 Ecclesiasticism. His image, as seen by Brand, brings 
 the priest to his full senses again. The way of these 
 ordinary folk in his parish is too narrow, the Mayor 
 too matter-of-fact, the Dean too hypocritical. He 
 has been deceived in the building of his church; the 
 Devil is compromise; religion is not outward pomp 
 but inward trial. What was his church to be but one 
 whose shadow is to fall over everything on earth, 
 " not alone on faith and creed." The religion these 
 worldly people speak of is mockery ; if it is Christian- 
 ity, with its deceits, then he will have none of it. 
 He wants the healthy soul, not the souls that ap- 
 proach God as invalids; his church is the church of 
 life, recognising no boundary — therefore the mere 
 building is naught. Brand locks the door of his new 
 church and casts the key into the river. ^ Forward 
 he goes, followed by the multitude, who are carried 
 away by the intensity of the moment. Brand pos- 
 sesses the magnetic power of the evangelist. The 
 Mayor and the Dean are startled, yet they are keen 
 enough not only to understand that these frenzied 
 folk will return, but they are inventive enough to use 
 the means to make them return. 
 
 These followers of Brand suffer. The steep way 
 may be the short way, nevertheless they suffer ! They 
 hunger, they droop, they fear death, and all the while 
 their priest fails to perform a miracle to alleviate 
 
 ^From Rome, in October, 1866, Ibsen wrote to Bjornson 
 enquiring about a performance of the fourth act of " Brand," 
 which had been given for an actor's benefit. In September, 
 1866, the play formed part of the Christiania Theatre reper- 
 toire. In a letter to Hegel, Ibsen acknowledged that the Mor- 
 genblad for December 1 and December 4, 1866, contained some 
 of the best Norwegian criticisms of "Brand." 
 
192 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 their pain. When asked where this effort will end, 
 Brand staggers them with his answer. The war will 
 last as long as life itself; in the struggle they will 
 lose their abhorred gods, and will gain a soul entire, 
 a faith that soars, a will that is healthy and strong ; 
 mayhap they wiU be crowned with thorns, yet Death 
 will be turned into Victory. The people fall away 
 from him; they will have none of his triumph which 
 means death! 
 
 At this psychological moment, the Dean arrives — 
 he whom Brand calls the soul's scourge. His offer to 
 them is forgiveness for their obedience; he will teach 
 them the faith suitable to dalesmen. Soon the rest- 
 lessness which Brand has created in their midst will 
 abate. Then comes the Mayor, inflated with impor- 
 tant news. The fjord has a wealth of fish, he an- 
 nounces; this will give the villagers material joys; 
 this is more tangible " than idly pining for the sky." 
 Return, and their worldly condition will be improved. 
 Brand hears his own misdeeds narrated by these " of- 
 ficials," and, as the crowd becomes more incensed, 
 they stone him and drive him out into the wild. The 
 village scene ends consistently. The Dean says much 
 about the humanity of Christianity, which in no full 
 way does he really understand. The Mayor promises 
 to appoint a committee to look into existing evils ; 
 this is sarcastic, since Ibsen considered committees 
 mere compromises in place of the strong individual. 
 After some minor quibbling is recorded the act ends. 
 
 I agree with Olson that had Ibsen's play not had 
 some value deeper and more permanent than its sa- 
 tiric worth, it would have ended here. But, as we 
 have intimated, the farther Ibsen progressed in the 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 193 
 
 writing of " Brand," the more interested he became 
 in the evolving of the character he had created ; there- 
 fore it was incumbent upon him to trace the final con- 
 sequence of his many acts of so-called sacrifice ; these 
 solutions complete the drama. ^ , 
 
 High up among the mountains wanders Brand, in 
 the midst of peaks and clouds and brooding storm. 
 Everyone but himself fears sacrifice; they seem to 
 believe that since Christ died upon the cross for their 
 sins, they need worry no longer. These nerveless folk 
 have not responded to Brand's endeavour to take 
 them out of their soul-decay. Assuredly this is Ib- 
 sen talking at Norway; so much so, indeed, that at 
 this point, in a long speech, he slips the personality of 
 Brand and becomes the agitator, the critic complain- 
 ing of the material progress of his country,^ which 
 is content with a faint heart. In one way this is a 
 speech of despair, Brand throwing himself face down- 
 ward in the snow. 
 
 Thus attune to conscience pangs, he hears an m- 
 visible choir through the storm. Dreamer he is, 
 earth born, and he shall never inherit the kingdom 
 
 ' " Brand " was never intended for the stage, but notwith- 
 standing, either in part or as a whole, it has been given many 
 times. See Halvorsen, who likewise mentions musical settings. 
 In 1895, October, August Lindberg and his wife appeared 
 in a cast which included Frk. Hulda Englund. " Brand," 
 however, has never been presented, as yet, in this country. Its 
 technical difficulties are just as great as in " Peer Gynt," 
 though the latter has the saving grace of variety, as well as con- 
 taining light fantasy. Miss Englund appeared in America, 
 presenting scenes from " Peer Gynt," in 1906-7. 
 
 ^English capital built the first railroad in Norway during 
 1850, and thereafter did much to foster every industry. See 
 Olson. , 
 
194 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 of heaven. The phantom of Agnes tempts him, un- 
 folds before him life as it would have been had he not 
 been as he was. Brand reaches out with a human 
 cry — but no, not yet can he claim even the vision of 
 his wife and child until the cure is eifected. He must 
 forget his demand of " All or Nothing." The phan- 
 tom pleads; still Brand remains firm; he would even 
 lose the vision rather than relinquish his goal; he 
 will not compromise. Still there is left him the path 
 of yearning, which he had never fully seen before 
 because he had never, until now, allowed his heart to 
 yearn. 
 
 In the midst of this struggle enters Gerd ; the fal- 
 con's wings have passed over Brand in flight, for the 
 wild girl is pursuing him with a rifle.^ Will she be 
 able to kill this spirit of compromise.'' Gerd pauses 
 to note the priest — ^he is lame, blood-spattered, an 
 outcast. For the first time Gerd sees the Christ be- 
 neath Brand's outward garb, but her worship has 
 small effect on the priest; he is humbled in spirit, 
 yet onward, battered and bruised, he must go till the 
 end. Up toward the Ice-Church he tends, brought 
 there by the persistency with which he has clung to 
 the demand for "All or Naught." Here, perhaps, 
 the sufficiency of will may be found, but this is not 
 enough. He has striven by this will for freedom of 
 the kind which the sole practice of will gains ; but the 
 Ice-Church is cold, it lacks true life and warmth and 
 love. For many years Ibsen was preparing for him- 
 self just such an edifice. Brand bursts into tears, 
 pure human drops of anguish ; he calls on Christ, the 
 incarnation of Love. At last this is what he wants ; 
 ' Compare a similar situation In " The Wild Duck." 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 195 
 
 he is famishing for the religion of I^ove, not of Law. 
 The final pages of " Brand " contain many ques- 
 tions to be answered; the obscure handling of he- 
 redity is a flaw of constructive imagination as well 
 as a forced principle, on Ibsen's part. Gerd's rela- 
 tionship is only dimly suggested — her mother, a 
 gyp^y» ^^d to a man who had been spurned by 
 Brand's own mother. There are four points well 
 made by Olson; having determined in his mind that 
 Gerd is somehow representative of the guilt of 
 Brand's mother, and is thus the child of betrayed 
 love just as Brand is the child of a loveless marriage 
 (accounting through heredity for Brand's lack of 
 love in himself) ; having determined that the hawk 
 or compromise could never enter the Ice-Church of 
 absolute individualism, being a symbol of the spirit 
 of law and order- — he thus accounts for Gerd's 
 shooting of the hawk,^ since the force of rebellion 
 against law as represented in herself would certainly 
 not countenance the symbol of organized society. 
 Bearing these facts in mind, at one moment it would 
 seem that Ibsen tries to justify Brand's past; still, 
 in another passage, despite his humbled condition, 
 Brand breaks so suddenly from his past that one 
 imagines Ibsen to have shown the spirit of revolt, 
 to have turned against the philosophy he has in five 
 acts builded. As Gerd's rifle-shot brings down the 
 avalanche, and as the falcon, Parsifal-like, turns into 
 the vision of Love, Brand meets the crushing tor- 
 rent with a question of doubt. He cries out above 
 
 ' The final scene with Gerd, Havelock Ellis compares with 
 " King Lear." Other comparisons are Gosse's Sidney DobeU's 
 " Balder," and Arthur Symons's Blake's " Everlasting Gospel." 
 
196 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 the roar to know whether, having willed to the ut- 
 most, he shall miss the light entirely — while above 
 the roar of thunder sounds the voice, triumphant, 
 proclaiming the God of Love.* 
 
 It is necessary thus to outline minutely the plot of 
 " Brand," since, with its complementary, " Peer 
 Gynt," the fundamental ethics of life, as Ibsen saw 
 them, receive adequate statement. I cannot believe 
 that he has answered any question definitely in 
 " Brand " ; he has only succeeded in showing very 
 plainly that absolute freedom usually finds its natu- 
 ral consequences in death. He neither approves nor 
 disapproves of Brand's actions — occupying, as the 
 observer tries to do, a middle course. It is true, as 
 Dowden has pointed out, that one involuntarily as- 
 signs the hero. Brand, to Emperor Julian's second 
 empire of spirit, as outlined in " Emperor and Gali- 
 lean " ; he does not attempt to compare the double- 
 mindedness of Julian with the single-minded purpose 
 of the priest, but I believe that a reader after going 
 carefully through the meaning of " Emperor and 
 Galilean " will be able to understand Ibsen's true po- 
 sition as regards the worth of " Brand " and " Peer 
 Gynt " individually, and as regards their true rela- 
 tions, one with the other. 
 
 That he was not wholly in sympathy with the man 
 of one idea, who is obliged to sacrifice his whole duty, 
 is clearly seen in the solution of both " Brand " and 
 
 ' Mr. Huneker, like many other interpreters of Ibsen, calls 
 attention to the dramatist's use again and again of the same 
 symbol. Compare the Ice-Church in " Brand " with the edifice 
 in "The Master Builder"; and also the avalanche here with 
 that which terminates " When We Dead Awaken." 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 197 
 
 " Peer Gynt " ; that he was not wholly in accord with 
 Kierkegaard is seen by the fact that he did not in 
 any way make the character of Brand aught but hu- 
 man, whereas, according to Brandes, the Danish phi- 
 losopher infused the individual with something of the 
 supernatural. ^ 
 
 Wicksteed's analysis adopts the conciliatory 
 method ; it tries to show wherein Brand's philosophy 
 might be reconciled with actual conditions. And this 
 could have been done simply by the practice of the 
 human spirit. Christ demanded much of the soul in 
 His teachings, but His demands did not seem unat- 
 tainable because they were tempered by an all-em- 
 bracing love. Several times Brand suggests that his 
 mission is the same as that of Jesus, but it is the 
 mere husk deprived of the saving grace of life. 
 
 Critics are nevertheless right in maintaining that 
 the energy of " Brand " is superb,^ and that the or- 
 
 ' Charles Sarolea believes that an interesting comparison might 
 be made of "Brand" with Carlyle's "Sartor Resartus," espe- 
 cially the chapters on " The Everlasting Yea," and " The Ever- 
 lasting Nay." 
 
 ' According to Halvorsen, note the French translation of 
 "Brand" by Comte Prozor (1895) and the German transla- 
 tions by P. F. Siebold (1872), Julie Ruhkopf (1874), Alfr. 
 Frhrn. von Wolzogen (1876), L. Passarge (1883). Commen- 
 taries: Leo Berg (Berlin, 1887); The Westminster Review, 
 1891, (R. A. Armstrong); New England Magazine, 1890, Oct. 
 (Prof. Arthur); L. Bernard; "La Litt^rature Scandinave," 
 (Paris, 1895); Journal des Dibats, July, 1895 (Jules Le- 
 maitre) ; Morgenbladet, 1866, Nos. 342, 249, 256-263 (M. J. 
 Monrad). See C. H. Herford's translation of " Brand " (Helne- 
 mann); and translations by F. Edmund Garrett (Fisher Un- 
 win) ; W. Wilson (Methuen) [Reviewed by C. H. Herford, 
 Academy, March 13, 1892, p. 248; Academy, June 23, 1894, p. 
 
198 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 dinary striving in life, by contrast, appears small. 
 This grandeur only makes the more pitiable the in- 
 evitable conclusions of both " Brand " and " Peer 
 Gynt." No doubt this effect is what the poet 
 wished ultimately to produce, for if the demand of 
 " All or Nothing " end in death, and if he declara- 
 tion or life-motto of Peer, " To thyself be sufficient," 
 lead to death ; if to go around and to go through are 
 equally fraught with danger, then a middle course, 
 such a one as is outlined in the idea of the " third em- 
 pire," is necessarily the solution. Neither Peer nor 
 Brand has a definite goal; such was not to be ex- 
 pected of the Gyntian Self, but the tragedy of the 
 priest lay in the energy which was never centralized 
 but too all-conclusive in its reforms. 
 
 The sane view of the " Brand " philosophy is seen 
 through the eyes of the doctor ; perhaps his very pro- 
 fession emphasizes for him that one must show sym- 
 pathy in order to lead. But though Brand had the 
 potential love in him, and the potential sympathy as 
 well, he scourged where he should have given a 
 brotherly slap on the back. He had the quality of 
 the finest endeavour in him ; his idea of duty, however, 
 was a mistaken one Though he exalt Agnes, he tor- 
 tured her ; no excuses can be offered to cover that ; he 
 followed his own theories in regard to the State 
 and ended in being considered an outcast, whereas, 
 since the Mayor had some admiration for him, he 
 might have worked his policies indirectly and done 
 
 510]. For references to "Brand," see "Le Mouvement Litt^raire 
 k I'Etranger," Arvfede Barine — La Revue Politique et Littiraire, 
 September IS, 1877, p. 238; 2e, ser., 7e an., No. 11; see same 
 Bevue, July 25, 1874, a study of Ibsen by L^o Quesnel. 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 199 
 
 just as much good to all. It is more profitable to 
 interpret " Brand " from the side of the tangible than 
 from that of the mystical. 
 
 No doubt, in calling Brand anti-Christian, Boyesen 
 meant in the orthodox sense. The ethical student 
 will at once agree with him that Ibsen overlooked the 
 fact that the ideal of duty, while it demands sacrifice 
 of the one seeking the goal, does not involve the same 
 sacrifice of others whether they will or no; Brand 
 had no ethical right to demand of Agnes what he did 
 demand. Furthermore, as tersely put by Boyesen, 
 " a lack of power, of ability, may be pardoned, ac- 
 cording to Ibsen ; but a lack of will, never." We 
 cannot accuse Brand of a lack of will, even though 
 it was only through his failure that he won pro- 
 tection of the divine love. 
 
 Edouard Rod, always discreet in his judgment, 
 found in the poem the most interesting example of 
 philosophy converted effectively into stage dynam- 
 ics. In his craftsmanship throughout " Brand " and 
 " Peer Gynt," more so than in " Emperor and Gali- 
 lean," Ibsen introduced philosophy deftly shot 
 through with poignant irony, fantasy, and different 
 shades of character humour; it is this which makes 
 these dramas distinctively unique in their line. The 
 fault with the character of Brand is that it lacks a 
 sense of humour which might have tempered the exer- 
 cise of his will; only by the intermittent cries of 
 agony with which Ibsen wisely humanizes the strain, 
 and thus converts the reader's repulsion into a feel- 
 ing of undoubted sympathy for the man if not for 
 his methods, is the machinery tempered in its terrific 
 cataclysm. A question might be raised as to whether 
 
200 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Brand, in his defiance of divine grace, was able to 
 save himself through the practice of abnormal will. 
 But to answer this satisfactorily would be to enter 
 the realms of theology and religion, whereas, the 
 poem should be strictly studied from its ethical in- 
 clination. 
 
 As a whole, the play is warm with the serious pur- 
 pose of Ibsen; though it drags at times and becomes 
 diffuse, it cannot but demand response because of its 
 energy. Its lack is the limitation of Ibsen's own at- 
 titude toward the world; he could not give an an- 
 swer to the problem because, in his own life, he had 
 not solved the riddle. One of its points of greatness, 
 no less than probably its point of weakness, lies in 
 the fact that it admits of so many phases of interpre- 
 tation. Everyone tries and has tried to squeeze the 
 intent of small points, whereas the play must be 
 taken in its broad entirety. Critics turned, for in- 
 stance, upon his unessential " doctor's Latin," '^ 
 phrases which may not have been classical, but, 
 none the less, he said with impatience, sdTved his pur- 
 pose. 
 
 External interpretation always irritated Ibsen. 
 When Laura Kieler, the authoress, sent him her novel, 
 " Brand's Daughters," in which Brand's teachings 
 were applied practically to life, wearied with so much 
 discussion, Ibsen wrote to her from Dresden in June, 
 1870, that his poem was an sesthetic work and not 
 a system of philosophy ! He had experienced, not 
 only observed the things he treated of ; and impelled 
 
 ' See such phrases as " quantum satis " and " caritas " in 
 " Brand " ; and " ingenium " and the reference to " perpetual 
 motion " in " The Pretenders." 
 
BRAND INTERPRETED 201 
 
 by an overpowering necessity of putting his thoughts 
 into form, he had done so ; now, he cared not whether 
 his book demolished or built up ! 
 
 That is to be kept in mind. So anxious are we to 
 reach the thesis, the argument in Ibsen, that we are 
 prone to overlook the outside. ' Unfortunately Ameri- 
 can and English readers can never understand the 
 originality of verse construction in " Brand." The 
 notes to Professor Olson's edition will give a glimmer 
 as to the fine word distinctions, and Ibsen's own let- 
 ters will show his endeavour to settle the question as 
 to authentic spelling. Both Olson and Archer dis- 
 cuss the rhyme and metre scheme. ^ To the latter 
 Ibsen is reported to have said, " I wanted a metre in 
 which I could career where I would, as on horseback." 
 The result is, according to a number of critics, akin 
 to the form of Browning's " Christmas Eve and 
 Easter Day." 
 
 Altogether, Ibsen's " Brand," the dramatic trag- 
 edy of the Ideal striven for at all hazards, is a work 
 of world proportions. It has particularly appealed 
 to Germany, and naturally so, in a country that 
 produced Faust. 
 
 ^See Archer's edition of "Brand" (vol. iii), Introduction, 
 p. xi; also Olson, pp. 375, 277. The latter stars some of the 
 Ibsen coined words— words with the sonorousness of Carlyle. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 PEEK GYNT * 
 
 It is rarely that an actor, in a single role, finds the 
 sum-total of his various abilities. Yet it would seem 
 that in all the previous years of his experience Rich- 
 ard Mansfield had been preparing himself for some 
 composite figure which would include the contrary 
 moods of youth and old age, of sorrow and joy, of 
 action and passiveness — in fine, the full gamut of 
 compensating virtues and vices of which one person 
 could be capable. Such a combination he obtained 
 in Ibsen's " Peer Gynt," presented by him for the 
 first time in Chicago, at the Grand Opera House, on 
 October 24, 1906. In less than a year from that 
 date the actor was dead. 
 
 It was a stupendous task, yet to Richard Mansfield 
 the element of risk was alluring. It did not seem to 
 daunt him that already the verdict had been passed 
 that this epic drama was not intended for the stage — 
 
 ' The basis for this chapter was an article by the author 
 published during 1907 in The Times Magazine, under the title 
 " Richard Mansfield and Peer Gynt." Through the courtesy of 
 Mr. Frederick W. Richardson, the material has been placed at 
 my further disposal. At the time of Mr. Mansfield's first ap- 
 pearance in the title r61e his personal representative, Mr. Paul 
 Wilstach, sent me a copy of " The Richard Mansfield Acting 
 Version of Peer Gynt" (The Reilly & Britton Co., Chicago, 
 1906), which, in comparison with the Archer text complete, re- 
 veals many " cuts " ; additional pruning had to be done after 
 the first night. It is a pleasure to record Mr. Wilstach's com- 
 pletion of a biography of Richard Mansfield, which will be 
 published through the Scribners. There will be a full chap- 
 ter on " Peer Gynt." At the time of Mr. Mansfield's death, the 
 scenery for his production of " Peer Gynt " was purchased by 
 Mr. Louis James. 
 
PEER GYNT 203 
 
 by nature of its controversial dialogue as well as be- 
 cause of the peculiar exactions of its scenic demands. 
 The presentation had seemed insurmountable, even 
 to Ibsen himself. 
 
 By 1866, when " Brand " was published, Ibsen, 
 while still to a certain degree hewing out his dra- 
 matic method, had revealed in their incipiency nearly 
 every moral and philosophical principle which he was 
 later to amplify in his social and symbolical plays. 
 The work which he had been engaged upon so unre- 
 mittingly had sapped his physical energy, and the 
 completion of it removed the constraining grip of 
 concentration. His nerves became very much un- 
 strung, and malarial fever had set in ; these facts, to- 
 gether with the absolute penury to which the family 
 was reduced, brought him to the very lowest, and to 
 the last — though he was far from realizing it — ebb 
 of his struggle for existence. It was difficult to ob- 
 tain the necessary medicines, and only through the 
 devotion of his wife was Ibsen pulled through an or- 
 deal which threatened his life. 
 
 Convalescence left him weak, yet chastened in 
 spirit ; from Dresden he wrote to Brandes during the 
 winter of 1870, describing the ennoblement of this 
 sickness, believing firmly that the fever had thor- 
 oughly sapped him of evil thoughts, and that dur- 
 ing the time he was recovering his strength an untold 
 feeling of worthiness came over him. This is the Ib- 
 sen trait — to believe firmly in the efficacy of a 
 scourge. 
 
 Something had now to be done to relieve the situa- 
 tion ; one can afford in after years to read exaltation 
 into events which can never return, but it is a ques- 
 
204 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 tion whether Ibsen, in the midst of his poverty- 
 stricken condition, realized to the full extent how 
 far his illness had cleansed his soul. The moment en- 
 grossed his attention. In fact, Ibsen's letters around 
 this time are filled with the deep note of despair; he 
 was well-nigh driven to despondency, which played 
 upon his imagination, upsetting him at every turn, 
 and over every small detail. Even in his correspond- 
 ence with Bjornson he had to send his letters post- 
 age collect, for want of the necessary funds. 
 
 Thus it was that the author of " Brand " was 
 forced to make a last appeal for another grant, and 
 fearful lest something might go amiss he addressed 
 it directly to King Charles himself, couched in the 
 most earnest, most heart-impressive terms. It was, 
 in truth, a humble petition asking for £90 (400 
 specie-dollars) yearly to devote himself to " my call- 
 ing as a poet." While he was grateful for the re- 
 ception of " Brand," favour of the kind received 
 would not supply what he wanted, nor could he wait 
 until the time arrived when he might again address 
 the Storthing. Pride rings through the despair of 
 his appeal ; his King is the remaining hope. With 
 his hand upon the object, yet without the means of 
 adequate support, Ibsen cried out for help. Should 
 one speak of surrender, why, then he knew how to 
 take defeat, yet it would be hard, doubly hard, " since 
 I have never given in before." 
 
 " It is not for a care-free existence I am fighting," 
 he wrote, " but for the possibility of devoting my- 
 self to the task which I believe and know has been 
 laid upon me by God." Ibsen's ambition was to 
 make the leaders of Norway think great thoughts. 
 
PEER GYNT 205 
 
 In contrast with this dire situation it is well to note 
 that from Rome, in April, 1885, Ibsen told Hegel of 
 his allowing Josephson at Stockholm to have the per- 
 manent acting rights of " Brand " for 400 kroner, 
 a concession due to the difficulty of mounting the 
 piece. " But," he added, " the money arrangements 
 are, fortunately, of less importance to me now than 
 when I was beginning to write ' Brand ' twenty years 
 ago at Ariccia." 
 
 When the petition was mailed it left Ibsen with lit- 
 tle peace of mind. In the interim he did many ser- 
 vices for his friends — the small coterie of men to 
 whom he clung as though they were all going to de- 
 sert him. In one letter to Hegel he acknowledged 
 the receipt of an advance on the second edition of 
 " Brand," not forgetting, however, to deduct a small 
 amount for the destitute farhily of an editor who had 
 shown considerable sympathy for Denmark. He was 
 writing to Birkeland, sending messages to all his old 
 acquaintances, among them Botten-Hansen, who was 
 always solicitous in his behalf. His mind was not 
 wholly absorbed by anxiety, for he was still ruminat- 
 ing upon " Julian " ; nor was his body totally neg- 
 lected, since, with his knapsack over his shoulders, 
 Ibsen had tramped, district by district, most of the 
 territory covered by the Papal States. In the case 
 of Bjornson, while earnestly striving to sail clear of 
 misunderstanding, the waters were just at that ten- 
 sion when the slightest zephyr would whip them into 
 turbulent waves. t 
 
 A young lawyer friend of George Brandes lived in 
 Rome at this time- — a man of some promise and of 
 some connection. One night, after a visit to Sor- 
 
206 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 rento, he jumped out of his bedroom window and was 
 instantly killed. The facts have no connection with 
 Ibsen, save that he had some acquaintance with Lud- 
 vig David, and that this incident, shocking in its es- 
 sential details, served to draw Ibsen and Brandes to- 
 gether. The former wrote a long letter descriptive 
 of all the circumstances — which, as an example of 
 reportorial realism, indicates that Ibsen had no lack 
 of skill in recording what he saw, in making infer- 
 ences from the slightest clues, in noting faithfully 
 the external scene. The grasp of the repulsive yet 
 actual conditions was worthy of Poe ; his details were 
 accurately stated as though he might have been a 
 detective; and his imagination built up the motives 
 which might have led to the deed. He himself called 
 his account cold and matter-of-fact; but it was not 
 indifferent or ruthless. It was exact, and not devoid 
 of feeling. 
 
 Thus occupied, Ibsen found himself with a load 
 lifted from his mind. The King gave orders that 
 the grant be made him; and on May 10, 1866, the 
 Storthing voted unanimously in his favour. Botten- 
 Hansen was partly responsible for this ; in his paper, 
 the Illustreret Nyhedsblad, he had forcibly and sym- 
 pathetically outlined Ibsen's case, describing how im- 
 minent was the fate of the poet's promising career; 
 there was a general upheaval in his behalf and the 
 cloud became suddenly lifted. It was like magic to 
 Ibsen's nature ; " you splendid fellows," so he wrote 
 to his friends ; and the Norwegian Minister of State, 
 George Sibbern, was thanked profoundly ; specially 
 bound copies of " Brand " exchanged hands quickly, 
 and one was forwarded to His Majesty " as a small 
 
PEER GYNT m 
 
 expression of my most submissive gratitude." In 
 view of Ibsen's later utterances about the State, this 
 might seem contradictory; yet, on second thought, 
 it will only be another point in favour of his pessi- 
 mism, which aimed toward ultimate truth and worth. 
 
 Close upon this came an additional grant from the 
 Scientific Society of Trondhjem. But though this 
 tide of fortune relieved the tension, it did something 
 far more lasting for Ibsen; it cleared his path of 
 petty considerations. "My future is now assured," 
 he said, " and I can devote myself undisturbedly to 
 my calling." 
 
 Ibsen was greatly in need of change and recre- 
 ation, so he left with his family for Frascati, situ- 
 ated in the Alban Mountains, near ancient Tusculum, 
 and there began to think out his next work. He en- 
 joyed nature in so far as it applied to some large hu- 
 man event, but he did not respond quickly to the love 
 of beauty for its own sake. From the windows of his 
 Palazzo rooms, overlooking the sea from a height of 
 2,000 feet, there stretched before him the Mediterra- 
 nean, the Campagna, and Rome. In the twilight 
 hours he could view many ranges of mountains along 
 the Sabine country ; but it was as a battlefield for the 
 world's history that he considered them ; if there was 
 any other appreciation it was not enthusiastically 
 shown. Strangely, Ibsen was beginning to think that 
 he should go back to Norway. 
 
 Substantial returns from " Brand " were now be- 
 ing sent to him by Hegel, and he was busy plan- 
 ning the new edition of " Love's Comedy" ; his af- 
 fairs were in that state which would allow him to plan 
 ahead, and he had even gone so far as to think of pur- 
 
208 IIENRIK IBSEN 
 
 chasing a lottery ticket ; there was shrewdness as well 
 as love of excitement in the last venture. 
 
 On his return to Rome he found the people in a 
 state of expectancy regarding how far the Papal 
 power would hold out against political conditions 
 confronting them; in case of a revolution he was 
 ready to barricade himself and await the issue, but 
 when actual disturbance threatened the Holy See by 
 Garibaldi's determination to march upon Rome in 
 September, 1867, Ibsen left with his family. Cen- 
 tral and Southern Europe was in a ferment. 
 
 His correspondence was beginning to exhibit some 
 irritation concerning Bjornson, though on the sur- 
 face it was trying to hold the break in check ; he was 
 busily engaged in attending to his publishing affairs, 
 while at the same time he was revolving in his mind 
 the themes for new plays, one of which was to have 
 dealt with the period of Christian IV, if it had pro- 
 gressed any farther than a mere suggestion. He was 
 ripe for the maturity of something. By January 5, 
 1867, he wrote to Hegel confessing that " Peer 
 Gynt " was well under way. 
 
 He regarded it only as a long dramatic poem, half 
 mythical yet modern, with no direct polemics and 
 therefore far different in tone from " Brand " ; he 
 did rapid work upon it, disporting himself from act 
 to act with a certain abandon which his former epic 
 lacked. On January 5, 1867, the scenario was 
 sketched and the first act begun; by March, 1867, 
 he had advanced to the middle of the second act ; and 
 from Ischia, on August 8, he was sending to Hegel, 
 by the Consul-General of Naples, three acts complete. 
 The whole matter lay clearly before him; his exact- 
 
PEER GYNT 209 
 
 ness in writing went so far that he could tell when 
 each part would be finished, and how many pages the 
 manuscript would make in print. 
 
 Ibsen was proud of the fantastic yet real charac- 
 ter of " Peer Gynt " ; the wild boy had lived in Gud- 
 brandsdal, and was still known to the peasantry there. 
 He had to resort to Asbjornsen's " Norwegian Fairy 
 Tale Book," in the section " Pictures from the Moun- 
 tains," for whatever there was of known authentic- 
 ity; but that there was little fact available appeared 
 to please Ibsen, since it allowed freer scope to his 
 imagination. While writing at Ischia, the weather 
 was excruciatingly hot. 
 
 The publication of a new play by Ibsen was always 
 an event of some moment ; even thus early, due most 
 likely to the unprecedented sale of " Brand," there 
 was sufficient curiosity about the matter to prompt 
 Ibsen's asking Hegel to maintain discreet silence 
 about " Peer Gynt." When Ibsen surveyed in retro- 
 spect the writing of this formless piece, he said to 
 Hansen that being so far away from home, he grew 
 reckless, mixing legend with fact, and drawing on 
 his youthful experiences. In Ase, he depicted his 
 own mother, heightening the effect by contrasting 
 her in treatment with Brand's mother ; ^ in the wealth 
 of John Gynt we detect the former comforts of the 
 Ibsen family. " It is wild and formless," he con- 
 fessed to Gosse, " written without regard to conse- 
 quences — as I dare to write only far away from 
 home." ^ 
 
 * His mother, so he confessed, also served as a model for 
 Ingeborg in " The Pretenders.'' 
 ''Brandes called this material thankless, though not denying 
 
210 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 As I have said, it is a question whether in years to 
 come the Norwegian's modern social dramas, with 
 their theories of marriage, their problems involving 
 the sex question, their discussions of heredity, of 
 congenital decay, will survive the test of time, for the 
 simple reason that the moral code is a relative code. 
 If " Peer Gynt " outlasts " A DoU's House," some 
 will say that this is probably due to the fact that 
 poetry has a certain lasting quality over and above 
 prose. But the form is only a framework after all. 
 The essence of life in " Peer Gynt " rests in its fresh- 
 ness, its indefinite application, its peculiar appeal. 
 We see in it the same austerity of design, despite its 
 range of fancy and its simple, primitive folk-lore 
 foundation, which marked " Brand " ; and in both 
 there is that epic strength beneath the allegory which 
 characterizes the " Pilgrim's Progress." 
 
 In Ibsen's personal growth, " Peer Gynt " occupies 
 a unique place; its significance can hardly be sep- 
 arated from its obverse companion. Together they 
 
 a certain attractiveness in the details. " Beauties and truths 
 are of far less value than beauty and truth in the singular, 
 and Ibsen's poem is neither beautiful nor true." Writing to 
 him from Dresden, July 15, 1869, Ibsen is ready with his cus- 
 tomary combativeness : " I cannot agree with you regarding the 
 parts of 'Peer Gynt' referred to. Of course, I bow before 
 the laws of beauty, but I have no regard for its conventions. 
 You name Michael Angelo. In my opinion no one has sinned 
 more against the conventions of beauty than he; nevertheless, 
 everything which he has created is beautiful, because it is full 
 of character. Raphael's art has never really warmed me. . . . 
 Besides, the Southerner's aesthetic principles are quite different 
 from ours; he wants absolute beauty; while to us conventional 
 ugliness may be beautiful by virtue of its inherent truth." This 
 is another sidelight on how Italy impressed Ibsen. 
 
PEER GYNT 211 
 
 indicate his groping for a solution of that individ- 
 ualism which he was so ardently championing; they 
 represent his feeling as being strongest at that time 
 in favour of men, although his individualistic de- 
 mands were later to include the whole realm of wom- 
 anhood. " Think of me," exclaims Agnes, " sitting 
 still . . . who am debarred from the strife and 
 catch no glimmer from the fire of action." 
 
 That broadening of his viewpoint, so as to include 
 both the masculine and the feminine right, is sug- 
 gested by Jaeger in his biography. In " Peer Gynt " 
 one is able to detect the germ of Helmer's character 
 as developed in " A Doll's House." Peer, caught in 
 the wiles of Anitra's sensuousness, declares how his 
 love for her must be satisfied : " Every inch and fibre 
 of you, will-less, without yea or nay, I must know 
 filled full of me." That is the Helmer who confronts 
 Nora when she would leave home, husband, children, 
 because of the lack of spiritual affinity in her mar- 
 ried life. 
 
 " Thou art, first and foremost, wife and mother," 
 says Helmer. 
 
 " That I no longer believe," is Nora's reply. " I 
 believe that I am, first and foremost, a human be- 
 ing . . . " 
 
 Ibsen has conceived two figures to exemplify his 
 meaning of the word Individuality — the plus and the 
 minus poles of humanity; the stoic Brand, fighting 
 against the very irresolution which Peer typifies ; the 
 one determinate, cruel in his over-riding will, marches 
 through where Peer always goes around — facing 
 death of parent, child and wife — meeting death him- 
 self — for an idea ; the other, all-sufficient, losing per- 
 
212 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 spective, responsibility, moral accountability — and 
 even deceiving himself as to the reality of life. Nei- 
 ther of them is human, if judged literally; they are 
 super-positive and super-negative figures; but both 
 have points of human application. Each stands for 
 a theory, yet each is a character. This was the 
 double quality underlying Everyman. 
 
 In " Brand," the canvas is grim, cold, white, bleak 
 and rugged ; it is cruel, and so in his individuality is 
 the hero. " Peer Gynt " is tempered slightly, though 
 there are the same mountains and the same sheer 
 rocks and tarns. Thereto is added the fancy of elfs 
 and nixies — a fancy caught and quaintly expressed 
 in the Grieg motive of the march through the Hall 
 of the Dovre King. 
 
 The struggle, the largeness of both these dramas 
 are within. The soul-development is the prime fac- 
 tor. The symbolism in " Brand " Is profuse and pro- 
 found ; in " Peer Gynt " it is wholly fantastic. 
 Brand is the philosopher, the polemic, the critic of 
 Norwegian weakness; Peer is the poet, the dreamer, 
 the very weakness of Norway herself. Our analysis of 
 " Brand " is sufficiently clear to emphasize that from 
 its very vital expression resulted the natural birth of 
 " Peer Gynt." Brand, the determinate, says : " Only 
 go about this country and observe each man and you 
 will see that everyone has learnt to be a little of every- 
 thing . . . He is a fraction in great and small, 
 a fraction in evil and a fraction in good; but the 
 worst of it is, every factor of the fraction utterly viti- 
 ates all the rest." In this cry against vacillation, in 
 Brand's plea, " Do not be one thing one day 
 and something else the next," we surely see Peer, the 
 
PEER GYNT 213 
 
 inconstant. With Brand, he forms the compensating 
 balance. 
 
 Who is this " Peer Gynt " of Ibsen's creation? In- 
 deed, a picturesque, lovable rascal of a boy — one 
 whose brain is a storehouse of legends so vivid as to 
 be almost real, so real as to be almost personal. 
 When Peer lies to his mother he does so with perfect 
 unconcern, so near is he in imagination to the hero 
 of his adventure. His mother listens to his hair- 
 breadth happenings — and pales over her son's nar- 
 row escapes — then wakens to their utter falsity. Yet, 
 though she is angry, the mother-instinct is above all 
 other considerations. She has ambitions for Peer, 
 while he dreams his time away and loses Ingrid, the 
 village maid, for a wife. When Peer is told this he 
 greets it lightly, and would go to the wedding. Does 
 it avail if Ase, the mother, showers her wrath upon 
 the head of this culpable, careless, heedless scape- 
 grace? Does it matter if she threaten to shame him, 
 to show him what he is worth? It has no effect upon 
 Peer, who lifts the little woman to the roof of a shed 
 and goes his way casually to Hegstad farm — ^the im- 
 postor, the ne'er-do-weel. He cares nothing for what 
 he is ; it is what he dreams of being — a Kaiser, a 
 King — anything and everything but himself, which 
 he should be. 
 
 With all his irresponsibility, however. Peer smarts 
 under the gibes of the passers-by ; he is known by his 
 neighbours for an inconsequent liar. The villagers 
 call him scatter-brains, and they censure him; but 
 what at first might be called shame in Peer soon dwin- 
 dles into mere indifference ; he throws himself down in 
 the road and watches a cloud change shape and bring 
 
S14 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 before him the whole fanciful panorama of his kai- 
 serdom. Yet it is difficult for him to countenance 
 scorn. As the people go by him in gay attire, Peer 
 glances suddenly at his unfit clothes, and would go 
 back ; perhaps, after a fashion, he has some dim con- 
 sciousness of the stinging truth of the gibes. But 
 intention dies on the moment. The music of the 
 dance is heard afar at Hegstad farm and carries 
 Peer headlong into the midst of the revellers. 
 
 Here the girls already know him at his full value ; 
 they draw away with coquettish alarm, and on all 
 sides he meets with scant welcome. But there are 
 others present as downcast as he. The bride has 
 locked herself away from the bridegroom, and he, 
 disconsolate youth, has not the cunning or the inge- 
 nuity to reach her. The passing of Solveig at this 
 moment is the first indication of the salvation theme 
 in the drama. Peer asks her to dance — she is a 
 stranger in that throng, yet she, too, like the rest, 
 withdraws so soon as she learns his name — a name 
 symbolical throughout the country of the type of 
 man he is. 
 
 There is no conscience powerfully active in Peer 
 Gynt ; no instinctive regard for feeling. But Ibsen 
 somehow does make us realize the indescribable 
 union linking these two ; despite Solveig's refusal to 
 dance, notwithstanding Peer's subsequent drinking 
 " to spite you, because you had hurt me " — some- 
 where, here, at this moment, destiny touches them 
 both. Peer, the liar, moves idly from group to group, 
 glibly narrating his marvellous happenings. Then 
 in a spirit of pique, which follows Solveig's turning 
 from him, he hearkens to the bridegroom. Will he 
 
PEER GYNT 215 
 
 rescue the bride from her seclusion? Aye, and more 
 too, there is devilment in Peer Gynt ; he steals Ingrid, 
 takes her away up the hill side, and thereby wins the 
 enmity of the village folks. Ase reaches the scene at 
 the height of the general surprise; her intention of 
 soundly rating her son disappears in the face of a 
 fear that some ill may befall him. 
 
 How about Ingrid, the bride.? Peer* wakens to his 
 folly with the impetus taken from his sails; he will 
 have naught to do with her now; the spirit is dull, 
 the sensation of the moment exhausted. 
 
 "Dtvil take all recollections! 
 Devil take the tribe of women- 
 All but one—!" 
 
 To him she has not the purity of Solveig; with her 
 presence she does not sanctify. We needs must smile 
 over the naive lack in Peer's moral nature — the na- 
 ture of a boy. He throws the girl over as he would 
 a passing humour; he is blind to the consequences, 
 though he cowers before them later in the Dovre 
 King's hall. 
 
 And so they part, just as Ase, with Solveig and her 
 mother and father, arrive in search of the miscreant 
 Peer, with his inheritance of a drunkard father and 
 his own bringing up on dreams that served to make 
 his mother forget her cares. Ase's excuse is this : 
 
 "Some take to brandy, and others to lies; 
 And we — ^why we took to fairy-tales 
 Of princes and trolls, and of all sorts of beasts; 
 And of bride-rapes as well." 
 
 For the first time Peer feels a glow of life in his 
 veins ; there is a necessity for action, else the village 
 
216 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 will be on his heels; he sports with the saeter-girls, 
 the sensuous side of his nature welling to the sur- 
 face, and soon, alone and dizzy in the Ronde Moun- 
 tains, heaviness overtakes him. A curious cloud 
 again strikes his fancy and he gazes upward from the 
 ground where he lies. He will, indeed, ride himself 
 pure of soul, as the birds in the cold breath of the 
 wind. Far and away he hies with the wandering of 
 his mind, seeing the former wealth of his father. 
 " Thou art come of great things," he cries,. " and 
 great things shall come of thee ! " Will this not make 
 him act.'' Thus dreaming, the Green-Clad Woman 
 creeps upon him. 
 
 Let us seek to explain this symbol of darkness, of 
 the supernatural. In his unconscious state, Peer 
 comes beneath her wiles and falls to the lowest level 
 of lust; he assumes part of the inhumanness of the 
 trolls, — goblins, who gibber to him of sin, of wild liv- 
 ing. He would deceive himself even at this moment, 
 imagining the Dovre woman very beautiful despite 
 her deformity. In the midst of this hideous scene, 
 carried there by this daughter of the Troll King, 
 Peer crouches and shivers as misshapen creatures rise 
 up before him and spread worry in their wake. He 
 has been brought here on the back of a pig ^ — shall 
 he make his escape.? Behold, here before him is the 
 consequence, the embodiment of self-sufficiency — the 
 
 'This riding on the backs of wild animals and birds is a 
 common adventure in the legends of the North. For children, 
 a most excellent story is that of " The Wonderful Adventures 
 of Nils " by Selma Lagerlof (Tr., Velma Swanston Howard) 
 [Doubleday, Page, 1907], a book adopted by the public schools 
 of Sweden. 
 
PEER GYNT 217 
 
 trolls to themselves are enough! To be wholly like 
 them, he must drink of their brew, even though it be 
 not to his taste ; 'tis enough for him that it is home- 
 brewed — Ibsen's thrust at Norwegian provincialism. 
 
 Furthermore, Peer must wear a tail, he must slit his 
 eyes in order to view things troll-fashion. But once 
 changed, human sight will be his no longer. It is not 
 Peer's custom to be constant to one thing, he must 
 always have an outlet for retreat ; his imagination he 
 can rely on to carry him any distance, but his zmll 
 is weak, inconstant. There is not that within him to 
 be even a Troll entire. He now determines in a vague 
 way to escape from this plague. But what of the 
 Green-Clad Woman.'' Will he marry her, or will the 
 son, symbolizing the consequences of his act, come 
 ignobly into the world — a new sin born of an old one .'' 
 Light-hearted boy — what means lust to him? 
 
 Intent on escape Peer fights his way, tortured by 
 innumerable nixies. Into the coils of the Boyg he is 
 cast — an obscure, an intangible spirit of compromise 
 stretched in his path. He battles, he strikes, he tries 
 to go forward and backward — always the Boyg — a 
 maze of confusion. He must go around, he cannot 
 go through. Is there such a coil of compromise for 
 us to-day? Ask inclination if society will allow it to 
 be satisfied — see whether habit and custom do not 
 hem in the individual. Society- would cast such as 
 Brand into prison. From this nightmare of irresolu- 
 tion Peer wakens to find himself in the mountains by 
 Ase's sseter. At a distance he catches a glimpse of 
 Solveig. " Beg her," he pleads to the little sister, 
 Helga, " beg her not to forget me ! " Herein Peer 
 grips our sympathy. 
 
218 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 He does not lose sight of the fact that he Is an 
 outcast; dreamer though he be, the power of mem- 
 ory — an Ibsen trait — is always rife. And so he 
 builds him a hut in the forest, the snow lying deep on 
 the ground. Thus, alone, Solveig comes to him, 
 drawn thither by a bond which Peer cannot quite un- 
 derstand. Pathos, tenderness creep into his soul as 
 he takes the girl in — but passion, no, never ! She 
 has given up all for the love of him — ^will he under- 
 stand.'' His joy is that of mere companionship — the 
 sacrifice means nothing else; he grips naught but 
 the husk of delight. 
 
 So housed. Peer once more is confronted by the 
 Green-Clad Woman with the Ugly Brat — a living 
 sign of his former lust — ^he who is lame in his shank 
 " just as you too [Peer Gynt] are lame in your 
 soul." Peer denies them both, but after all it is not 
 an easy matter to discard one's thoughts and desires, 
 once they are spent. The bare glimmer of con- 
 science warns him this hideous fact will ever crop up 
 between him and Solveig, the pure. What must he 
 do .'' A positive action is the result ; he must not con- 
 taminate Solveig's goodness — ^himself thus befouled, 
 he slips away rather than soil by his presence. 
 
 He hastens to his mother's hut only to find her 
 dying. Brand's mother dies also, but note the dif- 
 ference in each son. Brand has said that should his 
 mother repent her ill-gotten gains, and should she 
 then send for him he will come. His stoicism is a cru- 
 cifixion for him. Peer sees his mother in the final 
 throes, a glassy fixedness overspreading her eyes, and 
 he dodges the immediate issue. In the spirit of fan- 
 tastical bravado he drives her, with the bed-post as 
 
PEER GYNT 219 
 
 horse, to the very gates of heaven — framing legend 
 upon legend, dro>vning the death-rattle in the noise 
 of his make-believe. The scene is throbbing with hu- 
 man value — the sheer wantonness of its action is 
 compelling — the child-like beauty of its tragic incon- 
 sequence is the highest poetic expression in Ibsen. In 
 the Mansfield production the tenderness of this situa- 
 tion was strikingly felt. Peer, the liar, was a most 
 lovable fellow. Bending over the dead mother, he 
 whispers : 
 
 " For all of your days I thank you, 
 For beatings and lullabys ! " 
 
 Thirty years pass and Peer is middle-aged. From 
 now on the most prosaic of incidents befall him ; 
 gross materialism works its ill. Ibsen makes use 
 of a certain extravagance of conception here, but 
 he falls into a critical vein that is incompatible with 
 the dominant tone of the whole poem. In Morocco, 
 Peer is Croesus, surrounded by friends of all climes, 
 men who tickle his vanity and have their eyes riveted 
 on the main chance. He is still intent upon the gain- 
 ing of his kaiserdom, but he does not seem to think 
 it necessary to question his process toward attaining 
 it. Out of sight, out of memory — ^the Green-Clad One 
 and Solveig — those two extremes in his life's way! 
 He has traded — and traded well — in slaves and in 
 Bibles. Norway is in truth the faint-hearted replica 
 of Peer Gynt, with the same indifferent religion and 
 the same indefinite character. When Ibsen hits hard, 
 he does not spare either Peer or the Nation : 
 
 " The essence of the art of daring. 
 The art of bravery in act, 
 Is this: To sta^id with choice-free foot. 
 
220 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Amid the treacherous snares of life — 
 To know for sure that other days 
 Remain beyond the day of battle- 
 To know that ever in the rear 
 A bridge for your retreat stands open. 
 This theory has borne me on, 
 Has given my whole career its colour; 
 And this same theory 1 inherit, 
 A race-gift, from my chlldhod's home." 
 
 With no direct path in view, therefore, Peer Gynt 
 would be Emperor over all the world by might of the 
 wealth he has made. His vision thus distorted, as 
 badly in its way as though his eyes had been slit troll- 
 fashion, vainglorious and inflated by the idea of his 
 own importance, it is not long before gold and yacht 
 are craftily enticed from him by these various friends 
 of his aboard, but not felicitously, however, in view 
 of the outcome. Ibsen's sarcastic side-thrusts 
 through this act are numberless and are of small 
 value, except in so far as they give expression to his 
 persistent irritation over national anaemia. There is 
 a spectacular closing to Peer's " gentleman" days. 
 A fearful explosion occurs on his yacht after it falls 
 into the hands of his solicitous guests, and every- 
 thing aboard is lost. First, fearful in his anathemas. 
 Peer now gives thanks that he has escaped with his 
 life. As for God, " He takes fatherly thought for 
 my personal weal; but economical — no, that He 
 isn't ! " 
 
 In Mr. Mansfield's acting version, the scenes to- 
 ward the close of the play are freely cut; confusion 
 and loss of unity — if " Peer Gynt " may be said to 
 have any artistic unity other than that every scene 
 is a phase of this demand of his — result therefrom. 
 
PEER GYNT 221 
 
 a fact which could have been avoided by sacrificing 
 wholly those incidents or vagaries in the East. One 
 is never a prophet in one's own country, but there is 
 no telling how easily others may be deceived by the 
 outward garb. Peer is hailed prophet in an Arabian 
 camp because of a costume which is thrown in his 
 way by chance. But he becomes neither prophet nor 
 himself, though he easily deceives himself. Headlong 
 he falls into greater absurdities, charmed by the 
 physical grace of a maid named Anitra, inveigled by 
 wiles and the rhythm of dance and of song, himself 
 inflated by shallow feelings, a coxcomb of selfishness, 
 blind to the fact that this same Anitra is waiting her 
 moment to fleece him, which she soon proceeds to do. 
 Thus rifled of wealth. Peer Gynt is wholly at a loss. 
 
 But as a dreamer, a self-deceiver, he is resource- 
 ful. Ibsen is inclined to mix his motives, perhaps the 
 better to show that however bad he was in his .weak- 
 ness, Peer Gynt at least had some faint idea of this 
 weakness of will. "Know you what it is to live.'"' 
 asks he of Anitra : 
 
 " It is to be wafted 
 Dry-shod down the stream of time. 
 Wholly, solely as oneself .... 
 Aged eagle moults his plumage. 
 Aged fogey lags declining, . . . 
 One and all get withered souls. 
 Youth! Ah Youth! I mean to reign . . . 
 . . . enthroned in the freshness 
 Of a woman's virgin thoughts." 
 
 I cannot help but feel that this part of " Peer Gynt " 
 prompted George Bernard Shaw to write his " Caesar 
 and Cleopatra." There is the same spaciousness of 
 
222 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 scene, the same half realization of the poetry of the 
 East, and the same jocose point of view. Ibsen gave 
 reins to his fancy and went wheresoe'er the opportu- 
 nity was best fitted for a few thrusts he wanted to 
 make. He and Peer Gynt stand avowedly the same 
 in small particulars. 
 
 Finding it necessary to prune still further, Mr. 
 Mansfield omitted most of the final scenes in the 
 fourth act — incidents thrusting sarcasm upon the 
 language reformers ; introducing a mad-house which 
 occupies the same relation to Peer that the Ice- 
 Church does to Brand, and interspersing the dialogue 
 with unessential local, political, and social references. 
 Then follows the real poetic and logical conclusion. 
 
 We are given a vision of Solveig waiting for the 
 coming of her Peer, a motive beautifully conceived 
 in music by Grieg. But it is a long voyage before 
 their meeting, one fraught with many agonies for 
 Peer — scenes which represent, in externalization, the 
 spiritual upheaval in his breast. On board a ship in 
 the North Sea, his solitary figure, careworn and soul- 
 sick, is pathetic. Strange ideas come to him in the 
 form of a Passenger, who, in grotesque manner, sug- 
 gests to him a possible death at sea. Soon after, the 
 vessel is wrecked and Peer fights for his life, and 
 struggles to gain for himself alone the support of a 
 floating spar; the weird Passenger haunts him even 
 here. " Have you gained the victory that is given 
 in dread ? " he asks of Peer. Yes, this time fear does 
 conquer the indifference of his nature. " I must 
 ashore ! " he cries. Ibsen wrote with a vagabond 
 elation, and his technique was in thorough correspond- 
 ence. 
 
PEER GYNT 223 
 
 Because of this willing he soon finds himself near 
 Solveig's hut, where an auction is going on; we are 
 reminded somewhat of the return of Rip Van Winkle 
 from the Kaatskill Mountains. Peer's name and the 
 tradition of his wild ways are still common talk 
 among the village people. Then, into their midst 
 comes the wanderer — he would sell and be rid of that 
 which he has bought with ruin — his dreams, his kai- 
 serdom, his crown of straw — all he would sell. 
 
 It dawns upon him, while wandering in the deep 
 forest soon after, that he is very near the hut he built 
 for himself — it has sheltered Solveig these long years 
 of his transgressing — there his true kaiserdom lay. 
 
 Already along the road the Button-Moulder is 
 coming. He calls to Peer, as Death called to Every- 
 man. What is to become of this Gyntian wreck? He 
 is to be melted up in a crucible and used over again 
 in the making of another man. For he is neither good 
 nor bad — only cast, as it often happens, in a wrong 
 mould of life. Peer himself confesses : " At worst 
 you may call me a sort of a bungler — ^but certainly 
 not an exceptional sinner." Can he then prove that he 
 has been himself all these days? Where is the wit- 
 ness to appear in his behalf? In the hall of the 
 Dovre King did not Peer refuse to be changed into 
 aught but himself? Yes, for his motto was that of 
 the trolls — " To thyself be enough." Therefore it is 
 useless for the Monster-King to appear in his defence.^ 
 
 ' In the Ibsen Conference, held by M. Henri Lichtenberger, 
 we note the following: " Ibsen distingue entre la morale des 
 hommes, qui est; 'Sois toi-mSme', et la morale des trolls, gtres 
 inf^rieurs, moiti^ hommes, moiti^ betes, qui est: ' Suffis-toi a 
 toi-meme.' La premifere de ces formules dMnit I'individualisme 
 
224 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Solveig is singing nearby. " There," pleads Peer 
 to the Button-Moulder, " there I will surely find the 
 list of my sins." But Solveig, when questioned, 
 knows naught of them. " Thou hast made all my 
 life as a beautiful song," she says. " Where was I, 
 as myself, all these years .'' " questions Peer, while 
 Death stands by. " In my faith, in my hope, and in 
 my love," she replies, a radiance suffusing her face. 
 Down on his knees, with his head in her lap. Peer finds 
 his kaiserdom at last. No matter whether Death 
 overtake him now, this negative figure lives to see the 
 error of his philosophy. 
 
 Here, then, is the story of Peer Gynt — a majestic 
 moral tale, as enacted by Mr. Mansfield. The play 
 is rich in atmosphere, varied in colour of mountain 
 and moorland, and its extravagance of scene-display 
 is one of the factors in the difficult way of its practi- 
 cal presentation. Oile reading of the text will suffice 
 to indicate why the role in every particular covered 
 the characteristics marking the work of Richard 
 Mansfield. Never before then had such demands been 
 focussed for him on a single character; even Cyrano 
 de Bergerac lacked the youthfulness, though possess- 
 ing a similar braggadocio. In " Peer Gynt " there 
 are changes that occur from scene to scene, challeng- 
 ing comparison, so close do they follow one upon the 
 other. The role calls for boyishness of soul as well 
 as of body, a youth who sings a careless song, full 
 of unalloyed exuberance. It calls for the process of 
 growing old. The accomplishment of these demands 
 was the final triumph of Mansfield, the actor. 
 
 permis et legitime; la seconde marque le point oil il se fait 
 ^goisme, et devient ainsi ddgradant pour la nature humaine." 
 
PEER GYNT 225 
 
 The first edition ^ of " Peer Gynt " was published 
 on November 14, 1867, and, within a fortnight, it re- 
 ceived another printing ; it seized the Norwegian peo- 
 ple because of its variety and fantasy, because, more- 
 over, by the very criticism of national failings, a 
 sense of possible national strength was suggested to 
 them. To the very core it was a product of the 
 North, instinct with its manners, its feelings, and its 
 traditional aspirations; if the Italian landscape put 
 any impress upon its scenic scheme, it is hardly evi- 
 dent. The satire is mingled with no spleen, and in 
 fact made use of with no large organic purpose — 
 and being but timely comment, this same satire, as 
 applied to the coiistant references regarding Nor- 
 way in 1867, is of no poignancy to-day. 
 
 The same grievance against Ibsen which was held 
 over the unsolved problem in " Brand," may here be 
 taken into account. There is no summing of philos- 
 ophy, no satisfactory conclusion to a potpourri of 
 doubts and fears and struggles. It is no new thing, 
 Ibsen's dislike of Norway's self-sufficiency ; and since 
 he has before this proclaimed the rights of the in- 
 dividual, it is not surprising to find Peer protesting 
 against the casting-ladle. The popular reception of 
 the play was due largely to the imaginative vigour in 
 contrast with "Brand." Bjornson reviewed the 
 book, and so did Clemens Petersen; the latter pro- 
 
 '2d edition, Kbhvn., November 28, 1874; 3d edition, Kbhvn., 
 September 24, 1874; 4th edition, Kbhvn., Ottober 12, 1876; Sth 
 edition, Kbhvn., September 22, 1881; 6th edition, Kbhvn., No- 
 vember 26, 1885; 7th edition, Kbhvn., April 29, 1886; 8th edi- 
 tion, Kbhvn., July 16, 1891; 9th edition, Kbhvn., December 15, 
 1893; 10th edition, Kbhvn., September 9, 1896. See Halvorsen. 
 
226 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 tested against " its transpositions from reality to 
 art," in which " it neither completely fulfils the re- 
 quirements of art nor those of reality." 
 
 Ibsen always smarted under criticism ; but never in 
 so irritable a fashion as over Petersen. In the orig- 
 inal, " Peer Gynt " was written in rhymed verse of 
 different measures, and was severely criticised, both 
 for its form and content. Undoubtedly Petersen did 
 not give full value to the imaginative matrix of the 
 piece when he assigned the whole to the " domain of 
 polemical journalism," nor did he carefully consider 
 the meaning of real poetry when he declared it no 
 poetry at all. Stung to the quick, Ibsen would have 
 had Bjornson thrash him for the error of his ways.^ 
 " This article will come to bum and scathe his soul," 
 Ibsen declared, for there is hardly a point of truth 
 in his critical strictures. Let those who are prone to 
 read symbolism into the dramas of Henrik Ibsen 
 hearken to his treatment of Petersen's interpretation 
 of the Strange Passenger as the symbol of terror; 
 according to his declaration, he meant nothing of the 
 kind — the scenes with this Strange Passenger were 
 purely matters of caprice. With that high superior- 
 ity born of the consciousness of his divine gift, Ibsen 
 scouted the idea of " Peer Gynt " not being poetical. 
 " My book is poetry," he cried out; " and if it is 
 not, then it will be. The conception of poetry, in our 
 
 ' Ibsen, however,, was amenable to reason, and did not resent 
 sincere criticism such as Brandes gave. He wrote to Gosse 
 from Dresden, on October 14, 1872, thanlcing him for his fair 
 interpretation of " Peer Gynt " which had appeared in The 
 Spectator; " for jour fault-finding I have no doubt there is 
 reason; I see some of the defects of the work myself now." 
 
PEER GYNT 227 
 
 country, in Norway, shall be made to conform to the 
 book." 
 
 His letter to Bjornson discussing the subject is a 
 perfect example of his surety of individual viewpoint ; 
 he is prone, so he confesses, to dissect himself where 
 it hurts most, and he is not afraid to probe. But he 
 will not countenance lies. What Petersen has done 
 for him, none the less is salutary. He wrote : " I 
 feel that this anger is invigorating all my powers. 
 If it be war, then let it be war ! If I am no poet, then 
 I have nothing to lose. I shall try my luck as a 
 photographer.^ My contemporaries in the North I 
 shall take in hand, one after the other, as I have al- 
 ready taken the nationalist language reformers. I 
 will not spare the child in the mother's womb, nor 
 the thought or feeling that lies under the word of any 
 living soul that deserves the honour of my notice." 
 
 The satire which the critics in Norway and Den- 
 mark discovered running through " Peer Gynt " was 
 emphasized to the detriment of the lighter phase — 
 the phase which turns Peer from a symbol into an 
 individual. " Why cannot they read the book as a 
 poem.''" Ibsen queried. This assuredly is good ad- 
 vice for all who would take the book up for first 
 introduction. The play is dependent upon its semi- 
 legendary backbone — lightly, gracefully handled, 
 with much more of the folk-lore element than con- 
 scious philosophical meaning. For it must be re- 
 membered that by the very creation of a character 
 such as Peer, if the dramatist is true to his general 
 premises, if he is faithful in reconciling the condi- 
 tions of character with the conditions of circum- 
 ' See the later satire in " The Wild Duck." 
 
228 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 stance, there will be an inherent philosophy of life 
 which comes with life rather than as a conscious 
 adaptation or conception of the author. That is 
 where so many interpreters assign to Ibsen, and as a 
 matter of fact to every author of large primal vision, 
 what is not designedly conceived, but what is uncon- 
 sciously or subconsciously present. 
 
 Of course, Ibsen was always hiding behind his 
 characters, and his denials must be taken cautiously. 
 But I would prefer to measure " Peer Gynt " and 
 place a value upon it from its fantastical and semi- 
 human angle, rather than from any academic view of 
 its ethics. The legendary sources, for the sake of 
 convenience, are here summarized: 
 
 THE FOLK-LORE OF PEER GYNT 
 
 Based chiefly on Mr. William Archer's analysis. 
 
 Name of Peer Gynt. See Asbjornsen, Moe. Collection of Tales, 
 " Reindeer-Hunting in the Ronde Hills." Both tales found 
 in Archer's translation. 
 Peer's Adventure (Act I, Sc. 1). Ibid, as above "Gudbrand 
 
 Glesne." 
 Saeter Girls (Act 11, Sc. 3). ) 
 
 Boyg (Act II, Sc. 7). (. Asbjornsen. 
 
 Peer as a Fantasist. \ 
 
 Devil in a Nutshell. Asbjornsen. " The Boy and the Devil." 
 Green-Clad One and Ugly Brat (Act III, Sc. 3). 
 
 Berthe Tuppenhaug's Stories. 
 Peer's Eyes and Standard of Hill-Trolls (Act II, Sc. 6). 
 
 Berthe Tuppenhaug's Stories. 
 Thread Ball episode (Act V, Sc. 6). 
 
 Berthe Tuppenhaug's Stories. 
 The Castle—" East of the Sun and West of the Moon " (Act 
 III, Sc. 4). Asbjornsen. 
 
 Found in Andrew Lang's " Btue Fairy Book." 
 
PEER GYNT 229 
 
 Soria Moria Castle. Another legend by Asbjornsen. 
 Peer and the Casting Ladle (Act V, Sc. 7). 
 
 According to Passarge, in Asbjomsen's "The Smith Whom 
 They Dared not Let into Hell." Archer disputes this. 
 References: 
 
 Popular Tales from the Norse. 
 
 Sir Oeorge Webbe Dasent. 1859; 1903. 
 
 Tales from the Field. G. W. Dasent. 1874. 
 
 Round the Yule Log. H. L. Broekstad. 1881. 
 
 Folk and Fairy Tales. P. Chr. Asbjornsen. Tr., H. L. Broek- 
 stad. Introduction by Edmund W. Oosse. Armstrong, 1883. 
 
 Ueber die letzte Dinge. Otto Weininger, 1907. [Contains an 
 exhaustive analysis of " Peer Oynt."] 
 
 Neither " Brand " nor " Peer Gynt " was intended 
 for stage production; Ibsen often made this state- 
 ment, and reiterated it in 1881 to Passarge, who was 
 making a German translation,-' much to the surprise 
 of Ibsen, who regarded the poem as being the one of 
 his, " least likely to be understood out of Scandi- 
 navia." It certainly, to his mind, had been greatly 
 misinterpreted at home, and in 1880 he was still nurs- 
 ing the idea of clearing all errors by writing his 
 autobiographical interpretation of himself. 
 
 It is natural, however, that he should want to ex- 
 ternalize his fantasy, and maybe he detected in " Peer 
 Gynt " the opportunity of co-operating with the na- 
 tional opera movement. When he wrote to Edvard 
 Grieg in January, 1874, apropos of the music, he had 
 already in mind writing to Josephson, which he did 
 the following month, telling of an adaptation which he 
 
 ' Ibsen has been very extensively translated in Germany; note 
 Borch, Hermann, Strodtmann, Lange, Brausewetter, Caroline 
 von Klingenfeld. In 1897 a French version of " Peer Gynt " 
 was made by Comte M. Prozor (See La Nouvelle Bevue, 1896). 
 For comment, notices, consult Halvorsen — Bibliography. 
 
230 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 had made and which would be practical for perform- 
 ance. Josephson, though a Swede, was director of 
 the Christiania Theatre, in the face of the opposing 
 Norwegian National party, and, true to his desire to 
 further his native land, Ibsen made the offer before 
 turning to Copenhagen or Stockholm. He met Jo- 
 sephson when he returned to Christiania in the sum- 
 mer of 1874, and there, probably, the performance 
 and the composition of the music were further dis- 
 cussed. 
 
 When Mr. Archer* first thought of translating 
 " Peer Gynt," he considered seriously the advisa- 
 bility of using prose, to which Ibsen put forth a 
 strong protest. So a middle course was adopted, 
 where the metres without rhymes were retained wher- 
 ever possible. The result is faithful and literal, how- 
 ever lacking it may be in spontaneity ; removed from 
 the libretto style, yet suggestive of it. Though mis- 
 leading in prose form, a more eloquent fulness might 
 have been gained ; yet the variety of its natural swing 
 would have been sacrificed. 
 
 Mr. Mansfield, of course, used the Archer version, 
 taking more of the play than Ibsen ever thought to 
 be practicable.^ Scenes from the story had been given 
 
 ^ See the Introduction to " Peer Gynt " — ^the Archer definitive 
 edition (1907), for a discussion of metre and rhyme, p. xxx 
 et seq. Correspondence with Grieg was carried on, and in 
 Letter 111, modifications and final results are well indicated. 
 
 ' Regarding " Peer Gynt " performances, the reader is re- 
 ferred to the excellent chapter on this drama in Lothar's study. 
 There are pictures of Klausen in the title rdle at the Christi- 
 ania Theatre, February 24, 1876, and the scene of Ase's death 
 in the Christiania production of March 9, 1893, when Bjorn 
 Bjornson was Peer, and Frl. Parelias was the mother. Hal- 
 
PEER GYNT 231 
 
 before in America, notably in 1906, by an esoteric 
 organism known as the Progressive Stage Society of 
 New York. But Mansfield was the pioneer, and his 
 stage version the first English acting book from the 
 larger whole. 
 
 Where can we find the prototype of Peer Gynt? 
 He is not only a philosopher, summed up as the Gynt- 
 ish Self, that 
 
 "... world behind my forehead's arch, in force of which I'm 
 no one else than I, no more than God's the Devil." 
 
 His figure looms forth from Norwegian tradition ; 
 he is the very tradition and reality; bits of this na- 
 tional experience become blended with his very ex- 
 istence. He is a composite of the peasantry — a figure 
 as fantastical as Siegfried is heroic — both equally 
 symbolic. There is much of the romantic and melo- 
 dramatic grandiloquence of Cyrano de Bergerac in 
 Peer; much of Everyman's universality, I like the 
 comparison of Brand and Peer Gynt and Don Quixote 
 — as the supreme or extreme types of Stoic, Fanta- 
 sist, and Romanticist. This is a world-drama at the 
 same time that it is a morality, with none of the 
 ecclesiasticism of the latter, with none of its over- 
 burdened piety. 
 
 Its purpose is to throw strong upon the screen a 
 negative picture in order that the positive might be 
 more determinate by contrast. It triumphs in its 
 ideal of womanhood — the purity of Solveig which 
 
 vorsen indicates additional performances, in especial that given 
 in Paris at the Theatre I'CEuvre, with Deval as Peer, Mile. 
 Suzanne Auclaire as Solveig, Mile. Barbieri as Ase, and Lugne- 
 Poe as the Dovre King. 
 
232 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 frees Peer, which Kfts from him somehow the weight 
 of his sin. But even though he is a lovable fellow 
 beneath his wanton ways, and attracts, despite the 
 immoral ease with which he dodges reality, there is 
 naught in Peer Gynt from which a husband, a family 
 man, could be moulded. There was no' permanent 
 structure to his soul ; it was always in course of con- 
 struction, and always, through lack of will, being an- 
 nihilated. Ibsen's romantic tendencies kept Solveig 
 true to such a type. 
 
 But in their relation do we not immediately recall 
 Marguerite and Faust.? Then there is a suggestion 
 of Hamlet, not in dignity of soul — on the one hand 
 a prince whose philosophy prevents him from acting, 
 on the other hand a pauper, a vagabond, who does 
 not act through the sheer lack of any power of con- 
 centration whatsoever. Surely the ghost of Den- 
 mark's king and the Troll scene are both the external- 
 izing of inward states of being. It is this very inner 
 quality which is more active and of more consequence 
 both in " Brand " and " Peer Gynt " than the out- 
 ward scene can suggest. And for that reason it is 
 difficult for theatre-goers to escape mystification with- 
 out previous and extended preparation. But there is 
 no reason whatever for a lack of comprehension ; with 
 all of his vanity and cowardice and wavering, Ibsen's 
 hero is a universal type; as an idea, he may demand 
 a certain pondering; but so vividly and heartily is 
 he clad in outward interest, as to be definite. Herein 
 lay the art of the poet in Ibsen. 
 
CHAPTER XII "^ 
 
 THE riRST OP THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 
 
 So steadily and consistently had Ibsen been work- 
 ing up the accomplishment of " Emperor and Gali- 
 lean," that it seems almost natural to proceed with a 
 consideration of that play, rather than to turn to one 
 of a far different class. But several times was Ibsen 
 to be interrupted in his progress by the interposition 
 of a dramatic type far different from his previous 
 style. Suddenly " Love's Comedy " intervened be- 
 tween the writing of " The Vikings at Helgeland " 
 and " The Pretenders," breaking the continuity of 
 the Saga period by the introduction of the Satiric. 
 Now, between " Peer Gynt " and " Emperor and 
 Galilean," was interposed " The League of Youth " 
 as the first Ibsen experiment in social drama of the 
 distinctively prosaic order. 
 
 We have it on good authority that with the change 
 in outward circumstances effected by the grants made 
 to Ibsen, there was a corresponding change in certain 
 characteristics marking the man — a more determinate 
 expression of his habits and manner — and in so far 
 gripping him as to alter his handwriting. Ibsen's 
 temper was in a very uncertain state; he was strug- 
 gling against the idea of returning home, where he 
 felt that he would either make enemies of everyone 
 or be untrue to himself by sneaking himself into fa- 
 vour. He was not only writing to Hegel, calling 
 attention to the literary limitation of Bjornson's pow- 
 ers, as revealed in " The Fisher Maid," but he was 
 bickering with Bjornson over the very trivial fact 
 that he liked decorations while the other did not. Ib- 
 sen could not approve of a republic; he was much 
 
g34 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 more in favour of a monarchy. " For my part," he 
 wrote, " I feel that by declining [a decoration offered 
 him] I should make myself guilty of a lie to myself 
 and others. If I had had any real desire for such 
 finery, I should certainly have refrained from play- 
 ing the part of ' state-satirist.' But if the finery 
 comes my way — why, then, no ado about it ! " 
 
 In 1867, Dr. Brandes completed his " First Impres- 
 sion " of Ibsen, which was, in Its general trend, of 
 a favourable nature, however much he misinterpreted, 
 or rather underestimated, " Peer Gynt." This fact, 
 together with Ibsen's growing interest in Brandes' 
 vigorous intellect, served to draw the two together. 
 " It may almost be asserted," a German critic claims, 
 " that Brandes' work, which created a new school of 
 literature in Denmark, was also ' epoch-making ' in 
 Ibsen's literary career." Perhaps the latter felt that 
 here was someone who really understood him, and 
 while at the time, as it was later to be emphasized, 
 this may have been true, still the moment was propi- 
 tious for the making of a new and lasting friendship, 
 when the old friendship with Bjornson was in such 
 imminent jeopardy. 
 
 Of course, there were deeper reasons than this be- 
 hind the intense sympathy which sprang up between 
 Brandes and Ibsen. First of all, he admired the 
 Danish critic's challenge to orthodoxy,'' and his up- 
 holding the stand taken in the direction of progress. 
 He believed in Brandes' position as a force in that 
 
 ' See accounts of Brandes' attack on Rasmus Nielsen's philos- 
 ophy. Bjdrnson was against Brandes. Nielsen was a disciple 
 of Kierkegaard; in 1849 he began emphasizing his belief in the 
 irreconcilability of religion and science. 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 235 
 
 " revolution of the spirit of man " which was about 
 to occur. He considered as epoch-making " Main 
 Currents in the Nineteenth Century Literature," the 
 pubhcation of which created a furor in Copenhagen, 
 and practically closed the press to Brandes, unless he 
 inserted his articles as paid advertisements. Ibsen 
 was exultant in the battle which Brandes was thus 
 waging for intellectual freedom ; he drew much from 
 his vigour, his penetration, his clarity; and in the 
 " ^sthetical Studies " which Brandes published, he 
 read and re-read the essays on the Comic, which he 
 regarded as " a real gold mine."' 
 
 There was perfect accord between them ; their bat- 
 tles may have been in different spheres, but certainly 
 in the same progressive direction; they both agreed 
 in their attitude toward modern society, and that is 
 why we find Brandes upholding Ibsen's plays that 
 deal distinctively with the social problems. These 
 two, however, had their little differences during the 
 years, as, for instance, when Ibsen, who was not al- 
 ways a prompt correspondent, failing to answer a 
 letter of his in 1896, Brandes, piqued by the silence, 
 addressed him as " Honoured Sir." There followed 
 a quick rebuke from Ibsen, who had always main- 
 tained that between them no lasting or serious rupture 
 could ever occur. He wrote : " I think that it ought 
 to be beneath the dignity of a man like you to be- 
 have so because of one or two letters that have not 
 been written — by a man whose chief passion is cer- 
 tainly not correspondence, even with his best and 
 dearest friends." 
 
 It is agreeable to consider this close association be- 
 tween men of such proportions. They both realized 
 
236 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 the immense influence that the work of each would 
 have upon their generation. There must have been 
 something invigorating in Ibsen's confidence in 
 Brandes' ability to do, and the constant iteration, in 
 letters to Brandes, of the surety in his future. From 
 Dresden, on May 18, 1871, Ibsen wrote, acknowledg- 
 ing the receipt of a photograph from Brandes. They 
 had still the expectations of meeting.-^ 
 
 Another very agreeable view of Ibsen to be noted 
 at this time was his continual watchfulness over his 
 son Sigurd. The latter was now nine years old, at 
 what the father considered to be a critical stage, 
 when his education would have to be carefully 
 planned. He was writing to Hegel from Rome on 
 February 24, 1868, asking to have sent him a geog- 
 raphy, a universal history, a history of Scandinavia, 
 a book on natural history, an arithmetic, as well as 
 some text manuals on general and Bible history, in 
 which subjects Sigurd seems to have shown consider- 
 able interest. Heretofore, instruction had been some- 
 what desultory, and the variety of the range Ibsen 
 wished Sigurd to cover was considerably, outside the 
 regular routine of study. In 1875, the father out- 
 lined his son's progress in a letter to Konrad Maurer, 
 showing that he had himself given some thought to 
 primary and secondary education in Germany, and 
 adding that he wished his boy instructed in French 
 and English by Frenchmen and Englishmen. " The 
 creed taught in the school is not a matter of great 
 moment," he said in his inquiry concerning the condi- 
 tion of educational affairs in Munich. 
 
 ' Most of Brandes' imported works are accessible to English 
 readers, especially " Main Currents." 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 237 
 
 After Sigurd Ibsen had attained manhood,^ his 
 father was equally solicitous regarding his welfare, 
 exerting every effort to further him in his different 
 diplomatic and official posts. In 1892, the names of 
 Ibsen and Bjornson were united through the mar- 
 riage of Sigurd with Bjornson's daughter. 
 
 In the spring of 1868 Ibsen again began to wan- 
 der ; but before leaving Rome he was given a dinner, 
 and thereat many must have formed opinions as to 
 how far Italian influence had affected him. Soon 
 after, Julius Lange, a Danish art historian, who was 
 at the banquet table, wrote of him, telling of his wit 
 during the evening, but being overwrought by the 
 spice of the devil in the Ibsen make-up. The Nor- 
 wegian must have been airing in his positive manner 
 some views relative to art, for Lange ends by claim- 
 ing that " if it were my affair to cure him, I should 
 order Greek literature or art — first in small doses, so 
 that he should not spit them out ; then ever larger and 
 larger, until his sense for proportion and form came 
 right." 
 
 ' Sigurd Ibsen received his Doctor's degree from the Univer- 
 sity of Rome, and in 1883 an LL.D. was conferred upon him. 
 In 1884 he joined the consulate department in Christiania and 
 the following year was in the Swedish-Norwegian diplomatic 
 service at Washington, D. C. (U. S. A.) and Vienna. In 1890, 
 on account of Norwegian nationalistic causes, he left the diplo- 
 matic service, devoting himself until 1899 to authorship; he 
 wrote a book on " The Union Between Norway and Sweden." 
 In 1899, he again came into the government's service, having, 
 for some years previous to this, been lecturer on Sociology in 
 the University of Christiania. In 1902, he was a member of the 
 Ministry and in 1903 became Norwegian Minister at Stoclc- 
 holm. It is thus seen that a great part of his early life, like 
 that of his father, was passed abroad. 
 
238 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 But Ibsen was too old a hand to change at forty 
 years of age; all of his little personal prides and 
 prejudices had fixed his habits, and he was too much 
 of a piece with Norway to sacrifice the traditions of 
 the North for those of the South. Leaving Rome on 
 May 13, 1868, he went to Florence, and during June, 
 July and August was at Berchtesgaden, in Southern 
 Bavaria. After this, he was to remain in Germany 
 from 1868 to 1891, a period interrupted by two trips 
 to Italy, the one In 1878-79 and the other from 1880 
 to 1885. 
 
 Ibsen's chief source of irritation was the news he 
 received from home; he was chafing under the con- 
 stant signs of provincialism In Christiania; he was 
 still uttering diatribes against Norwegian coquetry 
 with the Swedes, believing the latter to be " intel- 
 lectual antagonists," who could not be fused Into 
 one, unless some radical change in their nature was 
 brought about; surely, he argued, compatibility 
 could never be reached by half-hearted, lU-founded 
 compromises. To his mind, what the Northern situ- 
 ation needed was some national disaster which would 
 make demands upon the right to exist. Ibsen's con- 
 tempt for the average in life is marked. These dia- 
 tribes usually ended in the one remedy which he could 
 think of, having tried It himself. " Go abroad," he 
 exclaims. In a letter to his mother-in-law, " nothing 
 Is impossible that one desires with an Indomitable 
 will." 
 
 He did little more, while in the mountains, than 
 plan out his next play ; this was to deal with the ele- 
 ments, which, however incongruous they might be, 
 were, nevertheless, commonly spoken of as " the local 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 239 
 
 situation."^ So poorly did these elements really ex- 
 press the true situation that they were as much of 
 a bugbear, taken as a whole, as the Boyg was to Peer 
 Gynt. They were virtually naught but a series of 
 compromises. Ibsen was regarding the political 
 changes very closely, and in a manner he was finding 
 Bjornson a typical social barometer. So intently was 
 he watching this figure that his unconscious satiriza- 
 tion of Bjornson was not realized, even after the furor 
 ■was raised by the identification of the Liberal Stens- 
 gard with his living prototype. 
 
 Ibsen was not a party man, though he was much 
 nearer the Conservatives than the Radicals or Libe- 
 rals, who, as an organization, according to Jaeger, 
 based their ideas upon " a sort of romantic national- 
 ism." At this moment, Bjornson appeared in Ibsen's 
 eyes as the epitome of all the unwisdom and youthful 
 rashness of the Liberal party; he was championing 
 the rights of the majority, the peasantry; he was an 
 agitator, but not quite so formidable or dangerous 
 as Ibsen imagined. Brandes pictures the genial 
 orator : " I see him standing on the platform at a 
 public meeting, tall and broad-shouldered, towering 
 above thousands of Norwegian peasants, swaying the 
 silent multitude around him by the mighty tones of 
 his voice and his irresistible devotion to the truth, 
 
 ^ From Stockholm, on Sept. 3, 1877, Ibsen asked Markus 
 Gronvold to alter an expression in the German version of the 
 play. "You will probably remember that Aslaksen in the play 
 often speaks of ' de lokale forhold ' ; this, Strodtmann has 
 translated literally, ' lokale Verhaltnisse ' — which is wrong, 
 because no suggestion of comicality or narrowmindedness 
 is conveyed by this German expression." (See Correspond- 
 ence, 130.) 
 
24,0 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 greeted by a storm of jubilant homage the moment 
 his voice ceases." 
 
 Ibsen could not countenance this wild democracy 
 which was gaining headway ; he saw in it a tendency 
 toward socialism, and at that time he was not in sym- 
 pathy with the peasantry. There was a strong ele- 
 ment of the aristocrat in his character, and the sweep- 
 ing enthusiasm of Bjornson was against his nature.^ 
 Political conditions in Norway were not so marked 
 as to separate the Right and the Left by any im- 
 manent gulf ; " there were then," writes Jseger, " no 
 strongly contrasted views of life, but merely different 
 attitudes towards one or two of the political questions 
 upon which people are commonly divided." Ibsen's 
 feeling was that of irritation against the so-called 
 Liberal party, and there is no doubt that he regarded 
 B j ornson as somewhat of a demagogue. 
 
 While spending his vacation in the Salzburg Alps, 
 therefore, Ibsen's mind was centred on these paltry 
 political conditions at home. He began mapping out 
 his play, but did not actually start writing until he 
 
 'An interesting analysis of Bjornson and his Nationalism, 
 which so hurt Ibsen's desire for Scandinavianism, is found in 
 Boyesen's " Essays on Scandinavian Literature." The Liberals 
 were intent on an equality between Norway and Sweden; the 
 Conservatives were regarded as truckling to the King and to 
 Sweden. Boyesen went with Bjornson on the political tour of 
 1873, and the following pen picture is significant: 
 
 " Bjornson, though he is an evolutionist, is far removed from 
 the philosophic temper in his dealings with the obsolete or 
 obsolescent remnants in political and religious creeds. He has 
 the healthful intolerance of strong conviction. He is too good 
 a partisan to admit that there may be another side to the 
 question which might be worth considering." 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 24.1 
 
 reached Dresden. From Munich, however, he wrote 
 to Hegel in September telling him that he was find- 
 ing pleasure in " this new, peaceable work." While 
 in this city he was intent on watching what' he termed 
 " the Prussophobia of its inhabitants." 
 
 In October, when he finally settled in Dresden, 
 Ibsen again wrote to his publisher reporting on his 
 progress, and giving as the title of the play : " The 
 League of Youth; or, The Almighty & Co.," a fa- 
 cetious name which could, in its latter half, be easily 
 dispensed with. Hegel thought this, and readily 
 obtained Ibsen's consent to call it simply " The 
 League of Youth," " though," added the author, re- 
 ferring to the suppressed phrase, " it could have 
 given offence to no one TXfho had read the play." 
 
 To Ibsen, the manuscript represented a new artis- 
 tic elaborateness, because of the medium of prose, in 
 which the tendencies of modern life were discussed. 
 He was evidently striving to make the appeal wider 
 than Norwegian, for he was constantly emphasizing 
 that both in expression and in situation the piece 
 would be just as understandable in Denmark. His 
 hope was to finish the manuscript by the end of the 
 year, but the very fact that it was not published be- 
 fore September 30, 1869, indicates that both the 
 novelty of the subject-matter and the newness of the 
 medium made the actual writing a matter of some 
 difficulty. Furthermore, notwithstanding his ef- 
 forts to keep the interest general, there is not one 
 of Ibsen's plays more local, more distinctively Nor- 
 wegian in its cast, than " The League of Youth." 
 The political wrangling cannot possibly have the 
 same meaning for outsiders that more general prin- 
 
242 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ciples and motives would have. When a work of art 
 displays the atmosphere of provincialism, one must 
 know the atmosphere in order to appreciate the pro- 
 vincialism to the full. In America there are, per- 
 haps, certain similar elements in our several " local 
 situations " which would make " The League of 
 Youth " applicable to us in certain directions ; under 
 the skin, like Judy O'Grady, politicians are cut from 
 the same piece, and the small local potentate, what- 
 ever the locality, is prompted by nearly the same 
 self-interest. For that reason, " The League of 
 Youth " would have its appeal in America. 
 
 But the value of the play as a work of art lies 
 only in the evidence throughout of Ibsen's own per- 
 sonality and Ibsen's own artistic and mental growth. 
 He constantly repeated that his simple comedy, while 
 it might seem to portray actual persons, in fact was 
 far from attempting to, although he was of the con- 
 viction that dramatists should have models just as 
 well as painters and sculptors. In the matter of 
 construction, he evinced pride over the strong real- 
 istic colouring which he obtained through the use of 
 prose; consciously, he had striven to write his dia- 
 logue without resorting to long monologues or to the 
 conventional " aside." 
 
 The transition from verse to prose was not an 
 easy matter for Ibsen: we have seen that several 
 times before he had made the attempt to change, each 
 time failing. But he understood that the conditions 
 of modern life required this medium, and prose — 
 especially his prose — indicates an amount of polish 
 which he had to gain for himself. " The League of 
 Youth " is the first modern prose comedy of which 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 243 
 
 Norway can boast ; it may thus be considered as 
 an original contribution of Ibsen to the technique 
 of his country, even though in its essentials it is 
 modelled according to the artificial principles of 
 Scribe. 
 
 From this time, he was assiduously to cut himself 
 aloof from the panoply of poetry : so completely was 
 he successful in the end, that when the desire seized 
 him to return to the poetic through symbolism, his 
 style became diffuse and unstable, and he found him- 
 self out of sympathy with the stark realism of prose, 
 and unfamiliar with his earlier tools of verse. In a 
 letter to the Norwegian actress, Lucie Wolf, sent 
 from Rome on May 25, 1883, Ibsen delivered himself 
 of his views. He had been asked to write a prologue 
 for the Christiania Theatre and he had declined, in- 
 asmuch as prologues had now become contrary to his 
 art principles, and he disliked any form of old style 
 declamation; artifice was no longer dramatic art to 
 him. So thoroughly had he been torn from his old 
 moorings as to believe firmly that verse had done 
 more injury than good to drama; were he an actor 
 he would refuse to utter a line of conventional 
 rhythm, but as a dramatist, he could, and he would, 
 persist in declining to perpetuate the form which he 
 believed was fast growing obsolete. Certainly, to his 
 way of thinking, the drama of the immediate future 
 would be prose, and from his narrow reading view, a 
 tragedy in iambic pentameters was as rare as that 
 rara avis, the dodo. Two things, probably, Ibsen did 
 not quite realize: first, that his own mastery of prose 
 was establishing a school of drama which would serve 
 as a discouragement to verse ; and, second, that there 
 
244. HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 were, however rare, a few disciples working ardently 
 in the interests of the so-called poetic drama. 
 
 But, notwithstanding, prose, to Ibsen, was a culti- 
 vated art; it was by far more difficult for him to 
 write " the genuine, plain language spoken in real 
 life," than to produce the formal lines. He was as 
 strongly against the employment of verse, as it was 
 against his nature to write prologues or epilogues 
 which flattered where flattery was least due. It is 
 probable that the publication of " The League of 
 Youth," coupled with Bjornson's activity in the po- 
 litical confusion of parties, were both behind the lat- 
 ter as an impetus in his contemporaneous writing. 
 " Bankruptcy " and " The Editor " bear close con- 
 nection with Ibsen's work. 
 
 " The League of Youth " would be an excellent 
 comedy were it not a hybrid product, in which the 
 farce element obtrudes itself. So thoroughly incon- 
 sistent and arbitrary is it in its main story that it is 
 most difficult to outline the logical sequence of its 
 plot. Its situations are maintained through a series 
 of misunderstandings which suggest a literary game 
 of puss in the corner, where, in the finale, all are mated 
 off save one, around whom the whole sarcastic evidence 
 of the dialogue swirls. There is much in the motiva- 
 tion as well as in the development of character which 
 is not weak because it is on the surface, but which is 
 petty, because it seems to have cut beneath the cuticle 
 of the different persons. 
 
 The significance of the play is therefore entirely 
 dependent upon what, separately taken, might be 
 considered the unessentials of the dialogue. In this 
 respect it is a step in advance of " Love's Comedy " 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 245 
 
 in its subtle smallnesses, even as it has the advantage 
 over this play in its very natural use of prose. In 
 its general atmosphere, in its general discussions, it 
 sounds the familiar note of Ibsen's social plays ; there 
 is the representative of the old order, and the repre- 
 sentative of the new order battering on the doors of 
 tradition ; there is the nouveau riche with his individ- 
 ualized suburban ideas ; there are the several small 
 types in a community which Ibsen took special 
 trouble to cartoon ; the politician, the editor, the stu- 
 dent, the business man, the doctor, — all are to be 
 found in his dramatis personce. 
 
 " The League of Youth " chiefly busies itself with 
 the portraiture of an individual by the name of 
 S'tensgard, whose alias is Bjornson. During the 
 progress of five acts it carries him through excess 
 after excess — a young idealist and egoist whose weak- 
 ness of character and purpose, whose unguarded en- 
 thusiasm and innate conceit keep him torn between the 
 two parties, the old order and the new, with not suf- 
 ficient will to close all the ways save the consuming 
 one. He is a man readily deceived by others and as 
 readily deceiving himself ; he utters cheap words and 
 high-sounding phrases that catch the favour of the 
 crowds ; he veers wherever the wind is most propitious 
 to himself, a weathercock of the same order as Peer 
 Gynt, who, when all is told, is not even a good weath- 
 ercock at that. 
 
 This wild fortune-hunter, this seeker after social 
 position, this vainglorious coxcomb is just the species 
 to take hold of a small community, much on the order 
 of Skien in ' size and in the character of its social 
 grading. Snubbed by the aristocratic Chamberlain 
 
M6 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Bratsberg, his is not the nature to leave undiscovered 
 that Monsen, the rich magnate of Stonelee, the par- 
 venu, will serve him well as the first rung of the po- 
 litical ladder. In these initial moments^ when Stens- 
 gard is being slowly fired with the idea of his League 
 of Youth, Ibsen, by that unerring touch of his, in- 
 troduces cameo flashes In the printer, Aslaksen, and 
 in Heire, the much abused ne'er-do-well, whose for- 
 tune and holdings have, through crafty workings, 
 been taken from him by Bratsberg — Heire, the gos- 
 sip, the scandal-monger, who says just enough to 
 spread suspicion, and stops just where it is essential 
 for him to proceed further. 
 
 There are as many shades, and sudden turns, and 
 quaint sayings, and keen gibes in the dialogue as 
 there are in the real occurrences and situations of 
 life. It all leads up quite naturally, in this intro- 
 ductory act, to Stensgard's ringing speech to the 
 younger generation, hurling denunciation at the 
 aristocrats, meaning in particular the Chamberlain; 
 lauding the masses with the undoubted possibilities in 
 them, deriding the dead and rotten past, and bidding 
 the young men proclaim themselves as the true wealth 
 of the country. 
 
 There is a Doctor Fieldbo, who is physician at the 
 Chamberlain's works, and who bears some resemblance 
 to Ibsen himself; he has formerly been Stensgard's 
 friend, but he sees only too clearly how dangerously 
 the current is flowing. Stensgard's great vision of 
 the storm of democracy, before which the rulers of 
 the world are to be scattered to the winds, is dimmed 
 by the matter-of-f actness of Fieldbo's interpretation. 
 He sees the motives of Stensgard all too clearly — to 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 247 
 
 marry Monsen's daughter, and thereby to satisfy his 
 ambition by an alliance which will offer him the 
 money he needs. It is all a general scheming. 
 
 The Chamberlain, dense and befuddled by his 
 daughter, Thora, who deceives him into the belief 
 that Stensgard has really attacked his competitor, 
 Monsen, instead of himself, now invites the leader of 
 the newly founded League of Youth to his house ; this 
 opens another vista of opportunities to Stensgard; 
 he is carried into the elegance of the Bratsbergs' 
 home, and there becomes fired with the so-called aris- 
 tocratic ambitions that thrive on luxury and refine- 
 ment of a purely exterior quality. He gradually 
 turns from Monsen, and pits his youth, his brazen 
 eagerness, against the hoarded smug prejudices of 
 the Chamberlain, who believes in things that run in 
 families. 
 
 Stensgard does not know that the Chamberlain has 
 been deceived as to his attack; and in the flattered 
 state that he is in over having been admitted to this 
 house of such local importance, he seeks for an op- 
 portunity to apologize to his host. He would now 
 marry Miss Bratsberg, since his eyes are open to the 
 falsity of Monsen, with his underbred instincts. 
 Fieldbo fathoms the meaning of this diplomatic move, 
 but being in love himself with the Chamberlain's 
 daughter, he attempts to dissuade Stensgard from 
 his wild vacillation. He fails to warn the impetuous 
 adventurer how dangerous his game really is ; and the 
 latter, now wholly incapable of self-control, rushes 
 headlong into the vortex. His conceit would even 
 lead him to believe that the members of the League of 
 Youth will bow to his superior judgment as to his 
 
248 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 swerving from his original purpose. For once, 
 Fieldbo makes Stensgard say what he means. No 
 Vague phrases will conceal his real goal — toward Par- 
 liament, and thence into the Ministry, there to be 
 maintained by a safe financial marriage. His is 
 surely an apostasy — from the f oimder of the Young 
 Men's Union to a disciple of " an aristocracy of cul- 
 ture," measured by the traditional proportions of the 
 Bratsberg family. He is after money ; he would have 
 been an apt pupil of Bishop Nicholas in his overrid- 
 ing of people, no matter the methods, and irrespec- 
 tive of the consequences. He indulges in a system of 
 petty quarrelling based on a merely childish desire 
 for something he has never had. 
 
 This Stensgard is indeed the sort of man to thrive 
 upon mud slinging, and his idea is to make profit, at 
 the same time avoiding being hit himself. Since the 
 Chamberlain seems to think his innuendoes were aimed 
 at Monsen, why then it were best for him to keep 
 the speech as it was originally delivered out of the 
 papers altogether, or else modify his views somewhat. 
 But Aslaksen is one of the typical Ibsen men ; secure 
 in his possession of scandal, he also would profit by 
 it. When Stensgard thus realizes himself, however 
 slightly, at bay, he utters the irresponsible cry which 
 measures his anger at being thwarted. In such cases 
 he is always ready to defile pitch with pitch. As- 
 laksen is the Ibsen type with the large family — which 
 is either a morally or physically tainted household. 
 
 The final current to draw Stensgard into the ruin- 
 ous vortex is the motive prompting Lundestad, an 
 fcld landowner, who has been in pohtics, and who 
 scruples at nothing in his various endeavours to 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 249 
 
 further his own ends ; he it is who fixes the younger 
 man's eye on the possible attainment of his high po- 
 litical goal. It is a short step from Stensgard's be- 
 lief in the masses, to his acceptance of the idea that 
 a man of property and power must be outside of this, 
 as a star that dwells apart. Lundestad has a little 
 of Bishop Nicholas in him also; he would stir up 
 friction, undiscovered and subtly; he it is who fur- 
 thers Stensgard's inclination to apologize to the 
 Chamberlain for his indiscreet speech, knowing full 
 well the effect any discovery of such misunderstand- 
 ing would have. The man is always on the alert, for 
 fear lest he might be caught in his varied scheming. 
 In fact, taking the characters in their detail, they 
 are a very vividly portrayed band of " climbers," of 
 social parasites. 
 
 The outcome of Stensgard's apology, couched in 
 the shape of a fable which contains a play upon the 
 name of Bratsberg — a form of humour which Ibsen 
 in many instances employed — is natural, since it 
 places the Chamberlain in a most siUy position. But 
 nothing daunted by the consternation he raises, the 
 vacillating upstart brazens the situation out. He 
 does not half realize Bratsberg's inherited prejudices. 
 The Chamberlain represents that generation of citi- 
 zens who believe that respect is due them, not because 
 they are active in the common life of the day, but be- 
 cause they are guardians of a traditional integrity 
 which has not been tested, and which, in Ibsen's opin- 
 ion, should it ever be brought to test, would show a 
 rift in the family bulwark. 
 
 This " blot on the escutcheon " he proceeds to 
 prove by involving the Chamberlain's son in the spec- 
 
250 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ulations of Monsen, which are of a shady character. 
 By the father's very narrow guarding of this in- 
 herited sense of honour, the son's sense has been 
 atrophied to the extent of forging his name on a bill 
 held by Monsen himself, which later falls into the pos- 
 session of Stensgard. The news is abroad that some 
 scandal is about to come to a head, and through the 
 usual subterfuge of misunderstanding, Stensgard is 
 battered like a shuttlecock from the daughter of one 
 side to the daughter of the other, Bernard Shaw's 
 use of the farce element is perhaps more satiric than 
 Ibsen's when he falls into absurdities which throw the 
 characters into illogical positions ; Ibsen moves his 
 puppets helter skelter, landing effective blows much 
 in the manner of an inexperienced prize fighter ^ who 
 has not yet mastered the science of the conservation 
 of energy. Even a good farce must obey the laws 
 of this principle of reserve, and " The League of 
 Youth " is by no means a good farce. 
 
 In Stensgard's untutored belief in his mission, in 
 his representing the wrath of the Lord to be visited 
 upon the Chamberlain provided he is not amenable to 
 his, Stensgard's, avowed love for Thora Bratsberg, 
 we have a reflection of Ibsen's own personal belief and 
 political wrath perverted, no doubt to indicate how 
 far astray to his own mind Bjornson's views were 
 from his, however similar their initial impulse. 
 
 'Brandes writes: "In the ferocity of their satire, Dumas 
 and Sardou now and then remind us of him; Sardou's Rabagas 
 (1871) bears some resemblance to Stensg&rd in 'The League of 
 Youth' (1869)," Yet in his 1882 "Impression," Brandes de- 
 clares that " Henrik Ibsen resembles no other living poet, and 
 he is influenced by none." 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 251 
 
 Ibsen always formulates his dramas so that there is 
 a point of contact where either a catastrophe could 
 be averted, or else where it gains headway and ex- 
 plodes. When Monsen, pushed in his investments, at- 
 tempts to inveigle the Chamberlain into his ventures, 
 when his arrogance is brought side by side with 
 Bratsberg's smugness, which looks down from the 
 supposed security of its social height, the melodrama 
 of Ibsen furnishes Monsen with the implement to de- 
 stroy his rival's pride; he may talk about his caste, 
 he may try to wash himself clean of the pretensions 
 of Norwegian parvenus, but Bratsberg cannot pre- 
 vent the disgrace which is about to fall upon the tra- 
 ditional honour of his family. The father exhibits 
 all that pride which comes before the proverbial fall, 
 and in the scene which follows, an interesting sugges- 
 tion occurs. 
 
 Ibsen's art never expanded; it concentrated, be- 
 came more intense, became more reasonable. His 
 ideas would sketch themselves upon his brain, and 
 be brought closer together, focussed, by a process of 
 organic growth. Erik Bratsberg has a wife, and 
 by her actions on the one hand, and by her natural 
 craving on the other, we gain two separate sketches 
 of the psychological stamina underlying Nora in " A 
 Doll's House." Selma enters as the father and son 
 are having a spirited discussion about the latter's 
 finances. She openly rebels, as Nora does later, over 
 being regarded as a doll — she who was ready to make 
 sacrifices never demanded of her, who yearned for a 
 share in her husband's cares; but who, instead, was 
 dressed in gewgaws and allowed no part in the 
 strenuous, vital moments of the family life. These 
 
252 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 two points thus suggested by Ibsen kept drawing 
 closer in his mental vision until they assumed the 
 composite of Nora herself many years after. In this 
 vortex of kaleidoscopic life Ibsen carries the plot on 
 to the point of discovering the forgery of young 
 Bratsberg, and of showing the necessity for con- 
 cealing the theft by the Chamberlain's acknowledg- 
 ing the validity of the signature. 
 
 It is difficult to narrate the absurdities of the 
 fourth act; by actual diagram, the course of Stens- 
 gard zigzags in frenzied effort to profit by " the 
 local situation." The elections are on, and he is in 
 a fair way of being successful ; but a politician with- 
 out money is of no consequence: Stensgard runs 
 from house to house, not knowing upon which the 
 shadow of financial suspicion rests ; then he opens a 
 way, if all else fails, of affixing Madam Rundholmen, 
 keeper of a hotel, who possesses a small income her- 
 self which might be of some service to him. The 
 situations that follow are not unlike a grab-bag 
 party where the accidental mixture of several love 
 notes carries them into the wrong hands, so that, 
 during one moment, Stensgard is confronted with the 
 difficulty of being engaged to three persons — or of 
 keeping three proposals open. 
 
 No wonder that Fieldbo, alias Ibsen and Stens- 
 gard, alias Bjornson, have Httle sympathy for each 
 other. There are some moods of Stensgard's which 
 might represent Ibsen at his most reckless moments, 
 or during his unguarded hours when he dared to feel 
 and to yearn ; it is the sensation which Stensgard ex- 
 presses by the exclamation : " Oh, a longing comes 
 over me at times for exquisite women ! I want some- 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 253 
 
 thing that brings beauty with it." It matters little 
 to him whether Fieldbo considers him dangerous and 
 unscrupulous or whether Lundestad has played with 
 him in order to save the Chamberlain and to under- 
 mine his League of Youth — naught of this matters 
 to him provided he remains on top, provided his own 
 skin is saved. 
 
 Stensgard represents the prostitution of vital 
 energy; he possesses no foresight, no discretion, no 
 imagination; he is representative of that deinocracy 
 which, according to Boyesen, Ibsen — ^like Carlyle — 
 believed to be " the government of fools by fools " ; 
 he represents the folly of political hysteria, the ex- 
 cess of the democratic in the midst of a society not 
 ready for it. The younger generation who constitute 
 his league in the beginning are prompted by nothing 
 more than a jubilant exercise of spirits. What a 
 wide difference between Ibsen bete as a gay manipu- 
 lator of a very " ill-made " play after the French 
 style, and " The Master Builder," where the idea of 
 the younger generation bears a more philosophic 
 sense and indicates the spiritual deepening of Ibsen. 
 
 The last act of " The League of Youth " is spent 
 in taking account. Bratsberg is shorn of his idols, 
 and makes retribution — falls into the Ibsen habit of 
 renunciation — ^by relinquishing his title of Chamber- 
 lain, which had been given him because of the un- 
 blemished honour of generations in his family. But, 
 in the crushing of his pride, he has gained something 
 after all; Fieldbo opens his eyes by showing him the 
 error of his short-sightedness. If no one else knows 
 the true hypocrisy of Stensgard, the Doctor at least 
 arraigns him as a patch-work, a man with gifts only 
 
254 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 half ripe. Fleldbo points him out as one intent " on 
 learning ; not on living." 
 
 The Chamberlain in this last scene is jocular over 
 his birthday, and will hear naught of the doings of 
 Stensgard, who has, as the final move in his game 
 mailed to Bratsberg the forged note of his son ; this, 
 maybe, is the saving grace, and the rehabilitation 
 of his prospects; once more he completely fools the 
 Chamberlain. Ibsen here introduces much satire at 
 the expense of the Liberal party, telling through 
 Lundestad how and why they gain power over the 
 masses. Liberalism is the easiest thing in the world 
 for him who, like Stensgard, owns neither character, 
 conviction nor social position. When, in a commu- 
 nity, you have the Chamberlain on one side and the 
 League of Youth on the other, you must perforce 
 resort to the spirit of compromise. 
 
 To the very last, it is a game of bluff; Stensgard 
 is defeated with difficulty ; he falls back on each of 
 his ways of retreat only to find himself mistaken in 
 his calculation — ^not knowing what to do. Ibsen re- 
 sorts to the easiest method of ridding himself of his 
 characters; they pair off in a most mechanical way, 
 indicating how very mechanical was the manipula- 
 tion of the action. In the end, Lundestad, noting 
 how the stream flows against Stensgard, deserts him, 
 for he realizes that, by crafty manoeuvring, he might 
 be able to regain his own hold upon the people. The 
 slender threads are all brought to an end, and noth- 
 ing is proven save what we knew all along — that the 
 political situation in Norway was in danger of a 
 democratic element which meant more harm to the 
 nation than good. Perhaps it is wrong to use the 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 255 
 
 word nation at all, since in Ibsen's eyes it stands for 
 " the common people ; those who have nothing and 
 are nothing; those who lie chained," and have not 
 the will to break from that which binds them. 
 
 Do we obtain here a political preachment or simply 
 an impressionistic ensemble of stray views of Ibsen, 
 welded together by his consuming distrust of an ir- 
 responsible democracy threatening Norway at that 
 time? At best we may consider " The League of 
 Youth " as a very creditable exercise in realistic play 
 writing. To Sarolea, it recalls Emile Augier's " Ef- 
 frontep," and the same critic writes : " II ne retrou- 
 vera plus jamais ce rire franc que I'indignation ne 
 tardera pas a etouffer." The remarkable fact about 
 the play is that it contains so much of the Henrik 
 Ibsen which is distinctive — ^his surety of dialogue, 
 his directness of character conception, his keen pene- 
 tration, and his care of the seeming unessentials. If 
 at times he forgets that restraint which individualizes 
 his technique, it is as much the fault of his French 
 influences, as of his lack of concentration. " The 
 League of Youth " is like a preliminary sketch where 
 there is much that is crude and unformed, but where 
 not only are there fine pencil lines which reveal the 
 master stroke, but also every type which afterwards 
 is to be clothed in its proper life proportion. Mr. 
 Archer's acute remarks on this play culminate in his 
 apportionment of excellence : " The third act, though 
 superficially a rather tame interlude between the vig- 
 orous second act and the bustling fourth, is in reality 
 the most characteristic of the five. The second act 
 might be signed Augier, and the fourth Labiche ; but 
 in the third the coming Ibsen is manifest." 
 
256 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 There is a bond of connection between " The 
 League of Youth " and " Pillars of Society " ; in 
 both there is evinced Ibsen's view of the moral and 
 social rottenness of the average community; he sees 
 the frailties of the individual, the threatening dan- 
 gers in the masses, the confining barrier of tradition. 
 Yet in " The League of Youth," however much he 
 might try to maintain the equal balance between the 
 liberal view on the one hand, and the conservative 
 view on the other, his sympathy is instinctively par- 
 tial to Bratsberg. 
 
 In the matter of stimulation^ we receive an occa- 
 sional forward note from Fieldbo, but the cry of in- 
 dependence rings in the person of Selma. Long be- 
 fore " A Doll's House " was written, Dr. Brandes 
 declared that this woman's voice demanding emanci- 
 pation was but a preliminary for something further. 
 From an impressionistic point of view, Ibsen has no- 
 where assembled a more perfectly photographed 
 group, but it is not a fixed group — ^it is moving — it 
 it kinetoscopic. For that very reason, the flicker of 
 its constant change, — indeterminate by reason of its 
 repeated shifting of focal point— detracts from its 
 whole impression. It does not seem to arrive — ^to 
 reach any satisfactory conclusion — to frame any ac- 
 ceptable political creed. 
 
 But though Ibsen intended it for a peaceable work, 
 its reception was far from quiescent. Ibsen missed 
 this initial furor; he was in Egypt at the time, set- 
 ting sail two days before " The League of Youth " 
 was published. The book was given to the public on 
 September 30,^ and on the evening of October 18, 
 ' The second edition of " The League of Youth," Kbhvn., No- 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 257 
 
 1869, the first perfonnance occurred in Christiania. 
 The audience was in a divided state; the Conserva- 
 tives clapped while the Liberals hissed, but the piece 
 proceeded without any violent interruptions. On the 
 second evening, however, at the end of the fourth act, 
 the theatre had to be closed.^ The wild patriotism of 
 the younger generation declared itself insulted, and 
 Bjornson immediately took the brunt of the insult 
 upon himself. 
 
 When the news reached Ibsen, it was very satis- 
 fying to him; with that easy justification which 
 marked his aloofness, with that almost grandiose 
 manner in which he was wont to hurl his defiance, he 
 sent to Norway (November, 1869) his poem " At 
 Port Said." ^ 
 
 "The steamers passed on 
 By the obelisk. 
 In the language of my home 
 Came to me the chatter of news. 
 The mirror-poem which I had polished 
 
 vember 4, 1869; 3rd edition, December 12, 1874; 4th edition, 
 February 12, 1880; Sth edition, November 23, 1883; 6th edition, 
 December 17, 1895. Among the translations may be mentioned 
 that in French by Pierre Bertrand and Edmond de Nevers 
 (1893), and that in Germany by Adolf Strodtmann (1872). 
 Another German translation was made by Wilhelm Lange. See 
 Halvorsen for its popularity in Norway and its presentation 
 in Copenhagen. It was not received in Germany for some 
 time. 
 
 ' Boyesen recalls a similar fight over Wergeland's " The 
 Campbells." 
 
 ''This translation occurs in Prof. Gosse's biography. See 
 Morgenstern's German translation in volume 1 of the " Samt- 
 liche Werke." A translation is also given by Payne in Jaeger's 
 biography. 
 
258 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 For masculine minxes 
 
 Had been smeared at home 
 
 By splutterings from penny whistles." 
 
 This was not the only poem to be written on the 
 subject. Bjornson likewise expressed an indignation 
 of a different order in verses penned later to the Lib- 
 eral leader, Johan Sverdrup. 
 
 " Because thy mighty name my song 
 Shall bear, thou yet wert wholly wrong 
 To think that onslaught it recalls; 
 1 do not mingle in such brawls. 
 If poesy's sacred grove be made 
 The assassin's hiding place, if this 
 The new poetic fashion is,' 
 Then I for one renounce its shade." 
 
 There was more than party feeling roused; the 
 personal spleen resulted in open rupture between Ib- 
 sen and Bjornson. With his usual imperiousness, 
 which was always backed by premonitions of impend- 
 ing tempests, Ibsen, on his return to Dresden, de- 
 clared that he would have been quite disappointed 
 had " The League of Youth " been received quietly. 
 Yet on the strength of this belligerent stand, he 
 
 ' Translation found in Payne's edition of Jaeger's biography. 
 In 1881, Bjornson wrote: " What I called ' assassination ' was not 
 the representation of actual circumstances and prominent per- 
 sonages in Norway; it was the attempt of ' The League of 
 Youth ' to make of our young party of liberty a troupe of 
 ambitious, phrase-mongering speculators, whose patriotism lay 
 in their phraseology; and more particularly this — that certain 
 characters, after being made recognisable as well-known per- 
 sonages, were given false hearts and bad characters, and placed 
 in positions which they never occupied." 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 259 
 
 showed irritation that his play was not taken from its 
 aesthetic rather than from its poHtical aspect. 
 " From the attacks which I have read," he wrote in 
 1870, " one would conclude that phrase-mongering, 
 hollowness, and roguery are regarded in Norway as 
 natural characteristics, which must not be meddled 
 with." 
 
 But his surprise was mostly manifested over 
 Bjomson's identification of himself with Stensgard. 
 He impulsively declared and sincerely believed that 
 no direct reference was aimed at Bjornson. It was 
 " his pernicious and ' lie-steeped ' clique, who have 
 served me as models." This explanation did not 
 avail to relieve the strain ; the fact of the matter is 
 that the strain had during the years become too 
 great to remedy. Sufficient has already been said to 
 indicate the suspicion which existed between Bjorn- 
 son and Ibsen; everything was tending to pull them 
 asunder — especially the former's enmity towards 
 Brandes, and the latter's growing enthusiasm for 
 Brandes. Just before his departure for Egypt, Ib- 
 sen had written to Brandes, with whom Bjornson had 
 attempted to re-establish some show of friendship, 
 regarding the overtures : " For him, there exist only 
 two kinds of people: those from whom he can derive 
 some benefit, and those who may be a hindrance to 
 him." 
 
 " The League of Youth " widened the breach, but 
 not irretrievably. Ibsen's literary work was always 
 identified with party politics, even though his con- 
 suming desire might be to keep on the outside. The 
 Right, up to the time of the appearance of " Ghosts," 
 was attempting to claim his sympathies ; they turned 
 
260 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 to " Peer Gynt " as satire aimed at the national 
 weakness which the Left displayed; they openly ac- 
 cepted " The League of Youth " as a propagandist 
 pamphlet. It seems assured, by the evidence con- 
 tained in his various letters, that Ibsen was sincerely 
 trying to maintain a just position toward both par- 
 ties, although he deplored Bjornson's identification 
 with the Norwegian Peasant Left. Was it not a 
 case where Ibsen was criticising the Liberals because 
 they were not liberal in the right direction? Bjom- 
 son on his part was descending to personalities and 
 was looking upon Ibsen's religious views as " athe- 
 istic." 
 
 They were both, however, too big of soul to let 
 matters continue thus for long. The years that fol- 
 low are marked by continued overtures on each side. 
 When the question arose as to the dedication of 
 " The Pretenders," while Ibsen finally decided not to 
 inscribe it to Bjornson, he expressed to Hegel his 
 desire for a reconciliation. No anger could blind 
 Bjornson to the good in life or to the excellence in 
 a person's work. Though at variance with Brandes, 
 he always paid careful attention to his books, and in 
 the same way, when time came for Ibsen to be cham- 
 pioned, oh the publication of "Ghosts," Bjornson 
 came prominently to the fore. As subtle forces 
 served to draw them together again as those which 
 drew them apart. Their religious views, not founded 
 on theology, but dependent on ethical statement, be- 
 came more in common. By the winter of 1880-81 
 they were again on terms of friendly intimacy: 
 Bjornson, touring through America, had nearly met 
 death in a railway accident, and Ibsen wrote him in 
 
FIRST OF THE SOCIAL DRAMAS 261 
 
 cordial terms. During his travels the former had 
 said in a lecture : 
 
 " I think I have a pretty thorough acquaintance 
 with the dramatic literature of the world, and I have 
 not the slightest hesitation in saying that Henrik 
 Ibsen possesses more dramatic power than any other 
 play-writer of our day." 
 
 On Ibsen's part he was trying to be just as gra- 
 cious ; if he was not quite so spontaneous at least he 
 was sincere. After " Ghosts " had been attacked, he 
 wrote : 
 
 " The only man in Norway who has frankly, 
 boldly, and generously taken my part is Bjornson. 
 It is just like him ; he has in truth a great, a kingly 
 soul." And on the latter's jubilee Ibsen, tempered 
 in his views as to the danger of Bjornson's liberal 
 tendencies, wrote to him : " My thanks for the work 
 done side by side with me in the service of freedom 
 these twenty-five years." i 
 
 In fine, it is difficult to say which was more sub- 
 urban — ^the spirit of " The League of Youth," or 
 the manner in which it was generally received. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 IBSEN IN AN UNPAMILIAK LIGHT 
 
 During the summer of 1869 Ibsen received a 
 travelling grant which afforded him an opportunity 
 of visiting Stockholm in the interests of the Nor- 
 wegian Government; not only was he to report on 
 the Congress of Orthographists, but likewise upon 
 Swedish art and educational methods. He remained 
 for two months, during which time the feeling mani- 
 fested for him was markedly cordial. While there 
 he received a letter from his sister Hedvig, who had 
 become the wife of a Captain Stousland, living in 
 Skien, and who was a member of the Lammers com- 
 munity, announcing the death of his mother. The 
 voice struck a chord in his memory which showed him 
 how different was his own life from that at home, how 
 wide the gulf had irretrievably grown ; but the senti- 
 ment in his nature responded to the gentle words 
 sent him by Hedvig ; even though he might not sym- 
 pathize with her, he could love her and refrain from 
 hurting her in his letters ! 
 
 He hedged himself around ; he fought his battles 
 within himself; he realized that all the efforts which 
 his sister might make to convert him would be in vain. 
 Perhaps he was asking too much for a confidence 
 which on his part he rebelled against strengthening 
 by correspondence or by reciprocal confidence. " So 
 our dear old Mother is dead," he wrote, with some of 
 the peculiarity of Peer Gynt, and there followed his 
 thanks to Hedvig for fulfilling those duties which 
 should have been shared by all of them. 
 
 The Khedive of Egypt now requested King 
 Charles XV. to send delegates to the opening of the 
 
IBSEN IN AN UNFAMILIAR LIGHT 263 
 
 Suez Canal,* and it was an honour of no inconsider- 
 able proportion for Ibsen to have been selected; he 
 set out, via Dresden and Paris, decorated with the 
 Swedish order of the Wasa, and carrying with him 
 many pleasant memories of acquaintances and ban- 
 quets ; the only other home representative to go with 
 him was Professor J. D. C. Lieblein, famed as an 
 Egyptologist. Not only was he feted by the Khe- 
 dive, but as one of a large number of guests, was 
 taken up the Nile on a trip which lasted several 
 weeks, and which afforded him an excellent oppor- 
 tunity of gathering material for future sketches ; in 
 "Peer Gynt " he had wonderfully imagined the spa- 
 ciousness of the scene, but now he saw things at close 
 range. Reaching Port Said he flung his defiance at 
 Norway over the reception of " The League of 
 Youth." 
 
 One of his poems, " Balloon Letter to a Swedish 
 Lady" (1870), bears the impress of this trip to 
 Egypt ; but recently there were translated into 
 French some unedited pages from a descriptive ac- 
 count written by Ibsen of his visit to " Abydos," ^ 
 which reveal him as a master in the art of word paint- 
 ing ; effective in every concise, inclusive phrase which 
 he used — impressionistic sketches full of colour and 
 of a sense of due proportion. 
 
 It is a mistaken idea which has gained popular cre- 
 dence that Ibsen's sense was dead to natural pictu- 
 resqueness ; this is hardly the fact, although he never 
 applied to his observation the customary conventional 
 
 ^ The Canal was opened on November 17, 1869. 
 ' See La Revue, April, 1908, pp. 295-304, " Abydos." Trans- 
 lated from Norwegian into French by Jacques de Coussarge. 
 
264 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 and sentimental methods. Nature meant something 
 more to him than mere beauty of external form; it 
 possessed spiritual meaning ; and instead of remaining 
 passively receptive, the inner man was always stirred 
 to reflection. 
 
 In rapid strokes he could image a town in the south 
 of Egypt, with its winding streets, and crowded 
 squalor ; he could paint, with an almost too sharp out- 
 line, the sinking sun, and the shadows of palm trees 
 stretched along the yellow sand — the sunset of abso- 
 lute peace which creates in one a desire for solitude. 
 With an eye accustomed to draw contrasts between the 
 beautiful and the repulsive, his pencil depicts a 
 Poesque silhouette of two vultures feeding upon the 
 corpse of a camel — and to make it all the more em- 
 phatic, his canvas carries the magnificence of a bril- 
 liantly lighted horizon, to throw the essentials in re- 
 lief. 
 
 Ibsen's contemplation was generally coloured by the 
 questions of moral right; in the midst of the quiet 
 beauty of an Egyptian night, with the myriad stars 
 above, and the valley of the Nile overhung by a low 
 mist, he watched the gliding barks, with their head- 
 lights of red paper, and he heard the song of the 
 boatsmen, in uniform cadence, floating across the 
 water. At these times would his thoughts turn toward 
 home. " During such moments," he adds, " we desire 
 to be reconciled with all men, and we ask ourselves: 
 ' How have you merited seeing all this splendour.? ' " 
 
 His eye for perspective — strictly an artist's quality 
 brought to bear upon his ability to write — is pro- 
 nounced, giving one a feeling of immense loneliness in 
 the desert, but generally relieved by keen remarks 
 
IBSEN IN AN UNFAMILIAR LIGHT 265 
 
 upon the curious ways of men. He noted the pre- 
 vailing government and the character of the people 
 — and when in the midst of groups he found himself 
 co-ordinating the many and diverse elements. " An 
 Egyptian cafe," he writes, " was installed in the ruins 
 of the cloister. The frequenters were seated outside, 
 under a roof made of dried palm branches. A num- 
 ber of people were gathered here ; long pipes and long 
 beards predominated; and also long Oriental silences 
 and long European conversations." 
 
 Perhaps in his descriptions Ibsen might have been 
 less niggardly with his ornateness, but, on the other 
 hand, where he lost in brilUancy, he certainly gained 
 in incisiveness. The years to come may bring to light 
 much of his prose which, while it will in no way un- 
 settle the estimate of the dramatist, may, at least, add 
 another quality to the authorship of the man. For 
 he saw clearly, even though his observation was fil- 
 tered through his own personality, and he was en- 
 dowed with the gift of saying the most in the fewest 
 words. 
 
 The struggle Ibsen went through regarding his 
 prose applied entirely to its use in drama. As early 
 as 1858 he was writing small descriptive stories, 
 pregnant with colour and sentiment, and indicating 
 his genius for infusing significance into the common- 
 place. This was natural for one who at the period 
 was so closely imbued with the romantic spirit. But 
 a few quotations will bear evidence that " The Wed- 
 ding," written at the outset of Ibsen's career, not 
 only possessed a surety of descriptive power, but 
 contained a freshness which one never associates 
 with him. The homely topic deals with a small boy 
 
266 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 who cannot go to church because he lacks the proper 
 Sunday garb, but who, when the pastor's wife makes 
 him a present of a new jacket and shoes and stock- 
 ings, enters the sacred building where a wedding is 
 taking place. In the following, Ibsen's sombreness 
 had not yet settled upon him: 
 
 " It was high up in Voss, on a Simday morning, 
 shortly before St. John's Day ; the whole fair, glori- 
 ous district lay ghttering in the sunshine, which fell 
 slanting over the mountain slopes, and threw long 
 transparent blue shadows into the far-off distance. 
 The lake, which sank in the midst of the valley, gave, 
 when viewed from the mountain road leading inland 
 to Evanger, a curious aspect to aU the surrounding 
 country. No breeze was astir, and the steep rocky 
 summits toward the south were reflected in the water 
 which, hardly perceptible to the eye, because of its 
 quiet surface, lay there like a great yawning chasm. 
 Only when a solitary boat on the shady side steered 
 toward the shore could one see that it was only an 
 illusion; . . . the nearer it came to land, the 
 more distinctly audible became the sound of the oars 
 against the locks, and then a long shining furrow of 
 silver would trail behind until the red caps of Voss 
 and the white kerchiefs on the rear benches of the 
 boat came swaying into the sunshine." 
 
 Little Knut watches the crowds from a distance, 
 " the light-haired maidens with their silver-mounted 
 books and white kerchiefs, the young lads in the new- 
 fashioned blue jackets, and the old men in long frock 
 coats and yellow knee-breeches, all walked silent 
 across the churchyard and entered the house of God 
 by the large portal which stood wide open, and beck- 
 
IBSEN IN AN UNFAMILIAR LIGHT 267 
 
 oned in so friendly a manner, while through it is- 
 sued the organ peal and the fragrance of the fresh 
 green branches strewn over the floor in the ves- 
 tibule." 
 
 This small boy, who bears resemblance to another 
 impressionable lad of Skien, with his finger in his 
 mouth — a badge of bashfulness — finally crept into 
 the church, awed by the silence. Ibsen, popularly 
 regarded as unmoved by the tenderness of nature, 
 becomes almost lyrical: 
 
 " Outside, the sun dyed the wall in crimson, and 
 the bee hummed about the red climbing roses, while 
 the wind whispei-ed in the tree tops; but inside, all 
 was still and cool and wondrously wide and high. 
 The floor was sprinkled with shimmering white sand, 
 a peculiar atmosphere seemed to permeate the whole 
 place, the light shone through the old red and green 
 window panes, long wavering rays filtering the room. 
 In front of the altar stood the pastor in his black 
 coat — high above the choir door Jesus hung on the 
 cross, while two little angels with wings stood beside 
 Him. An angel, larger than the othex-s, floated from 
 tlie ceiling, the baptismal font in his hands." 
 
 Over Knut there crept the beneficent feeling of 
 youthful exaltation., What he heard he treasured; 
 what he saw of the radiant bride with " cheeks aglow 
 like the blush of dawn," brought to him a holy 
 awakening, though he understood but little. Ibsen, 
 the sentimentalist as he was to the very day of his 
 death, ends the career of Knut, who flowered into an 
 artist, with these words : 
 
 " Since then he has seen the wide world, but in his 
 heart he has ever remained a Norwegian — for it is 
 
268 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 not easily forgotten- — the holy awakening one ex- 
 periences in the village church at home." ^ 
 
 Thus spoke the prophetic Ibsen in 1858. Between 
 the writing of this sketch and that of 1869 there is 
 no material improvement, save that which comes with 
 a deepening insight into the ways of men, and a more 
 perfect understanding of a language subject to con- 
 fusing change. Therefore when one speaks of Ib- 
 sen's new medium of expression, it must be borne in 
 mind that what is meant is dramatic expression. 
 Like all artists, he never gathered together any of 
 his pieces without subjecting them to as close a re- 
 vision as Tennyson used to give to his own verse — 
 and the effect was just as unerring in its mature 
 finality.^ Once more settled in Germany, he be- 
 thought him of collecting his poems, a task which, 
 while it might keep him from more important work, 
 would hang over him until it was done — and Ibsen 
 was fully conscious that it should be done. 
 
 The storm which was brewing over Prussia and 
 which involved the question of German unity, now be- 
 gan to absorb a great part of Ibsen's attention. His 
 conversion from a suspicious regard of the Germans 
 to a warm feeling of love, brought about by living 
 seventeen years among them, is clearly illustrated in 
 
 'This sketch has been translated into German and may be 
 found in vol. 1 of Brandes, Elias and Schlenther: " Henrik 
 Ibsen's Samtliche Werke in deutsche Sprache," pp. 424 seq. 
 The English translation was made by Miss Francesca F. 
 Strecker. 
 
 ' In respect to this the reader should consult Payne's Jaeger, 
 p. 323, where a treatment is given in slight proportion much 
 after the manner of Dr. Henry Van Dyke's consideration of 
 Tennyson's revision. 
 
IBSEN IN AN UNFAMILIAR LIGHT 269 
 
 stray references through his letters. To John Grieg, 
 as early as 1866, he said : " It is quite true that I 
 have a strong dislike, not, as you rightly put it, of 
 Germans, but of Germanism and Teutoniana." He 
 recognised the richness of their nature, but he called 
 them " our bom enemies," 
 
 That he was anxious, however, to be instrumental 
 in bringing about a better understanding, is unmis- 
 takable. The Germans have placed their astounding 
 impress upon every phase of intellectual life; nearly 
 every modern movement has emanated from the Ger- 
 manic mind, and Ibsen, thus early in life, seems to 
 have resented the dependence of the North upon 
 Southern stimulus. Wherever he found any origi- 
 nality of Scandinavian thought he was consumed 
 with a strong desire to bring it before the Germans, 
 and to have it win its way there, as his own work 
 later was to do. In such a vein he wrote to Brandes 
 in 1872, telling how with pride he had heard his lec- 
 tures discussed at a literary society in Dresden. 
 " Come to Germany," he adds with enthusiasm. " It 
 is abroad that we Scandinavians must win our 
 battles ; a victory in Germany, and you will have the 
 upper hand at home." 
 
 But Ibsen gave to Germany quite as much as he 
 took; if his philosophy was coloured by German 
 thought, by the German Kulturkampf, which is seen 
 to a great extent in " Emperor and Galilean," his 
 own method of dramatic treatment, his own use or 
 application of modern theories and problems in the 
 theatre served to create a realistic school in Ger- 
 many, of which Sudermann and Hauptmann are the 
 greatest exponents. Ibsen became absorbed in the 
 
270 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 spiritual and political crises which were descending 
 upon Germany when he again settled in Dresden dur- 
 ing 1870. 
 
 They were stirring times for him, he confessed to 
 Hegel; it was impossible for him to concentrate on 
 any work of deep quality ; he could only potter about, 
 preparing his poems for the press, and thinking at 
 odd moments of writing an opera libretto on " Si- 
 gurd Jorsalafar." " These infernal war disturb- 
 ances," he writes to Dietrichson, " have a distract- 
 ing effect upon me." 
 
 A slight event now occurred, which indicates how 
 constant was Ibsen's belief in his own efforts repre- 
 senting something national and far-reaching; it was 
 a self-assumption which imposed upon him a certain 
 forced dignity and over-seriousness. The cartoon- 
 ists ridiculed him for it, but with no avail. In 1870 
 the " Gyldendalske Boghandel " celebrated its cen- 
 tennial (July 4), and Hegel was forwarded a con- 
 gratulatory letter as well as a poem; not only did 
 Ibsen send his personal thanks to his publisher for 
 being the turning-point in his fortunes, but through 
 the interest created in Denmark, Ibsen felt that the 
 antagonistic feeling toward him in Norway had been 
 changed. He likewise, as a " state-author," ex- 
 tended to Hegel great appreciation for all that had 
 been done in Denmark for Norwegian literature — an 
 obligation which he for one would always regard as 
 a national debt. Hegel had published the whole of 
 Welhaven's work.^ 
 
 From Jidy until October, Ibsen found himself in 
 Copenhagen, greatly unsettled by the course of 
 
 'The poem is found in the Elias, Brandes, Schlenther ed.. 
 
IBSEN IN AN UNFAMILIAR LIGHT 271 
 
 events. On July 19, France declared war on Prussia, 
 taking, as one of many excuses for the conflict, the 
 attempt to bestow the Spanish crown upon the Ho- 
 henzollern family. The battles that ensued served to 
 weld closer the different factions in Germany. The 
 French disaster at Sedan took place on September 1, 
 and two days after, the Napoleon dynasty was over- 
 thrown. The Italians entered Rome on September 
 20, as one of the moves bringing about Italian unity, 
 which was an important result of the Franco- 
 Prussian war. France was now ruled by " The Gov- 
 ernment of National Defence," until the so-called 
 social-democrats, encouraged by the unsettled times, 
 assumed control of affairs, and the Paris Commune 
 grew into being.^ 
 
 These were the particular events which drew com- 
 ment from Ibsen. By October 10, he was again in 
 Dresden, having met with much friendship among 
 the Danes, and having discovered that, despite the 
 extreme tendency of Brandes' criticism, the latter 
 had many adherents. This he wrote to Brandes who 
 was in Rome, adding : " If you are away for a time, 
 so much the better; one always gains by allowing 
 one's self to be missed." The life around him in Ger- 
 many was at that moment in direct contrast with his 
 summer environment; French prisoners filled the 
 town, there were the wounded to be taken care of, 
 
 " Henrik Ibsen's Samtliche Werke," vol. 1, p. 117: " Nimm den 
 Handschlag aus der Feme, Meinen Dank in totem Wort ! " 
 
 From 1887 until 1903, Hegel's son, Jacob, conducted the pub- 
 lishing business alone. 
 
 '■ The reader is referred to the very excellent accounts in Wil- 
 helm MuUer's "Political History of Recent Times." 
 
272 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 and nearly every household had suffered loss. Still, 
 in the midst of these conditions, Ibsen was gathering 
 his poems, attending to the sales of his books, buy- 
 ing lottery tickets, besides aiding Peter Hansen in the 
 latter's biographical sketch of himself, to be included 
 in " Norwegian Poets of our Century." 
 
 In November, 1870, Ibsen wrote to his brother- 
 in-law, giving his impressions of the state of feeling 
 in the barracks near his house. The French soldiers 
 appeared to be enjoying their captivity. Into this, 
 Ibsen read significance : 
 
 " The situation in France does not seem to trouble 
 them," he wrote. " All this, however, is perfectly 
 natural in men belonging to a revolutionary nation 
 which lacks proper discipline and control. We Nor- 
 wegians ought to take a lesson from this ; for it is in 
 the direction of exactly such internal disintegration 
 that fellows like Jaabaek [the peasant], Johan Sver- 
 drup [the Liberal leader], etc., [meaning probably 
 Bjornson], are trying to draw our nation." 
 
 When, in 1865, he was living in Rome, Ibsen's 
 estimate of the people was negative, but he found 
 that despite their lack of a political sense, of a com- 
 mercial spirit, and their possession of a lethargy 
 which kept them ignorant of much which adds value 
 to life, they, nevertheless, were " indescribably beau- 
 tiful and sound and calm." With the Italian Gov- 
 ernment now in Rome, all of this quiet, this feeling 
 of sanctuary would cease to be; in his imperious 
 manner Ibsen declared he would never again visit 
 Rome, where true liberty had heretofore existed, 
 where there had been no tyranny of politics. " For 
 every statesman," he deplored, " . . . an artist 
 
IBSEN IN AN UNFAMILIAR LIGHT 273 
 
 will be ruined." But what was more to the point was 
 that liberty, which to the Italian had been a glori- 
 ous aspiration, would now lose much of its true 
 vigour. " I must confess," he wrote to Brandes, 
 " that the only thing I love about liberty is the 
 struggle for it; I care nothing for the possession of 
 it." 
 
 The true Ibsen attitude, however, regarding the 
 status of European politics, is found in the follow- 
 ing written to Brandes : 
 
 " The old, illusory France has collapsed ; and as 
 soon as the new, real Prussia does the same, we shall 
 be with one bound in a new age. How ideas will then 
 come tumbling about our ears ! And it is high time 
 they did. Up till now we have been living on noth- 
 ing but the crumbs from the revolutionary table of 
 the last century, the food out of which all nutriment 
 has long been chewed. The old terms require to have 
 a new meaning infused into them. Liberty, equality, 
 and fraternity are no longer the things they were in 
 the days of the late-lamented guillotine. This is 
 what the politicians will not understand; and there- 
 fore I hate them. They want only their own special 
 revolutions — revolutions in externals, in politics, etc. 
 But all this is mere trifling. What is all-important 
 is the revolution of the spirit of man; and in this 
 you will be one of those who lead." 
 
 There is no need to quibble over the exact mean- 
 ing of the word liberty as applied in Ibsen's work ; 
 he did not understand it as synonymous with po- 
 litical liberty, nor did he confuse it with any of the 
 freedom which we commonly term license or liberties. 
 " What I call struggle for liberty," he remarked, 
 
274. HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 " is nothing but the constant living assimilation of 
 the idea of freedom." It is the citizen who seeks po- 
 litical liberty; it is the individual who seeks liberty 
 in the true sense. With this view, it is natural that 
 Ibsen should regard the state as the curse of the in- 
 dividual; his opinion was, for example, that the 
 Jewish nation was greater for having no state, than 
 if it had remained concentrated in Palestine. In 
 this sense, that famous remark of Ibsen's, quoted by 
 all anarchists as proving his essential sympathy with 
 them, assumes a different aspect : 
 
 " The state must be abohshed ! " he writes. " In 
 that revolution I will take part. Undermine the idea 
 of the state; make willingness and spiritual kinship 
 the only essentials in the case of a union — and you 
 have the beginning , of a liberty that is of some 
 value." 
 
 It will profit the student of Ibsen to take these 
 views and place them side by side with Herbert Spen- 
 cer's social theory, revealing how closely their ideas 
 of revolution through evolution coincided.-' The lat- 
 ter was more logical, the former more instinctive, but 
 they both reached similar conclusions regarding the 
 making of man. Spencer's view was perhaps more 
 far-reaching because of the faultless logical develop- 
 ment, and was always marked by an expressed limi- 
 tation of " liberties " which Ibsen's comments gen- 
 erally implied. 
 
 " Experience occasionally shows," writes Spencer,^ 
 " that there may arise extreme interest in pursuing 
 
 ^See the Revue de Paris, September 1, 1904. 
 ' See " System of Synthetic Philosophy," Herbert Spencer. 
 [Pt. vi.] 
 
IBSEN IN AN UNFAMILIAR LIGHT 275 
 
 entirely unselfish ends; and as time goes on, there 
 will be more and more of those whose unselfish end 
 will be the further evolution of Humanity. While 
 contemplating from the heights of thought that 
 far-off life of the race never to be enjoyed by them, 
 but only by a remote posterity, they will feel a calm 
 pleasure in the consciousness of having aided the 
 advance toward it." 
 
 Ibsen did not escape being drawn into a slight 
 controversy, due to some opinions of his contained in 
 the " Balloon Letter to a Swedish Lady " and in his 
 " The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln." After 
 the publication of his poems in 1871, a correspond- 
 ent wrote to a German newspaper, declaring that de- 
 spite the hospitality enjoyed by Ibsen in Dresden, 
 he had spoken of the Germans in a way the Germans 
 should not countenance. Ibsen's explanation is 
 probably too apologetic to relieve him of the full 
 truth of the accusation. For at the time of the 
 Schleswig-Holstein trouble, his opinion against Ger- 
 many was undoubtedly coloured by his wgirmth of 
 feeling for Denmark. Ibsen's accuser also said that 
 in one of his poems he had called Germany " the 
 Land of the Lie." Ibsen's characteristic comment on 
 this emphasized the fact that a poet can hate an 
 Idea, a Principle, a System, but not an Individual. 
 The essential task of the poet, so he once wrote to 
 Brandes, is to see, not to reflect. He did not refer 
 to the German people, but to the political and diplo- 
 matic situation which was outside the control of the 
 people, and which he had chastised as vigorously in 
 his own country as abroad. The weak spot in the 
 public accusation of Ibsen rested in his correspond- 
 
276 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ent taking a poem of 1865 as an example of out- 
 raged hospitality extended to Ibsen in 1871. It is 
 a fact, however, that Ibsen's regard for Germany 
 and the Germans only began to increase after having 
 dwelt for some time among them. In 1885, while in 
 Munich, he told Brandes : " I feel quite at home here, 
 much more so than in my own home." 
 
 Ibsen did not find the task of preparing his poems 
 for the press a pleasurable one ; ^ he did not relish 
 what he termed the accursed business of going over 
 once again all the points of view which he had done 
 with forever. It made little difference if Mr. Lokke, 
 the schoolmaster, offered to collect the varied assort- 
 ment; through his own changed spirit they had to 
 be wrung again. The impatience which seized him 
 was partly due to his desire to begin anew on " Em- 
 peror Julian," and yet he was kept to the task 
 
 ■ The " Poems " of Ibsen were published in 1871 ; 2d ed., 18TS; 
 3rd ed., 1879; 4th ed., 1882; 5th ed., 1886; 6th ed., 1891; 7th 
 ed., 1896. German translations were made by L. Passarge in 
 1881 and by Dr. Hermann Neumann in 1886. In the Brandes, 
 Elias, Schlenther edition, the translations are made by Emma 
 Klingenfeld, Ludwig Fulda, Max Bamberger and Christian 
 Morgenstern. A French translation has been done by le Vicomte 
 de CoUeville and F. de Zepelin. Individual French translations 
 are contained In La Nouvelle Revve, July IS, 1895, p. 314 
 (Gustav Kahm); Le Magazin International, 1896; E. Tissot's 
 "Le Drame Norvdgien," 1893; Revue Blanche (A. Matthey), 
 July 15, 1897. English comment and translations found in 
 Boyesen, Jaeger, Gosse, and particularly Wicksteed. See 
 article by Boyesen, " Henrik Ibsen's Poems," Cosmopolitan, 
 15:90. In Halvorsen, the English reader will find no diificulty 
 in obtaining further references. The sixty-four titles re- 
 corded by Halvorsen represent poems, some of which were writ- 
 ten much later than 1811 and added in subsequent edition. 
 
IBSEN IN AN UNFAMILIAR LIGHT ^77 
 
 through the never-varying belief that everything 
 written by himself had weight as autobiographic 
 data. On May 3, 1871, the book appeared. 
 
 According to the Halvorsen bibliography — and 
 the German edition of the poems accords therewith 
 — sixty-four separate titles represent the complete 
 verse of Henrik Ibsen, other than the juvenile produc- 
 tions commented upon in earlier chapters. A con- 
 sideration of them may not long detain us ; the char- 
 acteristics of the poems manifest themselves in the 
 plays — political indignation; the personal note is 
 continually sounded, and how and again the lyrical 
 song contains grace. Many of the verses celebrate 
 occasions, while others, more or less reflective, rep- 
 resent a personal distrust of himself. 
 
 It is almost a matter of repetition to outline the 
 main thoughts underlying these individual verses. 
 Some of the doubt of " The Pretenders " finds its 
 way into " Bird and Bird Catcher " ; some of the re- 
 nunciation of " Brand " is detected in the landscape 
 philosophy of " In the Mountains." The light airi- 
 ness of " Love's Comedy " breathes through " Com- 
 plications," with a similar stream of satire permeat- 
 ing the lines ; while " A Letter in Rhyme " contains 
 the real significance in Ibsen's persistent and pessi- 
 mistic questioning. 
 
 In this latter poem he does overcome his aversion 
 to answering questions, but he replies in a gruesome 
 manner, connecting the superstitious fear of sailors 
 when a corpse is aboard with the inertia of the world 
 with its many corpses aboard, which only retard the 
 full, healthy growth of civilization. It is with these 
 corpses that Ibsen drives home the moral and ethical 
 
278 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 import in his social and sexual dramas. Note to 
 what uses he puts inheritance in "A Doll's House " 
 and " Ghosts " ; follow his ideas of marriage in 
 " Rosmersholm " and " The Lady from the Sea." It 
 is small wonder that the present generation is rest- 
 less to lift this dead weight from its soul. 
 
 " The Miner " and " Afraid of the Light " both 
 indicate Ibsen's faith that even in the midst of dark- 
 ness, the light may eventually find its way. This 
 thought is repeated in " Brand," whereas " On the 
 Heights " has all the essentials of " Peer Gynt," the 
 same inconsequence, the same external picture, the 
 same battle with the cynical " other self," the same 
 personal loss. In his poems Ibsen is intensely seri- 
 ous ; occasionally such bits of verse as the love-song 
 in " The Feast at Solhaug " and Margrete's Cradle- 
 song in " The Pretenders " break the sombreness 
 with lightsome grace ; once or twice he becomes popu- 
 lar, as, in the melodramatic story of " Terje Vigen," 
 the sailor with the thirst for revenge, yet with the 
 saving Ibsen trait of the Power of Memory which 
 cleanses the heart and mind. He possesses the moral 
 if not the philosophic weight of Wordsworth; in 
 rare instances they both exhibit a similar irritation, 
 although Ibsen's indignation is better grounded and 
 certainly more tempestuous. There is even some- 
 thing of Wordsworth's simple treatment in the nar- 
 rative of " Terje Vigen." 
 
 Ibsen's contemplation of his own growth is em- 
 phasized in " Architectural Schemes " and " The 
 Power of Memory," while in the latter piece he pic- 
 tures his own crucifixion which led, as " The Eider 
 Duck " suggests, to his flight southward. What 
 
IBSEN IN AN UNFAMILIAR LIGHT 279 
 
 that flight meant to him is commented upon in letters 
 and in verse. On July 18, 1872, he wrote his " Mil- 
 lennial Ode,"^ in which he expressed himself strongly: 
 
 " My folk, that gave me in deep shoals the whole- 
 some, bitter, strengthening drink, wherefrom, stand- 
 ing on the brink of my grave as a poet, I received 
 strength for the fight amidst the broken lights of 
 daily life, — my folk that reached me the exile's staff, 
 the burden of sorrow and the swift shoes of care, the 
 sad and solemn equipment for my journey, — home 
 from the world I send thee back a greeting — send it 
 with thanks for all thy gifts, with thanks for the 
 cleansing tide of every anguish. For each plant that 
 has thriven in the garden of my calling stands rooted 
 deep in those same times. If here it shoot in fulness, 
 wealth and joy, it owes it to the grey blasts blowing 
 in the North. What sunshine loosened, mists made 
 firm! Have thanks, my land — thy gift to me was 
 best. Yea! there where the mists roll over the rock- 
 peaks, where the blasts smite bleak upon the Vidde, 
 where echoing silence reigns over hut and hill, where 
 between farm and farm stretches the waste, thither 
 I gaze like the pilot from the deck-bridge. At night 
 and in my poems I belong to home." 
 
 Ibsen's personality becomes the web and woof of 
 these poems ; he draws upon his experience, upon his 
 contemplation; he puts into them his pugnacious- 
 ness, his independence, his deep-rooted opinions, 
 which are oftentimes more suited to prose than to 
 verse. But Ibsen was constant in his belief that, no 
 matter how severe the scourge, goodness would come 
 
 * This was written on the occasion of the celebration of 
 Norway's unification. I use Wictateed's translation. 
 
280 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 of it; this it was which sustained him through the 
 darkest hour, and so, when we detect him flaunting 
 a nation's ill-treatment as a benefit to himself, we can 
 the better Comprehend the further defiance which bid 
 his detractors alter their ways toward him, since he 
 would assuredly persist in holding his own opinion 
 of them. 
 
 Further light is thrown on the so-called anarchis- 
 tic tendencies of Ibsen in his poem : " To my Friend, 
 the Revolutionary Orator " : ^ 
 
 " I grow conservative ? Friend, you astound me ! 
 I am the same as ever you found me. 
 To move the chessmen — what does that avail you? 
 Knock the game in a heap — ^then I shall not fail you. 
 Of all revolutions, but one I cherish, 
 Which was not flimsy and amateurish, 
 That purged the world for a while of iniquity; 
 I refer of course to the flood of antiquity. 
 But then, too, was Lucifer tricked by a traitor; 
 Noah outwitted him, turning dictator. 
 Try it next time more thoroughly; mind not the shriekers; 
 But for that we need workers — both fighters and speakers. 
 You raise the wild flood till it rage and roar fearfully; 
 / will place 'neath the ark the torpedo, most cheerfully." 
 
 There was not a play of his that did not represent 
 something of such an explosion ; his satisfaction over 
 the reception of " Love's Comedy " and of " The 
 League of Youth " evinced that, but his greatest 
 torpedo, as Mr. Archer has said, was to be " Ghosts." 
 The festive spirit often prompted Ibsen to write 
 poetry, but the geniality became tempered by his 
 consuming seriousness. His love poems usually have 
 a heartache in them; his nature poems are moved by 
 ' I use here Professor Boyesen's translation. 
 
IBSEN IN AN UNFAMILIAR LIGHT 281 
 
 the world-sorrow which he felt so deeply. The petals 
 of the water lily lay upon the breast which is likened 
 to a mountain tarn in its varying moods. Even the 
 glint of sunshine in " A Bird Ballad " contains the 
 " pleasurable " pang of parting. Ibsen had a poetic 
 inclination to ponder over the association of places. 
 
 The foreshadowing and repetition of attitudes are 
 likewise to be noted in these poems. In the grate- 
 ful recognition given to his wife throughout the 
 verses entitled " Thanks," there occurs the iteration 
 of feminine dependence which Agnes accepts in 
 " Brand," but which Selma Bratsberg and Nora 
 rebel against in later dramas. " Her goal," says 
 Ibsen, referring to his wife's services, " is to kindle 
 my sight into glow." 
 
 Altogether, should the verses ever be adequately 
 rendered in English translation, they will do little 
 toward adding to the conception of Ibsen which the 
 dramas afford. They are autobiographically sug- 
 gestive, inasmuch as a poet through the medium of 
 his verse can become more intimate with himself. His 
 poems are marked by a humour which is grim, which 
 brings little with it of a cheerful nature; they are 
 devoid of free imagery, of unconscious inspiration. 
 Ibsen's claims as a poet rest upon " The Pretenders," 
 "Brand," and "Peer Gynt." There is a deal of 
 weight to these smaller isolated pieces, but there is 
 scarcely any of the universal import or application. 
 While his verses contain personal interest, they are 
 not the product which proclaims Ibsen to be the poet. 
 To those who would see in the social dramas only the 
 scientist and the sociologist ; to those who would seek 
 in the sexual plays only the genetic psychologist ; 
 
g82 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 and, finally, to those who are consumed by the sym- 
 bol within the symbol of his later dramas, to those 
 who constitute the Ibsen " cult," — there still remains 
 open the way of the poet. And this way is not to be 
 found in the shorter verse, but in the longer dramas. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 
 
 After Frederick Van Eeden, the Dutch reformer, 
 had paid his first visit to America in the early part 
 of 1908, he pubhshed his impressions in a short 
 magazine article, treating our national youthfulness 
 under the guise of " the ugly duckling " legend ; our 
 faults, so he believed, were juvenile defects, " a rem- 
 nant of the boy and the barbarian;" our hope lay 
 in the fact that as a nation America was alive. Pos- 
 sibly we .were as yet uncertain of the benefit this being 
 alive would bring to Society, the Nation, and the 
 Race; as yet the active force was ill-directed, but it 
 was there, and where there is movement there can be 
 no sloth or indifference. His commandment to 
 America was couched in these words : 
 
 " Keep alive, in the widest sense, meaning also to 
 keep free from all sorts of deadening and petrifying 
 conventions, systems, dogmas, churches and beliefs, 
 be they religious, scientific or philosophical."^ 
 
 This is the invigorating effect that Ibsen has upon 
 the reader who understands him ; but there must be no 
 half-way acceptance; he will have no pity for the 
 sensitiveness that thrives upon protection ; he applies 
 the scourge to others as he applied it to himself. His 
 philosophical outlook upon life was still in an un- 
 certain stage of formation; he had tried hard in 
 " Brand " and in " Peer Gynt " to reconcile certain 
 elements in the accomplishment of one's mission, but 
 both the positive and the negative poles had ended in 
 annihilation. In the course of his writing " Emperor 
 
 ' " Impressions of America." Frederick Van Eeden. The 
 Independent, August 13, 1908, pp. 370-374. 
 
284) HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 and Galilean," his formulation assumed a more defi- 
 nite shape. Having once satisfied himself of the 
 necessity to reconcile opposites, he then, in his social 
 dramas, pointed to concrete weaknesses which were 
 retarding the accomplishment of that " third empire." 
 
 The publication of his poems left Ibsen free to 
 throw his whole attention upon Emperor Julian, his 
 longest work and one upon which he may be said to 
 have been engaged from 1871 to 1873, unless we 
 trace the whole evolution from 1864, when, it will 
 be remembered, he was voted a grant to aid him in 
 finishing his drama based on Roman history. A com- 
 plete record of the evolution may be drawn from the 
 Ibsen letters, which in themselves afford a skeleton 
 foundation rather than an illuminating background 
 for an estimate of the drama's content.^ 
 
 We have seen the effect which the " blessed peace " 
 of Rome had had upon Ibsen when he first arrived 
 there in 1864 ; we have satisfied ourselves that little 
 of that civilization of the past which lay about him 
 in picturesque remnants entered into the imagery of 
 " Brand " or " Peer Gynt," but there is no doubt 
 that the mental stimulus of being in a Roman atmos- 
 
 ' Since the present book is a record, as well as attempting 
 to be a commentary, I am perforce obliged to enter fully into 
 Ibsen's correspondence relating to "Emperor and Galilean." 
 Otherwise I should refer the reader to Mr. Archer's excellent 
 introduction which, in part, covers the same ground. See also 
 " Ibsen's Imperialism," by the same author, in Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury and After, February, 1907. Extracts from Ibsen's common- 
 place book are to be found in Die Neue Rundschau, December, 
 1906. It is of interest to note that " Emperor and Galilean " 
 was the flrst of Ibsen's plays to be translated (by Miss Ray) 
 into English. 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 285 
 
 phere must have served to turn his thoughts upon 
 " Julianus Apostata." He entered upon a serious 
 contemplation of the subject with joy sufficiently 
 strong to prompt him to write B j ornson on September 
 16 [17],^ that the work would be completed in the 
 Summer of 1865. This was not to be the case, for 
 as yet Ibsen had not the mental growth sufficient to 
 clear his ideas for him. His way must lead through 
 other channels. 
 
 A considerable period elapsed, his attention mean- 
 while being absorbed in the composition of " Brand." 
 Then there occurred the announcement in Denmark of 
 Carsten Hauch's " Julian the Apostate," which in no 
 way deterred Ibsen in his intentions, according to a 
 letter to Michael Birkeland, May 4, 1866 [28]. For, 
 as he wrote Hegel on May 21 [30], his treatment of 
 the subject would be unlike that of Hauch's; in fact, 
 he would take special precautions not to read or to 
 become familiar in any way with the latter's drama. 
 
 On July 22 [23], he refers vaguely in a letter to 
 Botten-Hansen, written from his perch in Frascati, 
 2,000 feet above the sea, to a subject over which he 
 is wrestling in the hopes of getting " the upper hand 
 of the brute before long." So editors assume that 
 this means the " Emperor Julian," though the actual 
 and immediate result was " Peer Gynt." This is the 
 last reference from Rome, unless we except an ex- 
 tract from one of Ibsen's speeches delivered as late as 
 1898, in which he refers to the influence of the South 
 upon him at a time when " Julianus Apostata " was 
 rife in its initial enthusiastic planning : ^ 
 
 'The bracketted numbers refer to Ibsen's correspondence. 
 ' See Brandes, Elias, Schlenther ed., vol. 1, p. 531 : " Beim 
 
286 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 *' It is now thirty-four years since I journeyed 
 southward by way of Germany and Austria, and 
 passed through the Alps on May 9. Over the 
 mountains the clouds hung like a great dark curtain. 
 We plunged in under it, steamed through the tunnel, 
 and suddenly found ourselves at Miramare, where the 
 beauty of the South, a strange luminosity, shining 
 like white marble, suddenly revealed itself to me, and 
 left its mark on my whole subsequent production, 
 even though it may not all have taken the form of 
 beauty." 
 
 He knew much about the evangelism of the Lam- 
 mers' community in Skien; he saw around him evi- 
 dences of a crumbling civilization which had been 
 based on paganism; he himself was burning with 
 anger over the petty sluggishness of the world's will ; 
 a fermenting doubt was gripping him. The study 
 of an Apostate would, therefore, probably give to 
 Ibsen satisfactory understanding of what might be 
 called a threatened apostasy on his part — for aloof- 
 ness of spirit means denial. 
 
 Ibsen was living in Dresden when the next mention 
 of " Emperor Julian " occurs. He tells Hegel on 
 June 10, 1869 [55], that his conceptions are growing 
 distinct and that he should like to have a three-part 
 article on Julian, by Listov. In the communication 
 to Peter Hansen, dated October 28 [74], among the 
 varied estimates of his plays, one sees linked closely 
 to his opinion that " The League of Youth " is 
 suggestive of sausage and beer, the other opinion 
 
 Bankett im ' H6tel d' Angleterre' zu Kopenhagen," 1 April, 
 1898. See the note given by the German editors. I quote 
 Archer's translation. 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 287 
 
 that in Dresden there is a community " well-ordered 
 even to weariness " and that his salvation, which lay 
 in remoteness of subject, was to be found only in 
 " Emperor Julian." 
 
 By January 10, 1871 [78], he announced to Hegel 
 that the First Part was completed, while he seems to 
 have determined to divide his material into three 
 sections. On July 12 [82] Ibsen was writing enthusi- 
 astically to Hegel, proclaiming " Emperor Julian " 
 his chief work, in which critics would obtain, his 
 positive theory of life. He asked further for Danish 
 reference which would give him facts concerning the 
 period; he possessed Neander and D. Strauss on the 
 subject, but he was not eager for " argumentative 
 folly." 
 
 A significant passage occurs in a letter to Brandes, 
 dated September 24) [84] : " In the course of my 
 occupation with Julian," he said, " I have in a way 
 become a fatalist ; and yet this play will be a kind of 
 banner. Do not fear, however, any underlying pur- 
 pose ; I study the characters, the conflicting plans, 
 the history, and do not concern myself with the moral 
 of the whole — always assuming that by the moral of 
 history you do not mean its philosophy ; for that that 
 will clearly shine forth, as the final verdict on the 
 struggle and the victor^', is a matter of course. But 
 all this can be made intelligible by practical applica- 
 tion." Hegel learned on December 27, 1871 [86], 
 that the first part of the play, in three acts, and called 
 " Julian and the Philosophers," was in " fair copy," 
 and that he was writing rapidly. With critical 
 enthusiasm Ibsen compared the style to that of " The 
 Pretenders." 
 
288 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 He had nearly completed the Second Part when he 
 wrote Hegel on April 24, 1872 [92], and he claimed 
 that the Third Part would go quickly, inasmuch as he 
 always worked better in warm weather. His desire 
 to thrash over the material in conversation with 
 Brandes is seen in a letter of May 31 [94)], in which 
 he exhibits his customary dislike of discussing in 
 letters things which should be kept for personal 
 meeting. He was literally wrestling with " Julian," 
 and from Berchtesgaden, in Bavaria, on July 23 
 [96], he declared to Brandes that he would be glad 
 to contribute letters to the latter's contemplated peri- 
 odical—letters which " would, in a manner, form my 
 confession of faith — just as soon as Julian, the mon- 
 ster, lets hold his grip." 
 
 By August 8, 1872 [97],* Ibsen made the formal 
 announcement to Hegel that he had finished the 
 second part, " Julian's Apostasy," in three acts, and 
 that the final section, which would be entitled " Julian 
 on the Imperial Throne," in five acts, would shortly 
 be ready, since he had read so widely in preparation. 
 Here, for the first time, is contained the suggestion 
 that he might publish the parts now finished, as 
 separate from the third, since they would form a 
 complete whole. However, for the sake of general 
 impression, he advised otherwise. Probably Brandes 
 had made some suggestion of the kind, as he was to 
 do later on regarding " Emperor and Galilean." 
 
 Ibsen's desire to finish the work before the close of 
 
 1872 was expressed in a letter to Gosse, October 14: 
 
 [99] . " I hope it will meet with your approval," he 
 
 said. " It is a part of my own spiritual life which I 
 
 ' Mention of the drama is also made in Letter 98. 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 289 
 
 am putting into this book ; what I depict I have, 
 under diiFerent conditions, gone through myself ; and 
 the historical subject chosen has a much more intimate 
 connection with the movements of our own time than 
 one might at first imagine. The establishment of 
 such a connection, I regard as imperative in any 
 modern poetical treatment of such a remote subject, 
 if it is to arouse interest at all." 
 
 With his customary dependence upon his friends, 
 it is not surprising to note that on February 4, 1873 
 [100], Ibsen was communicating with Ludvig Daae 
 regarding the proper manner of writing Greek 
 names ; his questions are indicative of certain formal 
 care, while his further queries relating to a life of 
 Maximus and his critical references to Ammianus 
 are evidences of his continued study. We shall see 
 that his drama might have been saved from an over- 
 weight, had he done less preparation in the way of 
 facts. The superiority of the first over the second 
 part of " Emperor and Galilean " confirms this opin- 
 ion. 
 
 The task, which was so many times to have been 
 completed shortly, continued to engross his attention. 
 It was not the mere writing, he confessed to Hegel on 
 February 6 [101], which troubled him, but the effort 
 to revivify in his own mind " an age so remote from 
 our own and so little akin to it." Another letter to 
 Daae, sent on February 23 [103], volleys question 
 after question relative to philology whereby he could 
 " Scandinavise " Greek. He had now evidently de- 
 termined upon a play of two instead of three parts, 
 in which is recorded " a struggle between two irrecon- 
 cilable powers in the life of the world — a struggle 
 
290 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 which will always repeat itself; and because of this 
 universality, I call the book ' A World Drama.' " 
 
 The inner life of Juhan, so he declared, expressed 
 much of his own spiritual experience, indeed more 
 than he cared to have the general reader know ; yet he 
 did not claim that it was not a realistic drama; the 
 characters are pictured in direct relation with their 
 age. In closing his letter to Daae, Ibsen, with a 
 distinctive grace, added : " Good bye ! I shall never 
 forget your readiness to help me in this matter." 
 
 He now heard that Bjornson had spoken of his 
 atheistical views that were to be infused into this new 
 piece. Ibsen's resentment over this unjust inference 
 is indicated in his letter of September 8 [107] to 
 Brandes. He brushed the accusation aside with the 
 comment : " What the book is or is not I have no 
 desire to enquire into; I only know that I saw a 
 fragment of the history of humanity plainly before 
 my eyes, and that I tried to reproduce exactly what 
 I saw." 
 
 On October 16 [109], Ibsen expressed hope that 
 Brandes would be among the first to see his colossal 
 drama. When it reached Gosse, the latter showed 
 regret that he had abandoned the use of verse; to 
 which Ibsen replied on January 15, 1874! [110], in 
 terms consistent with his previous utterances. He 
 wrote : 
 
 " The play is, as you must have observed, conceived 
 in the most realistic style. ... I wished to pro- 
 duce the impression on the reader that what he was 
 reading was something that had really happened." 
 Verse would have defeated his object, reducing all 
 his ordinary characters to the level of identically the 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 291 
 
 same rhythmical measure. " We are no longer living 
 in the days of Shakespeare," he continued. " Among 
 sculptors there is already talk of painting statues in 
 the natural colours. I have no desire to see the Venus 
 of Milo painted, but I would rather see the head of a 
 negro executed in black than in white marble." His 
 tragedy thus renounced the tradition of ancient law 
 and form; he wished to arrive at the human in his 
 execution. 
 
 George Brandes and his brother were editors in 
 1874 of a magazine called " The Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury," to which the former contributed an article on 
 " Emperor and Galilean," emphasizing that, by his 
 " determinism," Ibsen's drama was enfeebled. Ibsen 
 took him up on the point in a communication of 
 January 30, 1875 [115] ; with petulance, he could not 
 see why, if Brandes attacked him for this weakness, 
 he should not likewise have taken exception to Paul 
 Heyse, of whom Brandes had also written, and who 
 was marked by similar characteristics. " It comes 
 to the same thing," he declared, " whether I say, in 
 writing of a person's character, ' it runs in his blood,' 
 or, ' he is free — subject to the laws of necessity.' " 
 
 In that letter also Ibsen has a paragraph signifi- 
 cant of his idea of the " third kingdom," apropos of 
 Brandes' magazine, which, aiming to be Scandinavian, 
 was too evidently Danish. 
 
 " Why do you and all of us, whose standpoint is a 
 European one, occupy such an isolated position at 
 home? — Because what we belong to," he answers him- 
 self, " is not an entire, coherent state-organism ; be- 
 cause the people at home think parochially, feel paro- 
 chially, and regard everything from a parochial and 
 
292 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 not from a national or Scandinavian point of view." 
 But though the completion of " Emperor and Gali- 
 lean " served to increase the pressure of belief in the 
 necessity for unity of national ideas, " Only entire 
 nations," he asserted, "can join in great intellectual 
 movements. A change in the theory of life and of the 
 world is not a parochial matter; and we Scandi- 
 navians, as compared with the other European 
 nations, have not yet gone beyond the parish-council 
 standpoint. And do you ever find a parish-council 
 looking for and proposing the way for ' the third 
 kingdom ' .''" The fault which we shall find with 
 Julian rests in the very failure on his part to reconcile 
 those various elements around him, which retarded his 
 imperialism on one hand, and which strengthened 
 Christianity on the other. 
 
 An illuminating remark was made by Ibsen while 
 in Stockholm on September 24, 1887.'' He had often 
 been called a pessimist, he confessed, simply because 
 he could not believe in the eternity of human ideals. 
 But still he did not sanction the obliteration of the 
 effects of transitory ideals, and, in consequence, he 
 needs must regard himself as an optimist; he held 
 that ideals should grow " from more to more." Each 
 ideal that passed to a higher one, so he was convinced, 
 brought the world nearer the goal of the " third 
 empire," which comprised the central theme of his 
 double drama. " Therefore," he proclaimed in ring- 
 ing tones, " let me drain my glass to the growing, 
 the coming time." The sincerity is true gold, not the 
 hollow dross of Stensgard's euphemistic phrases. 
 
 ' See " Beim Fest im ' Grand Hotel ' zu Stockholm." German 
 ed., Brandes, Elias, Schlenther, vol. 1, p. 527. 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 293 
 
 There are but two other references to " Emperor 
 and Galilean " in Ibsen's correspondence. From 
 Munich,, on February 26, 1888 [198], he wrote to 
 Julius HofFory, who was instrumental in making him 
 known through Germany; in this letter he stated 
 that during his early stay in Rome, while he was 
 turning over in his mind the details of the Julian 
 drama, his views of life were " too Scandinavian and 
 nationalistic " to attempt such an alien subject. 
 "'Emperor and Galilean " therefore crystallized 
 under German intellectual influences, which found 
 active expression in the historical happenings of the 
 time. The forces were transforming him, and his 
 nationalism was being changed into a racial theory 
 — probably, as he said, not so much changed as 
 expanded. It was after this alteration in himself 
 that he felt impelled to complete his drama. 
 
 As late as July, 1899, Ibsen was receiving enquiries 
 regarding the composition of " Emperor and Gali- 
 lean." Woerner, who was engaged in the preparation 
 of his long Ibsen treatise, consulted him in regard 
 to his sources ; he had read extensively if not deeply 
 in Ecclesiastical history, relying chiefly for his facts 
 upon Ammianus Marcellinus.^ 
 
 The chief advantage in thus letting Ibsen trace 
 the evolution of his play is to be found in the 
 inevitable conclusion which results. " Emperor and 
 Galilean " may be regarded from two points of view ; 
 as a chronicle play of uneven but tremendous pro- 
 portions, and as a culmination of the views only 
 vaguely expressed and only partly formulated in 
 " Brand " and " Peer Gynt." From his remarks, we 
 ' He was unfortunately cut oflF from reading Gibbon. 
 
294. HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 see that Ibsen felt a vital change in his outlook upon 
 spiritual matters ; having once satisfied himself as to 
 the spiritual formula upon which to work, having 
 once accepted the philosophy of the " third empire," 
 he set forth in his social plays to point to that in the 
 social order of things which was retarding the ac- 
 complishment. From now on, his philosophy was not 
 materially to change ; it was to deepen and to mingle 
 subtly with his moral, ethical and social views. The 
 difference between the idea of " the younger genera- 
 tion " in " The League of Youth " and in " The 
 Master Builder " measures the growth.^ 
 
 Note also that instead of being iconoclastic and 
 atheistical in his belief, Ibsen, while accepting wholly 
 no definite religious principles, nevertheless proceeded 
 to analyze existent theories, and to draw from them 
 what would accord with the modern movement. But 
 that in its proper place ! 
 
 A thesis of some vital proportions might be written, 
 in which Ibsen's use of historical and philosophical 
 
 • " Emperor and Galilean " was published on October 17, 1873; 
 9nd ed., Kbhvn, December IC, 1873; 3rd ed., Kbhvn, June 3, 
 1880; 4th ed., Kbhvn, June 23, 1892. An English translation 
 was made by Catherine Ray in 1876, followed by the Archer 
 version in 1890. In France, Ch. de Casanove published a trans- 
 lation during 1895. (See Revue Bleue, 1894, I.) Two German 
 translations are to be recorded, one by Ernst Brausewetter 
 (1888) and the other by Paul Herrmann (1888). Scandinavian 
 commentaries are many, the most famous being that by A. 
 Garborg (1873). See Halvorsen. The play has been used in 
 fragments, most notably at the Stadt-theatre in Leipzig, 
 December 5, 1896; March 17, 1898, in Berlin at the Belle 
 Alliance Theatre, with Herr Wieoke as Julian. According to 
 Huneker, it was given in its entirety on March 20, 1903, at the 
 National Theatre in Christiania. 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 295 
 
 material was analyzed step by step ; the pursuance of 
 such a method would involve extended research, for 
 the literature covering the Apostasy of the Emperor 
 Julian is an extensive one, and the conflicting elements, 
 while characteristic of the particular time, have, 
 nevertheless, been repeated throughout the world's 
 progress in thought, and, to-day are at the founda- 
 tion of modern philosophy. 
 
 But here it is only essential to regard the subject 
 from its general aspects ; the incidents are not so 
 much in themselves as they are sidelights upon that 
 deflection of faith through which the Emperor 
 Julian passed. Apart from whether or not Ibsen's 
 treatment was historically just, the reader, after 
 finishing the two parts, cannot fail to be impressed 
 by the skilful grading of his apostasy, every motive 
 being considered and accounted for in some way. 
 
 To gain a satisfactory impression of the figures, it 
 would seem advisable to do some slight preparatory 
 reading of history ;•' then one will see that while intent 
 
 ' No book is better fitted for the purpose than Gaetano 
 Negri's "Julian the Apostate," in two volumes, translated by 
 Duchess Litta-Visconti-Arese, and with an introduction by 
 Prof. Pasquale Villari (London, Unwin). The apostasy and 
 the conditions affecting it are considered at length. The intro- 
 duction contains bibliographical data. Further references are 
 Randall's "The Emperor Julian" (1889); Alice Gardner's 
 "Julian, Philosopher and Emperor" (1899); Kock's "Kaiser 
 Julian, seine Jugend und Kriegsthaten " (1900); VoUert's 
 " Kaiser Julians religiose und philosophische Uberzeugung " 
 (1899). In France, I note Paul Allard's "Julien J'Apostat " 
 (1899). I am indebted to Dr. E. E. Slosson for his suggestions 
 contained in an article, " A Russian Mystic Novelist " [Dmitri 
 Merejkowski]. The Independent, Nov. IS, 1906. 
 
 Ibsen called his play a " World-Drama," but wrote to Heg«I, 
 
296 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 on the problem of his " third empire," Ibsen let slip 
 some of the noble characteristics of Julian, making 
 him, in the second section of the play, a fanatic of 
 wholly unphilosophic principles, whereas, in his 
 apostasy, the true Julian brought to bear upon 
 paganism a certain philosophical system. 
 
 The historic time was propitious for Julian's pur- 
 pose; the conflict involved the elements of paganism 
 and Christianity ; the predecessor of Julian was not a 
 man to imbibe Christian idealism. According to 
 Negri, " he intended that Christianity should occupy 
 in the empire the came position that expiring pagan- 
 ism had occupied in the ancient State ... a 
 weapon and a sanction to enhance the authority of 
 the sovereign." 
 
 Christianity had lost its initial severity; stoicism, 
 Platonism, mystery had changed its original purity. 
 Forces were at work, both in paganism and Christi- 
 anity, to result in reaction in both directions. Ibsen's 
 handling of faction after faction in " Caesar's Apos- 
 tasy," while not strictly historical, was in the main 
 deftly accomplished, omitting much of the theological 
 basis which embraced a continual wrangling of sects 
 regarding the true character of monotheism. While 
 Christianity on one hand, and paganism on the other 
 hand, approached Neo-Platonism, the element of 
 organization in the former, and its satisfying of 
 certain spiritual aspirations, pointed to its eventual 
 conquest. As Negri emphasizes, Hellenic Neo- 
 
 in 1873: "Do not let the title . . . alarm you! In form 
 it is an imitation of ' folkedrama, f amiljedrama, nationaldrama,' 
 etc. And the play's range of subject entitles it to the 
 appellation." 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 297 
 
 Platonism contained a tendency to weakness in the 
 very fact that while it retained the ancient gods, these 
 divinities were shorn of their majesty and were used 
 merely as symbols. 
 
 " Julian's attempt," continues the same authority, 
 " awakens great interest, just because he endeavoured 
 to oppose to Christianity the ancient gods of the 
 Hellenic Olympus, on the basis of a philosophy 
 which was, in fact, essentially identical with that of 
 Christianity," Instead of reducing Christianity, his 
 attempt was to raise paganism to the same level. The 
 aptness of Julian's efforts, therefore, lay, as Negri 
 declares, in Hellenic Neo-Platonism containing a 
 certain idealistic quality which, at this period, ap- 
 pears to have forsaken Christianity.^ Ibsen's mistake 
 in " The Emperor Julian " is chiefly evident in his 
 ignoring the high moral significance in the man's 
 attitude ; he conceived him, in this second part, more 
 nearly in terms of Constantius. 
 
 The opportuneness of Julian's attempted restora- 
 tion of paganism rested in the sectarian warfare in 
 the ranks of Christianity and in the evident corrup- 
 tion permeating Christian society. Of necessity, his 
 early education had had much to do with his inclina- 
 tion toward Hellenic culture. 
 
 Negri enters minutely into a discussion of Julian's 
 attitude, based on a consideration of his works ; he 
 
 ' Boyesen calls attention to literary analogies in the treatment 
 of this struggle between Christianity and Paganism. See 
 Schiller's " The Gods of Greece," and Swinburne's " Hymn to 
 Proserpine," " The Garden of Proserpine " (William Morton 
 Payne's excellent " Selected Poems of Swinburne " [Belles- 
 Lettres Series. Heath]). 
 
298 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 traces, step by step, Julian's action against Christi- 
 anity as well as his final disillusion. Instead of being 
 a reactionary, Julian was progressive. I quote 
 Negri : " He . . . upheld polytheism, into which 
 he introduced that culture and that civilization [of 
 the ancients], but, by upholding it, he Christianized 
 it, not only under the aspect of metaphysics, but also, 
 as we shall see, under that of morals and discipline. 
 The attempt to Christianize polytheism so as to keep 
 it alive could only be appreciated by those who shared 
 Julian's love for that assemblage of tradition, glory, 
 and poetry which he designated under the compre- 
 hensive title of Hellenism." His weapon against 
 Judaism was that the God of the Jews is not the God 
 of the human race, but of a small nation. 
 
 The law of necessity, however, protected Christi- 
 anity ; had polytheism been capable of change, Negri 
 points out that the other religion would not have 
 thriven. In Ibsen's drama, we find in the end that the 
 attempted establishment of paganism was the one 
 thing that strengthened Christianity, since excess of 
 enjoyment and force, which marked polytheism, en- 
 couraged a reaction. Ibsen's error was in attributing 
 to Julian certain persecutions which he would never 
 have countenanced. 
 
 We shall not here show at any length the liberties 
 taken by Ibsen in the use of historical data ;^ we know 
 the method by his earlier plays, and a dramatist is 
 justified in selecting and adjusting as he would; so 
 
 ' In Mr. Archer's carefully prepared introduction to " Em- 
 peror and Galilean,'' the reader is referred to a resume of 
 Julian's hatred of Christianity — p. xix. For further analysis, 
 consult Lothar's " Henrik Ibsen," chap. viii. For a suggestion 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 299 
 
 systematically, however, has Ibsen traced this pro- 
 gressive character, that one might easily take a life of 
 Julian and verify, as Mr. Archer has partly done, the 
 authenticity of situations. It is not historical accu- 
 racy which a poet should strive to maintain, but the 
 accuracy of character, the accuracy of spirit. 
 
 A dramatist must be just to his figures; once he 
 has selected his hero, he is bound to the laws which 
 shaped the destiny of the man. And so, in view of 
 this, we finish " Caesar's Apostasy " with a feeling 
 that here we have the true proportions of Julian. 
 One must either treat Ibsen's details in the mass, or 
 write an historical analysis; and it is exactly in the 
 mass that " The Emperor Julian " underestimates 
 the largeness and noble proportions of the man. 
 History does not claim that Julian was devoid of con- 
 suming defects, petty prejudices and unwise actions, 
 but it does not record the bloody outrages which 
 Ibsen indicates. It is while he is most faithful to 
 history that Ibsen is most dull, drawing from sources 
 rather than from mental assimilation. Save as an 
 exceptional example of the chronicle play, which in 
 a way fulfilled the cry of Hettner for a more psycho- 
 logical treatment, the piece in its exterior mould need 
 detain us no further; around Julian as the central 
 figure there swirl all the motives likely to act and 
 react on his character ; here and there passages from 
 his own works are deftly interwoven with the dialogue, 
 and throughout there is a scenic sweep, an eifective 
 
 of the historical variations Mr. Archer's indications will suffice. 
 Archer's translation of " Emperor and Galilean," including his 
 introduction, is reviewed in The Nation (New Yorls) 85:477, 
 November 21, 1907. 
 
300 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 handling of crowds not unworthy of " Julius Caesar " 
 or " Coriolanus." Granting the deviation from his- 
 torical truth, the apostasy is traced with excep- 
 tional skill. I like that conception of the critic who 
 wrote that Ibsen's " Emperor and Galilean " re- 
 minded him of a large canvas wholly sketched in, but 
 only here and there worked up minutely ; moreover 
 one clearly understands the other critical statement 
 that in the dialogue there are many examples of rich 
 purple patches. 
 
 In the first act of " Caesar's Apostasy " we are 
 given a glimpse of Julian in the midst of the 
 Christianized court of Constantius ; he is longing for 
 solitude, he is questioning his unbelief, his apparent 
 blindness. Even thus early he hears it whispered by 
 his boyhood friend that he may be the Emperor's 
 successor. Evidences of his zealous work in Christian 
 conversion are around him, yet despite this, there is 
 a fascination for him in the teachings of Libanius. 
 There is a confusion of inclination in his dealings with 
 the numberless teachers who come in contact with him. 
 
 But when he is confronted by this philosopher of 
 paganism, he hears further what is ordained of him. 
 The Emperor protects Julian's faith. Rightly does 
 Libanius question this in the vein of " The Pre- 
 tenders." " Has this young man so scant faith in 
 his faith.?" Julian is hemmed in; the palace stifles 
 him, the Church dissatisfies him; Emperor and Gali- 
 lean thus early begin to nppose each other. Perhaps 
 the Christians are more jealous of their faith than 
 zealous ; they take every means to deceive Julian, 
 and by deceiving to guard his faith from outside 
 influences. Libanius sees in Julian, the God-born, 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 301 
 
 " the uncreated in the ever-changing," the centre of 
 evolution which always progresses toward a higher 
 goal, the possible mean between two extremes of the 
 worldly and the spiritual — not a compromise in the 
 " Peer Gynt " sense, but more philosophic. If Julian 
 has premonitions of the fight ahead of him, they are 
 purely the dreams of a philosopher. 
 
 When he at last succeeds in escaping the court and 
 the immediate suspicion of the Emperor, Julian slips 
 to Athens, where we are presented with the philosophic 
 development of his growing pagan tastes. But 
 here, the young Prince does not find the full-blooded 
 belief he seeks ; he discovers that even Libanius strives 
 to avoid the battle between the world's truth and 
 God's truth; he is not great because he no longer 
 suffers wrong; his views are all formal — as much 
 dogmatized as Christianity. 
 
 The so-called Christians rule harshly ; even Julian's 
 brother is deeply dyed in sin; his duty, therefore, 
 should be to fight fearlessly as a champion of 
 Christian truth. In this second act, Julian is torn 
 between the compensating aspects of life. Paganism 
 is full of the beauty of revel, but it cannot be recon- 
 ciled with truth. He is also torn by the imposed 
 idea that he is to save Christendom; his uncertainty 
 is clothed in a mist of the philosophy characterizing 
 the schools. Where is Christianity.'' Should it not 
 be in life rather than in books .'' He does not seek the 
 written truth which may be recited without reaching 
 the heart; he is after the living truth! Christ would 
 not countenance the religion practised in His name; 
 on the other hand, from Athens Julian has learned 
 that the old pagan harmony is absent. As he claims : 
 
302 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 " The old beauty is no longer beautiful, and the new 
 truth is no longer true." Is it that we need a new 
 revelation of Christ, or is it that the revelation will be 
 something new in itself? 
 
 The third act is filled with mysticism. Prince 
 Julian's home in Ephesus is the abode of potent sign 
 and symbol. He is still watched by the Emperor, but 
 succeeds in evading discovery ; yet slowly he is being 
 initiated into the mysteries of his new teacher, Maxi- 
 mus. Julian can reduce his body to spirit, paying 
 tribute, as Maximus does, to the la:w-giver of Sinai 
 and to the seer of Nazareth. His philosophical status 
 is now couched in the postulate, " that which is, is 
 not ; and that which is not, is." 
 
 Julian's keen perception, anJ his being absolutely 
 outside worldly consideration, naturally tend to make 
 him an enthusiast ; he cannot believe in that Christian 
 principle which leads through death to the beyond; 
 he would pierce the mystery here and now. " That 
 which is to come," he says, " shall be conceived rather 
 in the soul than in the body." Those pure Adams of 
 successive generations, Moses, Alexander, Jesus, all 
 succumbed to physical weakness ; but something new 
 is to arrive. There is the way of the schools and the 
 way of the Church, but is there not a third way.!" 
 
 Mystic orgies now completely engross Julian; 
 Maximus is the conjurer. Strange voices tell him 
 that he is born to serve the spirit — his mission to 
 establish the empire by the way of freedom. The 
 way of freedom is the way of necessity, and naught is 
 gained except by willing, by exerting the power which 
 one must exert. Then is Julian told by Maximus of 
 the constitution of the three empires ; already have 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 303 
 
 we had two — that founded on the tree of knowledge 
 and that founded on the Cross. But he adds : " The 
 third is the empire of the great mystery ; that empire 
 which shall be founded on the tree of knowledge and 
 the tree of the Cross together, because it hates and 
 loves them both, and because it has living sources 
 under Adam's grove and under Golgotha." 
 
 This mystic forpshadowing is here interrupted by 
 Julian's unexpected promotion to Caesar, because of 
 the murder of his brother; Ibsen mixes in his brain 
 the confusion of imperial purple with the spiritual 
 purpose. Voices have whispered that he shall estab- 
 lish an empire ; here he has been summoned by the 
 Emperor to do so. The wheels are set rolling along 
 paths far different from those frequented by the lover 
 of wisdom. 
 
 The growing idea of kingship becomes uppermost 
 in the mind of Julian; in the fourth act, which is 
 laid in Gaul, events conduce toward that end. For 
 wherever he has gone with the Emperor's army, he 
 has been victorious against the Germans ; but in no 
 way does he succeed, by his services, in allaying the 
 hate and suspicion of Constantius toward him. His 
 wife tempts him to usurp the royal prerogative. Has 
 he not been misrepresented at court; has not the 
 Emperor in his report of the campaigns taken to his 
 own credit the brilliant manceuvres of Julian? 
 
 The entire spirit of suspicion develops in the 
 Caesar a crafty and sarcastic streak; he is being 
 gradually drawn into making a bold move in self- 
 defence; the army is with him, but every command 
 he receives from the Emperor only serves to antago- 
 nize his generals, to abrogate his promises to the 
 
304 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 soldiers. In a way, Julian works advantageously 
 upon the feelings of his friends; and so, when he is 
 at last accepted as Emperor, he covers up a certain 
 ambition under the guise of compulsion. 
 
 In the fifth act, the final steps in Julian's apostasy 
 are taken ; his philosophy is now weakened by the in- 
 clination toward superstition. Whatever misgivings 
 he may have had regarding his usurpation are over- 
 come, one by one, before a realization of imperative 
 duty. Julian's conscience, in other words, is active; 
 that is why he envies the Greek sense of freedom, 
 where the gods are far away. 
 
 His reasoning is sophistical when he soothes his 
 misgivings by asserting that it is better for Con- 
 stantius to suffer wrong than to do wrong. Far 
 down, in subterranean vaults, in the darkness, Julian 
 seeks light; he is looking for signs, while above, the 
 army grows restive. 
 
 Julian's life has been spent in dread of two terrors, 
 the Emperor and Christ. In the Sermon on the 
 Mount, the unconditional, inexorable commands have 
 sapped one side of nature. " All that is human has 
 become unlawful since the day when the Seer of 
 Galilee became ruler of the world. Through Him, 
 life has become death." The soul is bound in chains ; 
 doctrine has grown into enchantment. There is a 
 terror in the revelation, yet one who has tasted of 
 Christian sweetness can stand no transplanting in 
 other soil. The creed is a benumbing one; it is no 
 spur to ambition. 
 
 Surely, by this method of analysis, it is natural 
 that one must either be a thrall under the Christian 
 terror or a monarch in pagan joy. The path to the 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 305 
 
 throne is over the Galilean. The Christian Fathers 
 have succumbed to worldly temptation. The closing 
 of the play is melodramatic, but powerful and ef- 
 fective. Julian at last has decided; his interpreta- 
 tion of the Lord's Prayer pits paganism against 
 Christ. " Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the 
 glory," chants the Choir. " Mine is the kingdom," 
 proclaims Julian; thus imperialism overrides the in- 
 itial impulse. Ibsen, the playwright, is effective, but, 
 as the historian, he loses perspective. 
 
 The impression one receives from " The Emperor 
 Julian " is that Ibsen has closely availed himself of 
 the philosophy of books, rather than exhibited any 
 originality; there are three postulates for him to 
 establish: that Julian's imperialism leads to perse- 
 cution and to the unbalancing of his intellect; that 
 his zeal for paganism and his jealous regard for the 
 power Christ exerts, prompt him into the excessive 
 folly of claiming Godhead himself; and finally that 
 the healthiest scourge Christianity could have had 
 at the time, the most salient awakening, was this very 
 opposition. 
 
 A man in such a frame of mind as Julian, would 
 unerringly pass from religious tolerance into intoler- 
 ance. During these years, for every outrage he 
 committed, there was an outrage done by the Galileans 
 in the name of Christ. If, however, Julian imposes 
 upon himself the task of rooting out error, and if 
 Christian worship is error, then Christianity must be 
 rooted out. He will be friends with those who do not 
 thwart him ; his vainglory increases ; he is almost 
 thrust into excesses. 
 
 He is now a pagan to the full, wearing, like Eilert 
 
306 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Lovborg, vine-leaves in his hair; but he chafes over 
 the continued faith of the Christians; the more he 
 thinks upon it, the less does he understand the gulf 
 that separates the Nazarene from himself. He 
 countenances persecutions with subtle excuses ; if he 
 punishes, it is not for himself but to protect the gods 
 from insult. Before the various people who crowd 
 about him, Julian uses the methods of the Dialectics ; 
 he argues out loud, to his own satisfaction ; oftentimes 
 this is very wearisome ; it makes one feel that plethora 
 of material has made Ibsen plethoric; he has not 
 practiced the art of concentration; he has become 
 diffuse in his scenes, attempting a history rather than 
 a drama. Externalizing the pageantry, one is im- 
 pressed with his vivid eye for stage grouping; there 
 is almost barbaric splendour in the scenes, so directly 
 in contrast with the spare tension and simple externals 
 of " Ghosts." The character of his material prede- 
 termined this lavishness, but it suggests an inclination 
 on Ibsen's part to allow poetic imagination full sway. 
 This is not dramatic, but pictorial. 
 
 Julian is feared, but he is likewise defied by 
 Christian enthusiasm; there is no hesitation on the 
 part of the Galileans as to whether they shall choose 
 Christ or the Emperor ; the former is in their hearts, 
 the latter is outside. Julian is cursed, and in his rage 
 against this Son of God, he determines to close the 
 churches. He loses his manhood in these excesses ; he 
 grows effeminate; his conceit is blinding; he tends 
 from the worship of the gods to the worship of him- 
 self. 
 
 The Christians are sustained in their martyrdom; 
 the spirit of God enters into their hearts. But to 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 307 
 
 Julian, the contest, according to Ibsen, is not founded 
 upon the philosophic consideration of whether 
 Emperor or Galilean is right. Julian lays all stress 
 upon the idea of might. What though Christ's altars 
 are desecrated, and His Word prohibited, that is the 
 mere external. No longer is Julian zealous of the 
 gods' welfare, he is jealous of his own imperial power. 
 
 In many of his untoward actions, such as the at- 
 tempt to re-establish the temple of Jerusalem, Julian 
 is fulfilling the prophecy of Christ ; by his excesses, he 
 shakes his subj acts in their loyalty toward him. The 
 Emperor begins to lose ground; he begins to doubt 
 his ability to re-establish paganism. Supposing he 
 gather together the parts of which the old religion 
 is composed, will there not be missing " the divine 
 perfection of bygone beauty?" For the concept of 
 Christ is in the world ; He lives despite that Christians 
 die. Can there be a reconciliation between Emperor 
 and Galilean.'' 
 
 The Bible saith : " Render unto Cassar the things 
 that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are 
 God's." It is evident now that in defeat, Julian seeks 
 reconciliation. " Who is the right man .'' " asks the 
 Emperor, echoing the question found in " The Pre- 
 tenders " ; and Maximus answers : " He who shall 
 swallow up both Emperor and Galilean." They shall 
 succumb, not perish ; they shall be put in the casting 
 ladle together, and from the mixture will be evolved 
 the ruler of the " third empire." 
 
 There are three stages in this progress; we have 
 
 the child in paganism, the youth In Christianity, and 
 
 maturity in the Overman, as Nietszche terms him.^ 
 
 "Nietszche was influenced by Hellenic thought, Kant, Scho- 
 
308 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 God-Emperor, Emperor-God ; the balance of flesh and 
 spirit. Logos in Pan, Pan in Logos, says the mystic 
 Maximus. A point of discord among the early 
 Christians was contained in the use of this word 
 Logos, which meant the rational principle of creation 
 and manifestation. To quote Negri : " The idea of 
 the divine personality of Christ had received its defi- 
 nite sanction on the day in which the two concep- 
 tions of Christ and the ' Logos ' were blended to- 
 gether." The philosophy of the " third empire " wiU 
 become manifest in the man who wills. Wholly dis- 
 couraged, Julian determines that he must possess the 
 world, even if he cannot conquer the spirit. 
 
 The historical close of Julian's career is bound up 
 in his move against the Persians. The danger to 
 which he has tended all along is now imminent — a 
 matter of hero-worship. On this principle of God- 
 Emperor, Emperor-God, mayhap he, Julian, is part 
 of Him whom he has persecuted. Maximus believes 
 in him who is to come, in the free necessity, in the 
 twin-sided one who will bridge the empires now at 
 war. Evolution involves the law of perpetuation. 
 
 penhauer, Darwin, Spencer, Haeckel. Merejkowski points out 
 that Nietszche merely continued scientific deductions, applying 
 • them to questions of sociology and universal history. " Man 
 to him is not the end, the last link of the chain, but only one 
 of the links of cosmic progress." With recollections of the 
 beast in himself, man denies that he is the last goal, but " a 
 mere temporary bridge thrown across the chasm between the 
 pre-human and the superhuman." See "Tolstoi as Man and 
 Artist." Dmitri Merejkowski (Putnam) ; also the same author's 
 " The Death of the Gods," in the final chapter of which Ibsen's 
 attitude proclaims Merejkowski as a disciple. The same ten- 
 dency is to be found in Shaw's " Man and Superman.'' 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 309 
 
 The reaction now occurs ; after Julian claims that 
 in himself the Messiah lives, he tries even to rule over 
 the natural elements; he is guided by frenzy; the 
 impotence of the gods turns him against them; the 
 fervour of the Christian martyrs draws him toward 
 them. After all, there must be something in a faith of 
 this tenacity. The last act is a great mixture of stray 
 glints of philosophy ; there is mention of the Schopen- 
 hauer world-will; there is the philosophical statement 
 of perpetuation, of continual evolution. What is 
 death.? Julian queries, when he lies wounded by the 
 Persian's shaft .^ " 'Tis naught but paying our debt 
 to the ever changing empire of the dust." When 
 Julian dies, he does not reveal the spirit of repent- 
 ance. The world-will, according to Maximus, will 
 care for his soul. " To will is to have to will." 
 Julian was a victim of necessity, he was a rod of 
 chastisement, he was forced to err. 
 
 In this " third empire " will be realized the present 
 watch-word of revolt. This is Ibsen's belief; this 
 is the modem' note. In " The Spirit of Modern Phil- 
 osophy," ^ Professor Royce refers to Ibsen's exposi- 
 tion of the " third empire." " I do not feel these 
 words . . ." he writes, " to be more than merely 
 suggestive. I do not pretend to find in them any- 
 thing final. But I cannot do better, as I try to give 
 here some faint notion of the vast historical process 
 whereof all this reflective philosophy forms so sub- 
 
 ' History believes he was stricken down by one of his own 
 men. 
 
 ' " Spirit of Modern Philosophy," Josiah Royce. Houghton. 
 Read therein " Lecture on Optimism, Pessimism, and the Moral 
 Order." 
 
310 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ordinate a part, than to point out that the third 
 realm, of which Ibsen so mystically speaks, the realm 
 where a rigid order of nature shall be one with the 
 most miraculously significant divine truth, where 
 Caesar shall become spiritual, and God an earthly 
 ruler, is precisely the realm which not so much our 
 philosophy but our age, whose echo this philosophy 
 is, is even now seeking to comprehend and with pro- 
 phetic voice to proclaim." 
 
 It is not our province here to enter into a philo- 
 sophical statement as to the permanence of Ibsen's 
 ideas. He simply placed himself in the main current 
 of modern thought and was carried along by it. 
 Schopenhauer, Hegel, the theory of Evolution — he 
 was under their spell. His views are not original; 
 they have an historical foundation and were furthered 
 by others. The original note in " Emperor and Gali- 
 lean " was his broadening in a political sense ; his 
 empire was extending over the borders of national 
 unity ; he wished a world-empire as he wished a world- 
 spirit. Both had to be accomplished before the 
 " third empire " could be attained. Had Julian uni- 
 fied the conflicting elements in the life around him, 
 disaster would not have come so rapidly ; he is neither 
 fully Emperor nor fully pagan; he disseminates his 
 energies over a vast area, thus committing, accord- 
 ing to Ibsen, as great an error in his way as Peer 
 Gynt and Brand did in theirs. 
 
 Into the realm of philosophy Ibsen carries his plea 
 for the whole man and not the fragment ; in Julian's 
 break with Christianity, there is some of his old 
 restiveness as to the lie which permeates the code ac- 
 cepted by all of us. In this respect, there is a satiric 
 
EMPEROR AND GALILEAN 311 
 
 glow felt somewhere. Julian was no more the Over- 
 man than Skule was the King; he made a miss-step 
 when he retrograded to what had served its day. As 
 Wicksteed rightly observes : " You cannot go back to 
 recover infancy ; you must go forward to preserve 
 both It and youth, transfigured and embraced in 
 manhood.- Thus decisively is the reactionary solution 
 of social and religious problems rejected." It is this 
 forward note, this vigorous proclamation that, of 
 necessity, something better is ahead of us provided 
 we lay aside the obstructions which check the healthy 
 growth, that places Ibsen at the opposite pole from 
 the decadent school. He deals essentially with hve 
 problems. 
 
 Does this play represent a statement of Ibsen's 
 creed or does it simply afford us evidences of his 
 social hope? It is very clear that he was seeking a 
 positive conception of the universe. Had it been writ- 
 ten at white heat, it might have been more dramatic 
 and less rhetorical, but it could not more emphatically 
 have proclaimed Ibsen prophesying a new social 
 order, where man would be freed of hypocrisy and the 
 corroding customs veiled beneath. He herein satisfied 
 himself that the philosophic dualism was subject to 
 evolution on both of its sides. 
 
 Furthermore, German unity was proclaimed on 
 January 1, 1871, and Ibsen's opinions, as they bore 
 upon Imperialism, were undergoing a change. There 
 must be something more than a political unity ; he 
 was not one to believe in half-way reform; he was 
 wondering whether this national zeal around him was 
 a great way toward the realization of his " third 
 kingdom." " Emperor and Galilean " is the crest of 
 
312 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Ibsen's philosophical bent. From now on he was to 
 prove, socially and psychologically, the elements work- 
 ing for and against the " new order." One cannot 
 dodge the issues of life — Peer Gynt was evidence of 
 that ; nor can one thrust forward the cruel dictates of 
 one's personal determination — ^Brand pointed to that. 
 One cannot superimpose the past upon the present 
 and expect success. The philosophy outlined by 
 " Emperor and Galilean " does not demand the stoi- 
 cism of Brand, it will not admit the lying of Peer, 
 it wiU not countenance retrogression. " It is signifi- 
 cant of Ibsen's mental attitude," writes Brandes, 
 " that in both his treatments of religious subj ects, 
 struggle and strife are made much more prominent, 
 and are dealt with far more felicitously than recon- 
 ciliation and harmony." 
 
 While Ibsen never had the satisfaction of bringing 
 the critical world around to his opinion as to the 
 unqualified merits of " Emperor and Galilean," its 
 position in the complete work of the dramatist is of 
 vast importance. It cannot be regarded from the 
 drama standpoint, though the scene-painting is strik- 
 ing; it is no addition to philosophy since it is an 
 instinctive, one might almost say an untutored, grasp 
 of the modern trend (which fact does not detract 
 from, but only adds to, his remarkable vision). It is, 
 however, the keystone to the Ibsen curve of meaning. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 A MODERN JOSHUA 
 
 During the time that he was writing " Emperor 
 and Gahlean," Ibsen was not allowing himself to be 
 disturbed by many external events ; he persistently 
 denied himself to extensive company. In the early 
 part of 1871 his letters indicate increasing desire to 
 meet Brandes, since in correspondence he refused 
 to enter into lengthy discussions. " You philoso- 
 phers," he argued, " can reason black into white " ; 
 therefore, he would not allow himself " to be reduced 
 to a stone or a cock." 
 
 That he could write with a certain dash is exempli- 
 fied in his letter of March 2, 1871, addressed to 
 Lorentz Dietrichson; there is a devil-may-care mood 
 welling up in Ibsen, at which time he is almost jocular, 
 free with his " carissimos," affectionate in his mes- 
 sages, and letting slip the cloak of reserve and over- 
 seriousness. 
 
 But even in correspondence, Ibsen found relief in 
 talking to Brandes ; he felt a certain stimulation 
 consequent upon the manner in which he was criticised 
 by his friend. Brandes detected large flaws in Ibsen's 
 education; he was quite aware of Ibsen's failure to 
 realize fully the scientific standpoint of the day. And 
 it was not Ibsen's wish to overcome his intuitive 
 understanding; he believed that a man was bom into 
 the world endowed with certain mental qualifications 
 which stamped his age. This a posteriori attitude 
 subjects his scientific use, for instance, of heredity, to 
 adverse criticism. 
 
 The long-talked-of meeting between Brandes and 
 Ibsen occurred in July, 1871, when the former was 
 
314 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 returning from Rome to Denmark, and stopped over 
 in Dresden. Ibsen discovered in him those moods, 
 those questionings, which had swept and were still 
 sweeping over him. The two spent what were later 
 referred to as festive hours. In conversation, Ibsen 
 found the same quality in Brandes that he found in 
 his letters. " What you write," he declared on 
 September 24, 1871, " comes to me like a cry of dis- 
 tress from one who has been left the sole survivor in 
 some great tract where all other life is extinct." 
 
 Ibsen's- temper was now to flare up suddenly in 
 righteous wrath. There was a printer in Christiania, 
 named Jensen, who had recently published a pirated 
 edition of " The Vikings at Helgeland," and was 
 preparing to issue " Lady Inger." The matter was 
 taken up by the press, and Jensen was compelled by 
 the courts to pay a fine and to destroy his " stock." 
 But Ibsen's manner of dealing with the individual 
 himself was peremptory. " If you dare to persist in 
 your intention," he wrote, " I shall show you, both in 
 the columns of the newspapers and in open court, 
 what the consequences of such rascality are." 
 
 This experience led to his friends taking the matter 
 into consideration. Evidently Michael Birkeland had 
 put a restraining hand upon his just ire, for, writing 
 on October 10, 1871, Ibsen thanked him for prevent- 
 ing a lengthy altercation with Jensen; he had to be 
 careful what he, personally, said In Norway, though 
 he never restricted himself in what he proclaimed 
 about Norway. " From Sweden, from Denmark, and 
 from Germany, I hear nothing but what gives me 
 pleasure ; it is from Norway," he confessed, " that 
 everything bad comes upon me. What do the people 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 315 
 
 want ? Am I not far enough away ?" Ibsen's anger was 
 a peculiar mixture of reason and prejudice. He called 
 Jensen " a dirty scoundrel, who, by virtue of his 
 dirtiness, belongs to ' the people ; ' " and because he 
 was a member of this class, Ibsen, the aristocrat, 
 considered him fit only for his scorn. If Jensen were 
 given sympathy in Norway, Ibsen had determined to 
 sever all ties completely, nevermore to return.-' 
 
 It is natural, therefore, first, that during these 
 years in Dresden, Norwegian visitors should be scant 
 in their attentions, and second, that Ibsen's " Mil- 
 lennial Ode," sent " home " in July, 1872, should ring 
 with such defiance. Indeed, so fearful were the offi- 
 cials in Norway as to the eff^ect these verses would 
 have in Christiania, that they caused handbills con- 
 taining the piece to be distributed, instead of having 
 it read aloud. 
 
 ■ Toward the beginning of 1872, Ibsen applied to 
 the Norwegian Ecclesiastical Department for another 
 grant. In the petition, he emphasized the expenses 
 imposed upon him by his official visit to Egypt,^ where 
 he had, to an extent, to act up to the pretensions of 
 being rich. He laid stress upon the opportunities he 
 had been given to study Egyptian art, and to visit 
 the galleries in Paris. What he now wished to do 
 was to study at the Berlin Egyptological Museum, in 
 
 ' This matter of copyright in Norway came up again in 1881. 
 See Ibsen's letter to Berner [151], written from Rome, March 
 27, 1881, discussing the lack of proper protection, and the 
 prospects for international copyright. 
 
 ' For example, Ibsen did not regard his being decorated by 
 the Khedive either as a personal honour or as recognition for 
 his " Peer Gynt," part of which was laid in Egypt. The honour 
 was purely official recognition of Norway 
 
316 . HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 order to reach a fuller comprehension of the relations 
 that existed between Egyptian art and other allied 
 European arts. There were no results from this 
 petition. 
 
 Had Ibsen returned to Scandinavia during the 
 summer of 1872, he would doubtless have met Gosse, 
 but " Emperor and Galilean " kept him closely con- 
 fined. Some of the spirit of his drama entered the 
 correspondence of this time. Julian would have ac- 
 corded with what he wrote to Brandes on April 4: 
 " Dear friend, the Liberals are freedom's worst 
 enemies. Freedom of thought and spirit thrive best 
 under Absolutism; this was shown in France, after- 
 wards in Germany, and now we see it in Russia." 
 
 This summer of 1872, however, was spent roaming 
 in Bohemia and elsewhere in Austria. During July 
 and August, the Ibsen family was in Berchtesgaden, 
 ,Bavaria, where they had previously stopped in 1868 
 on their way from Italy. However much of a poet 
 he might wish to be, aflFairs at home would not allow 
 him to forget for an instant his task as state satirist. 
 But whereas, heretofore, he had burned with his sar- 
 casm, now he was to smite with the hand of a modern 
 Joshua. The action of Norway regarding his festi- 
 val poem raised his indignation, for it was another 
 sign of the weakness of men incapable of wielding 
 power. " I will shame them," cried Ibsen ; " I see their 
 passiveness, I understand their compromises." " It 
 would require a superhuman effort ,of self-denial," 
 he wrote to his brother-in-law, " to , let such material 
 for epigrams and comedies slip through one's fingers." 
 Ibsen's alternate dealing with poetry ahd prose is 
 thus significant; his indignation rose at intervals as 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 317 
 
 did his philosophic reasoning. His genius was now 
 to see-saw between these two aspects of his nature. 
 Four years were to elapse, nevertheless, before " Pil- 
 lars of Society " was finished. 
 
 All this time, Ibsen had the satisfaction of watch- 
 ing the growing recognition of his work ; Hegel was 
 issuing edition after edition, which was a fair indica- 
 tion that he was being heeded; Gosse, in England, 
 was preparing the way for Archer's campaign, while 
 Strodtmann, in Germany, was translating many of 
 his plays. In the spring of 1873 he came in contact 
 with John Stuart Mill's " Utilitarianism," through 
 the translation of Brandes ; he turned from it with a 
 slighting comment on its " sage-like philistinism " ; 
 he could not see the scientific viewpoint in it. 
 " ' Things,' " so he said to Brandes, " are surely not 
 all kinds of fortuitous occurrences," and to him, Mill 
 had attempted to frame laws from such occurrences. 
 In this letter of April 30th to Brandes, I find the only 
 direct reference to the philosopher, Hegel, which! 
 leads me to believe that he must have been reading 
 philosophy as assiduously, while finishing " Emperor 
 and Galilean," as he was the Bible, during the com- 
 position of " Brand." 
 
 While he was in Pillnitz during the summer, he 
 sent Hegel information of his having received the 
 decoration of the Knight of St. Olaf at the time of 
 the accession of Oscar II; he also described the 
 fatiguing effect upon him while serving as a juror 
 at the Vienna Exhibition where he not only repre- 
 sented the interests of Norway, but also of Denmark, 
 an added duty which afforded him immense satisfac- 
 tion. Out of the exhibition, Ibsen gleaned some no- 
 
S18 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 tion of artistic elements underlying the civilization of 
 that period. He believed in the invigorating effect 
 contact with the world of art had, and for that rea- 
 son he suggested^ that the art societies should ad- 
 vance money on the canvases of a few of the most 
 promising Norwegian painters, in order that they 
 might reap the advantages of coming to Vienna at 
 such a time. In the fall of this year, he was speak- 
 ing with dread, as he had often done in the past 
 years, of a visit to Norway ; he was doubtful whether 
 he could fit himself in with the conditions there ; he 
 feared the outcome, and was even contemplating a 
 residence in Rome. If the world could only move 
 progressively and simultaneously ! This was what 
 most concerned him, for to his mind, the Scandi- 
 navians were slow in recognising certain European 
 advances, which Brandes was, all the while, empha- 
 sizing in his essays. 
 
 This year found Ibsen making every effort to gain 
 the enthusiasm of Josephson, of the Christiania 
 Theatre, over the version of " Peer Gynt " for which 
 Grieg was preparing a musical score, and he was 
 scolding Brandes for his " Copenhagen particular- 
 ism," dominant in thelatter's Danish magazine. The 
 latter topic must have been talked over thoroughly 
 when Brandes came to Dresden in June, 1874. Ibsen 
 now braved the situation, and returned home, not 
 having set foot on Norwegian soil for ten years. 
 Everywhere he received warm welcome, and the Uni- 
 versity students on the afternoon of September 10th 
 came before him in procession, with banners flying. 
 
 ' See his letter [106] to the Morgenblad editor, dated Vienna, 
 August 33, 1873. 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 319 
 
 Before this assemblage Ibsen delivered himself of a 
 speech,^ and on the evening of the same day witnessed 
 a performance of " The League of Youth." Pie 
 went away much satisfied with such a reception; 
 to the men from the University he sounded the 
 trumpet of fearlessness. Call me a poet if you will, 
 he seemed to say, but now I know my mission. " It 
 was a long time before my eyes were opened to the 
 real fact," were his actual words, " that poetizing 
 is essentially seeing." So rare were Ibsen's festive 
 feelings that he used constantly to recall the few 
 social gatherings of the kind given him in Christiania. 
 Perhaps these honours emphasized to him a certain 
 importance which might attach to the approaching 
 twenty-fifth anniversary of his literary career, which 
 he wished to mark by a new edition of " Catilina." 
 
 He was now contemplating a move to Munich, 
 where Sigurd might profit by the educational system 
 there existing; besides which, he was beginning to 
 grow restive. Ibsen was of a roving disposition. At 
 this time, he wrote in a vein characteristic of the effect 
 produced upon him by his voluntary exile. " It is a 
 pity that at Munich I shall be farther away from 
 home; but to make up for this I shall be nearer to 
 Italy ; and I shall also have the advantage of living 
 among Catholics, who, in Germany, are decidedly to 
 be preferred to Protestants." Early in February 
 he was suggesting to Josephson the possibility of 
 their taking an excursion together during the summer 
 through the region of the Tyrol. 
 
 In May, 1875, he and his family were settled in 
 
 ' Autobiographically, this speech is significant. See Brandes, 
 Elias, Schlenther German ed., vol. 1, p. 520. 
 
320 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Munich; his household had been decreased in number 
 by the death of his wife's sister, who had hved with 
 them for some years. According to the German 
 editors of the Ibsen letters, he now found time to 
 contribute to Brandes' magazine a couple of rhymed 
 letters entitled '* Far Away " and " The Corpse in 
 the Hold " ; these formed a part of his scheme out- 
 lined to Brandes, to give in verse his opinions of the 
 important intellectual movements of the day. 
 
 He was now much engaged in his business affairs ; 
 the " Peer Gynt " production was in preparation ; 
 he was watching closely the royalties which were 
 paid, or which should be paid to him ; here and there 
 he was investing money in shares, and borrowing 
 money for further speculation on the security of 
 bonds. As a crowning event to all this external suc- 
 cess, he went to Berlin during June, 1876, in order 
 to attend a special performance of " The Pretenders," 
 staged by the Court Theatrical Company of the Duke 
 of Meiningen. The affair was a brilliant one and 
 Ibsen was applauded to the echo ; so much so, indeed, 
 that he was forced to take several curtain calls. As 
 though these honours were not sufficient, the drama- 
 tist was invited to the Duke's castle, where, after a 
 short stay, he was sent on his journey homeward, 
 bedecked with the Cross of the First Class of 
 the " Sachsisch-Ernestinische Hausorden." He then 
 joined his family in the Tyrol, where, among the 
 mountain scenes, he could wait the outcome of his 
 further success in Germany with " The Pretenders " 
 and " The Vikings." 
 
 In the meantime he had begun on his new work in 
 earnest. As early as September 16, 1875, he told 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 321 
 
 Brandes that he was concentrating on the piece, and 
 by October 23, he had nearly completed the first act. 
 Ibsen always, from now on, waited and watched for 
 the psychological moment to announce his dramas ; 
 he told Hegel that he thought advance talk always 
 helped to increase sales, and from this period it is 
 well to note the entrance of Henrik Ibsen, the man of 
 affairs. Gosse describes, on the authority of Mol- 
 bech, who came into conflict with Ibsen about this 
 time, the change that took place in the outward garb 
 of the poet ; the velveteen j acket of poetical days 
 was discarded for the frock coat, squeezed across 
 the chest — presenting a pompous figure, accentuated 
 by the peculiar cut of hair and whiskers, and the 
 spectacles. Here is the Ibsen known to the world. 
 
 This acquirement of the practical atmosphere did 
 not add an agreeable characteristic to Ibsen; his 
 speculations and calculations were so keen that he 
 might almost be accused of penuriousness. He now 
 watched the money markets and showed unusual in- 
 sight concerning the opportuneness of the book 
 trade ;^ there was a certain show of hard and close- 
 fisted politeness in his transactions ; he was prompt 
 in all his dealings, but he was inclined to be exacting 
 of others. This, to an extent was unavoidable, con- 
 sidering the state of book and theatre copyright in 
 Europe. 
 
 Ibsen regarded " Pillars of Society " ^ as a com- 
 plement of " The League of Youth " ; however, it was 
 to deal with more important problems. In a letter to 
 
 ' See letter 131, to Edward Fallesen. 
 
 ' Mr. Archer analyzes the use of the title, " Pillars of 
 Society," as a translation of the original " Samfundets Stotter." 
 
HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Hegel on October 23, 1875, three points are to be 
 noted; his mental scenario was couched in five acts, 
 but the finished play indicates the playwright's natu- 
 ral inclination to condense ; he always found the first 
 act of a drama the most difficult to do ; and finally 
 his intention was to complete the play immediately. 
 It was not until July, 1877, that the " fair " copy 
 was ready for Hegel. 
 
 Varied minor incidents point to Ibsen's growing 
 popularity : financial favour, while it hardened him in 
 some respects, did not find him cold to the wants of 
 others; he was soliciting theatre passes for Joseph- 
 son ; nor was he forgetful of his own initial struggles, 
 in the case of John Paulsen, for whom he made appeal 
 to the Government twice in succession for a grant 
 with final good results. Norway was at last obliging 
 him, however indirectly. The summer of 1876 was 
 again spent in the Tyrol, and for the first time busi- 
 ness matters were allowed to step between Ibsen and 
 the writing of a play — " Pillars of Society." 
 
 The year 1877 brought Ibsen the further honour 
 of a degree of Doctor of Philosophy, as a mark of 
 recognition from the University of Upsala. During 
 April he made a move into new quarters, settling 
 down to steady work on his play, which was now 
 nearing completion. Every day he spent some time 
 with the novelist Paul Heyse and others at a restau- 
 rant [Achatz] ; and attended besides weekly meetings 
 of a literary club known as " The Crocodile." He 
 was a constant source of wonder to his friends, as he 
 was to the youths of the apothecary shop, for during 
 the day he could work unremittingly, and afterward, 
 with no show of fatigue, sit far into the night dispens- 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 323 
 
 ing his views on all matters of interest. This vitality 
 remained constant until a few years before his death. 
 
 On October 11, 1877, " Pillars of Society " was 
 published;^ and Ibsen had the unbounded satisfac- 
 
 ' The immediate popularity of " Pillars of Society " is clearly 
 indicated by the fact that the second edition was issued by 
 Hegel on November 30, 1877. The 3rd ed. appeared, Kbhvn, 
 June 1, 1893. The translations have been extensive; in 1888 
 Mr. Archer's English version was included in the " Camelot 
 Series," under the general editorship of Ernest Rhys; the 
 volume was preceded by an introduction from the pen of 
 Havelock Ellis. Previously, according to Halvorsen, the word 
 " Quicksands " had been attached to the original title. In 1893, 
 Pierre Bertrand and Edmond de Nevers completed a version 
 in French; two Italian translations are recorded, by Prof. Paolo 
 Rindler with Enrico Polese Santarnecchi (1892), and Bice 
 Savini (1897). German translations have been made by Emil 
 Jonas (1878), Emma Klingenfeld (1878), Wilhelm Lange 
 (1878), G. Morgenstern (1891), Helmine Pick (1897). For 
 other versions consult the HsJvorsen bibliography. Among 
 commentaries noted may be mentioned: Contemporary Review, 
 vol. 56, 1889 (Robert Buchanan) ; The Quarterly Review, vol. 
 172, 1891; Revue d'Art dramatique, Nov., 1890 (Ch. de 
 Casanove) ; Revue Bleue, 1896, II, 60 (J. du Tillet). 
 
 On November 18, 1877, the play was produced in Copen- 
 hagen, and on November 30 in Bergen. The month following, 
 on the 13th, it was seen in Stockholm, while in Gothenburg it 
 was produced in February, 1878. Not until March, 1879, did 
 it reach Christiania. It was acted many times in Germany 
 during 1878, at no less than five Berlin theatres, for example, 
 within a fortnight. Thereafter it was constantly given on the 
 German stage. " Pillars of Society " was the first Ibsen play 
 to make its mark in the English theatre; it was presented at the 
 London Gaiety on December 15, 1880. Mr. Archer records 
 additional performances at the Opera Comique Theatre in 1889 
 and by the Stage Society (Strand Theatre), May, 1901. In 
 Paris, during July, 1896, Lugn6-Poe and I'CEuvre company 
 appeared in the piece. In America, several New York pro- 
 
324 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 tion of noting that the theatres in all three Scandi- 
 navian countries were eagerly waiting to present it. 
 Indeed, so impatient was Fallesen, director of the 
 Copenhagen Theatre Royal, that he brushed aside 
 a play already scheduled for production, by Ibsen's 
 friend. Christian K. F. Molbech. The latter was in 
 consequence piqued, and communicated with Ibsen, 
 who immediately attempted to pacify him. One 
 cannot but admire the calm surety with which Ibsen 
 always met these sudden outbursts ; it was as though 
 he had fully mastered the distinction between the 
 outward circumstances of a transitory nature and the 
 vital occurrences which really were of vast signifi- 
 cance. His letter to Molbech was marked by this 
 deliberateness ; he would not let a matter of such pro- 
 portion come between them. " You, your name, your 
 whole individuality, are inseparably connected with 
 the best period of my life," he avowed. Yet Ibsen 
 had to be careful what remarks he made concerning 
 theatre management; they were quoted as soon as 
 uttered, and more than once he was misrepresented. 
 But the stage was not being managed upon broad art 
 principles; it was subject to private prejudices, and 
 Ibsen was being affected by these conditions. He 
 always stood for the artistic spirit in the theatre. 
 The misunderstanding ended satisfactorily, for Mol- 
 bech dedicated his drama to his " old friend, Dr. 
 Henrik Ibsen, the Poet." 
 
 ductions are to be noted. As early as December, 1889, Possart 
 appeared as Consul Bernick; on March 6, 1891, at the Lyceum 
 Theatre (New York), George Fawcett, Alice Fischer, and 
 Elizabeth Tyree were cast for the play. The latest performance 
 was seen at the Lyric Theatre (New York), on April 15, 1904, 
 with Wilton Lackaye in the cast. 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 
 
 Ibsen is the woodpecker among playwrights ; to 
 him the tree of life is in jeopardy because of the 
 decaying spots which his sounding brings to light. 
 He is a skater along the thin surface of convention, 
 not content merely with putting danger signals where 
 the ice is thinnest, and skirting around, but thrusting 
 his critical stick into the depths and forcing others to 
 look with him into the real cause for the flaw. It is 
 not always agreeable to approach the strength of life 
 by searching for the weaknesses ; but Ibsen's whole 
 social philosophy contends that so long as the weak- 
 nesses exist, there can be no strength; he does not 
 believe in letting sleeping dogs lie. 
 
 His modern dramas, beginning with surface con- 
 ventions, deepened until they shifted in viewpoint 
 from the efi'ects of certain causes to the more psycho- 
 logical and subtle causes which produced the condi- 
 tions. It was as though the convex mirror of his 
 vision which characterizes " Pillars of Society " had 
 been heated and transformed in a concave vision 
 marking " A Doll's House " and " Ghosts." 
 
 His deliberate progress, his determined expose in 
 " Pillars of Society " became a matter-of-fact state- 
 ment of conditions — a bare examination shorn of 
 poetic or philosophic substance. The play serves as 
 a concise dramatic hand-book from which might be 
 built something of each of his future plays ; it is a 
 drama of location. Here, so he seems to say, is the 
 weakness of the Family ; there lies the hollow mockery 
 of Marriage; yonder is your Idealist. He then, in 
 the manner of the calculating lexicographer, defines 
 his position as he goes. 
 
 But if the topics he discusses are the plain details 
 
326 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 of life, they are none the less vital, so vital indeed that 
 they become in themselves more important than the 
 characters they govern. Consul Bernick in his con- 
 versation assumes the attitude of taking an inventory 
 of his past delinquencies and of his present failings. 
 
 This thoroughly prose estimate of life was a sud- 
 den change from the poetic and philosophic ornate- 
 ness of " Emperor and Galilean," and there were 
 definite circumstances behind it. The old cause of 
 complaint against provincial smugness at home was 
 still a topic of the utmost importance to Ibsen; 
 occasional contact and constant reading of the papers 
 indicated to him how irresponsive the Norwegians 
 were to the recent events which had shaken France 
 and Germany, how sure they were within themselves 
 of their community-saf eness ; outside influence did 
 not disturb them. One may well argue that such a 
 state of things need not have compelled Ibsen to break 
 from his poetry. There was another minor cause, 
 indicating the dramatist's proneness to follow others 
 in the matters of style, satisfying himself with the 
 larger power he had of taking the lead in content. 
 
 The one person who persisted in remaining near 
 home, yet who was distinctly affected by the modern 
 trend of thought, was Bjornson ; he was more quickly 
 responsive to outside influence than Ibsen, and his 
 impulsiveness was continually subject to modification. 
 His second period was as distinct from his first, as 
 " Pillars of Society " was from " The Vikings at 
 Helgeland." Riepresentative of this new phase of his 
 workmanship are " The Editor " (1874) and " Bank- 
 ruptcy " (1875), both of which dealt with questions 
 of modern life — the one a serious comedy of money. 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 327 
 
 the other a satire on the Scandinavian press. These 
 plays appeared previous to Ibsen's contemplation of 
 " Pillars of Society," and thus, undoubtedly, his mind 
 must have been drawn by them toward a continuation 
 of his social criticism.^ 
 
 Ibsen's characters assemble in his dramatis per- 
 sona, with their small bundles of past history 
 strapped to their backs ; each one, in some way, is a 
 slave of existing conditions ; each one has whatever 
 spark of initiative, of individual freedom he may 
 possess, penned up by the restrictions of a hypo- 
 critical society. On the threshold of his " third em- 
 pire," as he sees it, Ibsen stands, inspecting his 
 emigrant crew; there are very few of them he lets 
 pass, certainly not his important characters who are 
 either physically diseased, morally stunted, or socially 
 demoralized. The poignancy of this method rests in 
 the human possibility of each Ibsen case being re- 
 peated either in ourselves or in the small social circle 
 of which we are a part. You are a humbug, cries 
 Ibsen of one of his characters. Am 1? you ask your- 
 self, taking the burden of the accusation upon your 
 own shoulders. 
 
 The terrible tragedy o*f it all is, however, that to 
 the outward eye these men and women are sound; 
 there are no granular lids, yet their vision is fore- 
 shortened; there are no deformed bodies, yet their 
 
 "If one wishes to carry this comparison between Bjornson 
 and Ibsen still further, note Gosse's association of " Leonora " 
 and " The New System " with " A Doll's House," as well as 
 " A Glove " with " The Wild Duck." Sarolea associates " Pillars 
 of Society " with Tolstoi's " Power of Darkness " (Tr., Aylmer 
 Maude, Funk & Wagnalls, 1904). 
 
328 HENRIK IBSEN . 
 
 souls are stunted. On the outside, many a Consul 
 Bernick may win respect; it is only when the voice 
 of a modern Joshua sounds over the calm waters that 
 a turbulent storm arises ; then it is that the Pillars of 
 Society totter and fall. " Joshua fit de battle ob 
 Jericho," runs the song, " and the walls came tum- 
 bling down." Such is the underlyingi motive of 
 Ibsen's play. 
 
 This is a most repulsive approach to a considera- 
 tion of life, you argue ; it is the realist's despondency. 
 But the difference between Ibsen's view and Vere- 
 shagin's, for example, in such a cold, sharp-edged 
 portrayal as his Philippine study entitled " The 
 Letter," is the difference between day and night. 
 Ibsen's characters are not brought to the hospital to 
 die, they are brought there to be cured. An Ibsen 
 clinic has none of the stupefying effects of an anaes- 
 thetic ; you do not catch the disease from his patients ; 
 you simply question whether or not you are cursed 
 with the same symptoms. It is an essentially healthy 
 impulse that sends Ibsen to the contemplation of 
 unhealthy subjects. 
 
 He does not love his characters, save the ideal 
 phantoms that flit across his poetic canvases ; Mr. 
 Huneker is therefore partly correct when he claims 
 that Thackeray possessed more human sympathy for 
 his snobs. But I cannot see that Ibsen was merciless 
 in his treatment ; if his ideas, which stand for certain 
 ethical or moral elements in life, appear to probe 
 unnecessarily — in other words, if the idea crush the 
 character — he is more than likely to satirize the idea 
 later. It is not often that Ibsen raised a tempest in 
 a tea-pot. 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 
 
 "Pillars of Society " Is local; the people are much 
 smaller than the matter-of-fact but very large princi- 
 ples which, in their small waj', they retard. In " The 
 Vikings at Helgeland," we were shown the cumulative 
 effect of a lie told for romantic, heroic reasons ; here 
 we have the lie in plain clothes. 
 
 Consul Bernick is the epitome of this lie ; it takes 
 nearly all of the first act to start the wheels in motion, 
 whereby the past setting is recorded; and the latter 
 half of the fifth act presents you with " the placid 
 gleam of sunset after storm." Bernick is a Pillar; he 
 is supposed to be disinterested as a citizen, when the 
 truth is, he is deceiving the public and reaping every 
 advantage he can. For the portrayal of petty gossip, 
 Ibsen's technique is flawless. He places three women 
 and a schoolmaster. Dr. Rorlund, together, and by 
 their mere talk we detect the belief each one holds 
 that because the surface of things remains polished, 
 all is indeed well beneath. Rorlund, in especial, esti- 
 mates the moral status purely from external appear- 
 ances ; he is the advance-sketch of Rector Kroll in 
 " Rosmersholm," abhorring the restive doubt of the 
 age ; he would cut aloof from any progress ; he be- 
 lieves that the great community has the whited sepul- 
 chres, whereas, in truth, Ibsen's desire is, as he later 
 on in the drama shows in connection with Bernick, 
 to illustrate that through the petty considerations of 
 small communities, man's moral fibre is warped. 
 
 What is the lie which " Pillars of Society " drama- 
 tizes .'' . Years before, the Consul had had a wild esca- 
 pade with an actress, which had thrown discredit upon 
 the latter's daughter, Dina Dorf. His wife's 
 younger brother, Johan Tonnesen, had taken upon 
 
330 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 himself the consequence, in the desire to get out of 
 the narrowing atmosphere of the town, as well as to 
 save his sister the degradation of disclosure. Bernick, 
 only too ready to clutch at any means of escape, had 
 further improved the occasion — since his business was 
 in an unsettled condition — by casting upon his 
 brother-in-law the further false discredit of runhlng 
 away with the cash-box. Tonnesen had sailed for 
 America, followed soon after by Mrs. Bernick's step- 
 sister, Lona Hessel, whom the Consul had jilted for 
 the sake of better money prospects elsewhere. 
 
 These are the main moral outlines to Bernick's 
 figure. His household is made up of people, everyone 
 of whom has been affected by his cowardice. His 
 sister Martha remains in his home, sacrificing her 
 life, singing the woman's saga, yet having faint 
 dreams of the larger world outside, in which Johan, 
 her lover, is fighting. Dina Dorf, now an orphan, 
 moves tragically through an existence made up of 
 slights imposed upon her by the supposedly moral 
 crew known as the community. Mrs. Bernick is 
 wholly subservient to the selfish will of her husband. 
 Hilmar Tonnesen is an indistinct male cousin of the 
 family who, thriving upon a euphemistic conception 
 of " the banner of the ideal," suggests the incipiency 
 of any disease. Finally, there is the Consul's son, 
 Olaf , who is to inherit that which his father is build- 
 ing for him. 
 
 Bernick, thus the head of a happy household to all 
 outward appearances, is regarded as the ideal citizen ; 
 his family as the model home; at all costs must his 
 position be maintained, and naught must be allowed 
 to disturb the fictitious calm. Those people in small 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 331 
 
 communities who are so solicitous about " the lapsed 
 and lost " had better attend to themselves ! The Pillar 
 of Society had once fought the idea of a railroad; 
 the town had applauded his motives, not knowing that 
 his opposition was in the interest solely of his own 
 enterprises. Now, at the opening of the play, Ber- 
 nick's efforts are all for the railroad, because he 
 sees, though he is silent on the subject, that he will be 
 able to reap additional benefit. Such a Pillar is in 
 ripe condition for the thunderbolt. The crash of its 
 fall will more than disconcert the mediocre respecta- 
 bility of the community. 
 
 Now there occurs what Ibsen intends to be as 
 beneficial as a blast of wholesome oxygen in a stale 
 room, but which Bernick, sorely vexed, regards as a 
 calamity. Johan and Lona arrive unexpectedly from 
 America. The latter, so we have gathered from the 
 gossipy ladies, is a " new woman " ; she has sung for 
 money, she has given lectures, she has published a 
 book, and as though this were not enough, she dresses 
 in a decidedly manly way. The community is 
 shocked ! 
 
 These wayfarers arrive at an opportune moment. 
 Dina has all the incipient symptoms of open rebel- 
 lion ; she loathes the proper and moral atmosphere 
 of her surroundings ; she chafes beneath continual 
 condescension, best shown in Rorlund's avowal that 
 when it is safe for him to do so, he will marry her, 
 for she " must and shall be helped to. rise." Above 
 all, Bernick is just at the culmination of his rascally 
 manoeuvres. He is high-sounding in phrases regard- 
 ing the moral foundations of the town; the family 
 he pictures is a mere chromo of outward colour, 
 
332 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 devoid of spirit. As though this were not enough, 
 Bernick is at odds with his old-fashioned workmen, 
 especially one Aune, who preaches discontent among 
 the labourers ; the Consul has won a name through his 
 shipyards, yet he does not even hesitate at times to 
 send rotten vessels to sea, having glossed over their 
 dangerous marks. Thus, should you care for symbol- 
 ism, you might say, with the French critic, that the 
 Indian Girl represents our old society with its un- 
 sound, its unseaworthy patches. 
 
 After this explanation, the bulk of the play centres 
 in the cowardice and regeneration of Bernick as he 
 deals with the situation confronting him. The fresh 
 air let into the society of this small town takes his 
 breath away; when he recovers, his inclination is to 
 fight for his patched-up respectability. Everyone is 
 talking over the return of the miscreants; it discon- 
 certs the people, whom the Consul now, more than 
 ever, wishes to support him ; it furnishes fuel for the 
 press. Bernick is at a loss, and his irritation leads 
 to further rashness. He hastens work on the Indian 
 Girl regardless of the fact that to send the ship out 
 on time, the patching will have to be slovenly; he 
 soothes his vanity by believing that from him, the 
 real progress in the community emanates. Bernick's 
 philosophy is that the less must fall before the 
 greater. If Aune does not send forth the Indian 
 Girl on time, he will lose his job, despite his dependent 
 family. Ibsen introduces this topic for a theatrical 
 purpose. 
 
 The arrival of Johan and Lona shocks the second- 
 rate idealism of Hilmar; his indignation knows no 
 bounds when they attempt to speak to him in full 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 
 
 light of day on the street. The Consul comforts him 
 with the supposition that the two will not remain 
 long. Meanwhile Lona has seen enough to fathom 
 the " good works " of Bernick ; she pits against this 
 the " good work " she has accomplished with Johan ; 
 it has given her the right to live. On the other hand, 
 while this action is in progress, Johan and Dina 
 are drawn together, and the girl is made to realize 
 by his talk what freedom there is in a large country 
 like America, so different from her stunted environ- 
 ment, where propriety and morality are wholly 
 artificial. 
 
 When Johan and Bernick are together, however, 
 the walls begin to totter; in private, the Consul rec- 
 ognises that his domestic happiness, his position in 
 society, are due to this " outcast." But it is dis- 
 concerting when he hears from Johan that now Lona 
 knows the true state of affairs between them; it was 
 only due to her that she should be told, considering 
 her sacrifice. It is evident at a flash that the return 
 from America is to put Bernicl to the test; the one 
 he has to fear is not so much Johan as Lona. 
 
 Bernick is the epitome of self-centred interest; 
 his every action marks him as a scamp ; he squanders 
 Martha's worldly substance, he saps her womanhood 
 for his selfish need; the estimate he places upon her 
 is just a little higher than that which he places upon 
 his wife. It is only when Martha is with Johan, and 
 by her attitude shows him that she believes he had 
 really sinned fifteen years before, that it comes upon 
 Johan with titanic force that Bernick has been con- 
 tent to rest on the old lie without one effort to set 
 matters right. She, Martha, has tried to atone, by 
 
334 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 her care of Dina, for the sin committed by her lover. 
 Thus moral indignation becomes rife in Johan; the 
 situation only makes him more eager to win Dina 
 for himself after he is cleared. 
 
 This is what would please Lona above all things, 
 and she says so outright, thereby shocking the 
 respectable community. By her presence she espe- 
 cially irritates Mrs. Bernick, a flabby specimen of 
 wonianhood, who bows to the will of her husband. 
 In contrast, Lona does seem a bit bold, but not, 
 thereby, any the less healthful in her determination. 
 When she confronts Bernick, something of the old 
 romantic Ibsen oozes between the hard lines of reality. 
 She had loved the Consul once, for he was different 
 then from now ; he had not been warped by the small 
 provincial community. No sooner was he in the grip 
 of the " moral " upholders than he fell away from 
 her, perhaps because her character and will and inde- 
 pendence had annoyed the prudes who condemned and 
 ostracized her. He had then married his wife, not 
 for love, but for her money, thus saving himself at 
 the expense of a woman. 
 
 Bernick resorts to utilitarian reasons for his moral 
 lapses; It makes no difference whether his position, 
 his marriage are founded on lies, for, on the one hand, 
 business has prospered, and on the other his wife 
 has finally succeeded in moulding her character to his 
 peculiar needs. His views of marriage savour of 
 Guldstad's calculating estimate, without the latter's 
 matter-of-fact sincerity. 
 
 The Consul does not for once consider the indi- 
 vidual effect of this rotten foundation upon which he 
 rests; since the proverbial gold that glitters Is not 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 335 
 
 detected as dross, why undeceive an unsuspecting 
 people? This is a dangerous quicksand to live upon. 
 Bernick knows nothing of and cares nothing for 
 the cleansing quality of Ibsen's voluntary sacrifice; 
 he never questions his right to stand so high, for 
 is it not enough that he is a " Pillar of Society ?" 
 
 He mistakes Lona's determination to aid him in 
 planting his feet firmly on truth, as an effort to 
 revenge herself ; if she attempt to do so he will fight 
 for his life. So acute is Ibsen's technique to catch 
 the unessentials of life, that they demand in the act- 
 ing a most quiet, even, unassuming, yet deft and un- 
 erring manner. Overemphasize, and you slip into 
 melodrama; let Hedda Gabler fire her pistol thrice, 
 and you convert subtlety — not so much into theat- 
 ricalism, for the vagary of the act was theatrical — 
 but into sensationalism. " Pillars of Society " might 
 be similarly pitched. When Rorlund, hearing of 
 Johan's designs on Dina, proclaims that he is unfit 
 to be seen with any girl; when the Consul stands 
 cowed and speechless before the uplifted arm of 
 Johan; when the brow-beaten wife sinks in tears; — 
 we see the lithograph poster that could thrill the 
 multitude. Probably melodrama is dependent upon 
 commonplace scandals and commonplace motives; 
 certainly the whole tone of this Ibsen drama depends 
 upon them. The dialogue is carefully planned for 
 the effect of contrast; Bernick is always called upon 
 to support the community with his moral predomi- 
 nance, just when his moral rottenness is most evident. 
 
 The matter of the unworthy ship which Bernick 
 is forcing to sea, is Ibsen's concession to theatrical 
 subterfuge; the Consul's conscience must be sweated 
 
336 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 out by self-torture, but not till later. At present, 
 having told Aune the alternative if he fail in his rush 
 work, Bernick would throw responsibility from him- 
 self by casting suspicion upon his workmen. This 
 will ease his mind and also will afford him the show 
 of careful examination in his yards for fraud, all of 
 which would redound to his credit in the papers. 
 How well he gilds the Pillar ! 
 
 Lena now sees Bernick's lie-steeped magnitude in 
 every phase of its weakness ; knowing what she does, 
 her regard for society is of a splenetic order ; he does 
 not possess the moral will to speak out, to abide the 
 consequences, to face the results. Suppose he is no 
 worse than the average of men ; so much the worse for 
 society. He must atone and she will make him. 
 
 It is only when Johan finds that his love for 
 Dina depends for its ultimate success upon his 
 honour, that he demands of Bernick freedom 
 from the lie; the latter has no right to hold 
 back, even though he is crushed, even though his 
 enterprises fail, every one of them. Of course, Ber- 
 nick does not see the situation in that hght; he be- 
 lieves his future rests on the perpetuation of the lie; 
 for his railroad scheme is an underhand deal, and when 
 the disclosure comes, his motives will not be questioned 
 because of what he has accomplished for the good of 
 the community. But what would Bernick's denial of 
 his sin be beside his confession of sin written in letters 
 to Johan as future security ! Written evidence is. 
 tell-tale. 
 
 Melodramatic points mark the progress of this third 
 act. Bernick hears that Johan is to go to America 
 to wind up his affairs ; then he will return and demand 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 337 
 
 moral recompense. That he will sail on the Indian 
 Girl first strikes terror to the soul of Bernick; then 
 he sees by this fact a way of escape. Time moves 
 apace and the hour of departure approaches ; storm 
 signals are raised at sea, and Bernick is tortured 
 wellnigh to the point of distraction ; he tries to ease 
 his conscience with the theological feint of placing 
 the consequences of one's responsibility upon the 
 shoulders of Providence. On the eve of departure 
 Johan is startled by the avowal of Rorlund that Dina 
 is to be his wife. The act closes in melodramatic out- 
 bursts ; Tonnesen leaves, wholly forgetful of ' what 
 may have transpired between himself and Martha. 
 Moreover, he Is followed by Olaf, Bernick's small son, 
 who has boyish fancies about buffaloes in America, 
 and is intent on going there as a stowaway. In real 
 life he would have been stopped by those who saw him 
 go; but his running away is part of the theatrical 
 machinery of the last act and must not be disturbed. 
 
 The culmination is at hand; the citizens of the 
 narrow community life are coming with banners fly- 
 ing and transparencies aglow to pay respect to their 
 greatest Pillar of Society. Bernick is not in a frame 
 of mind to receive them, but circumstances force him 
 to ; he knows that he will be expected to respond to 
 their praise with a toast; his fawning, selfish associ- 
 ates in the colonnade of social hypocrisy have told 
 him so. 
 
 In the midst of all the preparations in the Bernick 
 house— for " a citizen's home should be transparent 
 to all the world " is the hollow-sounding expression — 
 Johan slips back to say a few last words to Dina and 
 to leave in Lona's hand the incriminating letters 
 
338 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 against Bernick, to use in case of immediate need. 
 Meanwhile Martha, self-sacrificing as ever, determines 
 to aid Dina in escaping the clutches of Rorlund. 
 Thus it is that the romance is brought to a head. 
 Dina and Johan depart, eventually to be married, but 
 not, however, before Dina, through work, has realized 
 herself. Individualism in Ibsen is the basis of all 
 human happiness. Only by being true to one's self, 
 can one be true to others, for self is the basic strength 
 or weakness of life. 
 
 Ibsen's characteristic belief in sacrifice is seen 
 throughout this love tragedy of Martha — for Johan, 
 when he came again, never once saw her, and she has 
 a love so great that she would willingly sacrifice her- 
 self for its sake. Ibsen sings to the same purpose, 
 but in different strains from Shakespeare's " Thou 
 Winter Wind " ; man's ingratitude is a most fla- 
 grant selfishness in his plays. 
 
 Bernick is forced by circumstances to take a new 
 lease on life; in his self-conceit, he half forgets the 
 quagmire in which his home life is steeped ; he would 
 forget it entirely if Lona would let him. She pur- 
 sues him relentlessly in the belief that he will respond 
 to whatever there is of worth in his nature. She 
 forces him to recognise in her something of the sus- 
 taining balance which he has needed and which his 
 wife might have given him had he allowed her to 
 share life with him. This is a faint echo of Selma's 
 declaration — a faint suggestion that, beneath this 
 idea of " the woman's saga " and the wife's depend- 
 ence upon the man, restiveness was fermenting, and 
 would some day explode. The explosion came with 
 " A Doll's House." 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 339 
 
 The Consul believes that it is too late to break from 
 falsehood; he will make a position for Olaf, and in 
 the younger generation there may be hope for truth. 
 Yet what good after all will this do, for Olaf will but 
 inherit a life of lies. Lona plays her cards well ; she is 
 evidently a student of the psychological moment ; she 
 now tells Bernick that Johan and Dina have gone for 
 good, and she takes the tell-tale letters and tears 
 them into shreds. An he will, the Consul may " re- 
 main standing in the lie." 
 
 When news is brought that Olaf has run away, has 
 shipped on the Indian Girl, consternation upsets 
 everything; all of the Consul's peculations have been 
 in vain, since they have been for Olaf, not for society. 
 With this feeling, he must face the crowd now ap- 
 proaching his house. 
 
 The awakening is taking place, however; for the 
 first time Bernick recognises that the flattering trans- 
 parencies mean nothing, " they are the lights in a 
 dead room," an opinion reminiscent of Ibsen's poetic 
 metaphor of the " corpse on board the ship." To 
 complete his growing determination, Mrs. Bernick 
 rushes on the scene ; she has not only saved Olaf, but 
 she carries news that Aune has defied the orders of the 
 Consul and has kept the Indian Girl from sailing. 
 This flood of happiness opens the gates of determi- 
 nation. 
 
 Rorlund's speech in the Consul's praise is a monu- 
 ment of falsehood; in Bernick, society has gloried in 
 a broad moral basis; he is the perfect representative 
 of the self-sacrificing citizen ; his domestic life has 
 been exemplary. As a father, as a ship-builder, as a 
 Pillar of Society, he has overtopped the expectancy 
 
340 HENRIK IBSEN, 
 
 of the community. Ibsen's phial of sarcasm over- 
 flows ; it has more reason to do so than in " Love 
 Comedy." 
 
 But the revelation is at hand ; unmistakably second- 
 rate is Rorlund's speech, but essentially calculated is 
 he to make it. On the other hand, the sudden 
 remodelling of the Consul's make-up seems wholly 
 incongruous; his speech is not a logical development 
 of the scourge which he has just undergone. But the 
 " well-made " play sanctions sudden psychological 
 regeneration, and Bernick proceeds to utter bold con- 
 fession of his undeserving position; he tells these 
 respectable citizens that he craved power, that he 
 feared the petty interpretations of his narrowing 
 community; he proceeds to unmask his duplicity in 
 the railroad deal, unveiling at the same moment the 
 cunning of his associates. He applies the lash vigor- 
 ously; he upbraids the old museum of shams; he 
 clears Johan's name. Small wonder that Lona ex- 
 claims : " At last you have found your true self !" 
 So rapidly does deceit drop from his shoulders that 
 we see Ibsen, rather than Bernick, casting forth the 
 thunderbolt of truth. 
 
 The public slinks off, numbed with surprise; then 
 Bernick sets- himself right with his wife, and turns to 
 Lona for forgiveness. She confesses that when Johan 
 told of the old escapade, she was determined that the 
 hero of her youth should stand free and true. This 
 close to the " Pillars of Society " is a mere jugglery, 
 a mere plea for popular appeal ; it is a regular family 
 portrait, where the members gather around the foun- 
 tain head in awkward pose. They are all very serious, 
 save Olaf ; to him Bernick says : " In future you shall 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 341 
 
 be allowed to grow up, not as the heir to my life-work, 
 but as one who has a life-work of his own to look 
 forward to." Olaf is too young for such subtlety; 
 he does not even realize how poignant is his childish 
 determination that when he is a man he " won't be a 
 pillar of society." 
 
 The skies clear ; Johan and Dina, on the high seas 
 in a sound vessel, betoken the new life of the younger 
 generation, and now, comfortable in his consciousness 
 of confession, Bernick turns to the women as the 
 Pillars of Society. Lona takes this for what it is 
 worth; she has the wisdom, while Bernick is simply 
 moved by a general feeling of smug safety. The 
 curtain falls on the aphoristic remark of the " new 
 woman " — " The Spirits of Truth and Freedom — 
 these are the Pillars of Society." 
 
 It is only in the heart and core of the play that we 
 find Ibsen, the technician, maturing; the other parts 
 are thoroughly artificial; in fact, should one make a 
 scenario of the plot — and the synopsis here given 
 may serve as such — it will be plainly evident that the 
 machinery is a design and not a development. The 
 characters are actuated by theories which emanate 
 from Ibsen and not from themselves ; try as you will 
 to garb Bernick in the clothes of consistency, they 
 cling limply, as all sentiments do that are imposed. 
 
 Ibsen, the artist, is breaking from his past, and is 
 sending forth shafts of what his future is to be. He 
 has not yet fully determined what great principles 
 are to underly and to actuate the " younger genera- 
 tion " ; Nora is to add the permanent philosophic 
 worth to the phrase. Until then, Ibsen cannot wholly 
 break with his past ideal of womanhood ; Lona repre- 
 
342 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 sents the struggling elements of the strong woman 
 and the dependent woman ; Martha is wholly the old 
 model. There is no big ringing appeal in the play ; 
 no situations with original impulses. The drama 
 represents pregnant possibilities. Ibsen is now iterat- 
 ing that woman, as well as man, forms a part of the 
 problem of living; that as an individual she has 
 her rights to free development. Nora is to proclaim, 
 to assert, those rights. 
 
 However provincial the people, however hourgeoise 
 their attitude toward subjects which confront all 
 rightly educated minds, the problems they handle 
 so unfamiliarly are none the less serious. Let us say 
 that the memory of Grimstad days inspired the scene, 
 none the less is there a thin sHce of universal humanity 
 throughout the dialogue. The play is valuable for 
 what it implies, for what it starts in motion ; the 
 elements of the family must be made up of truth 
 and freedom; the elements of citizenship must be 
 made up of truth and freedom; the conventional 
 Idealist must relinquish his abominations. What 
 are forms after all.'' The corpse on deck must be 
 thrown overboard before the " third kingdom " can 
 be gained. This is the morale of " Pillars of So- 
 ciety." 
 
 If there is subtlety at all in the piece, it lies in the 
 delineation of the characterless yet representative 
 figure of Rorlund; otherwise we have statements of 
 facts — a species of estimate as to what it may cost 
 the individual in his effort to reconstruct society. In 
 every way, debarring its artistic concessions to the 
 theatrical requirements, such as the gathering of 
 threads, the occasional flashes of romantic senti- 
 
A MODERN JOSHUA 343 
 
 mentalism, the sudden reformation of character, 
 " Pillars of Society " makes it possible for " A Doll's 
 House " to follow. Yet when, we might be prompted 
 to ask, is Ibsen to break entirely from the influence 
 of Scribe — to forsake the conventional trade-marks 
 of the romanticists ? ^ 
 
 " Brandes declares that he had difficulty in persuading the 
 Germans that the author of " Pillars of Society " was a Con- 
 servative, so confident were they of his being a Socialist. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE TOEPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 
 
 It was after the publication of " A Doll's House," 
 and while consternation reigned supreme in conserva- 
 tive households over this bold and daring declaration 
 of feminine independence, that a Swedish lady is said 
 to have written across her luncheon invitations, " You 
 are politely requested not to discuss Ibsen's new 
 play." Yet it has been torn to tatters and everyone 
 advances a theory based upon personal prejudice. 
 After all is said, we cannot but feel that it is of no 
 material difference to us that Ibsen refused to answer 
 the question: Did Nora return.'' The significant fact 
 was that an assertive answer, in the form of definite 
 action, was given to the question : Shall a wife remain 
 a puppet and be a slave to her husband's selfish aims ? 
 
 In " Peer Gynt," " The League of Youth," and 
 " Pillars of Society," we may follow the evolution of 
 Nora ; in all of the plays up to the final act of " A 
 Doll's House," we have recognised the sacrificing 
 woman. But Ibsen's " third empire " could no longer 
 hold the idea of the feminine, without individuality; 
 it could no more allow the family to be founded upon 
 such unequal and such a false relationship, than it 
 could allow society to elevate a blatant climber, like 
 Stensgard, or a deplorable Pillar of Society, like 
 Consul Bernick. Once started on this question of 
 marriage, Ibsen takes the obverse and reverse view of 
 the picture. It was necessary for Nora to proclaim 
 her rights; for if she had not, well — Ibsen wrote 
 " Ghosts " instead of answering the question. 
 
 In the fall of 1877, Ibsen heard of his father's 
 death; he had thought, during his visit to Norway, 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 345 
 
 of going to Skien, but he was thoroughly disinclined 
 to come in contact or in collision, as he expressed it, 
 with tendencies foreign to his nature. Whatever 
 others might think, he could not subject himself to 
 this state of things. He wrote his uncle, Christian 
 Paus, to that effect, sending him a portrait of the 
 nephew who must have changed in twenty-seven 
 years. Ibsen was now nearing fifty, and after a 
 prospective trip to Italy he was thinking of perma- 
 nently settling himself in Christiania, since it was 
 necessary for Sigurd to return ; but he knew that he 
 would not find there the fibre of the great world — 
 " liberty of thought and a wide view of things." 
 This doubt held him back. 
 
 He and his family remained in Italy for about a 
 year, beginning in the fall of 1878. His life in Rome 
 was a quiet one, but he was comfortably fixed, and 
 he was purchasing old paintings at very low prices, 
 indeed, so low that he boasted he might be able to 
 sell them at thrice their value. The art lover 
 struggled against his antipathy toward " unemployed 
 capital " of any kind ; with these and more he would 
 buy, he might decorate a house in Munich where he 
 would return. He saw much of the artist. life during 
 the winter. This was all very pleasant to him, and 
 at one time he thought of sending Sigurd back to 
 Munich, where he was at school, himself remaining in 
 Rome. But Ibsen needed to come in contact with 
 German literary life, and besides, he regarded Munich 
 as a species of " spiritual home " : even in Italy he 
 felt too far away from the centre of intellectual 
 activity. Sigurd was now a University student about 
 to begin his law courses. 
 
346 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 The heat of Rome in June made Ibsen plan to visit 
 Amalfi, where there was " opportunity for bathing," 
 and where he might finish his new play, already be- 
 gun. His letters during this year exhibit many do- 
 mestic touches ; he was smacking his lips over certain 
 good wines, and planning to furnish his rooms ac- 
 cording to very definite tastes. 
 
 " A Doll's House " was finished in Amalfi during 
 the summer of 1879; once begun, it engrossed his 
 entire time, for it is believed that during April he 
 had heard of an incident which occurred in the Da- 
 nish courts, concerning a young married woman, 
 which had given him an excellent suggestion for 
 certain elements in Nora's character. This may have 
 been the immediate impetus, but it was not the initial 
 impulse. Even though Ibsen could not countenance 
 Mill on " The Subjection of Women," and even 
 though he began on the woman question with a 
 detestation for all the talk about emancipation, his 
 larger interest in the balance of the human scale was 
 primarily behind him. The motivation itself may be 
 traced in evolution. The lie was clad in romance 
 throughout " The Vikings at Helgeland " ; it reacted 
 upon the individual in " Peer Gynt " and " The 
 League of Youth " ; it demoralized the community in 
 " Pillars of Society " ; it undermined the home in 
 " A Doll's House " ; it was to curse the child in 
 " Ghosts." 
 
 There is a tlever bit of speculation on Mr. Archer's 
 part as to the technical maturity which descended 
 upon Ibsen in the final scene of the play. No one can 
 gainsay him as to the marks of the " well-made " 
 drama which are to be found throughout the first 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 34.7 
 
 two acts; but though there is an evident line of 
 demarcation between Nora's emancipation and the 
 events leading up to Helmer's reading of the incrimi- 
 nating letter, we can but theorize after all about the 
 possibility of Ibsen's original intention, when he first 
 set out to write, of making the play end satisfacto- 
 rily, in the tone of " Pillars of Society." 
 
 Indeed, he as much as says that he was forced to 
 furnish a happy ending for the North German 
 theatres,^ in order to avoid the dangers of having 
 others adapt in accordance with popular taste. The 
 surprise is that Ibsen ever argued himself into the 
 belief that such a concession was necessary. " When 
 my works are threatened," he wrote, " I prefer, 
 taught by experience, to commit the act of violence 
 myself." 
 
 His business manager, Mr. Wilhelm Lange, had 
 shown him the necessity for a second ending. There- 
 fore: 
 
 " I sent to him, for use in case of absolute necessity, 
 a draft of an altered last scene, according to which 
 Nora does not leave the house, but is forcibly led by 
 Helmer to the door of the children's bedroom ; a short 
 dialogue takes place, Nora sinks down at the door, 
 and the curtain falls." 
 
 This does not in any way weaken Ibsen's own 
 attitude as to how the play should consistently and 
 dynamically end. It only points to the fact that he 
 was much more interested in the conditions which 
 made it necessary for Nora to leave. But he was 
 emphatic about the effect of a happy ending upon the 
 
 ' This ending was used by Frau Hedwig Niemann-Raabe, 
 who played Nora in Berlin. See Correspondence, 220. 
 
348 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 poignancy of his morale; he stigmatized the conces- 
 sion as " barbaric violence " and he declared himself 
 thoroughly opposed to it.-*^ 
 
 When Ibsen forwarded the altered scene to the 
 director of the Wiener Stadttheatre, he called the 
 latter's attention to the great loss in effect incurred 
 thereby. This emphasis of the theatrical value only 
 adds to my conviction that in a discussion of " A 
 Doll's House," people lose sight of the fact that 
 primarily Ibsen was a dramatist and not a pamphlet- 
 eer, that, for a stage climax, the slamming of the 
 door as Nora departs and the transfiguration on the 
 face of Helmer are more likely to be impressed on 
 the mind, more likely to fix in unmistakable tones 
 the underlying, the fundamental tragedy of this doll's 
 house, than all the quiet domestic reconciliations and 
 sudden sentimental understandings with which the 
 stage is deluged. 
 
 As late as 1891 Ibsen referred to his concession, 
 incidental to Eleonora Duse's first impulse to use the 
 happy ending; he claimed that he was forced to 
 comply with managerial demands because the copy- 
 right law afforded him no adequate protection. But 
 this much he could say, that " it was for the sake of 
 the last scene that the whole play was written." 
 
 The piece was published in Copenhagen on Decem- 
 ber 4, 1879, and with great rapidity it spread from 
 country to country. As an acting drama, its attrac- 
 tiveness has not been so much in idea as in the two 
 dominant situations which lie in the tarantella dance 
 and the final exit. But in these two situations, we 
 
 ' See letter 142, Correspondence written to the editor of the 
 
 Nationaltidende on February IT, 1880. 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 349 
 
 are to note a difference in the depth of Ibsen. It is 
 an easy matter for a fairly intelligent actress to 
 thrill you with the wild emotional tension of the 
 dance, but the final scene makes demands upon a very 
 mature conception and a very ripe artistic grasp. ■* 
 The departure of Nora may be theatrically effec- 
 tive, but it is also far and above this in spiritual 
 meaning. 
 
 A stage role lives by reason of its effectiveness on 
 the stage ; we have far outgrown the sacrificial realism 
 of Dumas's Camille ; Sudermann himself has passed 
 beyond the limitations of the German romanticism of 
 Magda, which on the one hand struggles with a cer- 
 tain tradition handed down from Dumas, and on the 
 other with a certain individualism taken from Ibsen ; 
 moreover, the time will come, if it is not already here, 
 when we shall cease to regard Nora as a startling 
 type. But these feminine vehicles for acting will sur- 
 vive the force and freshness of the ideas they repre- 
 sent because their framework is striking. 
 
 In 1879 and for many years after, " A Doll's 
 House " was regarded solely in the light of an un- 
 warranted attack upon marriage, the mere husk of 
 Nora's behaviour being taken. Ibsen was called an 
 anarch in the social scheme of things ; people could 
 not see beyond their conventions ; they could not grant 
 that his so-called feminine individualism was simply 
 the means of clearing life of those ruts which retarded 
 the establishment of true relations, just as his ram- 
 pant idealism in " Love's Comedy " helped to clear 
 the atmosphere of a deal of cant regarding the official 
 
 "The excellence of Miss Ethel Barrymore's performance of 
 Nora was marred by the immaturity of the final scene, 
 
350 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 stages leading to the consummation of the marriage 
 bond. 
 
 We are inclined to approach Ibsen's plays as we 
 would approach a technical treatise upon this or that 
 subject; we entirely ignore the poetic viewpoint in 
 our effort to see whether he has established properly 
 the scientific standpoint. Ibsen appears to me to be 
 gloriously indifferent as to the particulars in his 
 scientific facts. He knows enough to be able to pre- 
 sent one with an instinctive understanding of the 
 various dangers attendant upon these facts. In 
 detail, his theory of heredity may run far away from 
 the knowledge of the medical profession — for ex- 
 ample, that strange relationship existing between 
 Brand and Gerd. But science has never proved as 
 yet the particulars of the inheritance phenomena; 
 it has only noted tendencies by analogy; nor has 
 science been able to determine the proportionate ratio 
 between congenital bequeathment and that of environ- 
 ment, or what Ibsen often calls " the spirit of the 
 times." 1 
 
 The principle, the philosophic motive, the basic 
 use of heredity in Ibsen's plays are not only quicken- 
 ing, but true, according to our present moral, ethical, 
 and mental planes. The particular accuracy may be 
 questioned, but the impressionistic truth is unde- 
 niable.^ 
 
 • For other views on this subject, see " Health, Strength, and 
 Happiness," by C. W. Saleeby, M.D., F.R.S., Edin. (Chap. 
 xxiv, "Concerning Heredity," p. 366), where the extremely 
 important work of Galton and Weismann is discussed. 
 
 ' The external history of " A Doll's House " is a long one. 
 Issued in 1879, the 2nd ed. was called for, Kbhvn, on Jan. 4, 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 351 
 
 There is wonderful compression in the dialogue of 
 " A Doll's House " ; in this respect it is far above the 
 technical manoeuvring of " Pillars of Society " ; 
 there, one had to have a special scene, a special group- 
 
 1880; 3rd ed., Kbhvn, March 8, 1880; 4th ed., Feb. 12, 1896. 
 It rapidly spread to all countries, translations appearing in 
 England, France, Germany, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Poland, 
 Hungary, Italy and Holland. In English, note the following 
 versions: by T. Weber (1880); by Henrietta Frances Lord 
 (1883; containing a life of Ibsen); by William Archer (1889). 
 M. Prozor made a French translation (1889), for which 
 Edouard Rod contributed a preface. Among the Italian 
 versions, it is only necessary to call attention to that by L. 
 Capuana (1895), used by Duse. In Germany: by Wilhelm 
 Lange (1880) [it was generally known as "Nora"]; by M. 
 von Borch (1890); by Charles Kirschenstein (1891); by 
 I. EngeroflF (1892). Among the comments noted by 
 Halvorsen, see Leo Berg: " H. I. und das Germanenthum 
 in der modernen Litteratur"; Sir E. R. Russell and 
 P. C. Standing: "Ibsen on his Merits"; Jules Leraaitre: 
 " Impressions de Theatre," 5e s^rie (Paris, 1891). See also The 
 Fortnightly Review, vol. 51, p. 107 (E. Gosse) ; vol. 52, p. 
 30 (W. Archer) ; vol. 55, p. 735 (O. Crawfurd) ; — Cosmopolis, 
 vol. i, 88 (A. B. Walkley) ; vol. ii., 738 (Francisque Sarcey; — 
 Neue Deutsche Rundschau, 1894, i., 517 (H. Albert) ; — Pall 
 Mall Gazette, April 8, 1891 (W. Archer). Consult Walter 
 Besant's "The Doll's House — and After," in. English Illustrated 
 Magazine, Jan., 1890; Edna D. Cheney's "Nora's Return; a. 
 sequel to 'A Doll's House' of Henrik Ibsen" (Boston, 1890). 
 There have been many parodies, attempted largely in Scandi- 
 navia. That in English, deserving of any recognition, is Anstey 
 Guthrie's "Mr. Punch's Pocket Ibsen" (1893), which was 
 itself translated into a foreign tongue. 
 
 The performances of Nora, like those of Camille and Magda, 
 are legion; it is a role tempting every stock actress as well 
 as every star. I rely principally upon Halvorsen, although I 
 have amended here and there. Copenhagen, Dec. 21, 1879 
 (Fru Hennings); Christiania, Jan. 20, 1880 (Fru Johanne 
 
352 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ing of characters to serve in explaining the past 
 situation upon which the present action depended. 
 Here, however, Ibsen's art seems to have become en- 
 dowed with the power of concentration; the past 
 
 Juell) ; Stockholm, Jan. 8, 1880 (Fru Hwasser) ; Munich, 
 March 3, 1880 (Fru Ramlo-Conrad), etc. Among the German 
 Noras may be mentioned Lilli Petri, Pasch-Grevenberg, Agnes 
 Sorma, Gertrud Eysold, Friederikka Gossmann, Milan-Dor6, 
 Johanna Buska. Helena Modjeska played the part in Polish, 
 November, 1881 ; Eleonora Duse, Feb., 1892, and earlier, in 1889. 
 In London, the play was first seen in a version prepared by 
 Henry Arthur Jones and Henry Hermann to accord with 
 English convention: called "Breaking a Butterfly." It was 
 attempted at the Princess Theatre, March 3, 1884, with Kyrle 
 Bellew and Beerbohm Tree in the cast. (See the English 
 Theatre, Jan.-June, 1884, April 1, 1884, p. 209, for a notice of 
 the performance by Mr. Archer.) The first regular produc- 
 tion was given at the Novelty Theatre, June 7, 1889, with 
 Miss Janet Achurch and Mr. Charles Carrington. With this 
 performance, Ibsen may be said to have commenced his 
 English stage career, although I find recorded a previous 
 production of " A Doll's House " by an amateur club in 1885, 
 and a notice of an earlier performance during 1883 in Louis- 
 ville, Kentucky, when Madame Modjeska acted Nora. A 
 French version was played in Brussels during 1889, but not 
 until 1894, April 20, did Madame R6jane present it in Paris. 
 During 1889, Miss Achurch took her company to Australia, 
 even playing in Cairo. Barring the "lost" performance of 
 Modjeska, aforementioned, Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske may 
 be called the first American Nora (1889-90); R^jane came 
 over with the part in 1895 and Agnes Sorma in 1897 (Irving 
 Place Theatre, N. Y., April 12). [See chapter on Ibsen in 
 Norman Hapgood's "The Stage in America, 1897-1900."] 
 American audiences have at different times seen the follow- 
 ing Noras: Mrs. Richard Mansfield (Beatrice Cameron), Alia 
 Nazimova, Madame Komisarzhevsky (1908), Ethel Barrymore. 
 Consult Halvorsen. The play is familiar to the Yiddish 
 theatre. 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 353 
 
 history of Nora, the incidents affecting her character, 
 are worked in as inherent elements of the story ; they 
 are there when wanted, but holding as much signifi- 
 cance in developing the character further as in ex- 
 plaining the fundamental nature upon which the 
 character is built. In this respect, the cloak of 
 Scribe is now naught but filmy threads, which are to 
 fall away entirely from the shoulders of Ibsen the 
 moment Nora divests herself of the Capri dress. 
 
 How shall we take " A Doll's House " — as a 
 preachment or as a portrait of a woman who is the 
 victim of education and the tragic thrall of a certain 
 popular conception of marriage? If one begins from 
 the standpoint of the feminine, one will perforce be 
 obliged to include the other phase; this is sufficient 
 indication of the unity with which Ibsen has recon- 
 ciled the two aspects. His portrait of Selma is here 
 enlarged; we remember how fresh and invigorating 
 was the declaration of independence in the midst of 
 the false atmosphere of " The League of Youth." 
 Her cry represents rebellion against the arrested 
 growth of womanhood; in the instantaneous flash of 
 her outburst we are presented with the clue to Nora. 
 
 When Ibsen knocks out the fourth wall of the 
 Helmers' room he does not say to you, I am going to 
 show you how a tragedy may occur between a man 
 and his wife. He says: Here a tragedy is being 
 lived, a tragedy in which individuals are being im- 
 peded by a false system of social duties and responsi- 
 bilities. I am going to show you a husband, to all 
 outward appearances conforming to the most polished 
 terms of the code, a wife who seemingly is fulfilling 
 the dictates of the marriage law to honour and obey. 
 
354 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Now, let us analyze, step by step; let us rend the 
 veil and reach the truth. 
 
 The play has not progressed very far when we 
 discover that the plea is to be made entirely from the 
 feminine side. Nora, the mother of three children, 
 is stunted in her spiritual growth, but as events will 
 show, the higher activities of the woman are dormant. 
 She is the product of a father who has petted her and 
 found a certain pleasure in loving her, but he has 
 never really shown her by word or deed that she is 
 essential to him; he has simply used her as a means 
 of satisfying his self-conceit. In this environment, 
 where she has not been regarded on a thinking basis, 
 her moral, her ethical sense has not expanded. Nora's 
 husband has all the self-conceit of her father, but, 
 unlike the father, he has an inscrutable sense of busi- 
 ness honour. 
 
 Nora is thus regarded not as an essential part of 
 Helmer's life, but merely as an accessory ; she is to be 
 moulded to his pleasure, to his idea ; that mutual help 
 is only right, according to this state of things, which 
 dovetails with the individual desire of the husband. 
 Outwardly, the law may claim that all this is in high 
 conformity with the law, but it is spiritual, moral, 
 social suicide to allow such conditions to exist. 
 
 There is no hope for the child brought up in an 
 atmosphere thus steeped in lies ; if we are to have 
 a " third kingdom," we must not stunt the whole 
 development of the woman. Ibsen's contention is, 
 therefore, that by this equality of freedom we assure 
 the future freedom of society, even as by the mar- 
 riage bond, or the mutual acceptance of the respon- 
 sibilities of life, a husband and wife assure the future 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE A-RK 355 
 
 growth of the race. Some people would say that Ib- 
 sen's danger rests upon his insistence on the absolute 
 freedom of the individual, even in a state of mar- 
 riage; and they thus illogically declare him to be 
 against marriage, as they have time and time again 
 proclaimed him no believer in love. But he holds 
 nothing of the kind in " A Doll's House " ; he does 
 not infer from the tragedy there existing that mar- 
 riage is a failure; he makes no inference, but what 
 attitude he does assume is this : I will show you why 
 I think this marriage between Nora and Helmer is a 
 failure. . And in doing so, he throws all the weight 
 of his argument in the Nora side of the scale. This 
 girl-wife is an undeveloped child; she nibbles her 
 macaroons, she shows inconsequential joy over the 
 worldly betterment of Torvald, she is a mere " song 
 bird," instinctively committing subtle acts without 
 knowing exactly why. Her logic is unprincipled, 
 besides which she has inherited some of the weakness 
 of her father. But this is no fault of hers ; it is the 
 fault of her education. Nature has made her a 
 mother in fact, but in spirit, as yet, she is simply a 
 child among her children. When she leaves them, she 
 does so in order the better to understand them and 
 her own duty toward them in the future. 
 
 In the three acts, Nora grows as a woman, similarly 
 situated, would develop in real life ; she is awakened, 
 regenerated, re-born under a scourge which tears her 
 soul; the weakness of her retarded sense of right 
 thus becomes the source of her immanent strength. 
 It is apparent when Mrs. Linden and Krogstad are 
 introduced upon the scenes, both with a past history 
 in which their lives have touched, that they are 
 
356 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 to have little to do with the immediate problem other 
 than hasten it to a head. Their eventual union is a 
 flash of the old Ibsen ; it is the Scribe in him ; he is 
 here following a worn-out formula. 
 
 Nora in the past has forged her father's name 
 in order to obtain money for a journey which Tor- 
 vald's health demands. The dramatic machinery 
 places this note in Krogstad's hands — he himself a 
 forger who has served his time and who would now 
 rise save that society will not let him. 
 
 Sacrifice after sacrifice is made by Nora to pay off 
 this debt, and in its way it might have been liquidated 
 had not Krogstad lost his position at Torvald's 
 bank, and been pushed by the latter to the verge of 
 despair. It is when Krogstad stands upon the thresh- 
 old of the Helmer home, with the forged note in his 
 hand, and with the momentary desire to drag Nora 
 into the gutter with him, that the latent woman in 
 Nora begins to stir. 
 
 Physically, she has attained her growth; she is 
 very agreeable to look upon ; Helmer in an excited 
 state makes us uncomfortably aware of this in the 
 third act, after his return from the tarantella. But 
 not until this moment, with Krogstad watching her at 
 play with her children, is her mental status to receive 
 a shock. Heretofore every one has sheltered her 
 ignorance ; now is the commencement of her salvation. 
 
 Helmer loathes debt and he would consider it be- 
 neath his dignity to be beholden to his wife in any 
 way. When Nora tells Mrs. Linden of her scheming 
 to save her husband's life — without saying anything 
 of the manner in which the scheme was worked — her 
 monologue exposition of her own character is masterly 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 357 
 
 in execution; Ibsen often reaches those heights in 
 technique where the absolute inevitableness of his 
 dialogue is felt. Why should he not work for effect 
 in the way he groups his characters ? He is first and 
 foremost a dramatist. 
 
 So it is that I have no quarrel with the manner in 
 which his big climaxes, and his intermediate climaxes 
 are reached, just so that their effect is not disconcert- 
 ing. Drama is not life itself, but a reflex, and at that 
 a reflex only of critical moments. We are dealing here 
 with a crisis in Nora's life ; the rallying point in one's 
 individual existence may become evident suddenly. 
 
 When Krogstad's threat to expose Nora hangs 
 over her, she is merely frightened; her begging 
 Helmer to reinstate him in the bank is not fraught 
 with any tragedy until Helmer airs his opinions upon 
 Krogstad's moral weakness, his cowardice, his trick- 
 ery in concealing his forgeries ; but worse still, the 
 effect of all this on his children. In bringing for- 
 ward his views on heredity, Torvald turns Nora's 
 fright into a deeper fear. 
 
 Her persistency in pleading for Krogstad irritates 
 Helmer; he defies her by mailing the clerk's dismissal 
 to him. Every move that is taken closes around 
 Nora, tighter and tighter. The last resort is reached 
 by Krogstad; he comes to Nora on Christmas day; 
 he tells her that he will not unveil her weakness to 
 everyone, but that Torvald must know. This brings 
 terror to Nora's soul; she now recognises that the 
 I O U given to this man is his weapon of defence, and 
 she is made to realize it still further when she sees 
 him drop it in the letter-box with an explanation of all 
 it means. 
 
358 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 That wild practising of the tarantella at the close 
 of the second act — what is it but a legitimate theat- 
 rical contrast of intensest emotion with apparent 
 light grace? It grips the audience, for all the while 
 one knows that the soul of Nora Helmer is being 
 carried through the fires of a regenerating scourge. 
 The wounds are being torn apart, so that they may 
 heal all the more healthily. Mrs. Linden has gone to 
 plead with Krogstad for the withdrawal of the letter, 
 while Nora, by her seeming vagaries of the moment, 
 is keeping Helmer away from the box. This is an 
 effective theatrical situation; it is not, however, the 
 vital scene of the play. 
 
 Already there has occurred to Nora the possibility 
 of a miracle happening. She has thoughts of suicide ; 
 then, if her name is dishonoured, Torvald will surely 
 rise up and take the blame upon himself. It is only 
 the impulse- on his part to do this that Nora wants to 
 occur. When she tells Mrs. Linden of the forgery, 
 she impresses upon her in a vague way the necessity 
 of remembering that she did it, and not Torvald. 
 So at the close of the second act, physically weak, 
 when Nora hears that Christina has not seen Krog- 
 stad, her only consolation is in the coming of the 
 miracle. Her husband may now sacrifice for her as 
 she has sacrificed for him ! 
 
 It makes no difference whether Krogstad and Mrs. 
 Linden renew the love episode of many years before ; 
 it is now too late for the letter to Torvald to be 
 withdrawn; there must indeed be an end to this un- 
 happy secret. So that when Helmer returns from the 
 tarantella, dragging the unwilling Nora with him, we 
 feel that the supreme moment is at hand. 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 359 
 
 The conflicting elements in Torvald's character 
 are subtly portrayed; he is a live figure, with those 
 small weaknesses that in the bulk go to make a man 
 of consuming selfishness, and conventional respecta- 
 bility. As he sits with Nora, the stereotyped romance 
 of his nature wells up ; yet there is no real vital under- 
 standing between himself and his wife ; his eye catches 
 her smooth shoulder, her glorious neck, he holds her 
 in his arms, but they are farther apart on that night 
 than ever before. 
 
 For when Helmer goes to the letter-box and takes 
 Krogstad's missive into his room, we can almost count 
 the moments before he throws the door back, and 
 re-enters, frantic with the rage which sweeps over 
 him ; it is Ms honour, his future, his feelings that are 
 foremost in his mind; his thoughts grapple with the 
 suspicion that may fall upon him, the power that 
 Krogstad now has over him. Surely Nora realizes 
 that there can be no miracle! His final blow lies in 
 his threat about taking the children away from her, 
 even though she remain in his house for the sake of 
 appearances ! 
 
 Then Nora receives a note from Krogstad, which 
 Torvald, in his wild suspicious state, opens himself. 
 It contains the I U and an apology ; Helmer is 
 overjoyed — he is saved, his position in the public 
 regard is secure. Only afterwards does he think of 
 Nora; of course he will forgive her; she may lean 
 on him ; he will off'er strength to her womanly help- 
 lessness ; he will protect her. 
 
 But the time for shielding Nora has passed; her 
 husband's cowardice has prevented the miracle of 
 miracles from happening. Yet in the three days 
 
360 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 through which she has fought, a miracle has happened 
 — Nora has become a woman. When she lays aside 
 the Capri masquerade, the doll's house tumbles to the 
 ground. Torvald is faced by an individual he does 
 not know. 
 
 For eight years they have lived together and this is 
 the first time they have ever seriously talked about 
 serious things. One may say that this is the first 
 instance in which Nora has demanded such considera- 
 tion, but that does not take from the fact that she 
 has only lived with Torvald; in spirit she has never 
 been his wife. She has never really been happy, only 
 heedlessly merry, and • the reason for this is that 
 Torvald has only required of her, surface satisfac- 
 tion. Nora must educate herself; she must set about 
 it alone; Helmer is no fit teacher for her; she must 
 stand alone. If she has been blind to experience, then 
 she must make herself whole. 
 
 Now comes the declaration of independence. Hel- 
 mer believes a wife's holiest duties are to her hus- 
 band and children, but Nora contends that there is 
 above all else the duty toward herself. The world 
 might insist that she is primarily a wife and a mother, 
 but she is of a diff'erent opinion. " I believe," she 
 declares, " that before all else I am a human being, 
 just as much as you are — or at least that I should try 
 to become one." Here is a concise statement of 
 Ibsen's view of the woman question. It is a defiance 
 flung at his worn-out romantic theory of the woman's 
 saga. 
 
 Nora no longer can abide by what people say, or 
 by the statements made in books ; she must explain 
 clearly to herself the meaning of religion ; she will not 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 361 
 
 act without knowing. If she is to live in a society, 
 she must learn, she must settle for herself whether 
 she or society is right. Helmer cannot understand 
 her attitude; in fact, her mention of the miracle 
 puzzles him. " No man sacrifices his honour, even 
 for one he loves," he tells Nora, to which she replies : 
 " Millions of women have done so." As Brandes says, 
 this remark reveals Ibsen as keenly alive to the pro- 
 gressive thoughts of the day. 
 
 And now it looms up before Nora that for eight 
 years she has lived with a strange man, has borne him 
 three children, has been married by law, but has never 
 been a wife. After all, the miracle of miracles is hap- 
 pening. Torvald declares that he has the strength 
 to become another man ; Nora is determined to be a 
 different woman. She gives him her wedding ring; 
 she removes from her the bondage which has marked 
 the doll's house. To make things different in the 
 future, the two must so change that communion 
 between them shall be a marriage. In such a spirit 
 Nora leaves the house. 
 
 This startling action raised consternation when the 
 play was published, and to this very day the camps 
 are divided. After all that righteous indignation, 
 after all the firm conviction which Nora displays, to 
 have had her take off her coat and remain, would have 
 thrown the play into bathos, and technically would 
 have resulted in an anti-climax. Besides which, even 
 though through revelation Nora may have suddenly 
 developed, it would take a longer time to make a 
 man of Helmer. The separation — which in Norway 
 would be equivalent to a divorce — gave the two time 
 to adjust themselves to their awakened view of life. 
 
362 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 And should it be absolutely necessary for one to have 
 a solution, then it were safe to say that nature in the 
 end furnishes it by having given to the Helmers three 
 children. The happy ending is worthy of Scribe; 
 the logical ending was the original force of Ibsen. 
 
 The importance of the play, however, rests in its 
 moral force ; as Boyesen says, its power is not violent, 
 but it throbs with nervous tension. You can take an 
 external view of the piece, and claim that the unhappi- 
 ness of the Helmer household was due to the selfish- 
 ness of Torvald; but Ibsen's belief is that it was due 
 to the fact that society countenances the relations 
 between husband and wife where the latter is imma- 
 ture. And that immaturity was wholly due to the 
 peculiar condition of Nora's education. That we 
 have outgrown our reticence in respect to this subject 
 is seen in the consideration, now confronting our 
 educators, as to how far we should admit into our 
 instruction for adolescence a knowledge of the ele- 
 ments differentiating the sexes, and of the elements 
 serving to draw them together. 
 
 In their ignorance some people take pride in 
 speaking of the stagnant atmosphere of Ibsenism, but 
 however much you may agree or disagree with this 
 style of drama, you cannot blind yourself to the 
 energy contained therein. Yet because people dis- 
 agree with a man and dislike for the moment his 
 general tone, is no reason that this man is easily 
 killed. The case of Henrik Ibsen in England exempli- 
 fies this fact. Soon after its first production in 
 London by Miss Achurch, " A Doll's House," while 
 treated with a certain leniency, was regarded solely 
 in the Hght of a fad ; critics could see nothing noble 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 363 
 
 in Nora — noble in the romantic sense. They became 
 facetious;^ they took certain statements in the dia- 
 logue with strange literalness. Only a few men like 
 Dowden, Gosse and Archer^ saw the significance of 
 the slamming door. 
 
 Jules Lemaitre misinterprets the " miracle of 
 miracles " ; he argues that inasmuch as Torvald's 
 awakening is quite as pronounced as Nora's, they 
 should have remained together. He writes : " Her 
 husband does not comprehend her. He in himself 
 represents formal and pharisaical propriety and the 
 respect of social conventions. She herself has the pre- 
 sentiment of a morality and of a religion more sin- 
 cere, larger, freer of forms, more intelligent and more 
 indulgent. And it is in order to discover them fully 
 that she goes into solitude. . . . He, Madam 
 Nora, do not look so far away ; continue to be a good 
 mother and to be a good wife ! " Lemaitre argues on 
 the principle that while Ibsen does not attack marri- 
 age as an institution, he does criticise scathingly the 
 manner in which the institution in a maj ority of cases 
 is perpetuated; the French critic narrows down until 
 he arrives at the minute points in what he regards as 
 Ibsen's thesis; he does not take the broad sweep of 
 
 'See the London Truth, June 11, 1891. 
 
 ' Mr. Archer contrasts " Robert Elsmere " with the " decla- 
 ration" in "A Doll's House." Mrs. Ward's novel was 
 published in 1888. As a concession to English conservatism, 
 Ibsen's play was, as we have noted, transformed into " Break- 
 ing a Butterfly" by Henry Arthur Jones and H. Herman 
 (1884). It represented the husk deprived of the life; Archer 
 compared it with a weakened Frou-Frou. See Mr. Archer's 
 analysis; Fortnightly Review, July, 1906; Arthur Symons in 
 Quarterly Review, October, 1906. 
 
364 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 the vigorous criticism. Hence his statement that 
 were one to consider the points constituting a perfect 
 marriage, one would never marry. Ibsen's plea, on 
 the other hand, in the realization of his " third em- 
 pire," is that provided the foundation is healthily 
 laid, the details will take care of themselves. It is 
 only because of the false basis that the ignoble con- 
 sequences, even the minutest, are relentlessly thrust 
 before our vision. 
 
 Where the moral situation receives its most poign- 
 ant strength is in the imagined picture of a mob 
 scene where Nora, as Dr. Brandes says, frail as she 
 is, stands against the forces of society. Over and 
 above any particularization, " A Doll's House " rep- 
 resents Ibsen's fundamental social belief. He makes 
 no special demands for Nora, biit, regarding her as 
 a human being, writes his play with the sole intention 
 of showing another reason why the individual must 
 be given the right of freedom. 
 
 Even in this play there are evidences that he will 
 be heard from again: first, in the matter of heredity; 
 second, as to the danger to society in the perpetua- 
 tion of a lie ; and, third, in a re-statement of the mar- 
 riage question from the standpoint of Nora's remain-' 
 ing with her husband and children. Again we may, 
 from the scientific facts, have certain cause to quarrel 
 with Ibsen. 
 
 " The conflicts of individuals with law and con- 
 ventions," writes Shaw in his preface to " Man and 
 Superman," " can be dramatized like all other human 
 conflicts; but they are purely judicial"; yet there 
 are deeper conflicts than this. Ethical teachers most 
 generally approach Nora from the standpoint of 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 365 
 
 being an enemy to moral law and order ; they arraign 
 her as a desecrator of the marriage bond, when, by 
 her stand, she simply represents an effort to make the 
 bond secure.^ 
 
 The winter of 1879-1880 was spent by Ibsen in 
 Munich ; in the spring of the year he was full of the 
 idea of writing a book about his artistic development, 
 not an interpretation, but a plain statement of facts. 
 So intent was he that for a long while he persisted in 
 the plan; but notwithstanding, Hegel raised many 
 objections which were accepted by Ibsen; the latter 
 was firmly of the opinion, however, that only he could 
 tell his inmost motives. Ten years before, he had 
 claimed with some show of pride, in a letter to Bot- 
 ten-Hansen, that he had always written because im- 
 pelled by deep reasons, and not only because his sub- 
 ject was good. 
 
 This personal sense permeates his letters at this 
 time ; his sole aim, in his belief, was to effect, through 
 the ideas expressed in his plays, his " spiritual eman- 
 cipation and purification." No doubt there are ex- 
 tant some memoranda which will represent his firm 
 opinion as to his consistent growth, but on the whole, 
 it was wise in Hegel to check this self-analysis, how- 
 ever much readers of Ibsen may have lost by the 
 abandonment of the plan. On March 16, 1882, he 
 
 ' A curious instance of a misunderstanding of the Ibsen 
 object is seen in " Marriage and Divorce," a booklet by Dr. Felix 
 Adler. Personally the majority would rather reach truth 
 through the medium of light — 'and, in this respect, we cannot 
 but deplore Ibsen's persistent use of smoked glasses — yet none 
 the less is truth the truth, whatever the medium. Ibsen's 
 problems, however, gain in dynamic power because they are set 
 in such a narrow atmosphere of philistinism. 
 
366 HENRIlt IBSEN 
 
 wrote to Hegel from Rome, nevertheless, emphasiz- 
 ing that many people claimed that he owed the pub- 
 lic some autobiographical statement; a few months 
 before he had written to Professor Olaf Skavlan, who 
 was founding a magazine, offering to send him parts 
 of a manuscript, " From Skien to Rome," upon which 
 he had been engaged.^ 
 
 The determination not to write a play was soon 
 broken by Ibsen. The summer of 1880 was spent 
 at his old haunts in Berchtesgaden, where he was 
 joined by Jonas Lie. Then for the winter he re- 
 turned to the Via Capo le Case in Rome, and in the 
 following summer (1881) was at Sorrento; how dif- 
 ferent, though, the product of his work now, and in 
 1867, when he had first visited this place! It is the 
 difference between " Peer Gynt " and " Ghosts." 
 
 The work on his new play had so rapidly pro- 
 gressed that he had finished it by the end of Novem- 
 ber, 1881. When he wrote to Ludwig Passarge on 
 December 22d, consenting to the latter's desire to 
 write a biography, he commented upon the deluge 
 of letters reaching him by every mail from people 
 decrying or commending it. He was rather satis- 
 fied over the effect; he knew it was dangerous stuff 
 for the German theatre as well as for Scandinavia, 
 but notwithstanding this, Hegel, sounding the in- 
 terest of the public in Ibsen, issued ten thousand 
 copies as the first edition. 
 
 'I do not believe any of this material has been published 
 since; it certainly was not sent to the magazine, for political 
 reasons, as Correspondence, 161 wiU show. Personal books, 
 diaries, and additional letters will assuredly be forthcoming 
 from now on. 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 367 
 
 The public ^ might have known, by the dehnea- 
 tion of Dr. Rank in " A Doll's House," that Ibsen 
 was making preliminary sketches for a play on 
 heredity. But in hewing out his plot for " Ghosts," 
 
 ' Due probably to the very large first edition, but also to the 
 prejudice against the play itself, a second edition was not 
 issued until 1894. English translations are as follows: by Miss 
 Henrietta Frances Lord (1885); by Havelock Ellis (1888); by 
 William Archer (1897). In French: by M. Prozor (1889.— See 
 La Revue Indipendante, vol. x, 1-116, Jan.-Feb.) ; by Ro- 
 dolphe Darzens (1890); another edition of Prozor's version 
 (1889) contained a preface by !&douard Rod. In German: 
 by M. von Borch (1884) ; by G. Morgenstern (1893) ; by Fritz 
 Albert (1890) ; by A. Zinck (1890) ; by Wilhelm Lange (1899). 
 Editions in other languages: see Halvorsen. Among the com- 
 mentaries, note, besides references elsewhere referred to: 
 George Moore in " Impressions and Opinions ; " The Nineteenth 
 Century, 26:241 (W. F. Lord); 30:258 (H. A. Kennedy); 
 The New Review, 4:381 (Justin McCarthy) ; The Overland 
 Monthly (1890) [Grace E. Channing] ; La Revue d'art dra- 
 matique, June IS, 1890 (G. Deymier) ; Revue Bleue, July 4, 1891 
 (Ch. Rabot). Many parodies on "Ghosts" are recorded by 
 Halvorsen. In English, note "Ibsen's Ghost; or, Toole Up to 
 Date," Toole's Theatre, London, May 30, 1891 ; " A ghost, not 
 by Ibsen," Criterion Theatre, London, June 28, 1892. A 
 Spanish parody was presented in Madrid during 1894. 
 
 The stage history is a varied one, developing, however, in 
 spite of continued censorship. I follow Halvorsen, with a few 
 modifications and additions: The first performance was given 
 at Helsingborg on Aug. 22, 1883, with August Lindberg as 
 Oswald; it reached the Royal Dramatiske Theatre in Stock- 
 holm, Sept. 27, 1883, a fortnight earlier having been given at 
 another theatre in the same city. Copenhagen saw a per- 
 formance (August 28, 1883), and Christiania also (Oct. 17, 
 1883), only not at the regular theatre. The play did not 
 reach Germany until April 14, 1886, when it was given at the 
 Stadttheatre (Augsburg), with Ibsen present; he likewise 
 witnessed the performance as presented at the Court Theatre 
 
368 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 he made a combination of two elements in his pre- 
 vious play. Helmer had been drawn as a character 
 of smug respectability ; Dr. Rank was suifering from 
 the sins of his father. Oswald Alving is the product 
 
 of the Duke of Meiningen. The productions, however, were 
 not publicly advertised, even in Berlin, where it was played 
 Jan. 9, 1887, at a private matinee. On Sept. 29, 1889, at the 
 " Freie Biihne," Agnes Sorma was cast as Regina. See Hal- 
 vorsen for other interesting dates relating to German cities. 
 Note especially in Berlin, Deutsches Theatre (Nov. 27, 1894) 
 and Lessing-Theatre (Nov. 27, 1894), simultaneous per- 
 formances. In France, the play reached Paris, the Theatre 
 Libre, May 29, 30, 1890, with Antoine as Oswald and Mile. 
 Barny as Mrs. Alving. Both in France and Gerinany the piece 
 had remarkable influence on the literary men of the younger 
 generation. "Ghosts" has held the stage in London on rare 
 occasions, despite the censor. On March 13, 1891, a per- 
 formance was presented at J. T. Grein's " Independent 
 Theatre," (Royalty Theatre, Soho). See Archer's article, 
 "The Mausoleum of Ibsen," Fortnightly Review, August, 1893; 
 Shaw's " Dramatic Opinions." Also consult Archer's " The- 
 atrical World, 1894"; The Saturday Review (Shaw), 1895, 1: 
 476. Other English efforts are noted by Halvorsen, but are 
 ignored by Archer as of no theatrical significance. " England," 
 writes Mr. Archer, " enjoys the proud distinction of being 
 the one country in the world where ' Ghosts ' may not be pub- 
 licly acted." In Italy, the play has been used since 1893, and 
 forms part of the repertoire of Novelli. Among other places 
 into which it has penetrated, note Montevideo, South America, 
 August, 1897. In New York, we note on Jan. 6, 1894, at the 
 Berkeley Lyceum, Mr. Courtney Thorpe as Oswald and Miss 
 Ida Goodfriend as Mrs. Alving. In 1899, at the Carnegie 
 Lyceum, there prospered an " Independent Theatre," furthered 
 by Mr. Paul Kester, Mr. John Blair, Mr. Norman Hapgood, 
 and Gathers. Miss Mary Shaw was Mrs. Alving in their produc- 
 tion of " Ghosts." Several minor productions were planned 
 elsewhere. In 1905-6, Madame Nazimova, with Paul Orleneff 
 came to New York, rented a small room on the lower East Side 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 369 
 
 of the moral rottenness of Captain Alving and of 
 the moral weakness of his mother. Ibsen proves, 
 therefore, satisfactorily to himself, that Nora was 
 right in leaving her children. 
 
 " My poor innocent spine must do penance for my 
 father's wild oats," says Dr. Rank, adding in a vein 
 of grim humour that it was too bad, " especially. when 
 the luckless spine attacked never had any good of 
 them." Captain Alving by his wild indiscretions 
 with his serving maidi and by his debauchery, under- 
 mines the future physique of his son, and bequeathes 
 to him certain ungovernable instincts which well-nigh 
 involve him in incest. Regina repi-esents the out- 
 come of Captain Alving's escapade ; she has inherited 
 a completely distorted moral view, and her nature is 
 rnade up of the lowest inclinations. 
 
 This is by no means an edifying canvas, and Ibsen 
 does not mean to have it so ; but his object is not ex- 
 ploitation; he wishes only to prove, granting his un- 
 scientific bungling with heredity, that Mrs. Alving' 
 might have prevented the catastrophe of Oswald's 
 mental decay, if she had taken her own initiative 
 and not listened to the conventional, superficial ad- 
 vice of Pastor Manders. Her regeneration, unlike 
 Nora's, arrived too late. 
 
 Ibsen, therefore, was setting a torpedo beneath 
 the ark, and the manner in which the explosion was 
 
 and gave, among many plays, a notable production of " Ghosts." 
 An article written by her on " Ibsen's Women," for The 
 Independent (New York), Oct. 17, 1907, contains the following: 
 " I wanted to play Regina for my graduation piece at the 
 dramatic school at Moscow, but they would not let me. ' Ghosts ' 
 was at that time prohibited by the censor, because it reflects on 
 the Church." 
 
370 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 received far exceeded his expectations, although, as 
 he wrote to Hegel, he was prepared for some of the 
 folly and violence which came from the press. 
 Bjornson and Brandes were firm in their support, 
 the latter hastening to declare himself in a schol- 
 arly review. From Rome on January 3, 1882, Ibsen 
 sent him grateful acknowledgment. 
 
 " In Norway, however, I do not believe that the 
 blundering has in most cases been unintentional," 
 he wrote ; " and the reason is not far to seek. In 
 that country a great many of the professional re- 
 viewers are theologians, more or less disguised; and 
 these gentlemen are, as a rule, quite unable to criti- 
 cise literature rationally. . . . The reverend 
 gentlemen are very often excellent members of local 
 boards; but they are, unquestionably, our worst 
 critics." 
 
 Here, then, is Ibsen's own estimate of Pastor 
 Manders. His next comment was made on Janu- 
 ary 6th: 
 
 " I was quite prepared for the hubbub," he be- 
 gan ; . . . " they endeavour," he continues " to 
 make me responsible for the opinions which certain 
 of the personages of my drama express. And yet 
 there is not in the whole book a single opinion, a 
 single utterance, which can be laid to the account of 
 the author. I took good care to avoid this. . . . 
 My intention was to produce the impression in the 
 mind of the reader that he was witnessing some- 
 thing real. Now, nothing would more effectually 
 prevent such an impression than the insertion of the 
 author's private opinions in the dialogue. Do they 
 imagine at h'ime that I have not enough of the dra- 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 371 
 
 matic instinct to be aware of this? • . . Then 
 they say the book preaches nihilism. It does not. 
 It preaches nothing at all. It merely points out 
 that there is a ferment of nihilism under the surface, 
 at home as elsewhere. And this is inevitable. A 
 Pastor Manders will always rouse some Mrs. Alving 
 to revolt. And just because she is a woman she 
 will, once she has begun, go to great extremes." 
 
 While there was perhaps more intention in Ibsen's 
 design than he would care to confess, still the gen- 
 eral tone of his letter is true. He was not trying 
 to circumvent criticism; he was only claiming for 
 " Ghosts " the right to be judged logically. His 
 error lay In the desire to present a real picture, for 
 by doing so, he overworked reality, making it re- 
 pulsive. The element of relief is wholly lacking in 
 " Ghosts." 
 
 On January 24, 1882, Ibsen wrote: 
 
 " I was quite prepared for my new play eliciting 
 a howl from the camp of the stagnationists, and I 
 care no more for this than for the barking of a pack 
 of chained dogs. But the alarm which I have ob- 
 served among the so-called Liberals has given me 
 cause for reflection." 
 
 Heretofore, Ibsen had been careful to observe an 
 absolutely disinterested view of party politics; he 
 refused to become Identified with either side, al- 
 though once before. In " The League of Youth," he 
 had held the Liberals up to ridicule. Now that they 
 were so rampant upon the subject of " Ghosts," he 
 was once more concerned literarlly with their so- 
 called progressive hopes. At this point, therefore, we 
 may note the germs of " An Enemy of the People." 
 
372 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 " How about all these champions of liberty," Ib- 
 sen continued. " . . . Is it only in the domain 
 of politics that the work of emancipation is to be 
 permitted to go on with us? Must not men's minds 
 be emancipated first of all? Men with such slave- 
 souls as ours cannot even make use of the liberties 
 they already possess. Norway is a free country, 
 peopled by unfree men and women." 
 
 Undoubtedly, Ibsen realized that the play was 
 rather daring; he must have set himself purposely 
 to the task of removing those boundary posts of 
 convention which were preventing the accomplish- 
 ment of his " third empire," and he felt himself to 
 have arrived at an age when it was requisite for 
 him to forestall any possible attempt from men of 
 the younger generation not so well equipped with 
 experience. The opposition called forth by his play 
 only served to emphasize the loneliness of his posi- 
 tion, and the more he contemplated this isolation, 
 the more depressed he became over the supposed 
 liberalism of his country. As for the men of the 
 party, " They would be poor fellows to man barri- 
 cades with." 
 
 The faith Ibsen had, nevertheless, in the eventual 
 outcome of the protesting storm, is emphasized in 
 his letter of March 16, 1882, to Hegel: "All the 
 infirm, decrepit creatures who have fallen upon the 
 work, thinking to crush it, will themselves be 
 crushed by the verdict of the history of literature. 
 . . . The future belongs to my book. Those 
 fellows who have bellowed so about it have no real 
 connection with the hfe even of their own day." 
 
 Most of Ibsen's plays were published by Hegel 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 373 
 
 around the holiday season; the dramatist, therefore, 
 had excellent reason, in the case of " Ghosts," to de- 
 clare that in spite of Christmas being a time of 
 peace, for him it was most generally far from that. 
 His chief worry was over the fact that he was con- 
 .sidered more in the light of a pamphleteer than of 
 a playwright; that, as he confessed to Mr. Archer, 
 in a drama of five characters there was thrust in a 
 sixth, himself. It is natural that he should be irri- 
 tated as he sat in the cafes and looked over the news- 
 papers from the North. 
 
 Brandes calls the writing of " Ghosts " a noble 
 deed; he even goes so far as to see in it a poetic 
 treatment of heredity. But the inevitable monotone 
 of the piece, its persistent, close, bare treatment of 
 the disagreeable, all serve to give a harrowing im- 
 pression. One is almost tempted to question whether 
 such investigation is not better fitted for the med- 
 ical profession than for the stage. I say this purely 
 as a surface remark, understanding fully the ideal- 
 ism which prompted Ibsen to handle so dark a sub- 
 ject. He has out-Greeked the Greeks in his uner- 
 ring unity of development. He traces the human 
 tragedy as relentlessly, yet as calmly and as coldly, 
 as he described years before the tragic end to the 
 life of David, the friend of Brandes. 
 
 Let us look at the main outlines of this " family 
 drama." Regina is safely ensconced in the Alving 
 household as a maid; Oswald, a painter by profes- 
 sion, having been away for some time, has just re- 
 turned; the carpenter, Engstrand, husband to 
 Dina's mother, is in possession of the knowledge of 
 his wife's transgressions; Pastor Manders is mov- 
 
374 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ing in the community with the proud consciousness 
 that he is the guardian of duty as conceived by the 
 Church and by the State. But it is Mrs. Alving 
 who represents the heart's core of this tragedy of 
 commonplace souls; in her we detect the epitome of 
 the life lie. 
 
 Each act suggests the disclosure of fetid sub- 
 stance. No matter how Mrs. Alving may have lied 
 to conceal the true disgrace of her husband's life, 
 no matter how, by the erection of an orphanage to 
 his memory, the gossips of society may have been 
 hushed by this outward show, the mists rise from the 
 depths, well-nigh obscuring the smallest glint of 
 light. 
 
 Years before, Mrs. Alving had broken from her 
 husband as Nora did from hers; the former had 
 more physical cause to do so, for Alving was a de- 
 generate. She fled to the Pastor's house, and he 
 was instrumental in forcing her to return to her 
 home. The sentimental feeling that existed between 
 them only serves to show the shallow complacency 
 of Manders. Then there occurred the moral down- 
 fall of the husband, and the cursed consequences 
 bound up in Regina. Mrs. Alving resorts to the lie 
 in order to protect her son. 
 
 In the meantime, after the death of Alving, his 
 widow begins to awaken; her reading forces doubt 
 into her mind — doubt as to the wisdom of her past 
 actions, and as to the future solution. It is just 
 this broadening process which Manders deplores 
 when he comes to talk over the details of the Orphan- 
 age with her.^ In him there is the selfish calcula- 
 
 ' It is not necessary to accentuate the point which is over- 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 375 
 
 tion of a Torvald Helmer and the pious hypocrisy 
 of a Rorlund. 
 
 By the manner in which Manders first greets Os- 
 wald, there is more than a presentiment that the 
 boy is like his father in other ways than mere out- 
 ward resemblances. In his conversation there is a 
 show of absolute lack of any moral standard. The 
 way he talks about his father presages ruin; the in- 
 consequential manner in which he discusses free mar- 
 riage — notwithstanding there is an element of truth 
 in his statement that oftentimes these " irregular 
 unions " are more stable and more decent than some 
 of those based on moral law and order — is indicative 
 of the atmosphere he has experienced in Paris. 
 
 To his surprise, Manders finds Mrs. Alving in 
 sympathy with these views; for the first time she 
 opposes her opinions to the clerical narrowness of 
 the Pastor. During Alving's lifetime, he never came 
 to their house; it was easy, in consequence, to de- 
 ceive him as to the true state of affairs. But now 
 he is told the plain facts about the dissolute con- 
 dition of the man. What about Mrs. Alving's show 
 of self-will.'' He has talked to her of her lack of 
 endurance, of her desire to shirk her responsibilities 
 as a wife and a mother. He has judged Tier solely 
 by report, as he, with others like him, judges so 
 many of the vital things in life. 
 
 All these years she has lived over a hidden abyss, 
 emphasized by Ibsen about the insurance of the new buildings. 
 It is a theatrical subterfuge bound up in an attempt to 
 symbolize the break of Mrs. Alving from the false bonds which 
 have held her until the very moment the Orphanage, as the last 
 public vestige of her husband's false excellencies, is burned to 
 the ground. 
 
376 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 She found it easy to keep from outsiders the true 
 state of things — ^Alving's was a life which did " not 
 bite upon his reputation." The ignominy his wife 
 bore solely for the boy's sake; even the erection of 
 the Orphanage was in order to keep the father's 
 money from tainting Oswald. 
 
 At this moment, in the next room, the odours from 
 the stagnant pool rise up. Begina and Oswald re- 
 peat the degradation of years before. In English 
 we call this " Ghosts " ; in French the word " Reve- 
 nants " is nearer the meaning. Here we note symp- 
 toms of the double heredity; here Mrs. Alving is 
 stricken with the horrible consequences of the lie. 
 
 It is in the second act that she states her posi- 
 tion, thereby indicating what her spiritual side most 
 craves. She Is surrounded by evidences of her ad- 
 herence to law and order. She Is an example of 
 what Nora's life might have been had Ibsen placed 
 a Manders in the cast of " A Doll's House." It Is 
 the conventional law that does not avert the Im- 
 moral conditions outside of law that has done the 
 mischief. But her way to freedom is beyond Man- 
 ders' understanding. 
 
 Why has she lied.'' Because of her superstitious 
 awe for duty, the duty which Manders has preached 
 to her. The Bible Is wrong if it mean that a son 
 should honour his parent notwithstanding he be a 
 Chamberlain Alving. Is it right to foster a son's 
 ideals In the face of truth? Manders has blinded 
 himself to fact ; he Is a worldly man without a bit 
 of subtle humanity about him; he learns of life sec- 
 ond hand and quotes by rote the code arranged by 
 convention. He does not consider the individual. 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 377 
 
 Heretofore Mrs. Alvlng has been timid because 
 of her fear of ghosts. She has inherited from the 
 past " all sorts of dead ideas and lifeless old be- 
 liefs," even as it further develops that Oswald, by 
 the softening of his brain, is reaping the wild oats 
 that his father sowed. 
 
 It was wrong for Manders to send her home when 
 she left Alving that night ; it was wrong for her to 
 have gone. Her thinking, her so-called nihilism is 
 the result of a right reaction against duty and ob- 
 ligations that are false. Manders is the sort of man 
 the world usually calls upon for spiritual consola- 
 tion. Is it right to heed any human being who is 
 as easily duped as he is by the pretensions of such a 
 reckless character as Engstrand, the carpenter? Mrs. 
 Alving knows him to the core ; she says : " I think 
 you are, and will always be, a great baby, Manders." 
 
 Oswald's disclosure of his doom, of his living 
 death, is a shocking instance of keen realism. His 
 worm-eaten condition is another consequence of his 
 mother's lie. Not knowing but that his father was 
 a gentleman, the boy is racked with the thought that 
 he alone is responsible for his condition. Then is 
 seen the awful tragedy of his passion for Regina, 
 the physical, inheritance, the ghost of his -father. 
 When he, his mother, and the girl sit together sip- 
 ping champagne, the furies of hell swirl round them". 
 I know of no triple tragedy in literature compared 
 with this; here we obtain Maeterlinck's forces of 
 destiny in a dark room, in their fullest proportions 
 and in their blackest colour. 
 
 What reason does Oswald give that Regina is his 
 only salvation ? We know that he is filled with the 
 
378 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 joy of life ; his paintings show that ; his freedom in 
 the outside world has shown that. If he remain 
 with his mother his instincts might become warped. 
 Now she sees clearly the sequence of things ; now she 
 would tell the truth. 
 
 And the truth comes out after the Orphanage is 
 burned and Manders goes off with Engstrand, who 
 has completely pulled a blind over his eyes by a 
 false attitude of repentance. If you would have 
 symbolism, the burning of the Orphanage is one 
 phase of Chamberlain Alving's degeneracy, the 
 burning up of Oswald another; the forces of hered- 
 ity cannot be averted after they are set in motion. 
 
 Mrs. Alving tells Oswald and Regina the terri- 
 fying truth; her only excuse for the weakness of 
 her husband is that he was one of the men filled with 
 the joy of living, who, at home in a half -grown 
 town, had no outlet for this overpowering energy ; 
 and she, educated in the light of narrow duty, could 
 not meet his demands. Thus we see another in- 
 stance of the undeveloped woman. 
 
 The breaking up of the play is not a solution; it 
 is too palpably a dissolution. Regina, inheritor of 
 some of Alving's joie de vie, goes out into the world, 
 and to her ruin; Oswald faces the agony of his dis- 
 ease. The curtain drops at the moment night de- 
 scends upon his reason. Some believe that his mut- 
 tering " The sun, the sun," is a gleam of hope, that 
 the truth is at last relieved of the blighting effect 
 of the lie. At what a cost is the moral atmosphere 
 cleared! Faguet, like most of the French critics 
 who regard Ibsen largely from the symbolic stand- 
 point, believes the sun indicative of the end of suf- 
 
THE TORPEDO BENEATH THE ARK 379 
 
 fering, the deliverance of any one, or any society 
 from the curse of " neurasthenia." Brandes, how- 
 ever, is more Hkely correct, when he claims that Os- 
 wald, intent on asking for poison, had confused his 
 thoughts with what he saw. It is a psychological 
 and reasonable distinction. 
 
 The originality in " Ghosts " is threefold : in con- 
 struction, in daring, in the tone it added to drama. 
 In its way it marks an epoch in stage history, and 
 sets a standard which assures Ibsen a unique place 
 as a technician. But it is not " Ghosts " upon which 
 his future reputation as a poet will depend. Some- 
 where Richard Hovey declared that Maeterlinck had 
 created a new shudder; the same may be claimed for 
 Ibsen. Yet I insist upon the constant iteration of 
 the Ibsen impulse; a man who continually probes 
 the inner crevices of conscience, of moral relations, 
 cannot deal with the gilded crust. What misfor- 
 tune, Ibsen seems to say, that fair humanity should 
 be cursed by the cankers of man's own making; let 
 us examine these cankers to see whether we cannot 
 be rid of them. 
 
 It is the opinion of Lemaitre that as opposed to 
 the lightness of the French, the Scandinavians up- 
 set the world for an idea. There is something of 
 the pagan force in Mrs. Alving, as there was later 
 in the character of Rebecca West; the struggling 
 to the surface of that old duality which racked Em- 
 peror Julian, and which was later to confront Ros- 
 mer in " Rosmersholm." Ibsen's psychology is, 
 therefore, profound in its estimate of Mrs. Alving; 
 so accurate, indeed, that it divests her of some of the 
 humanity which encompassed Nora. So real is the 
 
380 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 situation in " Ghosts," that the characterization is 
 consumed in the flames of a consuming scientific fact.-^ 
 
 How weak and flabby is the customary moral 
 theatrical tag by the side of this ! Ibsen does not 
 form a judgment, as some critics would have it; he 
 allow'fe a species, of modern Fate to take care of the 
 events which demand of him, as a conscientious play- 
 wright, a logical outcome. We instinctively feel, 
 however, that this photographic exposition imposes 
 upon Ibsen the necessity for an answer as to the 
 meaning of Mrs. Alving's revolt. Boyesen ques- 
 tions whether, in her attitude, " goodness, in the 
 accepted sense, is particularly laudable, and, on the 
 whole, to be preferred to badness." 
 
 The English press went oflF at a tangent when 
 " Ghosts " was presented at the London Independ- 
 ent Theatre on March 13, 1891;^ every conceivable 
 term of opprobrium was heaped upon it. As a 
 piece of literature it is hard to find a more stark 
 and naked bit of realism. In many ways it has had 
 its influence on the present dramatic craft, and 
 most positively it affected Ibsen. For he never 
 again attained that height of steel-blue- coldness. 
 It might almost be claimed that having written 
 " Ghosts," a certain feeling of revulsion against his 
 own methods came over him. 
 
 *As F. P. Evans writes: "It is Calvinism, with the implac- 
 able law of descent substituted for the arbitrary will of God." 
 
 ' See Archer's article in the Fortnightly, 60 : 77-91 ; also 
 Shaw's " The Quintessence of Ibsenism." Here are a few of 
 the expressions: Abominable, disgusting, bestial, loathsome, 
 crapulous, oflFensive, scandalous, filthy, blasphemous, etc. See 
 Shaw also in The Saturday Review, July 3, 1897; and the same 
 author's " Dramatic Opinions." 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE 
 
 The Philistine always presents a sorry figure; he 
 is always the " last by whom the new is tried " ; he 
 is the chief obstacle to advance; he is the chief 
 enemy of the reformer; he is, in fact, the majority. 
 Therefore, the resounding voices of disapproval at 
 the time of the publication of " Ghosts," were those 
 of the Philistines. 
 
 The germs of each one of Ibsen's plays may be 
 found extending far back in his life. " An Enemy 
 of the People " was assuredly hastened by the slan- 
 der and contumely to which he was now subjected. 
 The petty personalities which had been hurled at 
 him when " Love's Comedy " appeared, came again 
 with bitter and increased sting. Yet, as Ibsen was 
 accustomed to do, he reaped strength and purpose 
 from the fray. 
 
 Many years before, through the very loneliness 
 of his position and through the struggle he expe- 
 rienced to maintain it, this solitary " franc tireur 
 at the outposts "^ had come to the conclusion " that 
 the minority is always in the right." ^ His whole 
 social attitude regarding the State and bhe Indi- 
 vidual pointed to this ; his determination to hold 
 aloof from party design was further strengthened 
 by the attitude of people towards " Ghosts," espe- 
 cially the " so-called Liberal press." Ibsen wrote 
 to Brandes from Rome on January 8, 1882, con- 
 cerning " these leaders of the people who speak and 
 write of freedom of action and thought, and at the 
 
 'See Correspondence, 161. 
 'See Correspondence, 89, 
 
382 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 same time make themselves the slaves of the sup- 
 posed opinions of their subscribers." 
 
 " I receive more and more corroboration of my 
 conviction," he continued, " that there is something 
 demoralizing in engaging in politics and in joining 
 parties. It will never, in any case, be possible for 
 me to join a party that has the majority on its 
 'side. Bjornson says: 'The majority is always 
 right.' And as a practical politician he is bound, 
 I suppose, to say so. I, on the contrary, must of 
 necessity say : ' The minority is always right.' 
 Naturally I am not thinking of that minority of 
 stagnationists who are left behind by the great 
 middle party which with us is called Liberal; but I 
 mean that minority which leads the van, and pushes 
 on to points which the majority has not yet reached. 
 I mean that man is right who has allied himself most 
 closely with the future."^ 
 
 Here, then, is the keynote, the moving spirit for 
 " An Enemy of the People " ; Ibsen's letters are full 
 of a certain despondency akin to hopelessness ; he 
 recognised the low standards at home, the sluggish 
 intelligence, the aimless quarrel about liberties, where 
 it was Liberty in principle which the country needed. 
 The majority were crude in their ideas, plebeian in 
 their demands. The philosophic view Ibsen took of 
 democracy isolated him from the Liberal party ; the 
 democratic attitude he assumed toward his innate 
 aristocratic inclinations cut him aloof from the 
 Conservatives. In the first act of " Rosmersholm," 
 where Kroll is being told of Rosmer's defection, the 
 latter speaks of creating a true democracy 'frhose 
 ' See Correspondence, 1S8. 
 
AN ENEMY OP THE PEOPLE 383 
 
 real task is " that of making all the people of this 
 country noblemen." 
 
 We here have Ibsen's stand most poignantly 
 marked. What is it that makes the majority ple- 
 beian? Verily, this lack of the element of nobility, 
 or what Matthew Arnold might call the lack of cul- 
 ture. That this is one of the fundamental notes in 
 his social doctrine may be inferred by the frequency 
 with which he returns to it. During 1885, while on 
 a visit to Christiania, Ibsen addressed at Drontheim 
 a body of workingmen, who gave him a banner pro- 
 cession.^ In part he said: 
 
 " Democracy alone cannot solve the social ques- 
 tion. An element of aristocracy needs to be infused 
 into our life. Of course, I do not mean the aristoc- 
 racy of birth, or of the purse, or even the aristoc- 
 racy of intellect. I mean the aristocracy of char- 
 acter, of will, of mind. That only can free us." 
 
 Therefore, what chiefly concerned Ibsen was to 
 realize this aristocracy as an essential part of his 
 " third empire " ; inasmuch as he realized the possi- 
 bility of this accomplishment among women and 
 among the workingmen, they both would have his 
 support, not because they were what they were, but 
 solely because they were the classes in the social or- 
 ganism needing immediate support. 
 
 The discouraging aspect was the lack of any im- 
 mediate signs of improvement. This only goes to 
 show the immense bravery with which Ibsen per- 
 sisted in his determined course. " They really do 
 not need poetry at home," he wrote ; " they get 
 
 'This was on June 14, 1885. See Brandes, Ellas, Schlenther, 
 ed., vol. 1, p. 524, "An den Verein Drontheimer Arbeiter." 
 
384 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 along so well with the Parliamentary News and the 
 Lutheran Weekly.''^ This was the common level of 
 philistinism. And as for the peasant class, he 
 found them equally bad in their ignorance, lacking 
 in liberalism, wanting in self-sacrifice, jealous of 
 their rights. The party of the " Left," the Lib- 
 erals, were faint-hearted. 
 
 We therefore are made aware of the germs for 
 two plays in these views ; so consistently is the chain 
 hnked from first to last, that one might take " When 
 We Dead Awaken " and block out the motives in it, 
 reminiscent of previous plays. In fact, given " Pil- 
 lars of Society " and the knowledge we have of 
 Ibsen's political views, we might, on the very literal- 
 ness of the title, build up " An Enemy of the Peo- 
 ple " — on the principle of Cuvier. For if society 
 support such Pillars as Bernick, then such a staunch, 
 upright, wholesome figure as Stockmann will be re- 
 pudiated. 
 
 This play might almost be taken as a replica of 
 Ibsen's own life, a dramatization of all he stood for. 
 For years he had watched the cesspool of Norwe- 
 gian life; existence was sorely in need of a thor- 
 ough draining.-' If anything higher in existence 
 is to be striven for, the muck of civilization must 
 first be willingly, and if not willingly, then forcibly, 
 removed. The mind must be convinced that the 
 necessary step should be taken to " eradicate all 
 
 ' See Correspondence, 141. Among the younger playwrights, 
 this idea of the Drain and Drainman has been carried out by 
 Charles Rann Kennedy, in " The Servant in the House." 
 Ibsen's symbolism, however, is not fraught with any elements 
 of the morality. 
 
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE 385 
 
 that gloomy mediaeval monasticism which narrows 
 the view and stupefies the mind." 
 
 Having abandoned his idea of an autobiograph- 
 ical account of himself, Ibsen wrote Hegel on 
 March 16, 1882, that he was preparing for a new 
 drama, and that during the storm of protests over 
 " Ghosts " he had made good use of the comedy 
 situations that struck his sense of humour. One 
 can almost conjure up his chuckle when he declared 
 his intention of making a peaceable drama — one to 
 be read by State councillors, rich merchants " and 
 their ladies " without unnecessary shock ! 
 
 The smoke of battle had an exhilarating eifect 
 upon him; Ibsen, the dramatist, was out for rec- 
 reationi and he wrote so rapidly that by the time 
 he reached Gossensass he was well on toward com- 
 pleting the manuscript. By September 9th he fin- 
 ished his task, with the usual regret at having to 
 part with characters who assumed the proportions 
 of reality to him. In fact, it is unmistakable the 
 masquerading Ibsen did in " An Enemy of the 
 People " ; he threw around his own person the cloak 
 of outward enthusiasm and recklessness ; if any one 
 asked him who was his model, he could turn to Jonas 
 Lie, who spent a while with him in Gossensass, and 
 call him Doctor Stockmann; or maybe, since he had 
 become reconciled with Bjornson, he could draw a 
 little upon the spontaneous geniality of the latter.^ 
 ' According to the German editors of the Correspondence, Ib- 
 sen spent the summers of '76, '77, '78, '89, '83, '84, and '89 at Gos- 
 sensass. It is natural that the place should honour the dramatist 
 by having an " Ibsenplats " and a tablet on the house he occu- 
 pied. See Archer's quotation from Paulsen, in Introduction, 
 vol. viii: vii, of Complete Works. 
 
386 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 But it was as markedly the voice of Ibsen, the propa- 
 gandist, speaking in the fourth act of " An Enemy 
 of the People," as it was Shaw, alias Tanner, in 
 " Man and Superman," or Shaw, alias Napoleon, in 
 "The Man of Destiny." The difference is that 
 Ibsen's propagandism was not out of place, even 
 though it was lacking in the brilliancy of Shaw's 
 wit. 
 
 Naturally Dr. Stockmann and Ibsen would get on 
 well. "We agree on so many subjects," writes the 
 jocose dramatist to his publisher. " But the doctor 
 is a more muddle-headed person than I am," he 
 added naively. Two characteristics are to be noted 
 in one paragraph of this letter where Ibsen asks to 
 have a sentence altered in the play. " It probably 
 occurs on the second page of the forty-third sheet 
 of the manuscript." This is a fair example of the 
 minute care he paid to detail; superficially it shows 
 that he did not write upon single pages of paper. 
 
 Writing to Brandes, September 21st, Ibsen told 
 him to expect, when reading " An Enemy of the 
 People," to find many stray opinions already ex- 
 pressed in correspondence. But even though, know- 
 ing his attitude on so many phases of social life, we 
 might be able to forestall the motive of this new 
 play, the general snap and vigour of the action 
 comes as a surprise after the close depression of 
 " Ghosts," and the skill in characterization is won- 
 derfully vital, even to the smallest occasional fig- 
 ure. Its originality, in this respect, is far above 
 " Pillars of Society," and its general movement of 
 plot decidedly more invigorating. Besides which, 
 Stockmann was far above Bernick in naturalness 
 
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE 387 
 
 and in humanity. The former is a real person, the 
 latter a mere figure. 
 
 A year elapsed between the publication of 
 " Ghosts " and " An Enemy of the People." From 
 now on, however, Ibsen was to work with a rhythmic 
 regularity that resulted in a new play every two 
 years — a sequence only broken by the delay in 
 " When We Dead Awaken." In vital incident, his 
 whole life was to be absorbed by his dramas ; pub- 
 lic expectancy exacted it, and his declining years 
 demanded it, in view of his self-imposed mission. 
 
 Following the example of " Ghosts," Hegel issued 
 an edition of 10,000 of the new play;^ its popularity 
 
 ' This accounts for the fact that a new edition was not 
 required before April 28, 1897. It was auspicious, as Ibsen 
 pointed out in a letter to Brandes, that the latter's " Second 
 Impression '' should have appeared close upon the issuance of 
 " An Enemy of the People." In English, note translations by 
 Mrs. Eleanor Marx-Aveling, published separately in "The 
 Camelot Series," and in both editions of Archer. The American 
 publishers have not reissued the former edition of Archer's 
 " Ibsen," believing that the new and revised " Collected Works " 
 should be considered as the authoritative source. A French trans- 
 lation was made by Ad. Chenevifere and H. Johansen. Italian, 
 Russian, Spanish versions are noted by Halvorsen. Among the 
 Germans, see Wilhelm Lange, G. Morge'hstern, M. von Borch, 
 I. C. Poestion. Consult Laurent Tailhade: "Conference sur 
 I'Ennemi du Peuple," Mercure de France, 1894. The stage 
 history shows the popularity of the piece; it was performed 
 at the Christiania Theatre, Jan. 13, 1883; Copenhagen, March 4, 
 1883, with Emil Poulsen. Consult Lothar, "Ibsen" (1903), p. 
 113, for picture. On p. 106 is given a portrait of Petersen as 
 Krogstad; on p. 105, Fru Hennings as Nora, and Poulsen as 
 Helmer. A series of pictures on p. 128 shows Fru Marie 
 Ramlo as Nora. A performance was given in Stockholm, March 
 3, 1883; Berlin, March 5, 188T (Ostend Theatre); Berlin, Aug. 
 
388 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 was instantly recognised throughout Scandinavia, 
 and the tables were reversed as regards Germany, 
 for " An Enemy of the People " was not given there 
 until 1884!. During the preparations for the The- 
 atre Royal performance in Copenhagen, Ibsen, from 
 Rome, was sending instructions to Fallesen (Corre- 
 spondence, 168). Since the piece might be said to 
 be lacking in romantic spirit, Ibsen wanted the role 
 of Captain Horster to be played as a young man, 
 and pitched in a key " to suggest the beginning of 
 an intimate and warm friendship between himself 
 and Petra." He was, moreover, desirous of retain- 
 ing a contrast between Horster and Stockmann 
 which would accentuate the importance of " the 
 younger generation." " The Master Builder " was 
 becoming inevitable. Moreover, his chief aim was to 
 accentuate the lifehkeness of the ensemble. " Give 
 the minor parts in the fourth act," he wrote, " to 
 capable actors ; the more figures you can have in the 
 crowd that are really characteristic and true to na- 
 ture, the better." 
 
 By the very fact that he was a fighter in the in- 
 1890 (Lessing Theatre) ; Berlin (Neues Theatre) March-April, 
 1894; for others, see Halvorsen. A London performance is 
 recorded on June 14, 1893, Haymarket Theatre, given by 
 Mr. Beerbohm Tree, who brought the piece to America. An- 
 other English production is recorded in Manchester on Jan. 27, 
 1894. Lugn6-Poe appeared as Dr. Stockmann at the I'Oiuvre, 
 Nov. 9, 1893, and as a consequence of the performance, there 
 were anarchistic riots. In 1895, Novelli added an Italian 
 version to his repertoire. The propagandist spirit of the piece 
 has been used to advantage by the Spanish Anarchists also. 
 Madame Nazimova has played Petra, whom she regards as 
 " the most advanced of Ibsen's women, but a straightforward 
 character, easy to act." 
 
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE 389 
 
 tellectual vanguard, Ibsen knew that he could never 
 have the majority with him; he must always, as he 
 wrote to Brandes in June, 1883, be ten years in ad- 
 vance, and the majority would never catch up with 
 him. This is the stand he gives to Stockmann, who, 
 however blind to the small things in life, however 
 forgetful of the practical things, at least saw the 
 co-ordinating elements which reflected the true 
 " spirit of the time." This was the counterpart of 
 Ibsen. 
 
 It was Kierkegaard who Iterated in his philosophy 
 that " the strongest man in the world is he who 
 stands alone." Contrast this statement with Bishop 
 Nicholas's estimate of the greatest man in " The 
 Pretenders " ; the difference is that Ibsen's individ- 
 ualism has become more pronounced and more intel- 
 lectual. 
 
 But we may well ask if Brand was the strongest 
 man when he stood alone. Take the following of an 
 Ideal relentlessly, until annihilation confronts us — 
 standing alone, as the priest did, with a philosophy 
 beyond human endurance. Ibsen proved conclusively 
 that the end had to be disastrous." Now, he deals with 
 a Brand reduced to terms of the man in the street, 
 and endows him with an inscrutable civic sense. 
 Stockmann's isolation is also the consequence of de- 
 feat. The philosophy of Kierkegaard is destroying, 
 however much it may develop the soul. 
 
 Let us take another instance of contrast, and in 
 so doing we arrive at a motive which prompted the 
 writing of " The Wild Duck." I have previously 
 traced the repeated appearance of the disquieting Lie 
 in Ibsen's dramas ; each time it brought misery in its 
 
390 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 wake ; from a mere ripple it disturbed the whole sur- 
 face. In " An Enemy of the People " Ibsen very 
 conclusively proves, from the standpoint of a small 
 community, that even if the Lie flourish under the 
 guise of " The Pillars of Society," the Truth will 
 convert the citizen into " An Enemy of the People." 
 Arrived at this state of mind, Ibsen satirized himself 
 in " The Wild Duck." 
 
 The general development of the new play is ex- 
 traordinary ; there is little of the theatrical machinery 
 left; but there is a boisterous quality in the dia- 
 logue, nowhere else found in Ibsen. The method so 
 often employed throughout Dickens of fixing the 
 vagaries of a character by the use of a catch phrase, 
 is here employed in several instances, while the situ- 
 ation in which Stockmann slips on his brother's in- 
 signia of office and turns upon him, is fraught with 
 a genial spirit of straight' comedy. 
 
 But Ibsen could never long maintain an inconse- 
 quent manner; he is as persistent in his idea as the 
 drip of water from a running faucet, and often- 
 times, as is to be particularly noted in " An Enemy 
 of the People," his curtain falls on the last act with 
 a statement that he intends as the crux of the whole 
 argument. " Pillars of Society " proclaims that 
 Truth and Freedom are the fundamental founda- 
 tions of civic life, while here Stockmann utters his 
 slogan about the strongest man. 
 
 The whole plot hinges on the question of the Doc- 
 tor's discovery that the " Baths," which are the 
 mainstay and future hope of the little town in which 
 he lives, are naught but poisonous whited-sepulchres. 
 The moral status of the place is the same as that In 
 
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE 391 
 
 " Pillars of Society " ; in fact, Ibsen carries over the 
 characters from one to the other of the plays. Ror- 
 lund holds forth in the school with his silly beliefs; 
 Stensgard has previously realized some of his polit- 
 ical ambitions; Aslaksen, the printer, one of those 
 mortals lukewarm and hypocritical under the guise 
 of moderation, moves on the scene with the same 
 cringing manner. 
 
 The Burgomaster happens to be Stockmann's 
 brother, an official of the kind that always calls forth 
 from Ibsen the full vent of his satire. " The fine 
 spirit of mutual tolerance " that he speaks of, is the 
 kind usually underlying the shallow surface of an 
 average community. Therefore, with this spirit on 
 one side, and the honest determination on the other, 
 the struggle that ensues between the two brothers is 
 representative, of the Ibsen clash. 
 
 As an official of the " Baths," Stockmann is sup- 
 posed to recant his accusations, but he refuses to do 
 so. There is hypocrisy everywhere in town ; Petra 
 finds it in the school and in the home, her father is 
 made to feel its presence in the civic life. At first he 
 is surrounded by the liberal press, which promises 
 him support ; the editors even go further and dis- 
 cover that the town, as well as the " Baths," is rot- 
 ting in its municipal life, the chief object being on 
 their part to explode the tradition of official infalli- 
 bility, to demand a share in the direction of affairs, 
 to uproot the worship of authority. Even Aslaksen 
 promises what he calls the backing of the " compact 
 majority." 
 
 Then the Burgomaster confronts his brother and 
 shows his dishonesty by declaring that the Doctor's 
 
392 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 discovery must be kept back for the good of the com- 
 munity. Even though the infection of the " Baths " 
 was originally due to the foolhardy action of the 
 officials, they now hesitate over the expense which 
 would have to be incurred to remedy the evil, and 
 which they know would fall heavily upon the shoul- 
 ders of individual members of the Board. Through 
 the skilful manoeuvring of " officialdom," the public 
 press is eventually led to believe by the Burgomaster 
 that the brunt would have to be met by the town. 
 
 Whatever the consequences, Stockmann knows for 
 a fact that the " Baths " are poisonous, and he is 
 determined to live up to his convictions that the pub- 
 he must be dealt with honestly and squarely ; as a 
 citizen his duty is to communicate his discovery 
 forthwith to the community. To the winds with the 
 old recognised ideas, to the winds with the exploded 
 theory that an official has no right to individual con- 
 viction! He does not care what the technical and 
 economic dangers are; they are nothing compared 
 with the menace confronting the town in other ways. 
 
 Dr. Stockmann, impetuous and headstrong though 
 he be, will not stand by and see gain come to the 
 people through traffic in filth; if the town flourish 
 on the " Baths " in their present condition, then it 
 flourishes on a lie. The Burgomaster in impertur- 
 bable manner shows his officiousness; his one object 
 is to have his brother contradict the rumours. He 
 appeals to Mrs. Stockmann, who has conservative 
 beliefs, but naught can overcome the determination 
 of the Doctor to stick to right and truth. He does 
 so, even when he finds himself discharged, his daugh- 
 ter losing her school position, his house stoned and 
 
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE 393 
 
 himself branded as the enemy of society, when in 
 truth he would save it. He will do what is right, so 
 that when his sons are grown they may inherit the 
 full spirit of true men. 
 
 The Doctor is further inspired in his inscrutable 
 course by the cowardly action of the press; Ibsen 
 is particularly relentless about the weak-livered edi- 
 tors. At first believing fully in the support of the 
 liberal papers, Stockmann sends them a rousing ar- 
 ticle about the " Baths " ; they become so enthusi- 
 astic over his disclosures that they determine to smite 
 the very foundations of their corrupt society ; it is 
 not only the " Baths " which need cleansing ! They 
 turn deaf ears to Aslaksen, the man who carries 
 moderation to cowardly excess. And, after all, what 
 is the moderation.? In substance, Aslaksen is willing 
 to attack the Government, for that does society no 
 harm ; but he is a slave to local authority, simply be- 
 cause it involves the question of self-interest. 
 
 On this foundation, it is easy to detect an element 
 of weakness in the so-called liberal-minded editors, 
 and Petra soon has this fact brought to her regard 
 with full force. She comes to Hovstad, the editor, 
 refusing to translate a certain English novel for 
 him (has any commentator ventured to locate what 
 novel.''), since it has certain false standards of di- 
 vine justice, for which neither she, nor, as she be- 
 lieves, the paper will stand. Not only does Hovstad 
 show that the editorial policy is forced to be pallia- 
 tive in some of its views, but he also convinces her, 
 by accident, that his interest in her father is solely 
 his interest in her. Ibsen's women are not made of 
 flabby stuff — that is, not since he freed himself from 
 
394 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 the romantic cloak. Petra believes tenaciously in the 
 bravery of her father; beside it Hovstad appears 
 small with his opinions prompted by self-interest ! 
 
 Then comes the Burgomaster to call upon the 
 Press ; he slips in the back way and soon grasps the 
 situation as regards his brother's article. So he 
 plays his trump card about the expense that would 
 devolve upon the public in case the " Baths " were 
 remedied. Self-interest here enters to change the 
 course of things. The pockets of the Liberals are 
 touched, and the editors decide to relinquish the 
 Doctor's paper in favour of the Burgomaster's ar- 
 ticle, giving the facts as the Board of Directors 
 would have them given. 
 
 Suddenly the Burgomaster is forced to hide in an 
 anteroom, for the figure of the Doctor looms up in 
 the distance. Now it is that Stoekmann suspects 
 something brewing; he sees the hesitancy on the 
 faces of the editors when he inquires about the proofs 
 for his article ; he sees it in their general bearing, 
 when he is followed by his wife, beseeching him to 
 act in moderation for the sake of his family ; he 
 knows it definitely when he discovers his brother's 
 cap and cane. The farce element is strong in the 
 scene between the Burgomaster and the Doctor — ^but 
 it immediately changes, when the latter realizes how 
 he has been side-tracked. Neither he nor the truth 
 can be crushed. What does it matter if every one 
 refuse to print his article, he will read it at a mass 
 meeting ; he will proclaim it from the housetops ; he 
 will fight to the bitter end. 
 
 This is what he proceeds to do: at the mass meet- 
 ing, however, he is confronted by an unexpected or- 
 
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE 395 
 
 deal. So skilfully has the Burgomaster laid his 
 schemes, that with his parliamentary juggling, he 
 not only forces Aslaksen's election as chairman, but 
 likewise marshals events so that a vote is taken 
 prohibiting the Doctor from speaking about the 
 " Baths " at all. In conciliatory tones Aslaksen 
 says : " I, too, am in favour of self-government by 
 the people, if only it doesn't cost the ratepayers too 
 much." Even the papers must be cautious, for, as 
 Hovstad declares, it is the duty of the editor to work 
 in harmony with his readers ! 
 
 Stockmann turns the table. The " Baths," he 
 says, are a mere bagatelle, an insignificant item 
 compared with his larger discovery. What are the 
 poisoned water-works beside the rancid sources of 
 spiritual life upon which society is based? His illu- 
 sions are gone— he sees " the colossal stupidity of 
 the authorities " blocking the path of the free man ; 
 his brother Peter, he publicly declares, is a good ex- 
 ample. These respected dignitaries are relics of the 
 old order which is surely at the point of death; but 
 they are not to be feared. In thundering tones the 
 Doctor, alias Ibsen, says : " The most dangerous foe 
 to truth and freedom in our midst is the compact 
 majority." 
 
 The consternation created by this attack does not 
 disconcert the good old Doctor; he withstands all 
 contradictory interruptions. What the majority 
 has, he avers, is might, not right; they are narrow- 
 chested, lacking in pulsating red blood. Stockmann 
 weU-nigh quotes from Ibsen's letters, so near is his 
 speech to the opinions sent in communications to 
 Brandes. The men who stand for truth, stand alone; 
 
896 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 a normally constituted truth lives twenty years, and 
 then must be modified. Thick and fast his aphorisms 
 • fall upon the astounded gathering ; he would rather 
 see his native town in ruin than flourishing on a lie! 
 He declares, in fact, that he is a revolutionist in the 
 sense that he is in revolt against the accepted lie 
 " that truth belongs exclusively to the majority." 
 
 In reading this fourth act of " An Enemy of the 
 People," one is keenly reminded of the wit in Shaw's 
 " Maxims for Revolutionists." There is one saying 
 in the latter that aptly applies here : " Democracy 
 substitutes election by the incompetent many for 
 appointment by the corrupt few." Such shafts of 
 wit and truth emanate also from Dr. Stockmann. 
 " Truths are by no means the wiry Methuselahs 
 some people think them," he says, adding quickly 
 that " all these majority-truths are like last year's 
 salt pork." 
 
 What is the majority, he questions, but the devil's 
 own.'' Their truths are marrowless, and do they ex- 
 pect society to exist upon such an antique rubbish 
 heap.!" The old Doctor — Ibsen was now fifty-four 
 — ^has the vigour of a boy, and he likewise reflects 
 the natural aristocratic tendencies of his creator, to 
 be so prominently accentuated in the character of 
 Rosmer. The intellectual few, not the ignorant mass, 
 are the ones who count; the mass is so much raw. 
 material to be fashioned into a people. The mi- 
 nority are the cultivated, the majority the unculti- 
 vated, elements in society. " Do you think the brain 
 of the poodle isn't very diff'erently developed from 
 that of the mongrel ? " he queries. He does not mean 
 by common people, the lower classes, any more than 
 
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE 397 
 
 those at the summit of society ; he means those in 
 whom " the commonness still lingers," those who have 
 not worked their way up " to spiritual distinction." 
 His brother Peter is such a man. 
 
 The consequences resulting from this speech are 
 seen in the disordered condition of the Doctor's 
 study, which is the scene for the last act — broken 
 windows, scattered stones and the like. Truly, as 
 the old gentleman says, when he discovers a rent in 
 his clothes, " A man should never put on his best 
 trousers when he goes out to battle for freedom and 
 truth." The people who fall away from him are 
 those who dare not do otherwise; they are slaves to 
 party, they are not friends of freedom. At first 
 Stockmann is inclined to leave it all and to go to 
 America; he will let them wallow in their pig-sty if 
 they can thus without compunction stone a patriot. 
 He is in a mood for defining everything. " A party," 
 he says, " is like a sausage machine ; it grinds all 
 the brains together in one mash, and that's why we 
 see nothing but porridge-heads and pulp-heads all 
 around." Do you remember the Mayor's injunction 
 to Brand about currying his whole flock with the 
 same comb? Ibsen, the Individualist, cannot be hid- 
 den under a bushel. 
 
 Even to the last, Stockmann is firm in his bearing 
 toward the Burgomaster, yet Ibsen is not so lack- 
 ing in his human estimate as to make him immov- 
 able. With wonderful skill in sketching he intro- 
 duces the old figure of Mrs. Stockmann's adoptive 
 father, whose money is eventually to be left to his 
 family, but whose tannery is one of the causes for 
 the evil befalling the "Baths." Toward the end 
 
398 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Morten Kiil announces that most of his small for- 
 tune is tied up in " Bath " shares ; that if the attack 
 on sanitation is continued by the Doctor, the value 
 of these holdings will depreciate, will dwindle to 
 nothing. For once only does Stockmann hesitate, 
 bethinking him that maybe an antidote might relieve 
 the situation after all. In like manner Brand once 
 hesitated regarding spiritual compromise. 
 
 But in the end, when the Doctor sees how the souls 
 of these petty citizens veer from moment to moment, 
 he determines to remain in the field of battle and 
 fight. What is it Stockmann shall fight? First, he 
 wishes to convince the people that " the Liberals are 
 the craftiest foes that free men have to face " ; sec- 
 ond, " that party programmes wring the necks of all 
 young and living truths " ; and, finally, " that con- 
 siderations of expediency turn justice and morality 
 upside down." He will open a school and train the 
 younger generation to continue the woi'k of emanci- 
 pation after him. 
 
 The play thus ends sharply and suddenly ; there is 
 no rounding out of individual aims ; there is no love 
 element to linger upon ; there is no decrease in en- 
 ergy. What saves it from being merely an exposi- 
 tion of Ibsen's opinion is the characterization, which 
 is dealt with minutely; the cameo sketches are in- 
 stinct with warmth and individuality. 
 
 It is surprising that " An Enemy of the People " 
 is not better known to the stage in America ; in its 
 social attitude it is significantly close to conditions 
 in this country; its general energy is akin to our 
 national activity. In fact, Ibsen may be said to 
 have depended on his strength, both in idea and in 
 
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE 399 
 
 character, through this accentuation of attitude. 
 Even Petra, epitome of feminine frankness and 
 courage, is thus portrayed, not by any psycholog- 
 ical subtlety, but by firm strokes, dependent on the 
 manner in which she responds to outward demands 
 made upon her. She is the continuation of Lona, 
 with the spirit of youthfulness breathed into her. 
 Hilda, in " The Master Builder," is to be much like 
 this in substance, only, when she makes her appear- 
 ance, Ibsen will have dealt with the subtle femininity 
 of Rebecca West and Hedda Gabler. 
 
 For the satisfaction of those who read symbolism 
 into everything termed " modern drama," we might 
 record here a lurking suspicion that Ibsen was try- 
 ing hard to invest " An Enemy of the People " with 
 some of the hidden meaning of the symbol. It is 
 straining a point to range Hedda Gabler by the side 
 of her pistol and call the latter a sign of her char- 
 acter; it is still more difficult to reason sensibly, 
 however picturesquely, on the theory of Nora and 
 the open door ! Only when we are dealing with thor- 
 oughly apparent things like the poisoned " Baths " 
 and the poisoned sources of society, can we stretch a 
 point in favour of the symbol. For while it is excit- 
 ing to trace hidden meanings. It is dangerous, Inas- 
 much as, when extravagantly used, they distort vision. 
 
 There Is strikingly evident an element of debate in 
 this drama — more so than In any other of Ibsen's; 
 a broad view of life Is here struggling in a local at- 
 mosphere, which bases Its evidence of material Im- 
 provement on a family's relish of roast beef, that 
 the Burgomaster considers extravagant; even as in 
 " Hedda Gabler," the heroine's plebeian tastes are 
 
400 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 seen in her ambition to ride in a carriage of her 
 own. Ibsen's art, however, forces the reader to take 
 each character upon his individual worth, which is 
 either strengthened or weakened by the general thesis 
 of the drama. His characters primarily stand out 
 in connection with certain fundamental principles; 
 in themselves, spiritually, they do not irradiate hu- 
 manity in the manner of Shakespeare; they are 
 nearer akin to Moliere. 
 
 Barring a few excesses in the exuberance of Doc- 
 tor Stockmann, " An Enemy of the People " is a 
 poignant rejoinder to those liberal voices raised in 
 protest against " Ghosts." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII "' 
 
 IBSEN THE FEMINIST 
 
 Foe the sake of proper grouping it is necessary 
 to change the order of the Ibsen plays that follow. 
 We might take them in their regular succession, and 
 find, as we have found heretofore, how closely the 
 links connect the idea of one with the other. But 
 Ibsen's play-writing could be likened to a case of 
 literary atavism; once he had used an incident, or 
 suggested a motive, he almost always either ampli- 
 fied it in a later drama, or applied it to the condi- 
 tions of modem life. 
 
 We have already reached some conception of Ib- 
 sen's ripening viewpoint as regards women — how it 
 changed from a conception of romantic weakness 
 and dependence and sacrifice to a declaration of 
 rights. There are two of his characters, however, 
 who are even more intensive in respect to the femi- 
 nine traits than either Nora or Mrs. Alving. The 
 deeper penetration which developed in him appears 
 to have demanded an additional quality to his tech- 
 nique — ^Ihe infusion of a subtle influence by which the 
 past life is made active in the present. This new 
 force is to be seen both in " Rosmersholm " and in 
 " Hedda Gabler." 
 
 By following the plays in their succession, how- 
 ever, we are impressed with the consistency and pro- 
 gressive surety of Ibsen's ideas. We did not quite 
 grasp the full significance of " Brand " and " Peer 
 Gynt " until we had reached the import of " Em- 
 peror and Galilean " ; the latter does not seem quite 
 so close to the spirit of modern times until we are 
 shown its influence working in contemporary char- 
 
402 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 acters, as in " Rosmersholm." A consideration of 
 " The Wild Duck " after " An Enemy of the Peo- 
 ple " would have driven home the danger of impos- 
 ing one's ideals upon people not prepared for them, 
 a proposition carried over, to a limited extent, into 
 " Rosmersholm," which drama in its turn shows de- 
 cided indications of a reaction against the stark and 
 naked realism of " Ghosts " and the matter-of-f act- 
 ness of " Pillars of Society " and " An Enemy of 
 the People." It is the return of the poet to the realm 
 of poetry through the medium of symbolism — slight 
 use of which has already been noted in "Brand" 
 and " Peer Gynt." 
 
 Yet, concise though he may have been in tech- 
 nique, and in the almost ruthless manner in which he 
 followed consequences, Ibsen, as a dramatist, was 
 distinctly subject to vagaries; he allowed certain 
 reckless elements to creep into his plays, betokening 
 a quality of mind which was anything but scientific 
 — one might almost deem it fantasy — but one would 
 be correct in identifying it with a romantic gro- 
 tesqueness. Ulric Brendel in " Rosmersholm," the 
 Rat Wife in " Little Eyolf," and a Stranger in " The 
 Lady from the Sea," are all indicative of this trait. 
 
 But we are justified in grouping the plays differ- 
 ently, so as to emphasize those dominant traits in 
 the development of Henrik Ibsen which will best show 
 him in full proportions. So far we have attempted 
 to unfold all those qualities which characterize him 
 as a dramatist, and the remaining points fall, to our 
 view, definitely under three heads. A new phase of 
 the feminine is to be seen in " Rosmersholm " and 
 " Hedda Gabler " — in which women are developed 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 403 
 
 from the inside rather than from the outside: in 
 which conditions are imposed upon them or im- 
 pressed upon them spiritually and temperamentally, 
 rather than socially. Society does not in any way 
 affect Rebecca West; her reaction is due to her in- 
 dividual growth. 
 
 The second grouping deals with Ibsen's use of the 
 symbol — a dangerous characteristic for a poet to 
 employ, and one in which he was least skilful when 
 he set out conscientiously to introduce it into his 
 plays ; it was an element of artistic weakness in 
 him; as a separate element, woven into a segment of 
 every-day life, it became too apparent an effort to 
 adopt again the poetry of his first period. In no 
 way can we believe that by symbolism Ibsen ever 
 hoped to reconcile the literalness of " An Enemy of 
 the People " and the scientific analysis of " Ghosts," 
 with the fantastic imagery of " Peer Gynt " or the 
 noble poetry of " The Pretenders." 
 
 Finally, there is the gathering of strength in 
 " The Master Builder," in which the symbol loses 
 some of its obscuration by reason of its philosophic 
 value; followed by the gradual decrease of surety 
 through " John Gabriel Borkman " and " When We 
 Dead Awaken." And by the very fact that in his 
 " Epilogue " Ibsen tried to gather together the 
 threads of his life work, the more easily are we able, 
 in the light of what he had done before, to arrive at 
 some idea of wherein lay the causes of his strength 
 and of his weakness. 
 
 In the order of composition the plays run as follows : 
 
 The Wild Duck— 1884. 
 
 Rosmersholm — 1886. 
 
404 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 The Lady from the Sea — 1888. 
 
 Hedda Gabler— 1890. 
 
 The Master Builder— 1892. 
 
 Little Eyolf— 1894. 
 
 John Gabriel Borkman — 1896. 
 
 When We Dead Awaken — 1899. 
 
 In December, 1881, Mr. William Archer first met 
 Ibsen at the Scandinavian Club in Rome. There 
 came before him an undersized man, with broad 
 shoulders, who, as he walked, bent from his waist on 
 account of his poor eyesight. His head was large, 
 his body stockily built and clad in a long black 
 frock coat, with its broad lapels, and its little knot 
 of red ribbon, as an indication of his liking for deco- 
 rations; from behind his gold-rimmed spectacles a 
 pair of blue eyes pierced everything that came within 
 the field of view. The popular conception Mr. 
 Archer^ had previously received of the dramatist's 
 bearishness, faded before a decided tone of " cere- 
 monious, old-world courtesy." Ibsen's chief source 
 of contact with people or things outside of himself 
 came from close observation. While in Munich and 
 in Rome he spent much time reading his newspaper 
 as he sat by the window of the cafe, occasionally 
 looking up to follow some passer-by or to emit a terse 
 answer to a stray question. 
 
 Arthur Symons writes : " The rhythm of a play 
 of Shakespeare speaks to the blood like wine or 
 music. . . . But the rhythm of a play of Ib- 
 sen is like that of a diagram of Euclid; it is the 
 rhythm of logic, and it produces in us the purely 
 
 ' See " Ibsen as I Knew Him," William Archer. Reader, 
 8 : 185-197, July, 1906. 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 405 
 
 mental exaltation of a problem solved." It is this 
 very contemplation of questions which required some 
 psychological sequence, and some semblance of sci- 
 entific explanation, which drew Ibsen so irretriev- 
 ably away from poetry. He felt it himself, and 
 many letters in his correspondence for 1883 indicate 
 how wide was the gap between his manipulation of 
 the two forms of expression. In the Fall of that 
 year some of his time was consumed in planning 
 ahead for Sigurd; having received his legal training 
 in Rome, the latter was open to an appointment for 
 a diplomatic position, provided he became natu- 
 ralized. But this his father was loath for him to do, 
 knowing fuU well all that it meant to cut aloof from 
 one's country; therefore the appeal in his son's be- 
 half was as much to preserve his Norwegian citizen- 
 ship as to settle him pecuniarily. 
 
 During the winter Ibsen kept much to himself, 
 reading quite a little of the current literature mailed 
 to him by Hegel. In March, 1884, he, together with 
 Bjornson, attached his name to an address to the 
 Storthing relative to the passage of a Married Wom- 
 an's Property Bill, but not until 1888 was the at- 
 tempt to force the matter to a successful issue 
 brought to a close. 
 
 A letter to Bjornson, dated from Rome, March 28, 
 1884, shows that political irritation in Ibsen which 
 was to become so emphasized when he next visited 
 Norway. He was a pagan as far as politics were 
 concerned ; he did not believe much in the theoretical 
 reforms which were talked about; the immediate 
 need of the nation was practical, and to that end, 
 he wanted to see a wide extension of the suffrage. 
 
406 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 improvement of the legal status of the woman, and 
 the cutting of education aloof from the old methods 
 of mediaevalism. Ibsen thus foresaw, indeed fore- 
 cast, what later actually was accomplished by the 
 Government. Even in the question of parties, he was 
 seized with the desire to apply his theory of the 
 " third empire." For between the Right and the 
 Left, he would have a Centre party, technically called 
 " The Moderate." 
 
 By June 25, 1884, he had completed the first 
 sketch of " A Wild Duck," and was planning to go 
 to Gossensass, where he intended to finish it. To- 
 ward the close of the summer, so thoroughly had the 
 old cordial feeling with Bjornson returned, that Ib- 
 sen paid him a short visit at Schwarz, only a few 
 hours' ride from Gossensass. About September 29th 
 there was proposed to him the possibility of return- 
 ing to the management of a Norwegian theatre, and 
 it was a temptation, for Ibsen was a born theatre 
 director. It had occurred to him often that prob- 
 ably his duty was to return to Christiania and 
 further the theatrical cause with his own strong 
 initiative; but to do this he would have to sacrifice 
 something of his pecuniary gain, since his literary 
 work would in consequence sufi'er. He would give 
 himself another year to think it all over ; but to re- 
 linquish any gain, unless it was made up to him by 
 governmental grant, appeared preposterous. This 
 grant would not be too much for politicians to vote 
 for the authors in Norway who were so unfeignedly 
 and so persistently " awakening men's minds." This 
 restlessness foreshadows Ibsen's attitude when he did 
 turn homeward. 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 407 
 
 " What I feel is that I should not be able to write 
 freely and frankly and unreservedly there," he said ; 
 " . . . When, ten years ago, after an absence of 
 ten years, I sailed up the Fjord, I felt a weight 
 settling down on my breast, a feeling of actual 
 physical oppression. ... I was not myself 
 under the gaze of all those cold, uncompromising 
 Norwegian eyes at the windows and in the streets." 
 
 As for the theatre situation, he denied all rumours 
 to the effect that he would accept the directorship, 
 at the same time expressing in emphatic terms his 
 belief that the State and Municipality should raise 
 the status of the playhouse from its present feeble- 
 ness. 
 
 In April, 1885, he was suggesting the possibility 
 of travelling to the Lake of Constance in order to 
 plan out his new play; he was about to leave Rome 
 for good, and was debating whether he should not 
 take another year in Germany; this step would at 
 least bring him nearer home, and then, probably, he 
 would the better accomplish his idea of purchasing 
 a villa near Christiania, where, cut off from every- 
 body, he might devote his entire time to work. There 
 he could have a continual glimpse of the sea ; there, 
 likewise, he might attempt another play in poetic 
 form, for he often declared that he should like his 
 last piece to be in that medium. 
 
 The influence of party politics was felt in every 
 direction; as it permeated the theatre situation and 
 the literary situation, so it likewise became involved 
 in personal considerations. This Ibsen found to be 
 the case when he left in June, 1885, for his second 
 trip to Norway; much hollow rhetoric was resorted 
 
408 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 to by the politicians, and questions relating to the 
 extent of the king's power to veto consumed the at- 
 tention over and above more important topics. The 
 very nobility which Ibsen was most anxious to in- 
 fuse, was further away, and discussions fell into petty 
 innuendoes. All these elements served to disappoint 
 and irritate the visitor ; and that is probably why, 
 when he came to address the Trondhjem working- 
 men,-' he laid such stress upon that desire for noble- 
 ness which entered so markedly into " Rosmersholm." 
 He emphatically declared that everywhere it seemed 
 the land was peopled, " not by two million human 
 beings, but by two million cats and dogs." 
 
 The desire of the Norwegians to force Ibsen into 
 declaring his preference for a party, came well-nigh 
 involving him in a disagreeable experience, during 
 which a demonstration against him was made by the 
 Norwegian students of the Right or Conservative 
 faction. The ill-feeling was caused by Ibsen's re- 
 fusal to receive a torchlight procession planned in 
 his honour by the Student's Union; in fact, he had 
 also declined to receive the Workmen's Association 
 for fear of being misunderstood; but his motives 
 were distorted, and, because he tried to be a little 
 facetious, his actions were misinterpreted. The Lib- 
 erals assumed that by this dispute Ibsen was evi- 
 dently declaring himself for the " Left," no one 
 seeing that he was really exerting every effort to 
 
 " The speech in Brandes, Elias, Schlenther ed., vol. i, p. 524. 
 For a discussion of the political quarrels, see Archer's introduc- 
 tion to " Rosmersholm," p. ix (condensed from an article. 
 Fortnightly Review, Sept., 1885). The battle ended in a Liberal 
 victory. 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 409 
 
 escape entanglement of any sort.^ The very fact 
 that the argument continued for some time is indica- 
 tive of the small-mindedness of the people, but Ib- 
 sen had the satisfaction of knowing that a large mass 
 meeting of students favourable to him was held on 
 October 16th. In this demonstration he witnessed 
 " a confirmation of a hope which I have never re- 
 linquished — ^the hope that the great majority of the 
 students of Norway, and of Europe generally, are 
 really in league with the struggling, clarifying, ever- 
 progressive life-forces in the domains of science, art, 
 and literature." 
 
 On February 14, 1886, Ibsen wrote to his friend, 
 Count Carl Snoilsky, whom he styled Scandinavia's 
 " greatest living lyric poet," announcing that he 
 was busily engaged on his new drama,* " for which 
 
 ' See Correspondence, 188. 
 
 ' " Rosmersbolm " was published on November 23, 1886, in an 
 edition of 8,000. An English translation was made by Louis 
 N. Parker (1889); one by Charles Archer (1891). In French 
 by M. Prozor; in German by M. v. Borch (1887); by A. Zinck 
 (1887) ; by Ernst Brausewetter (1890) ; by J. Engeroff (1893). 
 See Nineteenth Century, 26 !254 (1889— W. Frewen) ; 30 :258 
 (1891— H. A. Kennedy) ; Fortnightly, 51 : 118 (1889— E. 
 Gosse); "L'Ann^e litt^raire de 1891" (P. Ginisty). See 
 musical settings by Richard Strauss (1896). Among the many 
 parodies mentioned by Halvorsen, see Anstey Guthrie's "The 
 Pocket Ibsen" (1895). Among the theatre performances, note: 
 Bergen, January 17, 1887; Christiania Theatre, April 12, 1887 
 (Constance Bruun as Rebecca). In Denmark, performances 
 were given by Lindberg, November 28, 1887. The play reached 
 Germany through Augsburg, April 6, 1887; Berlin, May 5, 
 1887; Vienna, May 4, 1893; Hamburg, April, 1898; Stuttgart, 
 Oct. 24, 1896; Munich, May 4, 1893. English productions: 
 Vaudeville Theatre, London, February 23, 1891, with F. R. 
 Benson and Florence Farr; Opera Comique, June 2, 1893, with 
 
410 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 I made careful studies during my visit to Norway 
 last summer." He had little to interrupt him, for 
 Sigurd was settled and ready to sail for Washing- 
 ton, D. C, where he was to be one of the attaches at 
 the Legation. Later on in the month Ibsen was 
 writing to Director Fallesen of the Theatre Royal, 
 claiming that there was little chance of his play 
 being completed before the autumn; but instead, he 
 was offered " Love's Comedy " and " Ghosts," the 
 latter having by now won its way sufficiently for Ib- 
 sen to make the proposal. But " Ghosts " was des- 
 tined to be held back from Copenhagen until 1903. 
 
 In this same month, Ibsen was discussing Jasger's 
 desire to write a biography, and as an illustration of 
 how carefully the former treasured the small details 
 about himself, a letter of February 25, 1886, enu- 
 merates the numerous photographs and busts made 
 of him during the years. At first Ibsen was inclined 
 to eye suspiciously the data gathered by Jseger, in- 
 asmuch as the latter had not at first applied to him 
 personally for assistance, but later he had occasion 
 to alter his opinion. Nevertheless, it is clearly 
 noticeable how anxious Ibsen was to have a new biog- 
 
 Lewis Waller and Elizabeth Robins. According to Archer and 
 Halvorsen, Austin Fryers produced at the Globe Theatre a 
 prologue to " Rosmersholm " called " Beata," London, 1892. 
 
 At rCEuvre, in Paris, the play was given on October 4, 
 1893, and was brought to London in 189S. The r61e of Rebecca 
 was very effectively played by Eleonora Duse. In New York, 
 it was first given on March 28, 1904i, at the Princess Theatre, 
 by a company known as the Century Players, including 
 Florence Kahn; during the season of 1907-8, Mrs. Fiske, at 
 the Lyric Theatre, New York, added the play to her repertoire. 
 Consult Lothar, Brandes, and Jaeger. 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 411 
 
 raphy of himself, in view of the fact that his sixtieth 
 birthday was approaching. 
 
 After a silence of more than a year he wrote to 
 Brandes on November 10, 1886, less than a fort- 
 night before " Rosmersholm " was published ; he 
 speaks of having been " tormented " by a play ; this 
 was probably due to distracting thoughts still cling- 
 ing to him of his trip to Norway. " I had to come 
 to a distinct understanding of the whole," he said, 
 " and draw my conclusions before I could think of 
 transforming the experiences into fiction." 
 
 All during the writing of " Rosmersholm " his 
 mind was intent on the weak character of the Lib- 
 erals; some may regard his criticism as a hopeless 
 view of the situation, but that was far from the 
 actual case ; his one thought was that " All this 
 crude immaturity may some day clarify into both 
 the substance and the outward form of genuine civili- 
 zation." But his fear was that Norway did not care, 
 nor did she have much force within her to accomplish 
 reforms of permanent worth. 
 
 Early in 1887 he left Munich to attend certain 
 productions of " Ghosts " in Berlin, where he was 
 honoured and feted despite the determined stand 
 taken by the authorities against his play. The op- 
 position was more than compensated for by the reali- 
 zation that " Ghosts " had " become a burning liter- 
 ary and dramatic question in Germany." Further 
 decorations were bestowed upon him. 
 
 After the appearance of " Rosmersholm," it was 
 read before a debating club in Christiania, a clear 
 indication of how seriously Norwegians took their 
 literary matters; and afterwards a letter of thanks 
 
412 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 was written Ibsen. In turn he sent a letter to the 
 chairman in which, while he confessed he saw in 
 " Rosmersholm " " the call to work," he recognised 
 in it above all else " the struggle which all serious- 
 minded human beings have to wage with themselves 
 in order to bring their lives into harmony with their 
 convictions." In the case of Rosmer this is more 
 applicable than in the case of Rebecca. 
 
 Clearly, to Ibsen's way of thinking, the whole con- 
 flict of the piece lay in the circumstance that " the 
 different spiritual functions do not develop evenly 
 and abreast of each other in any one human being. 
 The instinct of acquisition hurries on from gain to 
 gain. The moral consciousness — ^what we call con- 
 science — is, on the other hand, very conservative. It 
 has its deep roots in tradition and the past gen- 
 erally." 
 
 The interest in " Rosmersholm " is purely psycho- 
 logical, and for that reason its understanding re- 
 quires careful following, even when externalized on 
 the stage. That English scribe who, in an added 
 prologue, tried to explain the incidents leading up 
 to the first act of the play, was only attempting to 
 take away from the close demand which Ibsen makes 
 upon the attention. The characters develop by slow 
 change, not by any striking exterior scene. The 
 shades of meaning in the dialogue have to be fo- 
 cussed by the reader upon the active conscience of 
 Rosmer and the awakened spirit of Rebecca. The 
 one who profits by the freedom of the situation is 
 the woman, who in the beginning enters the conser- 
 vative house of Rosmersholm as an adventuress, and 
 in the end leaves it in a far different temper. 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 413 
 
 With a broader and coarser brush Pinero took a 
 woman of the Iris type, and wilfully dragged her to 
 destruction, intent on watching the outcome. It 
 was a melodramatist's absorption in a species of 
 vivisection. Ibsen, on the other hand, adopted the 
 method of philosophy; each sentence is like a live 
 wire, bridging the past with the present ; we feel in- 
 stinctively the inborn nobility of Rosmer, bred of a 
 line of Conservatives, upon whom the community 
 bases its idea of right and wrong; Rebecca throbs 
 with that nervous jealousy which is evidence of the 
 unconscious struggle taking place between the wild 
 pagan or ultra-radical elements within her. The 
 drama deals with the dual conflict which Ibsen wished 
 always to show was occurring in nature — the " Em- 
 peror and Galilean " struggle leading to the " third 
 empire." 
 
 Take a man of Rosmer's training and free him 
 suddenly of the traditional harness ; persuade him 
 that the unrestricted intercourse between himself and 
 Rebecca is fraught with purity, and he is in a frame 
 of mind to deceive himself, in his innocence, that the 
 world is ill-bred to think scandal and plebeian to 
 sling mud. But with the traditions of generations 
 behind him, once disturb that idea of innocence, — as 
 Kroll, representative of conventional morality and 
 narrow-mindedness, did when he revealed to Rosmer 
 why Beata went the way of the mill-dam, — and all 
 Rebecca's efforts at emancipation have been in vain. 
 
 Take a woman of Rebecca's inclinations; through 
 her passion for Rosmer, have her force Beata to kill 
 herself, thereby freeing Rosmer of one barrier, one 
 hindrance to his progress; have her train him in 
 
414 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 mental bearing to the appreciation of advanced 
 ideas — such an individual has no scruples, either as 
 to the means by which an end is accomplished, or as 
 to the consequences, apart from the satisfaction of 
 her desire. But take that same woman, and have her 
 subtly changed in spirit by the conventional nobility 
 of the Rosmer tradition — her passion turned to real 
 love, her nature awakened to its better possibilities, 
 — and she is no longer the epitome of emancipation; 
 her weapons of defence are taken from her. 
 
 Kroll is such a man as Ibsen found the average 
 citizen on his return to Norway, one who believed 
 that opposition to a way of thinking should mean 
 onslaught upon character ; he follows blindly the tra- 
 ditional dictates of society ; he fights by any means 
 whatever defection there may be. On the other hand, 
 Mortensgard, who, in his past, has been ostracized 
 for very much the same indiscretion as was occurring 
 between Rosmer and Rebecca, has arrived at that 
 stage of a conventional liberalism, where he realizes 
 that his party needs some of the Christian nobility 
 that Rosmer' s family name can supply. That is 
 why, when he is told of the latter's apostasy, he 
 wishes to keep silent whatever gossip might tarnish 
 that nobility which they so much desire. 
 
 The setting of " Rosmersholm " is, therefore, com- 
 monplace — ^with the same atmosphere by which Ib- 
 sen is popularly known; it is the inner life of the 
 piece that is different. According to Mr. Archer, 
 the mere crust was supplied to Ibsen in various direc- 
 tions. First, about the time the drama was formu- 
 lating, a Swedish nobleman of Rosmer's bearing, 
 married to an unsympathetic wife, was drawn to a 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 415 
 
 female relative, and the relations existing between 
 them called forth venomous attacks from the press. 
 A-icording to another source, Rebecca was built upon 
 the model of a young woman who committed suicide, 
 in the effort to stir up the intellect of her husband, 
 whom she wildly imagined to be in need of this sac- 
 rifice. Still another authority suggests that the 
 conception of Ulric Brendel was founded upon a 
 character met by Ibsen in Italy, who held the opin- 
 ion that true works of genius were never committed 
 to paper. But does it not strike one as of little im- 
 portance where the crust was moulded.'' From now 
 on there is a critical effort to " locate " Ibsen in ex- 
 ternal happenings; these should be recorded as a 
 matter of personal history, but as a matter of en- 
 lightening interpretation they are of little value. 
 
 The play is neither wholly matter-of-fact, nor pre- 
 dominantly theoretical; the civic element is strong, 
 but it is counterbalanced by a deep vein of passion. 
 The equation is represented on one side by Rosmer, 
 product of an established household, almost with pa- 
 triarchal ideas ; on the other by Rebecca, in whom 
 the desire for lust is strongest. Had Rosmer been 
 born to lead men, Rebecca's call to his ambition 
 might have resulted in his accomplishing what he had 
 planned to do with humanity. But they both became 
 unnerved by the development of new traits within 
 each of them ; and she, suddenly reahzing the neces- 
 sity for sacrifice, and he, the necessity for expiation, 
 they go to their death the way Beata went, following 
 in name, if not in execution, the Catholic demand. 
 The play is thus a life of transforming souls in which 
 pagan and Christian elements are seeking to min- 
 
416 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 gle, and in which both elements become great!}' 
 altered. 
 
 This is not a play of much visible intrigue. When 
 the first act begins Rebecca West, subtle, crafty and 
 lustful, has in one way accomplished her will ; she has 
 wormed herself into Rosmersholm, she has driven 
 Rosmer's wife to suicide, she has well-nigh mastered 
 the situation. Her scheme works up to a point she 
 herself had not counted upon — that is, the deepening 
 change in her own spirit; nor had she calculated 
 rightly in her dealings with the Rosmer conscience, 
 once it was made clear by KroU how the world in 
 general would regard the intimate associations be- 
 tween an emancipated woman and a freethinker. 
 When that spirit of innocence deserts the man, his 
 inherited prejudices stir within him, and Rebecca's 
 plan falls like a palace built of cards. 
 
 The forces in " Rosmersholm " are more elusive 
 than those in " Ghosts." There one had a definite 
 cause for the cataclysm, but here it permeates the 
 whole fabric ; in fact, it is the fabric itself. We have 
 an opposition of forces — a new life against an old 
 life — a new order of morals against the old order. 
 Rosmer says to the Pastor : " You do not believe that 
 purity of mind is to be found among the unbelieving 
 and the emancipated? You do not believe that mor- 
 ality may be an instinctive law of their nature? " 
 And Kroll's direct answer to this is : " I have no great 
 faith in the morality that is not founded on the teach- 
 ings of the Church." 
 
 Ibsen's wonderful poise in this drama is felt 
 throughout; each side is dealt with carefully and 
 exactly, with fine shadings; such, for instance, as 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 417 
 
 make us feel a certain respect for the ultra-conser- 
 vatism of KroU, and a decided contempt for the cal- 
 culating liberalism of Mortensgard. It is also real- 
 ized, to a wonderful degree, in the active influence of 
 Beata throughout the scenes — an influence which, in 
 one respect, prevents Rebecca from marrying Ros- 
 mer, pointing clearly to her fear of possible ghosts ; 
 and which, in another, gives a certain noble tinge to 
 the suicide in the end, even though I cannot see why 
 they could not have existed in wedlock just as well, 
 being true to their wills and to their inheritance. 
 
 However, Rosmer's constitution was not fitted to 
 radical initiative ; he was not one to transform 
 thought into action; he was not fitted to create the 
 true democracy which involved the task of making 
 all the people noblemen. Let us recognise in his de- 
 sire a certain striving for the " third empire," it was 
 not in his nature to rouse people ; and when the play 
 closes, the only one he has altered has been Rebecca, 
 and in her he has only infused his inherited traits. 
 There is a true bearing of courtesy in Rosmer, but 
 KroU is keen in the knowledge of his strength, for 
 the last heir to the old estate known as Rosmersholm 
 has not the endurance to stand alone, nor has he the 
 moral bravery to bear any blot on the traditional 
 escutcheon. 
 
 Magda, of the Sudermann drama, says to the 
 Pastor, " To become greater than one's sins is worth 
 more than all the purity you preach," reminding one 
 forcibly of the famous shawl speech found in " Can- 
 dida." This is the Ibsen influence on the younger 
 German playwright, who further reflects the Norwe- 
 gian's individualism in such a speech as that made 
 
418 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 by Magda : " I am myself, and througn myself I have 
 become what I am." Rebecca West becomes ennobled 
 in spite of herself; Rosmer remains conservative in 
 spite of himself; each unconsciously influences the 
 other, drifting into love through an irresistible force 
 of attraction. Rebecca has something in her of 
 Hiordis, and something of Hedda Gabler; she has 
 the wild thirst for life, the longing for position ; but 
 her efforts to control life are fraught with a definite 
 purpose. She sends Beata to her death with the ob- 
 ject of clearing Rosmer's path, yet she did not cal- 
 culate that the dead could live as this one does ; Hedda 
 Gabler gives Lovborg the pistol just because there 
 was fascination for her in feeling that a human being 
 was in her grasp. 
 
 The Rosmers are a typical Ibsen family ; Beata 
 was cursed to remain childless ; Rosmer neither 
 laughed nor smiled; the mill-race was ever present 
 from the sitting-room window. There is the mark 
 of illegitimacy upon Rebecca — a fact marvellously 
 drawn out by stage technique in the confession scene. 
 It is a tainted atmosphere, yet despite it, a large 
 optimism pulses near the surface, which nevertheless 
 has to be thought out before it is grasped — ^which 
 has to be associated with "Emperor and Galilean " 
 before its spiritual meaning is understood. A French 
 critic has written:-^ " Je n'en connais aucune qui 
 montre avec plus de clarte . . . les rapports 
 eternels de I'ame individuelle avec les conflits gene- 
 raux, I'etroite dependance de nos actes prives et des 
 opinions qui s'agitent autour de nous." 
 
 ' :^douard Rod on " La Mort d' Ibsen," Le Correspondant, 
 June 10, 1906, vol. 223, pp. 825-855. [Excellent article.] 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 419 
 
 " Rosmersholm " accentuates the old theory of 
 Christianity killing the joy of life by the restraint 
 it demands upon the passions; it indicates Ibsen's 
 evolutionary plan whereby the best will ultimately 
 predominate provided development is not one-sided. 
 He is an insatiable seeker after truth, a determined 
 unmasker of lies. A hasty estimate of the characters 
 involved might lead one to say that Rebecca was 
 driven to suicide because of shame, because, if one 
 wishes to bring the matter to a pathological issue, as 
 must be done in the instance of Hedda Gabler, it was 
 necessary for her to meet the consequences of her 
 old self. Fear had already chastened her; it never 
 chastened Hedda; she used her feminine instincts to 
 lure, but with them was mingled a physical aversion 
 for the action of natural laws upon herself. 
 
 Since the outcome of the argument in " Rosmers- 
 holm " is that the claims of tradition cannot be 
 ignored, we must infer that Ibsen was far from being 
 an iconoclast. A change must be effected, but not 
 by absolute severance from the past ; one must argue 
 out the dangers to be faced, the tried institutions to 
 be relinquished. Ibsen, however, has always near him 
 some of the old theological demands. They are no 
 half-way measures; just as Brand was ready to 
 sacrifice the life of each human being nearest and 
 dearest, so Rosmer, in order to restore his faith in 
 Rebecca, demands of her life itself as expiation. 
 Beata died as evidence of her blind love for him ; 
 Rebecca must die, too, in order to restore his inno- 
 cence. In her determination, in his following after, 
 we have no inscrutable laws, but the example of a man 
 and a woman sitting in judgment upon themselves. 
 
420 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 " Why should we care what all those people think ! " 
 exclaims Rebecca ; " we know in our hearts that we 
 are blameless." But Ibsen is not a believer in the 
 proposition that we are a moral law within our- 
 selves, that we may will freely without having that 
 will opposed by a higher law of previous endowment. 
 The taint upon their relationship is sufficient to de- 
 stroy the happiness of their relationship. By hold- 
 ing to it, Rosmer's life work can never be brought 
 to a successful issue. And to the end of the play 
 Rebecca is estimated by KroU in terms of her pas- 
 sion and not in terms of her love. 
 
 Ibsen's women have moments when they act by the 
 ice-cold calmness of resolution; sometimes it is cour- 
 age which makes them face the consequences, at 
 other times it is an aimless groping for a point of 
 rest. When Rebecca exclaims to Rosmer that her 
 reasons for hoimding Beata to her death lay in her 
 desire to " take my share in the life of the new era 
 that was dawning, with all its new ideas," she does 
 not ring true. There is weakness and strength in 
 both characters ; that is why they are saved from 
 being theoretical puppets. As for Rosmer, he has 
 the high desire of a Bran|d, with probably more of 
 the nobility of character, but he also has something 
 of the wavering will of Peer Gynt without the activ- 
 ity of imagination. The fantasy of " Rosmers- 
 holm " rests in the scene, and in the symbol which is 
 subservient to the idea. 
 
 What is the effect of the Rosmer view of life? It 
 ennobles, according to Rebecca, but it kills happi- 
 ness. If the man has a doubt created by the woman, 
 then it rests with her to dispel it. The Rosmer view 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 421 
 
 of life exacts expiation of sin; it also demands sac- 
 rifice. So that in the end their mutual annihilation 
 is, in a way, a victory, a true welding of souls in a 
 spiritual marriage. 
 
 The catastrophe is described in a flash by Madam 
 Helseth, the housekeeper. Curiously, the final scene 
 was " cut " by Mrs. Fiske after the first perform- 
 ance, making the conclusion incomplete, since it is 
 necessary to know that the destruction has actually 
 occurred. Mrs. Fiske furthermore gave a modern 
 and rich setting to Rosmer's study, arguing that 
 there was already too much gloom to the content of 
 the play. But though it may be dark, it is vital; 
 more than that, it deals almost exclusiyely with the 
 spiritual states rather than with the external pic- 
 turesqueness. The characters are never once re- 
 lieved of the strain of tense thought. 
 
 In London, during 1891, " Rosmersholm " met 
 with as much opposition as " A Doll's House " ; 
 critics called it contemptible, and it is a very dis- 
 agreeable handling of sacred relations. Ibsen has 
 now become so used to view life from one side of the 
 crystal that it reduces all his later dramas to a 
 monotone; he even invented a special technique for 
 this view, which exalts the plebeian types (which are 
 the Ibsen types) to the larger realm of his idea. In 
 " Rosmersholm " we are placed nearer the souls of 
 men and women than in any of the plays previous 
 to it ; it is more individual than " A Doll's House," 
 and more subtle than " Ghosts " ; yet, like " Ghosts," 
 it has similar Greek forces shaping and actuating 
 it. In fact, as some of the earlier dramas possessed 
 an external machinery called " the well-made " plot, 
 
422 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 so here we might erect an internal machinery which, 
 by the bareness of the expressed, emphasizes the 
 value of the unexpressed. 
 
 Ibsen, therefore, as a feminist, is better seen in 
 Rebecca West than in Nora; but perhaps is best 
 seen in Hedda Gabler. Unfortunately for the stage 
 and for literature generally, the modern concep- 
 tion of the word " subtlety " has become distorted 
 — its meaning too often rests upon impurity; that 
 is its distinctive colour. A school has sprung up 
 in the name of Ibsen which might be termed the 
 apothecary dramatists ; to them there seems to be no 
 chemical in a pure state. Their art demands either 
 the semblance of sensuous hair-splitting, or the beau- 
 tiful crust of femininity waiting to be filled with dis- 
 torted humanity. Unfortunately Ibsen worked for 
 his optimism through this atmosphere of perpetual 
 problems; he knew nothing of statuesque insipidity 
 — ^he does not depict any woman whose home means 
 peace; his happy moments are in the dramas he did 
 not write, yet there is little suggestion of despair in 
 his work. 
 
 Ibsen's feminine types are not normal; they are 
 too individual to be representative. In actuality, 
 undiluted, unrelieved, they do not exist, except where 
 they serve the purpose of carrying Ibsen ideas. A 
 certain mystery exists in most people's minds about 
 the Ibsen type of woman; they know she is not all 
 quite true, and their conclusions rest on the basis of 
 not understanding quite why she is not all false. 
 What Ibsen, the feminist, has done is to infuse an 
 element of strength into our fictional and drama- 
 turgical heroines ; what we require now, therefore, is 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 423 
 
 a " third woman " with some of the Ibsen initiative 
 and much more of the sensible woman's tenderness 
 and grace. When we witness the superficial frail- 
 ties in stage heroines — indiscretions that stir the 
 social surface, but never seem to affect the soul — the 
 tendency for most of us is to shake our heads and 
 smile approval, believing that the sting is quite true 
 of our neighbour, yet absolutely false as regards 
 ourselves. But the Ibsen drama carries the direct 
 appeal : " And why beholdest thou the mote that is 
 in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam 
 that is in thine own eye.? " 
 
 If Ibsen dealt with the sordid and base simply to 
 flaunt them in our faces, the argument against his 
 moral significance would be justifiable. The fault 
 with his feminine portrayals is that they are some- 
 times too intensive for the mind and the eye to fol- 
 low in active unfolding; they are neurasthenic, cere- 
 bral figures subjected to an atmosphere of spiritual 
 and social fermentation. Ibsen paints — not to ex- 
 press contour, but rather to create the impression 
 of life pulsing beneath. It is as though the soul 
 were slipped from its sheath and all its sexual 
 stamina laid bare. This is felt still more in " Hedda 
 Gabler " than in " Rosmersholm." 
 
 Ibsen now found himself the centre of unprece- 
 dented popularity; not only were the Scandinavian 
 countries drawing their chief literary sustenance 
 from him, but he was the most prominent figure, 
 even considering Bjornson, in Norway. Through- 
 out the German states most of his plays were either 
 being produced or being widely read, and in the case 
 of " Hedda Gabler," an English translation was 
 
424 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 made direct from the original proof-sheets, and the 
 play published simultaneously in England, America, 
 and Scandinavia. 
 
 On his sixtieth birthday he received telegrams of 
 congratulation, but perhaps the highest evidences of 
 his power came from Sweden, a country which rec- 
 ognised in him a recreator of their sense of life. 
 During September, 1887, he went to Stockholm, and 
 was familiarly seen on the streets in a frock coat, 
 which was further ornamented on state occasions 
 with a gorgeous array of medals. He was feted, 
 and, as was his usual custom, addressed the company 
 gathered at the " Grand Hotel." ^ 
 
 The summer of that year he spent some time at 
 Frederikshavn and at Sasby in Jutland, and it was 
 there that Mr. Archer came upon him as he walked 
 along a country road in the usual frock and' a black 
 silk hat.^ No doubt his desire to be near the water had 
 some bearing on the evolution of his next piece. The 
 sea always possessed a peculiar fascination for him. 
 
 His correspondence during 1888 contains nothing 
 unusual; the fact is, Ibsen was now so bound to the 
 routine, if one might say so, of composition, that he 
 sacrificed his letter-writing. It was a business in 
 itself to take care of the pieces already available for 
 production. He read Peter Hansen's translation of 
 " Faust " about this time, and many of his evenings 
 were spent, not at the theatre, but in studying plays. 
 Several uninterrupted hours each day passed in con- 
 templation and in composition. A letter to Brandes, 
 
 " See Elias, Brandes, Schlenther, ed., vol. 1, p. 597. 
 ' See Mr. Archer's account in introduction to " The Lady 
 from the Sea," xx; also in The Reader, July, 1906, 8:185-197. 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 425 
 
 dated from Munich on October 80, 1888, announced 
 the completion of " The Lady from the Sea." 
 
 The first part of the year 1889 was uneventful ; It 
 was most likely spent in working out the intricacies 
 of his new drama, and travelling to Berlin to attend 
 special performances of his plays. That summer 
 was passed in Gossensass, the experiences of which, 
 as will be noted, were so mingled with the conception 
 of " The Master Builder." 
 
 Not only was Ibsen steadily gaining ground in 
 France through the efforts of Moritz Prozor, and in 
 England through the work of William Archer, but 
 commentaries were likewise adding to a better under- 
 standing of his essential purpose. During the sum- 
 mer of 1890 his new play, " Hedda Gabler," so en- 
 grossed his attention that he was kept in Munich 
 without any change whatsover. Over in London 
 George Bernard Shaw began a series of lectures on 
 July 18th before the Fabian Society, which were 
 finally published under the title of " The Quintes- 
 sence of Ibsenism,"^ during which the Norwegian 
 was called a " socialist " ; the London Daily Chron- 
 icle misrepresented Ibsen in claiming that he resented 
 this political identification and had never studied the 
 question of Socialism. Not only was he interested in 
 the movement, but he had accomplished some reading 
 along those lines. What he really had said was that 
 he belonged to no party whatsoever. If he was at 
 all surprised,^ it was not that the socialists claimed 
 
 ' See Shaw's " Preface," dated London, June, 1891. 
 
 "See Correspondence, 215. Also see German ed., Elias, 
 Brandes, Schlenther, vol. 1, p. 510, " Die Socialdemokratie," 
 and note ibid, p. 667. 
 
426 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 him, but that " I, who had made it my chief life-task 
 to depict human characters and human destinies, 
 should, without conscious or direct intention, have 
 arrived in several matters at the same conclusions as 
 the social-democratic moral philosophers had arrived 
 at by scientific processes." 
 
 As late as October 30th Ibsen was still engrossed 
 in " Hedda Gabler," and only by November 20th 
 could he breathe freely.-' As he wrote to Moritz 
 
 ' The stage history of " Hedda Gabler " is a large one, for 
 if its popvdarity as an acting drama is not greater than " A 
 Doll's House," it is at least as great. It was published at 
 Copenhagen on December 16, 1890, in an edition of 10,000, and 
 almost immediately appeared in England, translated in 1891 
 by Edmund Gosse, and also by William Archer. M. Prozor 
 made a French version in 1892. In Italian, it has been done by 
 Prof. Paolo Rindler and Enrico Polese Santarnecchi (1893) ; 
 and in German by Emma Klingenfeld, M. von Borch and 
 Victor Ottmann. Among the commentaries, see especially: R. 
 Doumic — " De Scribe k Ibsen ; " Lemaltre — ■" Impressions de 
 Theatre," 6e s^rie; Fortnightly, Iv, 1891, 4-13 (Edmund 
 Gosse) ; Fortnightly, Iv, 1891, 736-40 (Oswald Crawfurd) ; The 
 New England and Yale Review, vol. Iv, 1891, 14-18 (W. L. 
 Cross) ; New Review, vol. iv, 1891, 519-530 (London — Henry 
 James) ; Revue d'Art Dramatique, 1891, 207, 270 (Prozor) ; 
 Revue Bleue, 1891 (G. VioUat) ; Revue des Deux Mondes, vol. 
 109, 1892, 218-224 (C. Bellaigue). Many parodies have been 
 made, the most accessible to English readers being that in 
 Anstey's " Pocket Ibsen." Among the numerous performances, 
 according to Halvorsen, we note those at the Munich Residenz 
 Theatre, January 31, 1891, with Fru Conrad-Ramlo ; the 
 Lessing Theatre, Berlin, February 10, 1891, with Fru Anna 
 Haverland. On February 26, 1891, the play was seen with 
 Constance Bruun at the Christiania Theatre, and the evening 
 before, February 25, Fru Hennings appeared in Copenhagen. 
 At Stockholm, the title-r61e was played by Fru Hwasser- 
 Engelbrecht on February 19, 1891. The first English per- 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 427 
 
 Prozor, " it produces a curious feeling of emptiness 
 to be thus suddenly separated from a work which 
 has occupied one's time and thoughts for several 
 months, to the exclusion of all else. But it is a good 
 thing, too, to have done with it. The constant inter- 
 course with the fictitious personages was beginning 
 to make me quite nervous." Four days after, he 
 wrote that in calling the play " Hedda Gabler " 
 rather than " Hedda Tesman," his intention was " to 
 indicate that Hedda, as a personality, is to be re- 
 garded rather as her father's daughter than as her 
 husband's wife."^ 
 
 formance was given in London at the Vaudeville Theatre on 
 April 20, 1891, with Miss Elizabeth Robins and Miss Marion 
 Lea in the cast. Miss Robins then went to the Opera Comique 
 in London, thence to Manchester, and thence to New Yorlc, 
 where in March, 1898, she presented " Hedda Gabler " at the 
 Fifth Avenue Theatre (See Critic, 1898, vol. 1, 254). Eleonora 
 Duse, who added the r61e to her repertoire, carried it to 
 London and on March S, 1907, Mrs. Patrick Campbell essayed 
 the part, bringing it in her repertoire to New York during 
 the season of 1907-8. In America, we note Miss Blanche 
 Bates as Hedda in the Fall of 1900. Mrs. Fiske and Miss 
 Nance O'Neil have also acted the role, the one a perfect 
 example of the type, the other pitched to the highest tone of 
 melodrama. Madame Alia Nazimova in 1907 presented a care- 
 ful rendering of the part. " Hedda Gabler," like " Camille," is 
 one of the goals for every ambitious actress. In Paris the first 
 production occurred on December 17, 1891, preceded by a few 
 remarks from Jules Lemaitre. Dr. Brandes' estimate of 
 " Hedda Gabler " is of interest, although it errs in several 
 minor instances; despite his friendship with Ibsen, this critic 
 was inclined to take adversely many of Ibsen's most marked 
 characteristics. The English reviewers, in 1891, scored the piece 
 as usual. Note particularly Clement Scott and Robert 
 Buchanan. 
 
 "The letters Ibsen wrote to Fraulein Emilie Bardach have 
 
428 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 This play is external to a greater degree than 
 any other that Ibsen has written. As he himself de- 
 clared, his intention was, not to deal with problems, 
 but " to depict human beings, human emotions, and 
 human destinies, upon a groundwork of certain of 
 the social conditions and principles of the present 
 day." 
 
 Let us say that a canvas was placed before Ibsen 
 upon which certain actual events had traced definite 
 lines. First, there was a Norwegian composer whose 
 wife, blind with jealousy, had burned the manuscript 
 of his symphony. Second, a beautiful woman had 
 married a drunkard who finally succeeded in master- 
 ing his weakness. One day, in an ungovernable de- 
 sire to show her power over him, the wife put a bar- 
 rel of brandy into his study, and later found him 
 stretched senseless upon the floor. Third, a young 
 man named Holm served as the model for Eilert 
 Lovborg; he was weak in his mind, and in a debauch 
 had lost the manuscript of his book ; he had further- 
 more made Ibsen his legatee in case of his death, 
 and in some indirect way had suggested his associa- 
 tion with a lady much on a par with " Mademoiselle 
 Diana." These are the few details upon which the 
 dramatist was to build. 
 
 Of course one can readily understand the avidity 
 with which people search for the symbol in Ibsen. In 
 a way the pistol does represent the lawlessness in 
 
 been published by Brandes in the Ibsen volume of Die 
 Literatur (Berlin). These have references either to "Hedda 
 Gabler " or to " The Master Builder " ; presumably to the latter. 
 See also Neue Deutsche Bundachcm, December, 1906, where 
 sources for the framework of the plot are given. 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 429 
 
 Hedda's nature, the vine leaves are significant of 
 weakness in Lovborg: but never has Ibsen been less 
 with a purpose, other than to paint character real- 
 istically — proving nothing through the suggestive- 
 ness of poetry, but resting content with the accurate 
 strokes of the painter. Indeed, no more apt com- 
 parison has been made than that which likened Ib- 
 sen's portrait of Hedda to a canvas of Sargent, where 
 the flesh tints, the sinuous lines, the pose, and the ex- 
 pression all conduce toward suggesting the tempera- 
 ment beneath. Ibsen is not extravagant in colour 
 while drawing this figure ; everything is concise, 
 unerring, clear-cut, dangerously picturesque. It is 
 not merely that there is exhibited a wonderfully close 
 observation of the feminine nervous framework, but 
 something more ; usually an artist looks into the soul 
 of the woman he draws, but few can look out with 
 the soul of a woman, can transfer an impersonal 
 sketch to a living, breathing personality. Flinging 
 upon his canvas the common elements of a Norwe- 
 gian life in the early '60's, Ibsen succeeds in deal- 
 ing with elemental characteristics acting upon a 
 special type. Hedda Gabler is not the woman every 
 man takes down to dinner, as the critic declared she 
 was ; she is not the species, but the variant ; she is the 
 composite woman raised to the mth power; she is not 
 the normal type but an aggregate of abnormal 
 types. 
 
 Egoism eats into Hedda as acid bites into zinc; 
 she is wholly bad, impelled by a consuming desire to 
 overcome her ennui. She is wicked by virtue of her 
 inherent wickedness. Ibsen has never before so thor- 
 oughly depicted feminine decg.dence. Belonging to 
 
430 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ■the same class as Rebecca West and Ellida Wangel, 
 she is, as Lichtenberger asserts, " the pagan, per- 
 suaded of the legitimacy of her natural instincts 
 and of her right to happiness." The same critic 
 asks whether Hedda would have awakened had she 
 been brought in contact with a Rosmer; it is not 
 likely, for the very reason that her greatest weak- 
 ness was ennui, based on the lack of continued exci- 
 tation of the passions. Rebecca's egoism was subject 
 to noble influences, but nobility in any form would 
 have bored Hedda Gabler ; this is very evident by the 
 fact that she rakes up the escapades of Lovborg, and 
 recalls her peculiar relations with Brack. Whatever 
 she touches, she perverts. Her instincts are those of 
 the leman more than Hiordis's ; she commits adultery 
 by the very thoughts that pass through her. She is 
 the play, and the play is but the culmination of 
 events that have occurred. Ibsen is a past master 
 in the art of beginning his plays after the events 
 have taken place, and the consequences are ripen- 
 ing. Hiordis is a heavy role to interpret; Hedda 
 Gabler requires almost as much reserve force, and 
 assuredly more subtle shading. The extraordinary 
 characteristic about the later plays is that the whole 
 effect is dependent upon the vitality of the com- 
 monplace. The real, terse, unadorned, direct an- 
 swer is raised to the same dignity as long periods 
 of poetic expression marking " Brand " and " The 
 Pretenders." 
 
 Shaw's Superman is naught compared with what 
 Mr. Huneker calls this Superwoman; yet to my 
 mind she is a perversion of the Superwoman in all 
 things save the satisfaction of her instincts. Hedda 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 431 
 
 is an unscrupulous thirster after life ; her tempera- 
 ture slumbers beneath a cold-blooded attitude, until 
 her lust spies an ignoble goal, when she pursues it 
 at feverish heat. She is not a woman, but a vam- 
 pire ; she shuns every quality of womanhood ; she 
 desires only to remain unbridled; she abhors any 
 reference to her pregnant state, — a state which 
 might account for her cerebral restlessness, and her 
 neurotic irritability. From the medical standpoint 
 Hedda is an interesting subject; from the criminal 
 standpoint also. 
 
 She was a coward in all things that hedged 
 around her independence; she was devoid of heart, 
 to be influenced as Rebecca was influenced ; her temp- 
 tation was to dare, but not to dare bravely; her 
 thirst for beauty was that which is only satisfied with 
 destruction. Her whole attitude toward people was 
 to overcome them; she was a physical beauty, lowly 
 bred, and anxious for social position in order to ex- 
 ercise that physical beauty. Perhaps one might at- 
 tribute this decadence to her previous education, as 
 some critics are inclined to do; she is vulgar in her 
 tastes, in her strivings, in her associations. She is 
 consumed with curiosity and jealousy; she is pro- 
 ductive of only negative qualities ; her aristocratic 
 inclination is common; her irresponsibility as to all 
 human ties is coarse. She is wholly bourgeoise. 
 
 Hedda Gabler is a mixture of Mrs. Alving and of 
 Rebecca West; all three had pagan license in mind, 
 but only Hedda lacked the heart; she alone of the 
 three was irretrievably diseased. Her portrait is, 
 therefore, one where the whole moral, physical, and 
 spiritual fibre is hopeless from the very first. There 
 
432 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 is naught pleasing about the woman in Hedda 
 Gabler, but as Mr. James says, Ibsen's fascination 
 is charmless, " because he holds us without bribing 
 us," quietly working his way, taking the whole load 
 upon his own shoulders.-' 
 
 A reminiscence of the Ibsen formula is found in 
 this play; the man stood between two women in 
 " The Feast at Solhaug " and in " The Vikings at 
 Helgeland " ; here the woman stands between two 
 men; but Thea has something of the old romantic 
 mood permeating Dagny, even as Hedda is of the 
 same Viking or Amazon stature as Hiordis. George 
 Tesman has many a similar antecedent, although in 
 his selfishness and in his inexperience he outdoes 
 even Helmier in " A Doll's House." Thea bears the 
 same relation to Hedda that Mrs. Elvsted does to 
 Nora, and Brack is of as much significance to Hedda 
 as Dr. Rank is to Nora. In other words, we might 
 almost accuse Ibsen of monotony in human relation- 
 ship, were it not that in every case he intensifies the 
 individual development. And he seems to do this 
 through no artistic effort. 
 
 Hedda has been married six months when she re- 
 turns to her new home, furnished partly through 
 the unselfishness of Tesman's aunt, but secretly and 
 
 ' A most poignant review of " Hedda Gabler " is that by 
 Henry James, in The New Review, 4 ; 519, June, 1891. He says: 
 " Ibsen is massively common and ' middle-class,' but neither his 
 spirit nor his manner is small." Further on, he adds : " His 
 people are of an inexpressive race; . . . even when they 
 are furiously nervous ... we recognise that they live, with 
 their remarkable creator, in a world in which selection has no 
 great range." James realizes the common but rare quality in 
 Ibsen's workmanship, that "the picture is infinitely noted." 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 
 
 partly through the efforts of Brack, a former dev- 
 otee. She has been bored by keeping close com- 
 pany throughout a long wedding journey with her 
 prosaic husband, and were this all, we should not 
 have much to blame in her. But she is constitution- 
 ally stricken, and she goes out of her way to ob- 
 ject to small details and to insult in a mean and 
 trivial manner those of Tesman's relatives who come 
 around her. This beautiful creature of expensive 
 ambitions is the wife of a sleepy scholar whose aim 
 reaches no further than a professorship, and whose 
 interest is buried deep in some dry-as-dust thesis. 
 His expert knowledge thus accounts somewhat for 
 Lovborg's desire to read him the manuscript of his 
 new book. 
 
 The very bearing of Hedda is a guide to her na- 
 ture. The stage directions read : " She is a woman 
 of nine-and-twenty. Her face and figure show re- 
 finement and distinction. Her complexion is pale 
 and opaque. Her steel-grey eyes express a cold, 
 unruffled repose. Her hair is of an agreeable me- 
 dium brown, but not particularly abundant." This 
 is the woman who fears motherhood, who chafes 
 under the monotony of married existence, who is ex- 
 travagant in idea beyond the range of Tesman's 
 purse, who wilfully insults the good, unselfish, sac- 
 rificing Aunt Julia. 
 
 When Mrs. Elvsted arrives, a fragile little woman 
 whom Hedda had referred to previously as the girl 
 with the irritating hair, the guile used in order 
 to understand the whole scandal between Sheriff 
 Elvsted's wife and Eilert Lovborg reveals an inor- 
 dinate curiosity as well as a tremendous jealous 
 
434 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 streak. To feel that another, through the mere 
 practice of a colourless meekness, could hold a 
 drunkard in check, was galling to Hedda Gabler; 
 to feel that a reputed genius had written a book 
 through the spur of such a woman as Mrs. Elvsted, 
 hurt her animal pride. Through the former's fear 
 and careful guarding of Lovborg, Hedda Gabler 
 recognises her power; she shows a certain amount 
 of restrained agitation, for years before, her path 
 had crossed that of Eilert, and where anyone met 
 Hedda Gabler, there was always a memory left — 
 either a threat to shoot or a threat to burn one's 
 hair. 
 
 Hedda's concern for things is always based on the 
 sensational; when her husband hears that maybe he 
 will have a competitor for the professorship, her 
 feeling is not a personal one for Tesman, but she 
 shows a kind of sporting interest in the affair. We 
 see ennui settling upon her ; she is not one to regard 
 her marriage bond as anything more than a com- 
 pa:ct, and a compact, at best, for Tesman to give her 
 certain luxuries and leave her alone. She shudders 
 at the prospect of poverty, and in her restlessness 
 turns to her father's pistols, using human beings as 
 targets for her savage pleasure. 
 
 She fires on Brack at the opening of the second 
 act, and misses him; she does not care one way or 
 the other; it is the excitement and uncertainty 
 which please her. And then the two chat together. 
 Ibsen's tete-a-tetes are never commonplace; his 
 women are never without vital gossip. The whole 
 former intercourse between these two comes out in 
 a casual manner — a morally bad intercourse which 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 435 
 
 we are made to feel is not yet done with. Brack is 
 intent on being the third member of a " triangular 
 friendship," in which Tesman, the specialist, is no 
 more than a baby in worldly matters. A woman of 
 sudden impulses is not always a safe companion; 
 Hedda is being goaded to desperation by " genteel 
 poverty," and her physical condition is only ag- 
 gravating her. 
 
 Then Lovborg arrives on the scene, a romantic, 
 picturesque type of man, a contradiction as far as 
 mentality goes, but a genius, to judge by the suc- 
 cess of his published book, and the originality of the 
 manuscript he brings with him for Tesman's consid- 
 eration. Ibsen had probably heard of Bellamy's 
 story when he made Eilert write about the future. 
 Hedda's manoeuvring to break down his determina- 
 tion not to drink is crafty; she finally gains a vic- 
 tory by insulting his weak will. She could have 
 been the mistress of Brack, she could have married 
 Lovborg, but dislike of being hedged in, or of going 
 too far, had held her back, until social ambition 
 seized her. 
 
 With Lovborg Hedda Gabler had been a comrade, 
 yet she had threatened him with a pistol when they 
 bordered upon love. Dread of scandal alone had 
 kept her from shooting. Such a woman can easily 
 undo whatever Thea might have accomplished to- 
 ward saving a drunkard from ruin. She forces 
 Lovborg to go with Brack and Tesman to a stag 
 party, knowing full well that temptation will over- 
 come him. It is difficult for her to win the victory 
 over Mrs. Elvsted, and as the two women sit waiting 
 for the return of the men, the real poverty of Hed- 
 
436 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 da's power strikes her in overwhelming force. She 
 is driven to extremes in her desire " to mould a hu- 
 man destiny." 
 
 How is she to do this? During the night's de- 
 bauch Lovborg's manuscript is lost and falls into 
 her hands. Tesman brings it home, to keep until 
 Eilert is himself again. The insipid scholar does 
 not recognise the devilment in Hedda Gabler as she 
 rescues the parcel from him. Then Brack arrives 
 with the news that this genius has been found in the 
 rooms of a red-haired singer, and in a wild fashion, 
 confusing the loss of his manuscript with that of 
 his pocket-book, has brought down upon him the 
 hand of the law. Hedda had imaged his returning 
 to her with " vine leaves in his hair," instead of 
 which he was in a dingy police station. She is now 
 made to realize that unless she keep Eilert Lovborg 
 from her, she may be brought into a scandal. 
 
 The distraught man does rush to her and in con- 
 fused fashion shows his physical agony. But Hedda 
 is master now; in the drawer she has the manuscript 
 — product of Thea's inspiring effect upon this sec- 
 ond-rate genius, the symbolic child of their associa- 
 tion; before her she beholds the man dragged by 
 her into a desperate state. Through Thea, he has 
 been changed to the extent of not being able any 
 longer to satisfy the taste for wild living; his is a 
 broken spirit. Hedda sends him off, convinced that 
 he must die; in this respect she commits an act simi- 
 lar to Rebecca West's, but with far different pur- 
 pose. She even gives to Lovborg one of General 
 Gabler's pistols, in order to do the act beautifully. 
 And as he closes the door, she takes the manuscript 
 
IBSEN THE FEMINIST 437 
 
 and burns it sheet by sheet, her jealous spirit satis- 
 fied that she has been the instrument of destruction. 
 
 But instead of doing it beautifully, Eilert Lov- 
 borg kills himself frightfully, and, furthermore, 
 there is fear that the pistol, which has fallen into 
 the hands of the police, will be traced to Madame 
 Hedda; the only thing to prevent it would be 
 Brack's refusal to identify it. Here at last the 
 woman is at bay; she may put Tesman off with the 
 excuse for burning the manuscript, that she was 
 jealous for his sake; it does not take much to blind 
 a dense coxcomb. But Brack now has her where he 
 wants her. Even in devilment she cannot seem to 
 accomplish her aims ; she therefore begins to stretch 
 forth for the remaining pistol. 
 
 Brack pulls her to the precipice. In a most pa- 
 thetic manner, when Tesman proposes with Mrs. 
 Elvsted's aid, to restore some of Lovborg's destroyed 
 masterpiece, Thea draws from her dress the loose 
 notes he had made in his researches, as though she 
 had travelled always prepared for just such an 
 emergency. Here is the one point in the drama 
 where a vestige of sympathy may be felt for Hedda 
 Gabler, in the sense that one may sympathize with 
 a sleek criminal hedged in. This animal is a moral 
 coward ; her weak spot is abhorrence of scandal ; she 
 also revolts against being subject to the will of a 
 suave libertine like Brack. That is why, in wild 
 desperation, she kills herself. 
 
 For subtle, psychological reasoning, Ibsen's por- 
 trait of " Hedda Gabler " remains unequalled ; it is 
 the very essence of realism, a replica of viciousness. 
 One regrets that such beauty of workmanship should 
 
438 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 have been expended upon a figure which has to be 
 rejected after it is fully drawn. There is a certain 
 fascination in bad types, and the attraction of 
 " Hedda Gabler " is fascination. She is Ibsen's 
 highest point as a feminist; she is Ibsen's lowest 
 point in the depiction of the feminine. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 
 
 In a way it is disillusionizing to read consecutively 
 the plays of Henrik Ibsen; one invariably detects a 
 paucity of visual range, a commonplaceness of hu- 
 manity, a low level of environment, a monotony in 
 repeated ideas. The value of order in the study of 
 such a man is found, however, in the curious con- 
 secutiveness of his development; by the time one has 
 reached " The Wild Duck," one has become as im- 
 patient with results as Ibsen himself became, after 
 writing "A Doll's House," "Ghosts," and "An 
 Enemy of the People." 
 
 A systematic unfolding of Ibsen has, nevertheless, 
 its inestimable value; it destroys much of the nega- 
 tiveness of his philosophy, and much of the distrust 
 with which that philosophy may have been regarded. 
 Ibsen must be judged in intenso and not in extenso; 
 his artistic formula is not variable; his scene is ordi- 
 narily contracted. But despite the exactitude of his 
 workmanship, he must be regarded as the artist, and 
 not as the scientific investigator. 
 
 The human side of Henrik Ibsen began to react 
 after the writing of " An Enemy of the People " : he 
 displayed the impatience that usually follows the 
 narrowing of imagination, and the reduction of emo- 
 tion to its lowest terms. Ever since " Pillars of So- 
 ciety," he had been sounding the surface of things, 
 and had heard only the hollowness beneath; small 
 thanks he had received for doing this, but now there 
 dawned upon him the natural question that one asks 
 after reading " Brand " : Is it right to force an ideal 
 upon a civilization not prepared for it or to create 
 
440 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ideals for others? Is it possible? Suppose we do 
 go through the world tearing veil after veil from the 
 semblance of things, do we not, in a way, become as 
 much an enemy of society as the man who stands by 
 an ideal which he knows is far beyond the spiritual 
 growth of the people around him? That was the 
 mistake of Brand; it is the mistake likewise of 
 Gregers Werle. 
 
 We may, therefore, describe the mood of Ibsen, 
 when he started writing " The Wild Duck," as pes- 
 simistic; this is more than one may say of anything 
 else he ever wrote; for in this piece he for the first 
 and for the last time verges on a repudiation of all 
 he had striven for. At the outset of his career he 
 had doubted himself with a youthful doubt which 
 could easily be overcome; now he was beyond the 
 middle age of life, and after continued and persist- 
 ent struggle, he was awakening to all that which he 
 had denied himself. A man of such circumscribed 
 experiences is just the type to break forth in unex- 
 pected bursts of passion, such as were to seize him 
 at Gossensass. 
 
 In more ways than one was this restiveness on his 
 part apparent. Just as the human in him was to re- 
 act against the ascetic, so the artist was to struggle 
 with the scientific contemplation of bare formulated 
 results. Ibsen, the poet, grew discontented with the 
 stern distinctness of " Ghosts," and the plain direct- 
 ness of " An Enemy of the People " : he therefore 
 turned to symbolism as a means towards an end; 
 that end was, to come forth again as a poet. 
 
 Now, symbolism cannot be, or rather ought not 
 to be, an end in itself; it is, after all, but an acces- 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 441 
 
 sory of poetry ; it should not obstruct or obscure ; its 
 province is to represent; it should not confuse the 
 idea, but reinforce it. Faguet writes : " A symbol is 
 not at all an abstraction, and it is on that account 
 that there are two words to signify these two things. 
 An abstraction is a pure idea, and a symbol is an 
 image, wherefore it follows, that a symbol which is 
 an image is precisely the contrary from an abstrac- 
 tion, which is a pure idea, a barren and unadorned 
 idea." The diversity of opinion regarding a sym- 
 bol, therefore, lies in the fact that, escaping the 
 real, since it is a representation of a thing rather 
 than the thing itself, in every interpretation one 
 gives it a significance beyond its direct application. 
 That is why it is so easy for the symbol to be ob- 
 scured and to lose its vital character. 
 
 " The Wild Duck " is one of the three plays in 
 which Ibsen shows his weakness in the use of the 
 symbol; it is not that he was dealing with a new 
 medium, for the symbol is found in " Brand," in 
 " Peer Gynt," in " Emperor and Galilean," in " A 
 Doll's House," and in " Ghosts," but that he was re- 
 lying too completely upon this accessory for the at- 
 mosphere of poetry ; the symbol, therefore, became 
 too isolated, too much outside of the philosophical 
 intent, too far removed from the significance of 
 character. To such perfection had Ibsen's charac- 
 terization been brought, that his symbol appears arti- 
 ficial, by contrast ; it is present, and in a way it 
 represents some significant idea, and indirectly, it 
 does add to or detract from character, but it is not 
 organically worked in with the whole. Whenever 
 the attention is turned from the contemplation of the 
 
442 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 vital commonplace to the symbol, the falsity is ap- 
 parent, even to the verge of the grotesque. 
 
 " The Wild Duck "^ is properly placed between 
 " An Enemy of the People " and " Rosmersholm." 
 In June, 1883, Ibsen wrote to Brandes from Rome 
 speaking of his new work as " a variety of mad 
 fancies (galskaber) " which must find an outlet, and 
 he added that " as the play is neither to deal with 
 the Supreme Court nor the right of absolute veto, 
 and not even with the removal of the sign of union 
 from the flag, it can hardly count upon arousing 
 much interest in Norway." Thus early we are able 
 to detect the disquieting thoughts which were after- 
 wards to form the political fabric for " Rosmers- 
 
 ' " The Wild Duck " was written in first draft while in Rome, 
 and was finished during the summer of 1884, at Gossensass. 
 It was published in an edition of 8,000 on November 11, 1884, 
 a second edition being caUed for on December 1, 1884. An 
 English translation was made by Mrs. F. E. Archer in 1891 ; 
 a French translation by M. Prozor in 1893; and German 
 translations by M. von Borch (1887), Ernst Brausewetter 
 (1887), G. Morgenstern (189—), I. Engeroflf (1894), Wilhelm 
 Lange (1900). Among the many parodies, note the one by F. 
 Anstey. Among the performances, Halvorsen records; Bergen 
 (January 9, 1885) ; Christiania (March 16, 1885) ; Copenhagen 
 (February 22, 1885). It did not reach Berlin until March 4, 
 1888, when it was given under the auspices of the " Berliner 
 Presse." Halvorsen mentions actors' names. In Paris, on 
 April 27, 1891, the play was presented at the Theatre Libre; 
 in London, on May 4, 1894, at the Independent Theatre; again 
 in May, 1897, with Mr. Laurence Irving, and in October, 1905, 
 with Mr. Granville Barker. (See Mr. Archer's Introduction). 
 In America, it formed part of the repertoire of Mr. Wright 
 Lorimer, during the season of 1906-7. In Lothar's " Ibsen " 
 (1902), see pp. 116, 117, containing pictures of Emil Poulsen 
 as Hjalmar Ekdal, and Fru Betty Hennings as Hedvig. 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 443 
 
 holm." By June 25th he had finished his first sketch, 
 which meant that he was ready to mould his char- 
 acter-ideas into individuals. 
 
 It was now customary for Ibsen in his correspond- 
 ence to dispense with any personal reference to his 
 theories, except under some trite term as " follies " ; 
 he was, nevertheless, so deeply concerned with the de- 
 sire of fulfilling his mission to the utmost, that he 
 let his wife and son go to Norway, leaving him to 
 spend a while in Gossensass. " I wish I could have 
 accompanied them . . -" he said to Theodore 
 Caspari ; " at my age a man must make use of his 
 time for his work." On September 2d he sent the 
 manuscript of " The Wild Duck " to Hegel, with 
 the customary regret over having to part with old 
 friends, especially those whom he considered as af- 
 fording the " actor tribe " unusual opportunities 
 for subtle interpretation. 
 
 Ibsen regarded this play as a new departure, dif- 
 fering from all else he had ever done; for that rea- 
 son he was expecting, not only that critics might 
 discuss it extensively, but that the younger drama- 
 tists might take it as a herald of newer paths. No 
 doubt Ibsen was thinking of his conscious effort at 
 symbolism; Mr. Archer calls it a culmination rather 
 than a departure, and he is right in two respects. 
 Not only has Ibsen surpassed himself here, in the dis- 
 tinct individualities of his ensemble cast, but he has 
 also constructed in such a manner that two dramas, 
 in concentric motion, present a composite result of 
 the active past impressing itself upon the active 
 present. As an instance of Ibsen's readiness to at- 
 tribute t^ie best motives to conditions, it is of inter- 
 
444 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 est to note that upon the first performance of " The 
 Wild Duck," some hissing was detected in the body 
 of the theatre; the author, when he heard of it, re- 
 fused to believe it was intended as an insult to him- 
 self. 
 
 When we speak of the weakness of " The Wild 
 Duck," we refer only to the wide chasm between that 
 which stands the human test, and that which is in- 
 congruous. We did not object to Gerd's shooting 
 the falcon of compromise; there was naught mal a 
 propos in Peer Gynt's struggle with the Boyg; but 
 every time the distinct figures in " The Wild Duck " 
 proceed to hunt in the garret, thus believing that 
 under the guise of a puerile, a senile illusion, they 
 are happy, the ludicrous, rather than the humorous, 
 strikes our fancy. There is more reason for the other 
 illusion. Molvik, the hopeless tippler, would have 
 fallen to pieces, had not Relling forced him to be- 
 lieve that he was diseased, was daemonic. If Gregers, 
 in his rush after the truth, had disillusionized him, 
 there would have been a horrible catastrophe. 
 
 The play possesses a deep tragic undertone, which 
 gathers about the pathetic figure of Hedvig. Her 
 disquieting presence, her tell-tale tendency to blind- 
 ness, coincident with that of Werle, her very strong 
 devotion and intense sensitiveness, make of her a fra- 
 gile portrait, perhaps more fragile than anything 
 Ibsen has done. Some refer to her as the morbid 
 child; but she had only arrived at a critical age ,of 
 change; as Relling said, too young to grasp how 
 thoroughly flabby her father, Hialmar, was; too 
 inexperienced to understand the vulgarity of her 
 mother, yet sufficiently mature in her lov° for her 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 445 
 
 father to sacrifice her life in order to gain a father's 
 love. 
 
 Gregers is a caricature portrait of Ibsen, the 
 truth-hunter ; Railing is an Ibsen portrait also, taken 
 at a time when he was snapping his fingers at the 
 claims of the ideals, and doubting the right of the 
 truth-hunter to destroy the illusions upon which so 
 much of life is founded. Between these two is placed 
 Hialmar Ekdal, dwelling with his vulgar but prac- 
 tical wife, Gina, a woman who in the past had been 
 the mistress of Werle, but who, now she is settled, 
 proves to be the steadying influence upon her loosely- 
 hung husband. 
 
 The Ekdal household consists of four persons, 
 three of whom have suffered at the hands of the 
 merchant, Werle; there is the old father, who has 
 served a prison term which Werle himself should 
 have served instead, for certain land frauds ; there is 
 Gina, with whom had passed relations which over- 
 cloud the birthright of Hedvig; and there is Hial- 
 mar, who has been married to the woman, and set 
 up in business as a salve to another man's evil con- 
 science. 
 
 This is, indeed, an ill-founded family, but events 
 have so transpired, that the contentment of igno- 
 rance rests upon them; if there is any spleen mani- 
 fest, it is that which Hialmar shows regarding the 
 shameful and demented condition of old Ekdal hunt- 
 ing in his imaginary woods. Into such a low atmos- 
 phere comes Gregers Werle, the son of the merchant. 
 The feelings for his father are none of the best; 
 through maltreatment or rather scandal, his mother 
 had been brought to an early grave, reflecting some- 
 
446 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 how the constitution of Beata ; and now the son, dis- 
 covering how Gina has been settled, and noting the 
 elder Werle's association with his housekeeper, Mrs. 
 Sorby, turns toward the Ekdal family with the kind- 
 est, cruellest intention of leading them from dark- 
 ness to light. Just for a moment one suspects his 
 motives to be aimed against his father instead. 
 
 This Gregers Werle, however distinct his portrait, 
 is none too safe with his unsettled ideas of what 
 idealism really means ; he is a builder of air-castles, 
 but an unsettler of homes ; he is a little of Talk and 
 a little of Brand, with none of the cynicism of the 
 former, and with none of the strength which under- 
 lies the stoicism of the latter. He has a mission in 
 life, so he proclaims as he leaves his father, a mis- 
 sion reinforced by his discovery that Hialmar Ek- 
 dal's home is built upon a lie. He has not the depth 
 or the penetration to see that his claims upon the 
 ideal are far above the reach of Hialmar, the de- 
 ceiver himself — a Don Quixote is not an apt com- 
 parison, since the knight-errant possessed nobility 
 and sweetness, while young Ekdal was a mediocre 
 dawdler whose salvation was the illiterate spouse by 
 his side ; much better the critic's statement that Hial- 
 mar is a burlesquer of the ideal. 
 
 After an act and a half we are convinced that 
 whatever the past immorality in this household, now 
 at least, with the small deceptions, it can exist to 
 some purpose. Then, at the moment when Hialmar 
 is playing on his flute for Hedvig and Gina, there 
 is a theatrical tap on the door, and enter — Gregers 
 Werle with his mission. He installs himself as a 
 boarder, under the same roof with the disreputable 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 447 
 
 neighbours, Molvik and .Helling. At different times 
 they have all met; the past links them together in 
 true Ibsen fashion. 
 
 From this idealist Hialmar gains a smattering of 
 talk about one's mission in life— a vague use of 
 terms which Gina listens to, but always tries to 
 counteract by a firm hold upon the practical. There 
 are certain characters in literature that one likes, 
 not because of their virtues, but in spite of their 
 vices. Illiterate, commonplace, coarse, and cast in 
 the same mould, if not wholly of the same material, 
 as Regina in "Ghosts," this wife of an unimagina- 
 tive and ultra-demoralized Peer Gynt, has some 
 traits in her not irreclaimable; wild debauchee 
 though he might seem, Relling's view of life, how- 
 ever streaked through with cynicism, is by no means 
 ignoble. Hedvig is loved, but Relling is the only one 
 of the others in the cast whom one might come to 
 like. 
 
 There are confounding elements in " The Wild 
 Duck." In the first place Ibsen is laughing at him- 
 self as well as others, — he is cynical; in the second 
 place, he is contrasting the right of demands made 
 by different people, — he is satiric; and, finally, he is 
 tragic. But the loss of balance in thus dealing with 
 diverse elements is a weakness of construction, not 
 a lack of surety as to what his characters represent. 
 If there be a change in Ibsen, as seen in this play, it 
 is in his approach toward a philosophic estimation 
 rather than toward a polemic charge. But in thus 
 altering his attitude, Ibsen failed to free himself of 
 his stricture, his narrow canvas. In the majority of 
 instances he also neglected to reconcile the inward 
 
44.8 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 beauty, which there is no doubt he saw, with the out- 
 ward beauty which he persistently distrusted. It 
 was Norman Hapgood who wrote : " The neglect of 
 the dress of beauty is what makes some of Ibsen's 
 plays rather technical experiments, instructive to 
 playwrights, than forms precious to humanity ; " 
 and A. B. Walkley amended this by saying: "Just 
 as there are poets' poets, so there are dramatists' 
 dramatists." ■* 
 
 The defects in " The Wild Duck " are those which 
 underlie the method of Ibsen in his regard to char- 
 acter; whereas one may glorify the commonplace, 
 provided it is clean, one can but reproduce marvel- 
 lously the commonplace as it is, if it be tainted. 
 In " The Pretender," " Brand," " Peer Gynt," " Em- 
 peror and Galilean," Ibsen's concern was for the 
 broad actions and reactions of the spirit upon out- 
 ward circumstance ; but when he attained the mas- 
 tery of the social dramas, he shifted his view to a 
 contemplation of the effect of moral relations upon 
 the spirit of individuals. When he turned to sym- 
 bolism, the poet in him was warped. 
 
 The remarkable worth of " The Wild Duck " con- 
 sists in its portraiture; in his grouping Ibsen has 
 never been more successful than with Hialmar, Gre- 
 gers and Gina — the woman between two men. It is 
 true that this husband is straying in a poisonous 
 marsh, but since he has found contentment there, 
 who can lay claim to the right of awakening a cox- 
 comb to his coxcombery .'' On the other hand, Gre- 
 gers is a false estimator of human nature when he 
 
 'See "The Stage in America"; also the London Literature, 
 August 17, 1901. 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 449 
 
 mistakes Hialmar for a true man. Ekdal's ideal is 
 simply a daub of remembered and jumbled phrases; 
 Ibsen could not have given a better proof of the re- 
 sults in carrying too far Browning's philosophy that 
 a man's reach should exceed his grasp. 
 
 Gregers believes he is setting Hialmar on his feet 
 by showing him the deception underlying his life ; in 
 reality, he is taking from him the steadying support 
 of his existence ; there are some men not born to live 
 in a wholly rarified air, who err by mistaking an out- 
 ward acceptance for an' inward conviction. This is 
 the kind of man upon whom Gregers Werle is intent 
 on practising his mission. 
 
 But the very supporters of the ideal are oftentimes 
 the worst bunglers, and a man with " an acute at- 
 tack of integrity " is to be avoided. It is wrong to 
 put the torpedo beneath every ark ; Ibsen had learned 
 that through bitter experience; he now makes Gre- 
 gers Werle realize it, but only after it is too late. 
 Truth at all costs is only fit for spiritual giants, and 
 Hialmar is by no means a man of any strength; in 
 fact, as Mr. Archer so poignantly says : " Deprive 
 Peer Gynt of his sense of humour, and clip the wings 
 of his imagination, and you have Hialmar Ekdal." 
 We might resort to another comparison — the differ- 
 ent claims of Brand and Gregers to the ideal: the 
 spiritual weight is in the scale of the former, while 
 the latter succeeds in escaping any ill effects from 
 the consequences of his demands. 
 
 And so, what happens when this man with a mis- 
 sion whispers to Hialmar the falsity of his life, and 
 when symbolically he suggests to Hedvig the sac- 
 rifice of herself to gain the love of a worthless, doubt- 
 
450 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ful father? The one runs away, only to return to 
 anchorage, a most ridiculous figure; while the other, 
 pathetically alone, shoots herself. In many ways 
 does Ibsen try to show the verity of Brand's cry that 
 " No man can see Jehovah and live." 
 
 The one result that Gregers has gained by his in- 
 terference is hastened by the outward designs on the 
 part of the elder Werle to settle money upon Hedvig. 
 Must the claims of the ideal ignore the moral and 
 ethical claims, or does the one include the other two.'' 
 Ibsen here restates his marriage views : he presents a 
 man and his wife whose relations for nearly fifteen 
 years have been founded on deceit, on no true union ; 
 yet the man, when he learns of the weak will of the 
 woman, flaunts before her the claims of the ideal, all 
 the time knowing that he himself has had a past al- 
 most as reckless. Ibsen, the questioner, therefore 
 frames another query: Should the woman be the one 
 to pay. J" 
 
 Gregers is dense to the consequences which have 
 resulted; he is looking only for what he has pictured 
 ought to be the result of truth — ^transfiguration, 
 consecration, ennoblement. But he has not found it 
 in Hialmar, who has always to be helped in his hold 
 on the claims of the ideal. Gregers meant all for the 
 best, no doubt ; but " God forgive you " is the really 
 true retaliation of Gina. 
 
 In one respect Gregers, the idealist, has the wild 
 fancies of a Hedda, who imaged Lovborg shooting 
 himself beautifully. All the while that Hialmar is 
 away from home, the ideal picture of his regeneration 
 is far from the actual picture; he has been off on a 
 debauch, and then, exhausted, has slept through the 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 451 
 
 night, prosaically snoring during what Gregers was 
 pleased to term the crisis of his life. Relling sees 
 through him and estimates at its full value the spir- 
 itual tumult which is supposed to take place within 
 him. Gregers has raised up an idol; his search for 
 the ideal could not advance unless outside of himself 
 there was an idol to adore. And what a specimen 
 Hialmar proves himself to be ! "I am cultivating 
 the life-illusion," proclaims Relling, who turns upon 
 Gregers with the plea : " Don't use that foreign 
 word: ideals. We have the excellent native word: 
 lies." For, after all, the average man's happiness 
 is based upon illusion. 
 
 Ibsen's theological crease becomes distinct in the 
 end; it is most evident in Gina, who is impressed by 
 the sacrifice of her child; but Relling, who has seen 
 people ennobled by the presence of death, under- 
 stands full well that Hialmar's sorrow will be turned 
 into hollow rhetoric as soon as he is removed suflS- 
 ciently from the actual cause of his grief. The cur- 
 tain is rung down upon a mist of pessimism, for 
 Gregers, with his claims of the ideal, is in a quan- 
 dary. If Relling is right and he is wrong, then in- 
 deed is life not worth living. But, mayhap, Ibsen's 
 denouement was constructed for the express purpose 
 of reinforcing his philosophical theory, first framed 
 in " Emperor and Galilean." 
 
 We note how absolutely unessential the symbolism 
 in this play seems to be to the general vitality of its 
 story. It in no way disturbs the significance of the 
 character development. What, after all, is this 
 wild duck ? Some would call it " the image of man 
 born for liberty," hemmed in and prevented from 
 
452 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 living his full life through external circumstances. 
 Its presence is part expression of the lif e-iUusion ; 
 but the force of the moral in this drama is much 
 stronger by reason of the personages in it than be- 
 cause of this bird, which in a way represents Ibsen's 
 feeble attempt at poetry. The sharpness and vivid- 
 ness of the commonplace details are of far more 
 significance than the generalizations centring about 
 the wild duck, and to offer an explanation would 
 hardly add to the fuller understanding of the piece. 
 Archer and Brandes and Shaw discreetly leave, the 
 symbol alone; this would have been impossible if its 
 value had been organic.-*^ 
 
 To a certain extent a closer connection between 
 the symbol and the fact is maintained in " The 
 Lady from the Sea," for the probable reason that it 
 enters and forms an inherent part of the psychol- 
 ogy of sex. This only sustains us in our assertion 
 that a symbol should not be flaunted for itself alone. 
 
 The curious condition about the new play ^ also 
 
 " The reader should turn to Ehrhard's " Henrik Ihsen et le 
 theatre eontemporain," for a sane consideration of the symbol 
 in Ibsen. Mrs. Jeannette Lee's " Key to Ibsen," in its effeminate 
 coping with the same subject, is marked by a surprising inven- 
 tive ingenuity. 
 
 ^"The Lady from the Sea" was published on November 28, 
 1888, in an edition of 10,000 copies. The Norwegian version 
 was also published in Chicago, 111., during 1889. In 1890, an 
 English translation by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, was published; 
 it included an introduction by Edmund Gosse. Mrs. F. E. 
 Archer's version appeared in 1891. Other translations include: 
 In French, by Ad. Chenevifere and H. Johansen (1892) ; in 
 Italian, by Prof. Paolo Rindler and Enrico Polese (1894) ; in 
 German, by Julius Hoffory (1888), by M. von Borch (1889), 
 and by Fritz Schulze (1894). Among the many commentaries 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 453 
 
 lies in the fact that a careful study of Its technique 
 will lead to an understanding of its equal strength 
 and weakness; it is Ibsen at his highest in the use 
 of a certain mystic psychology; it is Ibsen in his 
 customary disregard of the logical results of scien- 
 
 mentioned by Halvorsen, note The Nineteenth Centiiry, vol. 
 26, 255 (W. Frewen); Saturday Review, vol. 69:15 (1890); 
 Fortnightly Beview, yohSl {\mS),\W [Edniund Gossej. The 
 play has been parodied many times. Among the productions, 
 note: Christiania Theatre (February 12, 1889, with Laura 
 Gundersen) ; Copenhagen (February 17, 1889, with E. Poulsen 
 and Fru Eckardt) ; Stockholm (March 22, 1.889); Weimar 
 (February 13, 1889, Ibsen present) ; Berlin (April 1, 1889, 
 Ibsen present); Stuttgart (1896); Vienna (June 3, 1898). In 
 London, It was given at the Terry Theatre, May 11, 1891, and 
 at the Royalty Theatre in 1902 by the Stage Society, the cast 
 including Laurence Irving and Janet Achurch. In 1893, 
 December IT, the play was given in Paris and thereafter was 
 in the repertoire of the Theatre I'CEuvre. See Lothar, p. 136. 
 Mr. Archer has condensed from Die neue Rundschau the evolu- 
 tion of " The Lady from the Sea." I have had occasion 
 repeatedly to call attention to this magazine. The special Ibsen 
 issue contains articles by Otto Brahm, Julius Elias, Herman 
 Bang, and Bernard Shaw. Besides letters and poems, there 
 are included in this magazine for December, 1901, many 
 anecdotes of varying value, but none the less interesting. The 
 man, however, who has been aptly called the Ibsen Boswell, is 
 John Paulsen, author of " Samliv med Ibsen" (1906). A 
 German translation has appeared. Therein consult references to 
 Ibsen and Goethe; Ibsen and Henrikke Hoist; Ibsen and Marie 
 Thoresen. The book is inclusive but fragmentary. " The Lady 
 from the Sea " has not been given in New York ; it was placed 
 in the repertoire of Miss Grace George while en tour. See 
 Huneker's " Iconoclasts " for Agnes Sorma's EUida, played at 
 the Lessing Theatre, Berlin, September 30, 1904. The reader 
 is likewise referred to Gosse's Biography, p. 236, for a con- 
 densation of M. Jules de Gaultier's analysis of " The Lady from 
 the Sea." 
 
454 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 tific accuracy; it is Ibsen in his most inartistic and 
 confused blending of three plots, one major and two 
 minor themes ; finally, it is Ibsen crystallized, con- 
 densed to the most vital terms. The December, 
 1906, issue of Die neue Rundschau contains a rough 
 draft of the first conception of two of Ibsen's plays. 
 A careful comparison of the crude scenarios of " A 
 Doll's House" and of "The Lady from the Sea," 
 with the finished products, will be of interest, but 
 will add nothing new to what we have already form- 
 ulated as to the maturing of idea and workman- 
 ship of the artist in Ibsen. All dramatists shift 
 their motives and their personages ; change names 
 here and there; transfer ideas from one character 
 to the other. The mastery of drama is largely a 
 matter of obliteration, of inference. The remnants 
 of one play were usually enlarged by Ibsen in the 
 evolving of another. If he found he could not con- 
 sistently introduce certain types into his cast, he 
 would tuck them away for future use; he did not 
 hesitate to evolve from the original conception of 
 one character the actual result of two. 
 
 The scenario of " The Lady from the Sea," first 
 constructed around 1880, contains an allegorical 
 figure who afterwards became both the Stranger 
 and Arnholm. As the play matured in Ibsen's 
 mind, it grew, intensified; he heightened here, and 
 shaded there; we find this one of the essential re- 
 quirements of drama; construction means certain 
 mechanical manipulation, and dramatic perfection 
 represented continued labour for Ibsen. His fasci- 
 nation for the sea was one of the motives prompt- 
 ing him, no doubt, in the choice of his subject; but. 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 455 
 
 as it stands, " The Lady from the Sea," whose value 
 is almost wholly dependent upon a consideration of 
 pure psychology, is shorn, in the case of EUida, 
 of any extraneous value, however much, in the cases 
 of Wangel's two daughters and their immature views 
 on marriage, it may partake of the disjointed 
 qualities of " Love's Comedy." 
 
 Ellida, whose woman-nature is so subtly within 
 control of the sea, is one of Ibsen's most actable 
 roles; the play, however, is not popular. And the 
 reasons are not hard to find; there is an incongru- 
 ity in the mixture of the occult, of the psychic, with 
 the commonplace atmosphere of the social scene. 
 This is a breach of artistic taste which clearly rep- 
 resents the limitations of Ibsen; not that it pointed 
 to an irretrievable weakness, for actual accomplish- 
 ment will bear witness to his sure grip in " Hedda 
 Gabler " and " The Master Builder," which followed 
 it, and " Rosmersholm," which preceded it. It is, 
 perhaps, that the play is not wholly concerned with 
 the portrait of Ellida, as the canvas was filled by the 
 seductive beauty of Hedda. 
 
 The interest in the piece is predominantly cen- 
 tred in that wild yearning which once, or perhaps 
 oftener in a lifetime, creeps over us with ungovern- 
 able fury- — to be free to follow the full bent of our 
 inclination. The sea was ingrained in the woman ; the 
 Stranger who came to claim her was an externalizing 
 of that irresistible passion which surged through her 
 bosom, the passion which shone in the eyes of her 
 baby, which coloured her whole existence spiritually, 
 and made her realize that she was not Wangel's 
 wife, so long as she was thus wedded to the sea. 
 
456 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 The spiritual weight of Ibsen's argument is, 
 nevertheless, not convincing, as it is in the change 
 that came over Rebecca West. EUida's nervous 
 condition is productive of wonderful possibilities, 
 had Ibsen's poetry been easily within his control; 
 but her expression of the same represents largely a 
 theory, a continuation of a proposition concerning 
 marriage, which Selma in " The League of Youth " 
 and Nora in " A Doll's House " began. What, 
 after all, constitutes the strong basis of a true mar- 
 riage.'' Did Ibsen, when he hammered some glim- 
 mering of Nora's miracle into the dull intellect of 
 Torvald, set about, in " The Lady from the Sea," 
 to show what might have resulted with the full 
 understanding of the miracle's meaning.'' Dr. 
 Wangel opened the doors to Ellida. Go with this 
 spirit of the sea which dominates you, he said in 
 substance — and given this freedom of choice, she 
 chose to stay under the spell of law and order. 
 Would Nora have stayed if Torvald had held the 
 door ajar? Ibsen's error lay in not convincing us 
 that, the miracle of miracles happening to Ellida, 
 she was prepared temperamentally to make her 
 choice a permanent one. 
 
 The connection between the inner and outer world 
 is not so subtle or eifective under Ibsen's treatment 
 as under Maeterlinck's; the ether of the one is usu- 
 ally familiar to every-day life; the ether of the 
 other has the mystic finesse that escapes being sub- 
 stance. But Ellida comes as near the mystic as any 
 of Ibsen's heroines, and this is because he deals with 
 moods rather than with motives. 
 
 Let us say that Ellida in her situation represents 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 457 
 
 an " undisciplined spirit " coming into conflict with 
 " social order." Ibsen has already proved in the 
 person of Rebecca West the modification that will 
 unconsciously take place in a woman's nature, sub- 
 ject to powerful influences outside of herself. Dr. 
 Wangle having satisfied the inward craving of 
 Ellida for freedom, she wakes to find herself modi- 
 fied by the impress of environment and not wholly 
 inclined to follow the promptings of these wild de- 
 mands. By her change in action, Ibsen's proposi- 
 tion that freedom of choice must be at the bottom 
 of all relations, becomes a preachment outside of a 
 full and innate conviction of the characters who 
 hold to it. 
 
 There are imaginative strokes of some worth in 
 this drama; but its predominant appeal is to the in- 
 tellect; it is the continued plea for the individual, 
 and by its happy ending it answers Ibsen's question 
 as to what would result should the miracle of mir- 
 acles come to pass. 
 
 On May 3, 1889, Ibsen wrote to Camilla CoUett 
 in the following terms : " I felt pretty certain that 
 you, you in particular, would understand it [the 
 play]. . . . Yes, there are suggestive resem- 
 blances- — indeed, many; and you have seen and felt 
 them, seen and felt that of which I could only have 
 a vague premonition." This reference has been ex- 
 plained by John Paulsen in a most ambiguous way, 
 and until we are offered some definite account of the 
 reported strange influence possessed by Welhaven 
 over Camilla CoUett, sister of Wergeland, it were 
 useless to speculate. Both Paulsen and Brahm are 
 inclined to value interest above actual proof. More 
 
458 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 profitable it would be to estimate to the full the un- 
 developed character of Hilda Wangel in order the 
 better to read her motives throughout " The Master 
 Builder." 
 
 " The Lady from the Sea " has a cast not closely 
 knit together; they occasionally help the plot along, 
 as when Lyngstrand, the delicate sculptor, describes 
 the sailor and his faithless wife. But whenever the 
 dialogue wanders from the psychological problem 
 of Ellida, it grows unconvincing. There are 
 glimpses in it of " When We Dead Awaken " ; there 
 is some of the luring quality of " Little Eyolf ." In 
 a way, its sub-plot prepares one for " The Master 
 Builder," and there is now and again the reminis- 
 cent strain of " Peer Gynt." 
 
 The feeling of suspense is well developed; EUida's 
 restlessness is contagious ; the atmosphere presses 
 upon her. This is aggravated, no doubt, by the 
 fact that her step-daughters fail to aid her in tak- 
 ing root in the household. On the one hand, there 
 are living memories of the dead wife, and on the 
 other, there is EUida's strange feeling about the sea. 
 Wangel, physician and man of some sense, even 
 though his will is weak, comes to realize that be- 
 tween his wife and himself there has been a lack of 
 full confidence. If Ellida has a " haunting home- 
 sickness for the sea," then she must move from the 
 narrow town existence through which the world-life 
 flows only in the summer time — ^flows through and 
 over without affecting it. But when his wife ex- 
 plains about the Stranger who lured her to him, and 
 in peculiar fashion welded her destiny to his- — a 
 spiritual communion — then Wangel understands 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 459 
 
 that no external palliatives will alter his wife's 
 mood. The disease is internal. For the Stranger 
 saps the will of EUida; she has not seen him for 
 years, since the day he curiously proclaimed her 
 wedded to the sea. After that, various letters and 
 reports had reached her. But even though his death 
 was rumoured, he continued to have relentless grip 
 of her soul. Then she married Wangel, and in due 
 course the child was born — the child with the tell- 
 tale eyes. Such a sign of inheritance was sufficient 
 to make her doubt herself the true wife of Wangel. 
 
 The motive of the sea is poetically treated in iso- 
 lated places. Ellida has a theory that the water and 
 not the dry land is our natural element — it is simply 
 a matter of becoming accustomed to conditions. 
 Her constant references to the variableness of the 
 sea are in consonance with the reckless variableness 
 of her mood ; one might call her a spiritual mermaid 
 ■ — half woman in her love for Wangel, half troll in 
 her fascination for the Stranger. When the latter 
 arrives and declares her to be his, her fear is not the 
 fear of him, but the fear of herself; her conscience 
 is at work ; she is torn between law and that which is 
 not law. Ellida must make the choice, but to do so 
 she must be free. In other words, Wangel must 
 free her spiritually and abide the consequences. 
 
 Were the Stranger aught but the projection of 
 a psychological state, Wangel might have rid him- 
 self easily of such a presence. But Ellida's struggle 
 against any effort to cage the Stranger is only the 
 struggle of the wife to free the woman. The curtain 
 to the third act places proper value on the symbol. 
 " Oh, Wangel," she cries, " save me from myself." 
 
460 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Perhaps the physician is right when he declares 
 his wife subject to morbid illusions, but his saying 
 so does not stem the tide. She shows him how their 
 marriage has been a false bargain, on his part to 
 fill her loneliness, on her part to be a new mother to 
 his children. Force of circumstances, and not free 
 will, welded them together. Her symbolic marriage 
 with the sea has been a much truer union. EUida 
 is not the woman to care about forms. Law must be 
 brushed aside in favour of free will. Her demand 
 for release is the outcome. Toward the close of the 
 fourth act there is a fiash indicative of a spiritual 
 change in this woman. Hilda, so it is declared, 
 though one is not thoroughly convinced of its truth, 
 thirsts for Ellida's love. " What if there were work 
 for me to do here? " cries " the lady from the sea." 
 
 This woman's life in the Wangel family has been 
 unanchored; there are no ties to bind her spiritually, 
 even though the law proclaims her a wife. She can- 
 not be fettered, except perhaps in body. The law of 
 one's nature cannot be stayed by the law of the land. 
 Then Wangel makes the Ibsen sacrifice; his great 
 love for EUida prompts him to free her, and by this 
 sacrifice the woman wells up " tremblingly." The 
 realist in the dramatist fell short at this crisis. 
 Even though we detect an echo of Brand's cry that 
 love is greater than will, the mere freedom in choice 
 is not sufficient to indicate the corresponding trans- 
 formation in character. Only in freedom can a sea- 
 animal become acclimatized to the land; the yearn- 
 ing for the sea was the expression of a need in 
 Ellida for freedom; and her only salvation lay in 
 the common-sense courage of Wangel. This is the 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 461 
 
 substance of the play. The other motives are but 
 reminiscences or foreshadowings. The atmosphere 
 of the whole is perhaps poetic; as a matter of fact, 
 we might claim the same thing for the background 
 of " Rosmersholm " ; but the prosaic quality is still 
 dominant. 
 
 In " The Lady from the Sea," we do not identify 
 the longing of EUida with the spirit of outward re- 
 volt. The sea for which the woman yearns is liberty, 
 and, in the words of a French critic, the fjord upon 
 which the little town borders represents the spirit 
 of freedom hemmed about by relentless duty. The 
 individual must not be forced to grow in one direc- 
 tion ; he must be given a chance to expand by proc- 
 esses within himself before he conforms with laws 
 outside. And, if we interpret aright, such conform- 
 ity will not be hard to maintain, provided society, as 
 Ibsen sees it, keeps pace with the growth of individ- 
 uality, as Ibsen would have it. 
 
 In July, 1891, Ibsen finally broke away from Ger- 
 many; he had been travelling around attending ad- 
 ditional performances in Buda-Pesth and Vienna; 
 and at first it was his sole intention of paying an- 
 other visit home. He did not go direct to Chris- 
 tiania, but travelled along the coast of Nordland, 
 the scenery of which made a great impression upon 
 him. In the autumn, however, he reached Chris- 
 tiania, where he rented an apartment in Viktoria 
 Terrasse ; he now determined to settle down, and so 
 sent to Munich for his furniture, little realizing that, 
 save for occasional trips to Copenhagen and to 
 Stockholm, he would never again leave Norway. 
 
 He was a wealthy old gentleman now, still active 
 
462 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 in mind and body, and wholly intent upon his plays, 
 sacrificing all external activity in favour of his mis- 
 sion in life. That is why, except for minor events 
 which made some slight impression upon him, Ibsen 
 lived an exclusive life, taking his customary post 
 by the window of the hotel, silhouetted against the 
 glass, with his paper in his hand, and his light wine 
 on the table near by. His visiting cards were en- 
 graved with the title: Dr. Henrik Ibsen — ^physician 
 of the world, who was silent as the sphinx until he 
 sent forth his analyses of the world's ills in the form 
 of new plays. His home was solid and handsome in 
 its fittings, and the table in his study at which he 
 worked, was placed directly by a large window over- 
 looking the street. Incident in the life of Henrik 
 Ibsen from now on becomes slight. 
 
 Such was his nature, that Ibsen expected homage 
 from the world, but the sense of possessing it in no 
 way brought much more than general satisfaction. 
 In July, 1895, he wrote : " It gives me no sense of 
 happiness. And what is it really worth — the whole 
 thing ? " This mood is one which comes to a per- 
 son after the best energy has gone, and life must 
 thereafter be lived in contemplation and in review. 
 It is well to say " the last of life for which the first 
 was made," provided the first has not been robbed 
 of its riches by a conscious suppression of much 
 that makes life rich. Ibsen was largely the slave of 
 his own lamp. No sooner had he settled in his home, 
 than loneliness rushed in upon him. For twenty- 
 seven years he had been stimulated by the " emanci- 
 pated and emancipating spiritual conditions of the 
 great world," but his native land gave him a sense 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 463 
 
 of oppression. He was beginning to show signs of 
 being tired. 
 
 Putting aside a consideration of " The Master 
 Builder" for the present, we turn to "Little 
 Eyolf," which followed it in December, 1894.^ It 
 
 '■ " The Master Builder" (1892), was the first play written by- 
 Ibsen after his return to Christiania in 1891. On December 11, 
 1894, "Little Eyolf" was published (Copenhagen) in an 
 edition of 10,000 copies. Another edition was called for on 
 December 21, 1894, and still another on January 20, 1895. In 
 1895 Heinemann issued a very limited number of copies of the 
 original text in London. The same year, it was translated 
 into English by Mr. Archer and into French by M. Prozor. 
 Following the usual order of things, it has been cast at 
 various times, into Italian, Russian, and German. Among the 
 commentaries: Die neue deutsche Rundschcm, 1895, 1:75 (Paul 
 Schlenther) ; London Academy, 50:465; London Saturday 
 Review (G. B. Shaw), 83:563, 623; Fortnightly Review (W. 
 L. Courtney) , 63 : 277. Among the parodies, note especially 
 Guthrie's "Little Mopesman." The play was given in Chris- 
 tiania on January 15, 1895. (See Halvorsen for casts of 
 various performances.) At Bergen, it was presented on 
 January 21, 1895. The Copenhagen production was given on 
 March 13, 1895, with E. Poulsen as AUmers, Fru Oda Nielsen 
 as Rita, and Fru Hennings as Asta. Fru Oda brought the 
 play to New York in the Spring of 1907, and gave a single 
 performance at the Carnegie Lyceum, where she met with 
 failure, having utterly misconceived the part. This discouraged 
 Madame Alia Nazimova, who had almost determined to add 
 the play to her repertoire. On January 12, 1895, the drama 
 found its way to Berlin, where it was given on the stage of 
 the Deutsches Theatre, with Agnes Sorma as Rita. Lugn6- 
 Poe appeared in Paris as Allmers on May 8, 1895. In England, 
 the first performance was given at the Theatre Royal, on 
 December 7, 1894. It was a copyright production, and the 
 cast included Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Braekstad, Miss Braekstad, 
 Miss Elizabeth Robins, Mr. William Heinemann, and Mr. 
 Edmund Gosse. (See London Literature, August 17, 1901, p. 
 
464 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 is a very poetic treatment of pessimism reacting 
 upon human nature; in the light of Ibsen's hand- 
 Hng of the pathetic, and hkewise in view of how 
 terrible retribution has heretofore been in his hands, 
 the hopeful close to " Little Eyolf " is indicative of 
 one of two things: first, Ibsen's determination to 
 stem the logical tide of cause and effect ; or, second, 
 to formulate a law of change which he was realizing 
 in Nora and in Rebecca West and in Ellida Wangel, 
 but which did not fully come to him until the trag- 
 edy of Eyolf's death reacted upon the mother's na- 
 ture. 
 
 The play, therefore, is not one of action, but of 
 reaction ; it is not one of situation, but of trans- 
 formation. Dr. Brandes has unerringly struck the 
 note. Ibsen, so he writes, " has . . . with his 
 usual pregnant brevity, given expression to his 
 philosophy of life in a new suggestive phrase, 
 namely, ' the law of change.' All human conditions 
 are subject to this law. The poets of classic an- 
 tiquity wrote ' Metamorphoses,' poems dealing with 
 those transmutations of which their mythology told 
 them so much. ' Little Eyolf ' is Ibsen's poem on 
 ' Metamorphosis.' It is generally said that all liv- 
 ing things are subject to the law of development. 
 But the expression ' law of change ' goes deeper and 
 is more truthful; for change includes progress and 
 
 154.) In English, it was first seen In London at the Avenue 
 Theatre on November 23, 1896, with a cast including Miss 
 Janet Achurch as Rita, Miss Robins as Asta, and Mrs. Patrick 
 Campbell as the Rat- Wife. Afterwards, Mrs. Campbell played 
 Rita. A performance was recorded during 1895 in Chi- 
 cago, where the play was acted by an amateur Scandinavian 
 company. 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 465 
 
 decline, expansion and contraction in a single com- 
 prehensive word. And in this play we see human 
 feelings formed and transformed, we see them die 
 out and come to life again in a diflFerent form." 
 
 Shall we say, therefore, that Eyolf had to die in 
 order that Allmers and Rita should live.? — that his 
 is the corrosive element eating into the egoism of a 
 man and a woman? Mr. Archer's analytical intro- 
 duction, recently published, discusses these minute 
 points at some length. For our purpose it is only 
 necessary to consider the broad lines of the drama, 
 one whose psychology is much greater than its exe- 
 cution, even though Ibsen surpasses himself here in 
 the compression of his dramatis persona. For the 
 Rat-Wife is little more than a theatrical and alle- 
 gorical use of Death, to rid the Allmers family of 
 the little gnawing thing in their lives — ^the pathetic, 
 crippled strange boy; and Eyolf himself is removed 
 from the scene after the first act. Ibsen's early sex 
 formula has been noted before ; he usually introduced 
 other characters who bore organically upon that for- 
 mula. Here, however, he contents himself with the 
 equation of the man, Allmers, between Rita, his wife, 
 and Asta, his supposed half-sister, but in reaHty an 
 illegitimate relation. The value of Eyolf and the Rat- 
 Wife, therefore, is purely psychological, and that of 
 Borgheim, the road maker, however agreeable he is in 
 sentiment, is wholly unessential to the pending crisis. 
 
 Ibsen's symbol is active; through death it leads to 
 a higher life. Let egoism increase by what it feeds 
 on — in this case Eyolf — and there is no end to pes- 
 simism ; remove the source of nurture, create a void, 
 and something better may take its place. Ibsen, the 
 
466 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 dramatist, puts himself to the task of creating a 
 jealous woman, one whose full-blooded passion for 
 her husband brooks no intervention, even though her 
 own child come between them for a share of the love 
 of both. This is the type upon which retribution 
 has a chastening effect. 
 
 The play is sad, not pessimistic. Its treatment is 
 still prosaic, but shot through with poetry. Its hu- 
 man nature is far superior to its manner. Ibsen 
 does not trouble himself much about the nobility of 
 small actions ; when Asta finally goes off with Borg- 
 heim, she does so simply as a means of escape from 
 the love she holds for AUmers. The law of change, 
 affecting every relation in life save that existing be- 
 tween brother and sister — ^which events prove she 
 and Allmers are not — forces her hand. Nor in the 
 matter of assumption is Ibsen always convincing; 
 his philosophical aim sometimes overreaches the 
 stature of men's ways. His scholars usually wrote 
 books, but showed no refining effects of culture. 
 And his women were hardly what one would call 
 gentlewomen. I cannot see, however, why gentle- 
 ness and refinement should be incompatible with in- 
 telligence and force. But as Shaw says : " Ibsen is 
 of no use when anything really ladylike is wanted: 
 you might as well put Beethoven to compose Chami- 
 nade." 
 
 W. L. Courtney calls the Rat-Wife a representa- 
 tive of the psychological moment. Ibsen's art com- 
 bines the legendary value of a " Pied Piper of Ham- 
 lin," with the potent, significant meaning of a symbol, 
 and the result is a poetic figure, not entirely shorn 
 of reality. The gradual unfolding of design in all 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 467 
 
 of Ibsen's plays is sufficient indication that coinci- 
 dent with his invention was the slow evolving of the 
 spiritual values which lay in the events themselves. 
 At first, the Rat-Wife must have been conceived 
 purely as part of the dramatic machinery, the agent 
 to remove Eyolf from the scene, before becoming 
 the epitome of an evil conscience beginning to under- 
 stand its sin. 
 
 The first act may be called Egoism ; the second 
 act, Recrimination ; the third act, the Law of 
 Change. All are vitally interesting, but theory slips 
 from the human, and works conclusions to suit it- 
 self. We have the same right to ask whether Rita, 
 in view of her innate human nature, could be so 
 altered by the law of change, as we had in doubting 
 Ellida's wonderful momentary transformation. 
 
 It is futile to give fixity to Ibsen's meaning; that 
 is where the remarkable phase of his genius is so 
 evident ; human nature is not arithmetical, and there- 
 fore can be seen only at angles and not as a whole. 
 If analysis concern itself only with motive and the 
 larger theme, it should not neglect the minute agents 
 of which Ibsen was master; his characters are not 
 fixed; they are not surface portraits; atmosphere 
 sweeps behind them as well as over them. The law 
 of change in " Little Eyolf " does not affect situa- 
 tion, but character. 
 
 Allmers has been writing a book on " Human Re- 
 sponsibility," while at his very hand he has been 
 neglecting his crippled son. He has suddenly waked 
 to this, and has determined to " help him bring his 
 desires into harmony with what lies attainable be- 
 fore him," when he discovers that his wife's jealousy 
 
468 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 has shifted from the book to the child. Her passion 
 is so strong that it is evil. She cares not for the 
 calm, deep tenderness of the husband; she will share 
 him with no one. Her every action shows how her 
 savage egoism is wounded. In such a frenzy there 
 falls upon her the catastrophe of Eyolf's death, the 
 cripple lured to the sea by the Rat- Wife, and utterly 
 lost, except for the crutch, which comes floating 
 back over the water. 
 
 Allmers and Rita are now seized by unutterable 
 pangs of conscience ; one becomes morbidly quiet, the 
 other nervously restive. Which of them is the guilty 
 one.? Eyolf stands between them more than ever, 
 now that he is dead. Through the agony of remorse, 
 the souls of two persons are reconstructed. Rita had 
 borne a son, and despite the pain of travail, her 
 mother-instinct had been stifled by jealousy. Allmers 
 had given up his book in order to round out the life 
 of the boy, not for love of him, but because he thus 
 could better give expression to himself as a father 
 than as an author. Through the want of love they 
 lost their child; in fact, they never possessed him. 
 They are being scourged; they are turning upon 
 themselves as well as upon each other. At this point 
 the only solution tends towards the tragedy of sepa- 
 ration. They feel a common guilt, but as yet they 
 are not aware of the necessity for a common atone- 
 ment. 
 
 It finally ends when the law of change keeps this 
 man and woman together, — exactly how is not made 
 sufficiently clear for dramatic effect. Let us say 
 that change may mean re-birth, resurrection, tran- 
 sition to a higher life. There is assuredly something 
 
IBSEN THE SYMBOLIST 469 
 
 of the God in man, even though it will be a long 
 while before Rita realizes it. " Good God," she cries, 
 " we are creatures of earth after all." But Allmers 
 adds, " Something akin to the sea and the heavens, 
 too, Rita." At first they questioned the divine rea- 
 son, bringing about the death of Eyolf ; but in their 
 regeneration, they begin to realize in it some pur- 
 pose. For whereas heretofore their egotistical lives 
 had been spent in vain, they now understand that to 
 live a life they must fill a life with something to live 
 for. Only after Eyolf's death could they view them- 
 selves in proper perspective. 
 
 If Allmers had left Rita after this realization, it 
 would have been the confession that with her there 
 was nothing for him to live for. They finally touch 
 spiritually in a mutual determination to replace the 
 void in their existence by active service among the 
 poor children in the name of little Eyolf. Thus 
 the play contains great moral and ethical questions, 
 which are nevertheless answered in a very obscure 
 manner. The elements in its composition are more 
 vital than the elements in " The Lady from the Sea," 
 but they are not so clear in the minds of the reader, 
 nor, we might add, in the mind of Ibsen himself. If 
 one should insist on the emphasis of Symbolism in 
 Ibsen, we should say that it measures the decline of 
 his mental strength. For his poetry at its highest 
 was not dependent upon the symbol, and his prose 
 at its barest was too direct for ornament. Ibsen, the 
 Symbolist, is only of secondary importance; I can- 
 not see in him the arch-symbolist. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 HENBIK IBSEN's EPILOGUE 
 
 The breaking up of Henrik Ibsen was as logical in 
 its several stages as his early development. It is as 
 though old age had come upon him, surrounded by 
 remnants of ideas too vital to be ignored, and he had 
 introduced them, despite their fragmentary charac- 
 ter, and without that almost incontrovertible strength 
 which as a dramatist he had heretofore shown. 
 
 The Ibsen cults acknowledge no such waning of 
 the master's power ; they believe " When We Dead 
 Awaken " a continuance of the crescendo scale, when, 
 in reality, while it contains intermittent sparks, it 
 represents in its weakness the crumbling of a tired 
 mind. Between it and " The Master Builder," there 
 arches a span that is unsound; the rivets are no 
 longer firm ; here and there, unerring connections are 
 missing; the foundations have worn away and are 
 repaired with old material. Even " The Master 
 Builder " shows signs of screws being loose. 
 
 The Ibsenite is representative of a certain type of 
 mind ; he is misrepresentative of Ibsen. In a way he 
 has approached Ibsen with as cramped a superficial 
 vision as Ibsen has shown in his approach toward the 
 outward facts of life. The Ibseilite has negativfed 
 Ibsen by an hysterical acceptance of the Ibsen crust. 
 And it is this very crust — the sordid, diseased, neu- 
 rotic, drab admixture of life — which is Ibsen's least 
 contribution to literature. He forced himself into 
 the dark visual habit — ^he persistently saw things in 
 drab, but the vital connection was a flare of fire or 
 a deep glow. " The Master Builder " was the last 
 big flame before the flicker and the night. 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 471 
 
 The Ibsen disciple believes that the greatness of 
 the Master is measured by the variety of meanings 
 attached to his thesis, on the one hand; and to his 
 symbol on the other. But it was just that very loose- 
 ness of interpretation which was one of his greatest 
 weaknesses. Yet he did not consciously cater to over- 
 interpretation by the over-use of the symbol. 
 
 " The Master Builder," none the less, is over- 
 weighted with varied meanings; every situation is 
 representative and suggestive. Perhaps this is so, 
 perhaps that is so. The symbol sets the mind in a 
 quandary. It is all deftly done, and the master-poet, 
 the master-craftsman piles meaning upon meaning, 
 a mighty bulwark of poetic elements which obstructs 
 vision. This is not Ibsen's usual direct method, al- 
 though it is Ibsen's familiar atmosphere of the vital 
 commonplace. 
 
 In matter of character, Ibsen has made slight 
 change from the Ibsen type. However broad the 
 spirit in which he wrote, however world-significant 
 the problem, the Ibsen man or woman is not without 
 the suggestion of the tongue stuck in the cheek, or 
 the roving eye, or the restless body. Death does not 
 appear in his pages under the guise of impending 
 fate ; it is not enough that the sense of imminence be 
 present, but the realistic corroding of the physical 
 must be made visible. Aline Solness Is wrapped in 
 the mantle of the grave; Ella Rentheim is as un- 
 comfortably certain of her day of doom as Dr. Rank ; 
 Irene's shroud has all the odour of decay. Mentally, 
 Ibsen never failed to stimulate, but visually he fell 
 into a rut. 
 
 " The Master Builder " is bigger in philosophical 
 
472 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 scope than it is in execution. No interpretation 
 could or should try to fix its meaning. But it is evi- 
 dent that Ibsen could never have written it until he 
 had reached a certain age. It is preeminently an old 
 man's play ; however much it may express the ex- 
 uberance of youthful vigour and daring, it suggests 
 also the view of the younger generation through the 
 eyes of the older generation. 
 
 Here, then, is Ibsen realizing himself old ; we have 
 already quoted from his letter, in which he says that 
 he is writing against the time when the end may 
 come. Thereafter, who shall succeed him.'' Ibsen, 
 the Individualist, did not name the Individual — he 
 pointed to a class. This is his theme — the younger 
 generation who are approaching his door, even as he 
 approached the portals of the generation behind him. 
 
 The move to Norway made Ibsen feel old; he 
 wrapped him within himself, and his dramatic action 
 was built up from contemplation. For a brief in- 
 stant, in that memorable summer at Gossensass in 
 1889, the passion for Emilie Bardach gripped him 
 hard, almost fifty years too late; it was a case of 
 youth and old age — warm, full-blooded youth, with 
 an old age now jealous of a youth it had never ex- 
 perienced. He called her his princess, he walked and 
 talked with her constantly, he was shy in his love, 
 and reticent of his love when he afterwards viewed it 
 in memory. The incident to me is the symbol of a 
 tragedy of nature ; it does not reflect on Mrs. Ibsen ; 
 it reflects on a certain part of the man's nature, which 
 was ruthlessly stunted. " Oh, you can always love," 
 Ibsen was once heard to say, " but I am happier than 
 the happiest, for I am beloved." This is the resig- 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 473 
 
 nation of the old man — the over-maturity of unde- 
 velopment. 
 
 Let us take the deep sentiment of Browning's 
 " Evelyn Hope " — " There, that is our secret ! " It 
 might be used as a motto for the romance at Gossen- 
 sass. Ibsen's feeling was so strong that, maybe, it 
 was well for him to have written " Hedda Gabler " 
 immediately after. That drama is cold in its keen 
 analysis. Had " The Master Builder " been com- 
 posed at this period, it would not have contained so 
 much of the element of the transcendental as it does. 
 Ibsen's correspondence with the girl represents a 
 gradual breaking away from that which was very 
 hard to break away from.^ 
 
 Two more pieces of external evidence are to be 
 noted in the evolution of " The Master Builder." A 
 poetic outline of its plot was composed by Ibsen on 
 March 16, 1892, under the title " De Sad Der, de 
 To" (They Sat There, the Two); and if this be 
 coupled with an early poem of his, " Building 
 Plans " (1858), much of the motivation of the 
 drama may be located.^ Dr. Elias, with his cus- 
 
 ' The correspondence between the young lady and Ibsen was 
 made public through Die Literatur (Berlin), September, 1906, 
 by Dr. Brandes. Archer quotes from it in his introduction 
 to " Hedda Gabler " and also in " The Master Builder." The 
 reader is referred to these introductions for interesting data. 
 
 ^ In the original, this piece was called " Bygmester Solness." 
 It was composed in Christiania in 1892, and was issued during 
 the second week in December, 1892. See Halvorsen. The 
 English translation was made in 1893 by Edmund Gosse and 
 William Archer; by M. Prozor in French (1893); and in 
 German by Sigurd Ibsen (1893), Paul Herrmann (1893), and 
 Victor Ottmann (1893). Among the commentaries, note: 
 The London Academy, 1893, p. 319; Saturday Review, 75: 
 
474 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 tomary care in recording external evidence, has, in 
 addition, noted Ibsen's mention of a girl whose pas- 
 sion in life was, not to be married, but to lure 
 women's husbands from them. " She did not get 
 hold of me, but I got hold of her — for my play," the 
 dramatist declared, in naive fashion. 
 
 But, while this external history has interest, it 
 need not detain us long. 'Ibsen, in his gathering and 
 building, fused everything to his artistic purpose. 
 If we deplore Emilie Bardach's sensitiveness in allow- 
 ing the Ibsen letters to be published so soon after 
 his death, it is offset by Ibsen's final use of the in- 
 cident — " the May-sun of a September life " — which 
 brought him, as he wrote in her album, " high, pain- 
 ful happiness — to struggle for the unattainable." 
 
 241 (1893); 76:34; Fortnightly Review, 59:468 (1893.— A. B. 
 Walkley) ; Maurice Maeterlinck in Figaro, 1894, No. 92 
 (afterwards included in his essays). There are many parodies, 
 especially the one in "Mr. Punch's Pocket Ibsen." Among 
 the performances, note: Christiania Theatre, March 8, 1893; 
 Copenhagen, March 8, 1893; Lessing Theatre, Berlin, January 
 19, 1893. In London it was given a mating performance at 
 the Haymarket Theatre, December 7, 1892. The cast con- 
 tained, on February 20, 1893 — Miss Robins as Hilda, and Mr. 
 Herbert Waring as Solness (Trafalgar Square Theatre). In 
 June, 1893, the play was given at the Opera Comique, there- 
 after going to Manchester. The Paris production was given 
 at the Th6fttre I'CEuvre, April 3, 1894, with Lugn6-Poe. The 
 same company went to London in 189S. Isolated attempts 
 at productions in America were made in Chicago during 
 February, 1893. In January, 1900, at the New York Carnegie 
 Lyceum, the piece was presented by the Independent Theatre, 
 with Miss Florence Kahn as Hilda. Then, in 1905, Madame 
 Nazimova played it in Russian on the East side in New York, 
 thereafter appearing in English, during 1907-8, with Mr. 
 Walter Hampden as Solness. 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 475 
 
 The interpretation of the role of Hilda Wangel 
 would be greatly aided by a consideration of her 
 nature as developed in " The Lady from" the Sea." 
 While it is not absolutely essential to make such a 
 connection — for a character must stand upon its in- 
 dependent merits- — still, the analysis will throw addi- 
 tional light upon Ibsen's workmanship; it is not 
 always that he carries his personages from one drama 
 to another, but when he does, as in the case of 
 Aslaksen and Stensgard, he retains their dominant 
 traits. We may consider Hilda Wangel as the 
 symbol of the younger generation knocking at the 
 door, behind which Solness quivers, for fear of being 
 deposed; but she is also a woman whose nature, how- 
 ever poetic and picturesque, is tinged with just a 
 small quantity of Hedda Gabler's love of the im- 
 possible. 
 
 Throughout "The Lady from the Sea," Hilda 
 Wangel is depicted with a certain dash of boldness, 
 that lends spirit to her character; the mere joy of 
 being alive tempts her to fly in the face of Providence. 
 Ibsen assures us that she sought the love of EUida, 
 but Hilda, by her defiant mood, does not reinforce 
 the idea. In fact, even though her youth may be her 
 excuse, there is an inconsequent ring to her that does 
 not attract, however much it may fascinate by its 
 unconventionahty. You will notice that whenever the 
 Master Builder's ideals warm her fancy, Hilda ex- 
 claims " Thrilling " — the very response she uses in 
 " The Lady from the Sea " whenever she tries to push 
 Lyngstrand, who is supposedly delicate, to the utmost 
 limit of his strength. Were it any but Ibsen who was 
 dealing with such a character, we might be justified 
 
476 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 in calling Hilda Wangel a flirt ; but she is much more 
 than that — she is the epitome of recklessness, who 
 might have found in Brand the hero of her Kingdom. 
 The actress, therefore, who studies " The Master 
 Builder," must likewise analyze the Hilda of the 
 earlier play. 
 
 In the midst of a household coloured throughout 
 with gloom, lives Solness, the Master Builder; he has 
 attained his position in his profession at terrible cost, 
 having ruthlessly overridden everyone in his path, 
 among them Knut Brovik, who now occupies a sub- 
 ordinate place in his office. Events in the life of 
 Halvard Solness bear heavily upon his conscience ; on 
 the one hand, he is torn with the memory of an awful 
 tragedy which had brought death to his children ; on 
 the other hand, each day he has Brovik's son before 
 him as a sign of impending danger to his reputation. 
 Ragnar Brovik's genius threatens the Master Builder. 
 But ever ready to resort to any means for self- 
 protection, Solness holds Ragnar down, not only by 
 refusing to credit his drawings, but by encouraging 
 Kaia Fosli, whose love for the Master Builder is 
 greater than her love for old Brovik's son. What- 
 ever philosophic beauty the struggle for the ideal 
 may have, Solness resorts to ignoble means. 
 
 The older generation that stands at an eminence, 
 knows not when to retire; the younger men are re- 
 garded as a danger simply because they are young. 
 Look deep within your heart and you will come to 
 know that old age fears the strength of youth. That 
 is why Solness stoops to the lowest, neither dis- 
 couraging the girl in her love, however much he may 
 refrain from compromising her, nor attempting to lift 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 477 
 
 the jealous suspicion of his wife. Solness later con- 
 fesses to Dr. Herdal that he has a way with ladies. 
 
 The Master Builder talks a great deal, but the 
 poetry of his views is not in consonance with the 
 sordidness of his fundamental character; the sur- 
 vival-of-the-fittest theory does not imply humane 
 considerations. Yet as soon as Hilda comes knocking 
 at the door in theatrical fashion, his maturity gives 
 way, as Ibsen's gave way at Gossensass, before a flood 
 of youthful sympathy. Fearing the younger genera- 
 tion, he unconsciously succumbs to it at its first 
 entrance. 
 
 The Solness family is such a one as Ibsen likes to 
 depict — an ill-founded one. Aline, the wife, a slave 
 to superficial duties, an anaemic figure, does not rise 
 above misfortune ; she does not try to meet depression 
 by any healthy counter-irritant ; she is not a spur 
 to action, and that is what the Master Builder needs. 
 When the impetus comes from Hilda, it comes too 
 late ; he confides in youth as he had never confided in 
 Aline. Solness wanders in his talk, exhibiting a 
 distraught conscience, experiencing self-torture of a 
 tragic intensity. 
 
 Hilda had met the Master Builder before, had seen 
 him climb the high steeple of the very last church he 
 built; she had called to him then, in a wild moment 
 of recklessness, as he stood at the top of the dizzy 
 pinnacle. That was ten years before, when she was 
 a mere child. But during the time which intervened 
 between then and now, she had built upon Solness's 
 promise, for he had kissed her, had called her his prin- 
 cess, and had declared he would come for her in ten 
 years and give her a kingdom. But the promise had 
 
478 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 passed from his mind — an act which Hilda cannot 
 reconcile with his bravery in climbing the heights he 
 conceived. 
 
 Hilda is feminine to the core ; she senses the whole 
 atmosphere in the Solness home; she cross-questions 
 with the insistence of a criminal lawyer. But, despite 
 her traits, she is a product of the abstract idea; her 
 speech has hidden meanings. It was the mystic in 
 Hilda Wangel which had responded to Solness on the 
 heights ; it was not only her enthusiasm over his 
 climbing the tower, but she was, moreover, in tiine 
 with something infinite, even as he was. The element 
 of thought-transference, of thought-suggestion, en- 
 ters " The Master Builder." 
 
 But Hilda's hero builds no more churches ; he only 
 builds homes for human beings. She comes to him 
 just at the lowest ebb of his energy; his loneliness 
 has weighted him down, his fight against deposition 
 has made him timid. Fear is about to crush his spirit, 
 when Hilda enters — she is what he most needs. 
 
 The Master Builder brooks no obstructions ; other- 
 wise he has certain inclinations which may be regarded 
 as considerate. One might say that he possesses the 
 instinct of kindness, but that his observation is lack- 
 ing. He cannot see what his wife most needs; she 
 cannot see what is wanting in herself. The result is 
 another proof of Ibsen's claim that such a married 
 life is productive of no home. Solness's is a peculiar 
 type of egoism ; Aline is drawn with Ibsen's usual 
 method of treating ansemia. One has a sick con- 
 science, the other is troubled with nerves. To the 
 man, Hilda brings incentive, but Aline is in a ripe 
 state for an attack of distrust. 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 479 
 
 The younger generation, as typified in Hilda 
 Wangel, is breezy, unconventional, thoughtless, ma- 
 ture only in the wisdom of the impossible. Things 
 that hurt the ordinary, amuse her; even in her 
 dreams she courts sensations, and in a way predestines 
 her thrill over the Master's end, by dreaming of such 
 a disaster the first night she spends in his house. 
 Hilda is warm and human, even if she does exercise 
 some of the lure of the wild. 
 
 Such a woman can easily control a man by sheer 
 force of witchery. Perhaps Ibsen's art here develops 
 as it has not done before — in making one realize an 
 undercurrent of philosophy which almost assumes a 
 fatalistic influence, forcing the characters to act, 
 without being a vital part of the action. Hilda has 
 genuine inconsistency ; in one breath, she feeds Sol- 
 ness's fear of the younger generation ; in another, she 
 prompts him to aid Ragnar Brovik ; and one can see 
 that her whole object is to keep the real Master 
 Builder in consonance with her ideal of him, to spur 
 him into competition with the younger generation. 
 
 Hilda is an outlet for Solness's pent-up feelings; 
 he speaks to her of subjects which Aline^ in her weak- 
 ness, cannot bear to listen to : the burning of his wife's 
 home, the loss of his twin children — all these disasters 
 are the foundations for his success — the price of his 
 fame. But these tragedies which befell him were 
 bound up in the psychic principle that " thinking 
 makes them so." He might have had a home, but 
 in order to succeed, he had to sacrifice himself ; he had 
 to walk over Aline and her mission in life to be a 
 Master Builder of children's souls. Solness bends 
 beneath the price he has had to pay for success. 
 
480 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 Perhaps he has hastened the catastrophe by crav- 
 ing for, and willing the thing until it actually 
 happened; in the same way the reader feels that 
 Hilda is willing the impossible in her Master Builder. 
 When a tragedy occurs and one profits by it, people 
 call it luck. Ibsen is hazy in his aim; he does not 
 handle the laws of the intangible as Maeterlinck has 
 done in his essays ^ ; he jumbles up the real and the 
 unreal, taking away from his reality, and blurring 
 interpretation. 
 
 Hilda is the bird of prey; she feeds on sick con- 
 sciences, and carries them to heights which their own 
 efforts probably could never reach. The will, the 
 deed, the daring are everything to her. She has the 
 saga spirit in her — ^the spirit of large women, who 
 are gifted with a sense of life, not with the meaning 
 of life. Even as Solness was mentally instrumental 
 in bringing about the blow which was his making, in 
 like manner, Hilda has responded to the craving 
 within him. 
 
 One might systematize these varied niotives in 
 Ibsen, but I give them as they occur, hoping in this 
 manner to indicate that, however much the spirit and 
 poetry are present, dramatic coherence is sacrificed at 
 every step. One easily detects this the instant the 
 play is externalized on the stage. Its meaning is 
 preeminently fluid, and therefore its situations are 
 untrue to life and its psychology questionable in its 
 logical bearing. 
 
 Hilda re-vitalizes the old strength of Solness ; she 
 does not reckon with the physical. Thus does Ibsen 
 
 ' Read Maeterlinck on Solness, in " The Treasure of the 
 Humble." 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 481 
 
 indirectly show the state of his own inner being at 
 the age of sixty-four. He is deahng with a conflict 
 of the material with the spiritual and the outcome 
 shows him how inadequately the outward expression 
 measures the inward reach. When the Master 
 Builder climbs his own tower, piled high above the 
 earth, he falls, not only because of the lack of 
 physical poise, but because he has overreached him- 
 self — ^he cannot stand, since it is not the Master 
 Builder who has gained the heights, but the Master 
 Builder plus Hilda. It strikes me that Ibsen was not 
 content with looking into the future " as far as human 
 eye can see," but further. 
 
 Hilda is undoubtedly a positive force. Huneker 
 is correct in claiming that had she come to Rosmer, 
 he would have hastened into the world of men in order 
 to ennoble them, rather than inflict upon himself the 
 retribution of death. 
 
 We might read into " The Master Builder " all 
 the consistency which Ibsen would have wrought, had 
 his power been equal to the task. Somewhere in the 
 mass there is a social significance which prompts us 
 to ask whether conditions of time and place did not 
 bring destruction upon Solness. The great man 
 after all is the result of sacrifice. It is as though 
 Ibsen himself were crying out, " Yea, my triumph 
 of brain has been immense, but within, my heart's fire 
 has flickered and gone out." 
 
 There is some element of the insane about " The 
 Master Builder " ; faith and unf aith struggle, un- 
 certain what they are fighting for. Here are all the 
 ingredients of rich imagination gone wrong; there 
 is an atmosphere of sorcery about the motives of the 
 
482 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 characters ; one suspects incantations and a hypno- 
 tized being drawn to heights where, suddenly, con- 
 sciousness returns and hurls him back to the ordinary 
 plane. It is the force of the fall that kills. Thus, in 
 its turn, the younger generation must destroy to 
 make room for itself. We have the struggle of two 
 sides of life. If the Master Builder will not" build 
 churches, nor homes, there are left for him naught 
 but castles in the air. 
 
 On the whole, the characterization in " The Master 
 Builder " is filled with a certain luminosity of 
 spiritual value that is noteworthy.' Not only is Sol- 
 ness brought by Hilda from an ignoble sphere of 
 life; but she, by her restraint, which is due to the 
 presence of Aline, displays also a conscience. Her 
 boldness and fearlessness are tempered by a dash of 
 compassion. But the spiritual change in the two is 
 not indicated with that great touch to be found in 
 " Rosmersholm." 
 
 The colours in " John Gabriel Borkman " ^ are 
 
 ' " Little Eyolf " intervened between " The Master Builder " 
 and "John Gabriel Borkman." The latter was written in 
 Christiania, and was published in December 1896, in an edition 
 of 13,000 copies. The English translation by Mr. Archer was 
 forthcoming in 1897; the French version by Comte Prozor in 
 1897; the German version by Sigurd Ibsen in 1897. The 
 reader Is referred to Halvorsen for numerous commentaries, 
 among them The Academy (London), 1897, 1:131; The 
 Speaker, January, 1897; The Academy, 1897, 1:67 (G. B. 
 Shaw) ; Athenceum, 1897, 1:519; Le Figaro, 27/12, 1897 (Andrg 
 Maurel) ; Revue Bleue, 1897, 1 : 90 (Jacques du Tillet) ; Revue 
 des deux mondes, 139:693 (Jules Lemaltre). The play has 
 been parodied. Halvorsen indicates the following perform- 
 ances, among others: Christiania Theatre, January 25, 1897, 
 with Garmann as Borkman, Fru Gundersen as Fru Borkman, 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 4.83 
 
 blocked in with much more depth of wisdom than in 
 " The Master Builder," though the effect of the for- 
 mer is lacking in the spontaneity of the latter. Hilda 
 Wangel was typical of Ibsen's rejuvenation, but while 
 there is still some youthful intensity apparent in the 
 new play, while the action proceeds from act to act 
 without interval — the curtain merely dropping to 
 denote the passage of time — the motives are sombre. 
 The canvas of " John Gabriel Borkman " is Ibsen's 
 old masterpiece. 
 
 Three types of middle age are drawn in their rela- 
 tion to the younger generation. There are two 
 sisters, between whom stands the husband of one. 
 This is Ibsen's old Saga formula again. Borkman is 
 built up from a newspaper characterization which 
 came to Ibsen's notice in 1895. He is the arch- 
 criminal of the age, the type deprived of any con- 
 and Frk. Reimers as Ella; Stockholm, same date; Copenhagen, 
 January 31, 1897, with E. Poulsen as Borkman, Fru Eckardt 
 as Fru Borkman, and Fru Hennings as Ella. In Germany 
 the play met with censor difficulties at Frankfort-on-Main, 
 but during the year it was seen in most of the big cities in 
 the Empire. Note the London matinee (copyright perform- 
 ance) at the Avenue Theatre, December 14, 1896. On May 
 3, 1897, the Century Theatre Company, appearing at the 
 London Strand, presented the play, with a cast including Mr. 
 W. H. Vernon, Miss Genevieve Ward, Miss Elizabeth Robins, 
 Mrs. Beerbohm Tree, and- Mr. Martin Harvey. In America, the 
 drama was given a New York production on November 18, 
 1897, by the Criterion Independent Theatre, under the aus- 
 pices of Mr. John Blair, 'who played Erhart. While the drama 
 has been given in Paris, in Brussels, and throughout Italy, 
 it has never proved a success. If the reader will consult 
 Ibsen's scenario for "The Lady from the Sea," it will be 
 found that he had there in mind the conception of Foldal, 
 the dramatists 
 
4.84 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ception of commercial honesty, yet whose dreams are 
 Utopian. He thirsts after power, not over anyone, 
 but over everything and everyone. With other 
 people's money, he schemes to corner the world; the 
 deep sea and the hillside sing to him of treasures 
 which will bring him power; he is a man morally 
 diseased, a megalomaniac with the illusion that he is 
 a genius. Affection is naught to him by the side of 
 the power which he imagines within his grasp. He 
 sacrifices the love he had for Ella Rentheim, believing 
 that thereby, banker Hinkel, the one man to help him 
 in his greed, will be flattered by this sacrifice and 
 will be free to follow his own suit. So Borkman 
 marries the other sister, and Ella, unsettling their 
 plans, remains single to the end. Thereupon Hinkel 
 betrays his friend and Borkman is sent to prison. 
 
 The play opens at this point. The ex-banker has 
 cut himself off from his wife, not having seen her for 
 years, living in a gallery on the first floor of the same 
 house, where all during the opening act, one may hear 
 his restless pacing up and down. Occasionally he 
 has a glimpse of his son Erhart, but his one com- 
 panion is Foldal, who has suffered the greatest loss 
 at his hands. The character is a cameo study of 
 great value. 
 
 Into such a situation comes Ella Rentheim, the 
 woman who has been starved spiritually by this man, 
 yet whose love for him is still strong. Borkman has 
 killed her soul, but before the financial crash, he 
 saved her money. It is upon her bounty that he now 
 lives ; the Borkman family are in her house. 
 
 Ella is the Lucretia of Phillips' " Francesca da 
 Rimini " ; her maternal instincts have been ruthlessly 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 485 
 
 killed by a man who has sold her for the sake of 
 power. With wonderful ease, therefore, Ibsen 
 presents the relation of the two sisters toward Bork- 
 man's son; the mother looks toward him for the 
 restoration of family honour, Ella loves him purely 
 on account of the fact that he is Borkman's son. 
 Her passion is not of the jealous calibre, like Rita 
 Allmers' ; her egoism, while it is strong, is distinctly 
 tinged with Ibsen's old-time romanticism. There 
 ensues between these two a vital struggle for the 
 possession of youth. 
 
 From the very first, we note in Ella Rentheim the 
 key to the solution ; Erhart is young ; the mission 
 his mother would impose upon him is despotic; her 
 power in its way is criminal, since it tries to shackle 
 the freedom of the ''ndividual. Therefore, his aunt's 
 presence is inimical to the mother's exercise of power. 
 Once before, the fight between love and power had 
 resulted in disaster; now there is to be a battle of 
 another sort. 
 
 Upon Erhart is forced the only alternative — 
 choice. But a surprise is in store for these two 
 women. Young Borkman has come to know the 
 Hinkels, a family around whom Ibsen casts the at- 
 mosphere of coarseness. At this house, and else- 
 where, he is thrown with a Mrs. Wilton, divorced, 
 strikingly handsome, and appealing. She now 
 enters, following Erhart, who is an unsophisticated 
 boy, with a weak will. Mrs. Wilton's power over him 
 is almost supernatural. When she leaves him behind 
 in the grip of these two women of his family, he 
 chafes, becomes restless. Above him, he hears music 
 being played to his father by Foldal's daughter — 
 
486 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 The Dance of Death ; before him unfolds a middle- 
 aged tragedy; yet he is young, and born for light! 
 He does not begrudge his father the funeral dirge, 
 provided he himself does not have to listen to it. As 
 Erhart goes off, fully intent on joining Mrs. Wilton, 
 drawn there by her will, mother and aunt face each 
 other. They each are glad in a way that he has 
 escaped the other's power. 
 
 All this while, the solid tread of Borkman is heard. 
 The new scene begins as The Dance of Death is being 
 finished. Ibsen's brush is thick with rich paint. In 
 early days he had written verses about the miner; 
 now he projects the figure in wonderful distinctness. 
 Against a dark, warm background is cast the white 
 head, the powerful frame of John Gabriel Borkman. 
 Prison has not dulled his egoism; the quiet of the 
 cell has not hushed the ringing of metals in his ears. 
 At times he is a poseur, a deceiver of himself; his 
 morbidness is as much the product of his egoism as 
 ib is of the natural consequences following his 
 criminal actions. 
 
 Nothing that befalls him can alter his belief that 
 he is an exceptional person. Vainglory sustains him ; 
 he firmly believes that he will be reestablished in his 
 bank, if for no other reason than that he wills it. If 
 only he had succeeded with his Utopian dream ! But 
 fate has a way of bringing disaster just five minutes 
 before success. Borkman's moral nature is para- 
 lyzed. He cannot help his criminal instinct. 
 
 The whole second act is one of exposition. Soft- 
 ness, tenderness, richness are all there — Foldal 
 sketched delicately, Borkman massively, and EUa 
 Rentheim, when she enters, romantically. Ibsen has 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 487 
 
 never before dealt so powerfully with character as is 
 revealed in the scene between the " dead man," Bork- 
 man, and his crucified love, Ella. He, the sinner, 
 has taken gladness out of her, has cheated her of a 
 mother's life. Erhart, therefore, through the sin of 
 his father, is somehow partly her possession. She 
 should have been the mother of his father's son. 
 Racked by a morbid knowledge of her approaching 
 death, Ella Rentheim would leave Erhart her money, 
 provided he will assume her name, and perpetuate it. 
 Then, entering in a most effectively theatrical man- 
 ner, Mrs. Borkman interposes ; she declares in her 
 egoism, in almost tyrannical thirst for possession, 
 that she will save her son, and rushes from the room.- 
 In this way, Ella persuades Borkman to come with 
 her and reach some understanding, else Erhart will 
 be wrecked in the storm. 
 
 The drama has reached its height. Borkman's in- 
 dividualism can never be understood by his wife; on 
 the other hand, the latter had perfect right to claim 
 happiness which he might have given her, but which 
 he sacrificed as unfeelingly as he did the heart of 
 Ella Rentheim. The greatest sin for which Erhart 
 will have to atone, is not the mother's false sense of 
 honour, but Borkman's conscious sense of broken 
 faith with Ella. 
 
 Erhart now has a triple choice to make — between 
 father and mother and aunt. Sentimental morbid- 
 ness, idolization, watchfulness of the older genera- 
 tion, are sufficient to make the younger generation 
 rebel; the individual struggles when another will is 
 imposed upon him. Since his women folk cannot 
 hold him, maybe a father can. Borkman's determi- 
 
488 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 nation to work out his redemption appeals to the boy, 
 perhaps because of the very fact that it is inimical 
 to his mother's idea of reestablished honour, of tradi- 
 tional atonement. But why should he struggle, when 
 happiness is at hand in the form of Mrs. Wilton? 
 Only she among them all realizes that the forces 
 prompting youth are different from those of middle 
 age. There is something about this woman that lends 
 warmth and sincerity to the scene, although Ibsen 
 taints the picture by making her utter some cynical 
 remarks regarding the lasting qualities of love. 
 
 In the final act, which is largely mechanical, the 
 underlying principles and theories of this drama are 
 drawn to a close. The younger generation rides 
 heedlessly over the older generation ; Borkman, crazed 
 with an insane belief in his wild, almost savage 
 egotism, meets his death by a sudden extinguishing 
 of the fires of his nature, while Ella and her sister 
 are reconciled — two shadows over a dead man, as they 
 had been for many years. 
 
 The play is misty in its philosophical purpose, and 
 artificial in its situations toward the end. The logical 
 qualities lie in the conception of character, in the 
 close treatment of the time element, in the solidity 
 and vigour of its figures without any effort at delinea- 
 tion. The play would have been stronger, but for the 
 inclusion of a weak fourth act. 
 
 There is egoism in ambition, there is egoism in love, 
 there is egoism in youth. Behold, such is your 
 problem. Ibsen's solution is no solution at all; he 
 seems to have striven only for the best means of 
 bringing conditions to a close. lie neither defines 
 genius, nor weighs moral accountability. He has 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 489 
 
 simply made a picture, thick in human colour. He 
 has not fallen into argumentation, nor has he 
 challenged public comment. In the maturity of his 
 wisdom, Ibsen here approached some of the qualities 
 of Maeterlinck's static dream. 
 
 Bjornson once remarked of " John Gabriel Bork- 
 man," — " Oh, that's a piece I can't stand ; entirely 
 pessimistic and useless." But though it does not 
 consciously set about proving anything, though it is 
 not polemical like " Pillars of Society," with which 
 it is constantly compared, it is more mature in its 
 human significance. In the former play, Bernick was 
 not a diseased man; he was a victim of environment. 
 The difference between " Pillars of Society " and 
 " John Gabriel Borkman," is the difi'erence between 
 summer heat and autumn ripeness. Mr. Henry 
 James speaks of Ibsen's " violent substance," of his 
 characters that " have no tone but their moral 
 tone." ^ If he is attracted toward Ibsen, it is a 
 miracle which he cannot fathom : — " a miracle because 
 [his power] is a result of so dry a view of life, so 
 indifferent a vision of the comedy of things." Speak- 
 ing of Ibsen's conquest of intensity, despite his 
 meagreness of detail, or rather his " admirable econ- 
 omy," the same writer adds : 
 
 " There is no small talk, there is scarcely any 
 manners. On the other hand, there is so little vul- 
 garity that that of itself has almost the effect of a 
 deeper, a more lonely provincialism. The back- 
 ground, at any rate, is the sunset over the ice." 
 
 In that last picture, Mr. James grips the whole 
 
 ' See article on " Borkman," in Harper's Weekly, February 
 6, 1897. 
 
490 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 tone of " John Gabriel Borkman." It is preemi- 
 nently a middle-aged story, where the value is cen- 
 tred on an old maid. 
 
 Ibsen's correspondence — at least that part of it 
 which has been translated into English, — from the 
 beginning of 1897 became sparse. On June 3d, he 
 wrote to Brandes in a tone that revealed his state of 
 mind. " In my loneliness here," he said, " I am em- 
 ploying myself in planning something new of the 
 nature of a drama. But I have no distinct Idea yet 
 what it will be." : 
 
 The hand of death was already hovering over 
 Henrik Ibsen, and the failure on his part to clarify 
 Jiis vision so as to see his idea, points conclusively to 
 the weakness of old age. It was the twilight of his 
 life, and he would often turn to his family Bible — 
 " for the sake of the language," he would say naively. 
 On March 20, 1898, occurred the seventieth birthday 
 of the poet; the world over, he found himself the 
 object of interest. From England came Professor 
 Gosse, with silver tokens to the Master Craftsman; 
 the Storthing sent a deputation to his house ; streams 
 of officials and university men turned out to pay him 
 homage; the Christiania theatres hailed him as their 
 chief glory. 
 
 Not reckoning with his strength, Ibsen then went 
 to Copenhagen to visit the King; both there and at 
 Stockholm he was the centre of ovation after ovation. 
 Once more in Christiania, his strength gave way, and 
 the doors were closed to visitors; he was seized with 
 a stroke, which, while it was not fatal, definitely 
 undermined his constitution. He slowly recovered, 
 sufficiently, in fact, to be seen once more by his 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 491 
 
 favourite window at Carl Johan's Gade. But the 
 regularity of his work was broken. December, 1898, 
 came around, and the reading public was surprised 
 to learn that no new play by Henrik Ibsen would be 
 published that year. 
 
 What might almost be called Ibsen's last triumph 
 occurred on September 1, 1899; it has its humorous 
 aspect as well as its deeply serious side. The Na- 
 tional Norwegian Theatre was opened on that date, 
 the King of Norway and Sweden officiating. 
 
 Outside of the massive building, bronze statues of 
 Ibsen and Bjornson were unveiled; it is whispered 
 that, in the early grey of dawn, the two poets, each 
 at his own time, slipped into the plaza to get a good, 
 long, uninterrupted view of their metallic selves. But 
 if bashfulness thus made them behave like children, 
 there was no escaping the honours of the memorable 
 evening. The King saluted these two beacons of Nor- 
 wegian literary history — Ibsen and Bjornson, seated 
 in gilded chairs raised above the centre of the dress 
 circle. 
 
 On September 2, 1899, the final Ibsen fete took 
 place. A poem was read to him ; he was cheered to 
 the echo, and there followed a performance of " An 
 Enemy of the People." Ibsen was overcome; people 
 surged about him; a way had to be made down the 
 aisle, on either side of which enthusiastic admirers 
 stretched forth a hand to touch the Master. Is it 
 not possible to reckon with the warm grip of life that 
 took hold of his shrunken body? The world rose up 
 in homage, yet the heart was past that kingdom which 
 Ibsen had denied himself. 
 
 The greatest secrecy was observed about the writ- 
 
492 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ing of " When We Dead Awaken " ; the world was 
 curious to learn what would be the final word of the 
 Master. In " John Gabriel Borkman," they had been 
 given a richness of scene that was foreign to the Ib- 
 sen technique — a distinctly panoramic view, unlike 
 " Brand " and " Peer Gynt," in that it was distinct- 
 ively spectacular. In many ways they had discov- 
 ered therein hints of earlier pieces, even to the extent 
 that when Borkman is dying — ^the metal hand grip- 
 ping his conscience — ^his kingdom and glory and 
 power rush over him much in the same manner as the 
 kingdom and glory and power seize Julian at the 
 close of the first part of " Emperor and Gahlean." 
 The eifect in both is instinct with the same grandeur. 
 Contrary opinions were heard as to the relative 
 importance of " When We Dead Awaken " ; it was 
 issued in December, 1899, with 1900 on the title- 
 page, and was regarded as the last message from Ib- 
 sen,^ although the aged poet, reckoning against time, 
 
 ' The Halvorsen bibliography unfortunately does not include 
 data relating to " When We Dead Awaken." The most im- 
 portant theatres in Scandinavia and in Germany have given 
 performances. In London, the Stage Society produced it at 
 the Imperial Theatre on January 25, 1903, Mr. Laurence 
 Irving playing Ulfheim and Miss Henrietta Watson, Irene. 
 In America, a New York performance was given at the 
 Knickerbocker Theatre on March 7, 1905, with Frederick 
 Lewis, Dorothy Donnelly, and Florence Kahn. Among the 
 many commentaries, the reader is referred to Edouard Rod's 
 "La Mort d'Ibsen" in Le Oorretpondant, June 10, 1906, pp. 
 825-855; and Revue des Cours et Conferences, 1901, pp. 673-80 
 (M. Henri Lichtenberger) . The same author considers this 
 play in Revue Philomatique de Bordetmx, iv, No. 5, pp. 
 193-209. Ibsen's literary activity ends here. He was, however, 
 deeply interested in the preparation of his collected works. 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 493 
 
 was vaguely speaking of something else to follow. 
 The new drama had not been written with the usual 
 ease; he had had to force himself in many places, 
 against encroaching weakness; Death's hand was al- 
 ready upon him, and he knew it. 
 
 Despite such eminent opinion as one can find 
 ranged on the side of a firm belief in the unabated 
 strength and cogency of " When We Dead Awaken," 
 it is impossible to overlook the wild wandering and 
 disconnected imagery of the second and third acts. 
 It is as though the whole phantasmagoria of Ibsen's 
 life had filtered through his weakening brain, and he 
 had caught fitful gleams of past glories. It is as 
 though in Maia, of the earth earthy, and in Irene, 
 the poet was balancing his old problem of " Emperor 
 and Galilean," trying to see wherein he had missed 
 life in an effort to fulfil his preordained mission. 
 
 In attempting this, Ibsen's two characters, Rubek, 
 the sculptor, and Irene, the model, — whose soul has 
 been sacrificed for art, even as Ella Rentheim's has 
 been bartered for power, — are both endowed with the 
 same qualities of mental weakness ; to analyze their 
 meaning consistently, one would have to prescribe 
 physic for their constitutions. In a vague penumbra 
 of existence, they meet, each having lost something 
 
 published in Copenhagen during 1901 and 1902. In 1902 
 appeared editions of bis early plays " Kaempehojen " and 
 " Olaf Liljekrans " (edited by Halvdan Koht) ; in the same 
 year there was published a bibliographical edition of his works 
 by Carl Naerup ; and the " Correspondence," under the editor- 
 ship of Koht and Julias Elias, was issued in 1904. The only 
 German edition that I have consulted is " Henrik Ibsens 
 Samtliche Werke in deutscher Sprache," edited by George 
 Brandes, Julius Elias, Paul Schlenther, in nine volumes. 
 
494. HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 out of their lives, and each drawn to the other accord- 
 ing to the inviolable laws of compensation. 
 
 It is useless to attempt an analysis of fragments, 
 of what Mr. Archer so aptly calls " the dregs of Ib- 
 sen's mind." He is chasing shadows, he is hungry 
 for something that has passed him by. Just before 
 the end, he himself has awakened to find how much he 
 has sacrificed. He did not care for the plaudits of 
 people now; it was a cry forced from a soul made 
 wilfully cold. After all, the best of hfe is love, and, 
 as Mr. Percy Mackaye declares in his " Mater," 
 " The test of love, and the best of love, is laughter." 
 
 We hear much concerning coldness of heart, both 
 in " John Gabriel Borkman " and in " When We 
 Dead Awaken." Maia does not satisfy Rubek, the 
 sculptor, because the latter is burned out, having 
 poured into his masterpiece the red blood of his 
 being, having hewn from stone the su|)ple nakedness 
 of his model's body, wilfully restraining his passion, 
 wilfully blinding himself to the woman's soul beneath. 
 
 And when it was all over, it was as though the liv- 
 ing body were ashes ; all beings might now gaze on 
 the nakedness of Irene ; all beings might try to touch 
 the heart of Rubek, even Maia, but with no avail. 
 This is what it means to be an artist; in order to 
 create life, one must sacrifice life. The whole ques- 
 tion remains — and is brought home poignantly when- 
 ever we come in contact with the warmth of the actual 
 present — is it worth while.'' Pessimism did not make 
 Ibsen question this ; somewhere in his mind there al- 
 ways flitted that disquieting dualism in nature which 
 in his philosophy he was trying to reconcile. 
 
 The characters in " When We Dead Awaken " are 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 495 
 
 mostly fit subjects for an insane asylum; so dis- 
 traught are they in their essential details that there 
 is naught to reconcile them with reality. Through 
 the mist we hear Ibsen reiterate his old proposition 
 that life without love is death ; through a picturesque 
 and complicated maze of scenery, we put Rubek 
 alongside of Brand in his upward climb — the one 
 with an Ideal, the other with Irene; the one losing 
 sight of the common humanity, the other hearing far 
 off the joy of life in Maia's song. 
 
 Had Ibsen been at the height of his power, he 
 would have known how to make poignant the savage 
 conception of Ulfheim — for the brute element in life 
 is as much a fact as any other element. Sense and 
 spirit battle here for a basis of mutual recognition, 
 but in the struggle, they blind Ibsen's view. 
 
 At times the characters in " When We Dead 
 Awaken " utter some keen, poetic ideas ; but tem- 
 peramentally, in their escape of reality, they do not 
 touch the realm of the supernatural, an element 
 underlying " The Lady from the Sea " and " The 
 Master Builder." We might point to many a John 
 Gabriel Borkman, walking on Wall Street, as Dr. 
 Slosson suggests,^ and to many a Consul Bernick 
 in New York homes, but only within the insane ward 
 do we hope to discover an Irene, with Rubek in the 
 ante-room. 
 
 However weak Ibsen grew, he nevertheless seems to 
 have retained to the very end his enviable instinct for 
 dialogue, nowhere better exemplified than in the first 
 act of " When We Dead Awaken." Because of these 
 
 ' See " Ibsen as an Interpreter of American Life." Edwin 
 E. Slosson. The Independent, May 31, 1906, pp. 1253-12SS. 
 
496 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 true touches that flicker into flame, the obscurity of 
 reason seems all the more obscure. As the critic said, 
 " The man of science has discovered the soul [in this 
 drama], and does not altogether know what to do 
 with it." Perhaps in real life that is so; perhaps, 
 when revelation rushes on us, it finds us helpless in 
 our exercise of will; having fought with direct pur- 
 pose for the vague, we know not what to do when the 
 vague becomes evident. 
 
 Were we so inclined, we might enter the realm of 
 spiritualism in our discussion of " When We Dead 
 Awaken," but it would be carrying Ibsen much fur- 
 ther than he ever went. Suppose a dead love has 
 had an active influence upon Rubek, it does not make 
 the embodiment, Irene, any the less insane. So sug- 
 gestive is the title of Ibseu's play, that we might 
 carry it to any length, without clearing the Ibsen 
 secret, without reaching the Ibsen solution. 
 
 " When We Dead Awaken " is Ibsen's art tribute 
 on the altar of love ; upon its surface, he has sketched 
 faint tracings from " Brand," from " Hedda Gab- 
 ler," from " The Master Builder," from " John Ga- 
 briel Borkman." We hear the same chant that rose 
 above the crashing avalanche beneath which Brand 
 was buried. 
 
 When a man of Ibsen's age turns upon himself, 
 and becomes satiric over the outcome of his life-work, 
 it is as though he had laughed at his own funeral. 
 Yet though he may thereby have shown that he 
 doubted the efficacy of his mission, he was neverthe- 
 less affirming, with unshakable faith, the essential and 
 fundamental elements in life. We might carry M. 
 Rod's critique still further, and say that Ibsen here 
 
HENRIK IBSEN'S EPILOGUE 4.97 
 
 for the first time writes a play which, wherever it is 
 coherent, stands representative of an emotion.-*^ 
 
 The sands in the hour glass were slowly coming to 
 the end. Ibsen's pen was no longer to be active. 
 Only now and then did a fitful spark take hold of 
 him ; he had almost done with the world, even though 
 the world refused to be done with him. During the 
 Boer War he was attacked on the ground that his 
 sympathies were for the English; the Dutch papers 
 took the matter up, and Cornelius Karel Elout even 
 went so far as to write a book on the subject. To the 
 latter Ibsen addressed a dignified reply (December 9, 
 1900) to an open letter which had appeared in Poli- 
 tiken; herein he persisted in his desire to remain a 
 man of peace in politics, to be neutral in all ques- 
 tions of war. Historically, it is very evident that 
 his sympathies rested with England. 
 
 A second apoplectic stroke seized Ibsen in 1902, 
 and from this he never quite recovered ; in fact, only 
 in fitful moments was he himself, gaining sufficient 
 strength to show his pleasure over Norway's freedom 
 in 1905, and over the accession of King Hakon. 
 
 After this the darkness of night settled upon Hen- 
 rik Ibsen; his mind gave way completely, and he 
 became even as his own conception of Oswald in 
 " Ghosts." When he talked, he murmured incoher- 
 ently in a mixture of Norwegian and German. His 
 acts were childish, as he walked around his room, 
 
 ' Rod writes : " Par son denouement, la dernifere pifece d'Ibsen, 
 qui est un supreme pofeme d'amour, tel que pent le concevolr 
 un vieillard dont les yeux ont fouill6 tous les secrets de la 
 vie, va rejoindre le seul drame d'amour dont on puisse 
 le rapprocher: celui Tristan et Iseult qu'emporte ensemble, 
 pareillement, la meme vague d'apaisement et d'oubli." 
 
498 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 stopping now and then to gaze vacantly from his 
 window. He would greet the untiring devotion of 
 his wife with warm show of affection, and the ap- 
 pearance of his grandchildren, Tankred, Irene, and 
 Eleonora, seemed to give him peculiar pleasure. 
 Thus passed the time until May, 1906. 
 
 All this while the outside world was eager for any 
 new bulletin; a big world-figure lay dying in Chris- 
 tiania. How many thought of the poor student who 
 had first come to the Norwegian capital ; of the pov- 
 erty-stricken genius who, after a long period of 
 penury, exiled himself for twenty-seven years, never 
 once relinquishing his innate love for Norway, though 
 the national characteristics taxed him sorely.? 
 
 Ibsen, the Master, lay dying, and nations sent 
 inquiries ; a little man, scorned in his ideas, hated 
 for his truth and his frank intention, had brought 
 the world around to believe in his power. Slowly the 
 days in May passed by until on the afternoon of the 
 23d — at 2 :30, to be exact — ^Henrik Ibsen died at his 
 home opposite the Royal Gardens. What did it mat- 
 ter if the King of Norway attended his funeral, 
 which was made a public function; or whether King 
 Edward VII sent his representative? There are two 
 conflicting queries that rise up in one's mind over the 
 pomp with which the exit of Henrik Ibsen was made. 
 The world was paying tribute to the power of intel- 
 lect; in general, very few had a right conception of 
 the man. But only in the balance of the two will one 
 be able to see Henrik Ibsen as he should be seen. The 
 limitations, the depths of his work, will measure the 
 limitations, the depths of his view. A knowledge of 
 the man will temper his cold intensity of thought. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 HENEIK IBSEN, THE MAN AND HIS PLAYS 
 
 Heneik Ibsen was preeminently a man of his 
 time; the current by which civilization advances, 
 carried him faster than the rest of men. A poet who 
 stands ten years ahead of his age is given the power 
 to see twenty years beyond the ken of the average 
 vision. To this gift of far sight, may be added the 
 depth and concentration which stamped his genius. 
 Ibsen is a remarkable figure in the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, for he is one of the intellectual forces by 
 which the nineteenth century will be recognised in 
 the future. When the intensity of his application, 
 however, has fallen into its proper proportion, the 
 universality of his Intention and scope will be found 
 to lack a value of the first rank. 
 
 If a study of the man and his work has not im- 
 pressed us with the positive weight of his mission, 
 then we have not seen Henrik Ibsen at all; he is 
 neither food for children, nor a palliative for weak 
 souls; he demands a generous spirit, a mind ready 
 for conviction, a sympathy based on understanding. 
 What he is, he was forced to make the world 
 acknowledge; imposing a hard, unadorned standard 
 for his followers, he made the task of adherence still 
 more difficult for himself. If, in the long battle, the 
 Ibsen believers were wounded, they could be certain 
 that he himself was being crucified. 
 
 The misunderstanding of Henrik Ibsen is largely 
 due to one of two things: ignorance of his purpose, 
 of his philosophy, and of the terms by which the 
 principles of modern philosophy are characterized; 
 or else an hysterical approach to his meaning 
 
500 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 through hidden and unessential channels. His 
 moral and his mental tones are popularly miscon- 
 ceived under the term pessimism, without proper em- 
 phasis being placed upon the active optimism to- 
 ward which he was always working. 
 
 We have crystallized notions of Henrik Ibsen; to 
 the popular mind he represents a shudder, even as 
 to the popular eye he appears like the fretful porcu- 
 pine. But time will add soft colour to the sombre- 
 ness of his view, even as it will bring out a gentle- 
 ness from beneath the " buttoned-up " severity of 
 his manner. 
 
 As a man, Ibsen was thoroughly human; isolation 
 gave him an aloofness of manner, and sensitiveness 
 imposed upon him a crusty coating for protection. 
 But he possessed a certain grace that comes with 
 the realization of a God-imposed task. There is no 
 doubt that he loved a fight, that his nature was war- 
 like. He told Brandes, in 1871, that Bredahl, " the 
 indignation pessimist," was one of his favourite 
 poets, because, as he stood behind " the plough in 
 a peasant's smock," he " had viewed mankind and 
 the world with angry eyes." 
 
 Ibsen, the man, was of varied and contradictory 
 temper. He was positive in his views, sometimes 
 sweeping, as, for instance, when he told Peter Han- 
 sen (1888) that his Danish translation of "Faust" 
 was the finest in existence. But he did not resent 
 being criticised in his turn ; " All this I have chosen 
 to say to you quite frankly," he wrote to Hartvig 
 Lassen (1877), ". . .1 give you free permission 
 to retaliate in kind." 
 
 Ibsen possessed a large amount of personal van- 
 
THE MAN AND HIS PLAYS 501 
 
 ity; in his habits he was precise and formal; it 
 is said that his house, furnished in ornamental 
 fashion, was arranged in almost stiff regularity, 
 while his study bore the same signs of order and 
 concentration that his written manuscript possessed. 
 He was particular about his titles, and his decora- 
 tions,^ and he showed a naive enjoyment over his 
 association with royalty that was not wholly com- 
 patible with his dignity. 
 
 Though in soul he was isolated, and though his 
 life was largely based upon a consideration of 
 things remembered — memory with him plays a vital 
 part — Henrik Ibsen was not a recluse; he was a 
 citizen of the world in body as well as in mind, lov- 
 ing to walk, finding delight in travel, noting the 
 picturesque in environment; but subjecting every- 
 thing to the consuming seriousness of his nature. 
 
 There is some truth in the picture of the pomp- 
 ous little figure, tramping up and down his room 
 with hands behind his back, defying interruption, 
 and resenting people who watched him with curious 
 intent. Simple in his general bearing, one always 
 pictures him as seated in what Mr. Gosse called 
 " permanent silence," no details escaping his ob- 
 servation. 
 
 As a friend, Ibsen showed a tendency to confi- 
 dence, but it was not an easy matter to be a friend 
 in return; one had to remain content with spiritual 
 communion, accepting the will for the deed. So 
 real were people to him, even in their absence, that 
 " anything more seemed superfluous," Ibsen once 
 wrote after months of silence. But he never failed 
 'See Letter, Correspondence, lOS. 
 
50£ HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 to give his expression of joy over the success of his 
 friends ; he was staunch and true, bestowing recog- 
 nition of merit to all who, like himself, were involved 
 in the intellectual advance of the age. 
 
 To his biographers Ibsen had the faculty of dis- 
 cussing himself as though he were an outside per- 
 son; he gauged their excellencies of estimate, as he 
 would gauge himself were he the critic; he was ap- 
 preciative of their efforts and was eager to help 
 them toward a better understanding of his work. In 
 certain ways it is to be regretted, after all, that 
 Hegel discouraged him in his desire to prepare an 
 autobiographical record. 
 
 He had little respect for the average critic, 
 though he was always first to acknowledge his in- 
 debtedness to honest criticism; his ire knew no 
 bounds when he felt that he was being taken to task 
 simply because he was himself, and for no organic 
 or fundamental reason. That is why he had the 
 habit of hedging in what was most meaningful to 
 him. But whenever he was attacked, he met the op- 
 position with silent fortitude. " Be dignified," he 
 once wrote to Brandes ; " dignity is the only weapon 
 against such assaults." 
 
 Although he reached his maturity at an early 
 age, Ibsen was always approaching different angles 
 of vision; he was always changing. The way in 
 which that alteration occurred is seen in the grad- 
 ual advance from his Norwegian to his Scandina- 
 vian point of view, and finally to his wider Teutonic 
 racial sympathies. 
 
 Ibsen's self-appointed task demanded that he re- 
 gard his friends as " expensive luxuries " ; more- 
 
THE MAN AND HIS PLAYS 503 
 
 over, in order to give freedom to his intellect, he 
 sacrificed his family to the cause. Ibsen's barque 
 being freighted with the conventional baggage of 
 life, he threw overboard the accepted things of life 
 as readily as a man-of-war clears her decks for 
 action. Ibsen's exile is not unlike that of Dante's, 
 though it was not tempered with the same humane 
 refinement of feeling. Distance brought Ibsen the 
 essence of Norway; he might despise the Norwe- 
 gians in their weakness, but he loved his country. 
 In 1870 he wrote: " One describes summer best on a 
 winter day." That is the manner in which he re- 
 spected distance. 
 
 If Ibsen possessed culture, it was marked with the 
 quality of Puritanical severity and not of richness. 
 His understanding was not based upon a wide 
 acquaintance with books; he seemed to pride him- 
 self upon his persistent ignoring of authors. His 
 likes and dislikes were strong, and in certain in- 
 stances his lack of sympathy was surprising. In 
 intellectual satisfaction he was nearer to his Bible 
 than he was to Zola or Tolstoi or Mill ; he knew but 
 little of Shakespeare, and expressed no desire to 
 know more, until the publication of Brandes' cri- 
 tique on the poet. He was endowed with the gift 
 of being able to read only fragments of an author 
 when he could serise his value. He once wrote to a 
 Byron translator that, although he was only fa- 
 miliar with a few of Byron's poems, he had a feel- 
 ing " that his works, translated into our language, 
 would be of great assistance in freeing our aesthetics 
 from many moral prejudices." He often threw his 
 own judgment, not based on scholarship, into the 
 
504 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 balance with the opinions of experts, and his con- 
 clusions were never so far wrong in their values. 
 The one great thing that irritated Ibsen, was to 
 have to combat any statement of his indebtedness 
 to authors ; he was only too eager to proclaim his 
 ignorance of them, as, for example, Kierkegaard 
 [Letter, 4!0], George Sand [229], and Dumas 
 [229].^ 
 
 As a letter writer, Ibsen exhibits a very narrow 
 vein; the foregoing study has shown sufficiently 
 wherein the value lay. Though Ibsen wrote with 
 frankness, he could never strip himself completely, 
 and he had an aversion from long arguments on 
 paper. The " Correspondence," as published for 
 English readers, exhibits many gaps which the years 
 may fill. In the midst of trivial details and an un- 
 necessary amount of emphasis upon money matters, 
 which might easily have been eliminated by the edi- 
 tors, we are able to gather the vital outlines for an 
 excellent portrait. 
 
 Ibsen was not a brilliant letter writer, nor is there 
 displayed any unusual amount of critical illumina- 
 tion. Though the style in which this collection (as 
 translated by Mr. Laurvik and Miss Morison) is 
 written, shows by its unevenness that the statements 
 
 ' Regarding foreign influence on Ibsen, consult Jules 
 Lemaitre, " Contemporains," 6e series ; Emile Faguet discusses 
 the connection between George Sand and Ibsen, in Journal de 
 achats, January 11, March IS, 1897; Victor Basch on "Ibsen 
 et George Sand," Oo«mopoZiji, February, 1898; George Brandes 
 on " Henrik Ibsen en France," Cosmopolis, January, 1897. 
 As for Kierkegaard, in addition to what has already been 
 said, consult Maurice Muret's ." Un prteurseur d'Ibsen, Soren 
 Kierkegaard," Bevue de Paris, July 1, 1901. 
 
THE MAN AND HIS PLAYS 505 
 
 were not penned with a conscious thought of future 
 publication, yet there is a naivete about the book 
 not wholly devoid of a peculiar charm ; there is even 
 a conciseness that marks most of his dramas. Mr. 
 Howells calls them " crabbed, formal, painfully 
 truthful " letters. 
 
 To a remarkable degree the knowledge of Henrik 
 Ibsen rests upon translation; those who came to him 
 under the guise of interpreters, were generally 
 prompted by serious motives, and did their work 
 conscientiously, sometimes even brilliantly. In this 
 respect Mr. Archer's efforts are distinctive. Ibsen 
 had definite notions regarding the responsibility at- 
 taching to the duties of a translator. He wrote to 
 Gjertsen, in 1872: "It is not simply a question of 
 rendering the meaning. . . ." Only once was he 
 heard to express impatience over the multifarious 
 versions of his plays. " Unfortunately," he ex- 
 claimed, " I have far too many German translators." 
 He knew neither French nor English sufficiently well 
 to speak; it was with difficulty that he could read in 
 either tongue. He deplored this lack, especially as 
 it came between him and his desire to go to London. 
 In 1895 and 1896 friends were trying to persuade 
 him to make a trip to England. 
 
 Ibsen's theatre is one of ideas; against the arti- 
 ficiality of Scribe, he places a naturalism which is 
 peculiarly his own; he deals most intimately with 
 human life, cleansing the commonplace of every un- 
 essential; his details are luminous. To this intens- 
 ity of matter he brought a technique that was al-- 
 ways interesting, and ever increasing in its dynamic 
 simplicity. 
 
506 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 In his artistic development, however, we must be 
 careful never to dissociate the different stages. Al- 
 though he advanced from the sentiment and ro- 
 mance of Oehlenschlager, Ibsen never freed himself 
 from the romantic spirit; though he arrived at a 
 period when he found it no longer necessary for him 
 to resort to the subterfuges of the " well-made " 
 play, he never forgot the theatricalism of Scribe, 
 however much he might lay it aside. 
 
 Ibsen was instinctively the dramatist; he con- 
 verted all things into terms of action; he read his 
 newspaper with an eye on the stage; books appealed 
 to him, especially if they contained the possibilities 
 of a play. " Have you not noticed," he wrote to 
 Lorentz Dietrichson, in 1879, " that you have in 
 the division of your poem, entitled ' A Norwegian 
 Sculptor,' the subject for a five-act popular play.''" 
 Again, to Jonas Lie, in 1900, he wrote : " Do you 
 not think of dramatizing the story of Feste? . . . 
 Just listen ! " In both instances he sketched a 
 scenario. 
 
 We have commented sufficiently on Ibsen's style to 
 know its dominant characteristics; he was hardly 
 ever light and airy ; even in " Brand " and " Peer 
 Gynt," the abandon of spirit was always tempered 
 by restraint. When he gained his perfection of 
 prose, instead of the deep purple patches of " Em- 
 peror and Galilean," we were given a monotone es- 
 sence in diction used by no other playwright on the 
 stage. And because of his severity in later treat- 
 ment, Ibsen was deprived of the great element, va- 
 riety. Professor Dowden supports this view when 
 he writes : " The range of varying levels of dra- 
 
THE MAN AND HIS PLAYS 507 
 
 matic dialogue in Shakespeare is incomparably wider 
 than it is in Ibsen." 
 
 He saw things at their highest pitch; most dram- 
 atists begin with the first act, and, according to 
 conventional laws, proceed to the fifth. Ibsen illus- 
 trates that one may begin with the fifth act and defy 
 conventional laws. Prof. Brander Matthews calls 
 " Ghosts " a play of culmination, a " fifth act " only.^ 
 
 Ibsen is not strenuous, but tense; as a workman, 
 every detail is centred on the consuming idea; he 
 is not a cheap technician, although he does resort 
 to the theatrical for eflfect. As an artist his style 
 presupposes form. But his form is active, not con- 
 templative; his characters never awe, they interest 
 because of their nearness. Ibsen's psychology is 
 nervous ; it is prompted by the forces of the mo- 
 ment, it is acted upon by the forces of the past. 
 
 As a craftsman Ibsen was slow and painstaking; 
 his outline, his second draft, his " fair copy " rep- 
 resented long periods of study, during which his 
 characters meant everything to him; situation, in 
 his theatre, is secondary. The outward scene in his 
 dramas is compressed to its lowest terms. In the 
 midst of his disgruntled estimate. Max Nordau 
 none the less speaks the truth : " It is the return to 
 the Aristotelian doctrine of the unities of time and 
 space, with an orthodoxy compared with which the 
 French classicists of the age of Louis XIV are here- 
 tics." It is because the content is so vital that the 
 
 ' See " Ibsen, the Playwright," by Brander Matthews, Book- 
 man, February, 1906, p. 568. Contained also In his " Inquiries 
 and Opinions." The discussion considers the matter of French 
 influence. 
 
508 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 form sometimes strikes a discordant note whenever 
 it departs from its logical austerity. 
 
 On July 23, 1872, while in Bavaria, Ibsen wrote 
 to Brandes about his work. " I must confine my- 
 self," so he maintained, " to that which is my own, 
 to that around which all my thoughts circle. My 
 domain is not an extensive one, but within it I do my 
 best. Now, don't be discovering egoism in this, I 
 beg of you ! " The external world which he saw 
 was by no means a large segment; it was distinctly 
 marked by Norwegian paucity of colour, it was 
 stamped with a caste iha^t betrayed it as a very 
 small community. It is in this respect that we find 
 a certain incongruous union of elements in Ibsen's 
 plays — a very bourgeois, emotive type distracted by 
 the gravest problems, propounding the most vital 
 ethics. They are not noble personages, though they 
 have, as if by accident, isolated noble qualities in 
 them. The problems are oftentimes out of all pro- 
 portion to the characters. 
 
 Ibsen does not charm so much as he fascinates ; 
 his true worth, as an artist, is that he stimulates, he 
 provokes the workings of conscience. He does not 
 reach his effects primarily through ordinary dra- 
 matic means ; his mixture of comedy and tragedy is 
 sometimes so elusive that it is hard to determine how 
 far the play is one or the other. The same mixture 
 occurs in other directions ; to establish Ibsen as a 
 pessimist one would have to refute the belief that he 
 is an optimist and an idealist. 
 
 Dr. Brandes, in his " Eminent Authors of the 
 Nineteenth Century," attempts to classify Ibsen's 
 mind — ^to group the ideas in his dramas under four 
 
THE MAN AND HIS PLAYS 509 
 
 heads: (1) those connected with religion; (2) those 
 contrasting the past with the present; (3) those 
 that treat of social classes and their life-struggle; 
 (4) those that discuss the relation of the sexes. I 
 cannot quite say, with Brandes, that Ibsen's ten- 
 dency was to reduce his characters to ideas ; but it 
 is sometimes evident that, as a dramatist, he does 
 commit some peculiar errors in logic for the sake of 
 those ideas. 
 
 Ibsen's value as a modem writer lies in his insist- 
 ence upon the application of the doctrine of evolu- 
 tion to matters of intellectual life. Because, in his 
 plays, he puts himself ahead of his age, people in- 
 stantly called him an anarchist, a socialist, an icono- 
 clast of all that is established in society. But his 
 " third empire " in no way presupposes license. Ib- 
 sen's aim in life is thoroughly ethical; according to 
 his nature, however, he approaches the facts of life 
 in his own way, concerning himself only with those 
 facts that jeopardize life. Only after one has been 
 taught to reject the lie is one able to accept the 
 truth. He would rather struggle than be at peace. 
 The whole of life for him centres in becoming, not 
 in the attainment. Ibsen's pessimistic moments were 
 mostly within himself, when, for example, he doubted 
 — and here we note his egoism tempered by the 
 streak of Puritanism in him — whether his " third 
 empire " would ever materialize.-' 
 
 Viewing life, therefore, from its stormy side, Ib- 
 sen's error was largely the product of his ignoring 
 the other side. His aim was not to give one pleas- 
 
 '■ Compare Ibsen, Nietzsche, and Wagner in their relation 
 to the "third empire." 
 
510 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 ure; not to seek the best in life. His social criti- 
 cism did not take the form of searching for reasons 
 why particular conditions and relations exist, but 
 of showing why particular conditions should not ex- 
 ist. If his " third kingdom " lacked a dominant 
 principle, as Boyesen rightly avers, the lack was 
 due to a want in Ibsen himself, of any systematized, 
 thorough-grounded education. He is an untutored 
 idealist and revolutionary, but his red flag does not 
 sanction violence. 
 
 Ibsen's whole social attitude presupposes a free 
 development of the individual; his idea of a new so- 
 ciety makes it essential; every true relation which 
 may exist between man and woman determines it. 
 Because the individual is hemmed in, is developed 
 unevenly, it is to be expected that the family is 
 unstable, that love is hollow, that truth and light 
 are obscured. Ibsen's idea of free marriage does 
 not do away with whatever social convention the 
 world accepts as a symbol of the marriage bond ; he 
 simply believes that there are those living in wed- 
 lock who have never been joined spiritually; that 
 there are some marriages which are immoral, exist- 
 ing simply because the marriage bond holds them. 
 The human conscience must be aroused. Whatever 
 we may say concerning the elastic boundaries of Ib- 
 sen's freedom, we can never escape his firm belief in 
 nobility of motive and purity of conscience. The in- 
 dividual shall not work against society, but by his 
 own fulness and purity he shall cleanse society of its 
 enormous ills. 
 
 Ibsen is constantly insisting that the duty of one's 
 life is " to realize one's self " — in what manner he 
 
THE MAN AND HIS PLAYS Sll 
 
 does not quite make clear, for the free exercise of 
 will in his dramas results in disaster, as a proof that 
 one needs must make certain compromises with con- 
 ditions. There are moments in a lifetime, however, 
 when one can best benefit society by developing to 
 the highest point that which Ibsen, in September, 
 1871, was seeking in Brandes — " a full-blooded ego- 
 ism " — an individualism blind to anything outside 
 of itself. " There is no way in which you can bene- 
 fit society more than by coining the metal you have 
 in yourself." He would thus found his society, not 
 upon the unit of the State, but upon the unit of the 
 Individual. If this is such a radical conception for 
 the people, they will eventually become educated to 
 the idea. Radical in thought, Ibsen was far from 
 radical in action. " He has less courage than 
 Nietzsche," writes Mr. Arthur Symons, " though no 
 less logic, and is held back from a complete realiza- 
 tion of his own doctrine because he has so much 
 worldly wisdom, and is so anxious to make the best 
 of all worlds." 
 
 If one will examine closely the characters in Ib- 
 sen's dramas, it will be discovered that, however ex- 
 treme their views, they are always made to realize, 
 through love, through grief, wherein their views 
 have been too extreme. Having thrown all human 
 consideration overboard in a frantic eff'ort to main- 
 tain a supremacy of will, these individuals, dried up 
 in their intensity, and lacking the yielding quality 
 of unctiousness, have naught to fall back on, and 
 therefore are willing to make any sacrifice in order 
 to gain that which awaits them ahead.* 
 " Ossip-Lourie, in his " La Philosophic Sociale le Theatre 
 
512 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 With this in mind, I think we may reconcile what 
 most conservatives regard as Ibsen's incendiary re- 
 mark that the State must be done away with, if the 
 individual is to live. When the processes of evolu- 
 tion are focussed close together, and when the dis- 
 tinctive stages follow each other in rapid succession, 
 as they do in drama, but as they do not in nature, 
 the cataclysm is startling, even though it is not true. 
 Ibsen's individualism did not presuppose defiance, 
 but preparation. In this spirit one should read the 
 discussions as to Church and State which colour the 
 final pages of " Brand " ; in this spirit we must take 
 his declaration that " a State may be annihilated, 
 but not a nation." 
 
 Living in a very prescribed society, Ibsen in his 
 plays yet outlines a very noble conception of a new 
 social organism, where the clergy, the press, the 
 politician, the capitalist, the younger generation, 
 and the family shall all be placed upon a diff^erent 
 and a sounder basis. Ossip-Lourie summarizes what 
 he considers to be the positive effect of Ibsen's so- 
 cial philosophy, under the following heads: (1) In- 
 dividual and 'Social regeneration is possible. Love is 
 the primary basis of it; (2) Truth and Light; (3) 
 Individual Effort — will, action, liberty, justice; (4) 
 the Family and not the individual constitutes the 
 unity of Society; (5) the Emancipation of Woman. 
 d'Ibsen," writes; "L'individu qui desire reconqu6rir la totality 
 de sa personnalit^ originale, doit se soustraire plus ou moins 
 complbtement k I'influence gfe^rale, s'isoler du groupe social, 
 redevenir lui-mSme, abandonner toutes les conventions men- 
 songferes, rechercher la v6rit6 et la lumifere, reconqu^rir sa 
 puissance, sa force individuelle, qu'il mettra plus tard au 
 service de la soci6t6." 
 
THE MAN AND HIS PLAYS 513 
 
 Ibsen lived to see many effects in Norway which 
 transpired from his preachments. 
 
 Ibsen's plays and letters very clearly indicate his 
 attitude toward party politics ; we see the opposition 
 elements in his conceptions of Stensgard and Stock- 
 mann; his political views were not theoretical, they 
 were practical and mandatory.^ He was thoroughly 
 in accord with the modern social point of view; but 
 his chief concern was for the raw material, as it 
 were, out of which the future was to be constructed. 
 
 The elements of society, as they exist, were never 
 pleasing to him; he could see in them only menace; 
 they were always held under suspicion. Ibsen's 
 highest point in social philosophy is to be found in 
 " Rosmersholm " ; the reason he despised the aver- 
 age man was because he did not think it possible to 
 strike an average anything. The newspapers were 
 bad because the professional reporter had sup- 
 planted the noted editorial writer; politics were bad 
 because the politicians were small in aim and weak 
 in will. In many ways, by the very aversion he 
 showed to answer questions or to indicate means, 
 Ibsen had the same aloofness from the crowd that 
 Matthew Arnold had. 
 
 The hope of the younger generation rests upon 
 the revitalizing of society, and the New Society, as 
 seen by Ibsen, involves the establishing of the 
 Family on a firmer and truer basis ; there must be no 
 corruption, and no deception; in all relations there 
 must be perfect understanding. Sentiment must not 
 blind one, which does not mean that sentiment should 
 not exist. Marriage to-day is largely based on ig- 
 'See Correspondence,178 — To Bj6rnson,Rome,March28, 1884<. 
 
514 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 norance, prompted by no deeper motive than a cer- 
 tain pleasure, a certain external gratification. In 
 Ibsen's plays marriage is usually a one-sided affair. 
 And so, his conception of the Family, bearing in 
 mind the outcome of his many family tragedies, is, 
 after all, a very noble one, although he proceeds to 
 show this by painting the blackest condition. The 
 salvation of the Family, and hence the salvation of 
 Society, will depend upon whether or not the Individ- 
 ual is to be allowed to develop in a healthy manner, 
 ethically, morally, spiritually, and physically. 
 
 We have shown how, in " Love's Comedy," Ibsen 
 came very near creating a noble concept of love ; but, 
 despite this fact, people have so far misunderstood 
 his motives as to accuse him of believing in no love 
 at all. Similarly Ibsen is to-day popularly regarded 
 as an advocate of the separation of the, sexes ; this is 
 far from his view; on the contrary, he never pro- 
 tests against the family; his indignation is com- 
 pletely concerned with the conditions on which the 
 family is founded. Ossipe-Lourie ^ states the case 
 plainly when he says that Ibsen " wishes a free man 
 and a free woman, and in order to have a free man, 
 the woman must be free." In this way only does he 
 hope to have a perfect union of sexes. 
 
 I have emphasized elsewhere that Ibsen only re- 
 garded the woman's cause as one side of the social 
 problem ; ^ he did not consider it, per se, the only 
 
 'The same author says; "L'individu, c'est le genue fdcond, 
 le rayon vivlflant, le r^g^n^rateur qui amfenera la purification 
 de la vie sociale, la vraie liberty, la vraie justice, la vraie 
 solidarity • humaine." 
 
 ' Consult the Norwegian law of June 29, 1888, in its bearing 
 on women. 
 
THE MAN AND HIS PLAYS 515 
 
 vital problem. But in Ibsen's accentuation of cer- 
 tain phases, is it not partly true, as Nordau pointed 
 out, that his women appear to have no duties, but 
 all rights? It is a question at times, despite the 
 high moral and philosophical intention which is the 
 motive power, whether or not the consequent actions 
 are tinged by a lower order of feminine instinct. 
 However, it is false to conceive of Ibsen's sanctioning 
 a love or relation purely sensual in its positive worth. 
 
 All of Ibsen's women are related, cut from the 
 same cloth ; they all have capacities which have been 
 perverted by some social condition. In Ibsen's world 
 the man and woman must be complements, one to the 
 other. It will take some time for this equality to 
 adjust itself, but when it does take effect, there will 
 be no element of jealousy left in the compact, there 
 will be no tone of condescension, there will be no 
 necessity for suppression of individual tastes. The 
 union of sexes is something above law, even though 
 by law it is solemnized. But, since humanity is not 
 a constant factor, we might well question whether 
 this requisite of free marriage anywhere assures the 
 stability or permanence of the choice? Ibsen, no 
 doubt, meant the unswerving perpetuation of the 
 union, but he reckoned on the Superman's strength, 
 not on the average variability. 
 
 Yet the remarkable thing about Ibsen's women is 
 that, however similar they may be in outline, they 
 represent very diverse phases of intellectual, social, 
 and spiritual development. This makes us ponder 
 the subtle distinction in the critic's remark that, had 
 Nora been Rebecca West, she never would have mar- 
 ried Helmar. Another phase of the Ibsen view of 
 
516 HENRIK IBSEN 
 
 marriage is detected in the relations between the 
 man and woman in his social dramas ; the former, by 
 the union, is in no way hampered, while upon the 
 latter is thrust the necessity of sacrificing, of sub- 
 ordinating some of her individuality in the assump- 
 tion of the duties of motherhood. As an individ- 
 ualist, Ibsen would like to see such a mutual trust, 
 and such a mutual realization of reciprocal duties, 
 as will lead to full development of rights on all sides. 
 So perfectly balanced in his own mind was this idea 
 of equality, that it is small wonder Ibsen sometimes 
 despaired when he tried to adjust theory to practice. 
 
 Because of his acute vision, Ibsen's impression- 
 istic dealing with scientific facts, while illogical and 
 often falsely correlated, none the less reached the 
 desired effect. Even though they may not have 
 faithfully detailed the scientific processes, they drew 
 attention to the importance of larger scientific law 
 or principle, and pointed out the fatal consequences 
 of ignoring action and reaction. From this stand- 
 point Ibsen's characters, and most generally his 
 women, are interesting pathological studies; they 
 carry symptoms which are to be found in the med- 
 ical books, and which, though they may not act 
 wholly in the way science has proved them to act, at 
 least are indicative of neurasthenia in its varying de- 
 grees. Ibsen blotted out for his purposes any concep- 
 tion of the heredity of nobility; his irritation would 
 not allow him to conceive of such. But in his earlier 
 years he had had just a sufficient amount of medical 
 training to give him confidence in his ignoring of 
 special diagnosis ; he relied here on his observation. 
 
 In his pessimism Ibsen is saved by his healthy 
 
THE MAN AND HIS PLAYS 517 
 
 indignation ; in his seeming lack of restraint in his 
 ideas, he is saved by the theological crease in his 
 nature. He might be accounted didactic, were it 
 not that he conceived his idea in terms of action. 
 He was an unsystematic thinker, but, as Mr. Archer 
 says, " his originality lies in giving intense dra- 
 matic life to modern ideas." His theology finds ex- 
 pression in " Emperor and Galilean " ; his ethics 
 and morals, lie hidden in all of his plays.^ 
 
 There is no gainsaying the value of Ibsen to his 
 age; we may not always take life so seriously, but 
 this in no way makes actual living less serious. We 
 may be given to cling to the sunnier side of doubt, 
 but the fact remains that truth will be hidden until 
 the doubt is cleared away. We wiU never be able to 
 systematize the Ibsen idea, although we may be able 
 later to measure definitely the Ibsen technique. But 
 in his moral and ethical value, he will in years to come 
 bear that relation to his period which Rousseau and 
 Voltaire bore to theirs. His portraits have not the 
 large humanity which will allow them to be separated 
 from their age. That is why " The Pretenders," 
 " Brand," and " Peer Gynt " have more claim upon 
 the future than " A Doll's House." 
 
 ' Theodore Lasius, in his " Premisses Psychologiques et 
 Religieuses de son CEuvre,'' insists on Ibsen's profundity of 
 moral life. He writes: " Henrik Ibsen a ^t^ le premier 
 homme qui nous ait fait comprendre I'inviolabilit^ de la loi 
 int^rieure. C'est lui qui nous a ouvert le del de I'Eyangile 
 et nous a initio aux mystferes de toute vie religieuse, eh nous 
 faisant comprendre toute I'incomparable grandeur et la 
 beauts sublime de Foeuvre du Christ." 
 
 THE END 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 The bibliographical data relating to Henrik Ibsen and his 
 worlcs are extensive; much will be found of ephemeral and 
 still more of superficial worth. The current periodical indexes 
 should be consulted, although, on actual examination, one will 
 experience a disappointment over the trivial character of the 
 writing done in English. It is to such men as Mr. Archer, 
 Prof. Dowden, and Mr. Gosse that the magazine reader stands 
 in special debt for the popular Itnowledge of Ibsen. Occasional 
 articles, such as C. L. Due's " Ibsen's Early Youth," Critic, 
 49:33, July, 1906; fimile Faguet's "The Symbolic Drama," 
 International Quar., 8 : 329, December, 1903 ; !&douard Rod's 
 "La Mort d'Ibsen," Le Correspondant, 333:835, June 10, 1906, 
 are in themselves distinctive. In addition W. H. Carpenter 
 (Bookman, 1:374, May, 1895— Bibliograpliical), W. L. Court- 
 ney, W. L. Cross, E. P. Evans, C. H. Herford, W. D. Howells, 
 Archibald Henderson, Henry James, Maurice Maeterlinck, W. 
 M. Payne, W. H. Schofield, M. A. Stobart, Arthur Symons, 
 and P. H. Wicksteed are the most important among the legions 
 of magazine contributors to Ibseniana. The following book 
 references will be found serviceable; in many instances the 
 vplumes contain additional bibliographical material. 
 
 Aall, An athon — 
 
 Henrik Ibsen als Dicbter und Denker. Halle, 1906. 
 
 Bibliography, p. 369. 
 Anstey, F. [T. Anstey Guthrie] — 
 
 Mr. Punch's Pocket Ibsen. Macmillan, 1893. 
 Berg, Leo— 
 
 Heine, Nietzsche, Ibsen. Berlin, 1908. 
 Bebg, Leo — 
 
 Henrik Ibsen. Leipzig, 1901. 
 Bibliographic der Deutschen Zeitsehriften-Literatur mit 
 
 Einschluss von Sammelwerken und Zeitungsbeilagen. [This 
 
 publication is on the order of Poole's Index.] 
 BpccARm, Alberto — 
 
 La Donno Nell' Opera Di Henrik Ibsen. Milano, 1893. 
 Bottek-Hansen, Paul — 
 
 La Norvfege Litt6raire au 19e slfecle. Catalogue Sys- 
 
 tematique. Christiania, 1868, [Concise biographical 
 
 material on authors and editors, pp. 321-371. An account 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 519 
 
 of the periodical press in Norway, pp. 193-204. The an- 
 notations in the book are of great interest — civil, theo- 
 logical, etc.] 
 
 BoYESEir, HjALMAR HjORTH 
 
 A Commentary on the Writings of Henrik Ibsen. Mac- 
 
 millan, 1894. 
 Bhandes, George — 
 
 Eminent Authors of the Nineteenth Century. Literary 
 
 Portraits. Translated by Rasmus B. Anderson. Crowell. 
 
 Henrik Ibsen, pp. 405-460. 
 Brastdes, George — 
 
 Henrik Ibsen. Bjornstjerne Bjornson. Critical Studies. 
 
 [Translated by Jessie Muir; introduction by William 
 
 Archer.] Heinemann, 1899. 
 Contemporary Biography. Compiled by Agnes M. Elliott. 
 
 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 1903. [Under Ibsen and 
 
 Bjornson.] 
 Couch, A. T. Quiller — 
 
 Adventures in Criticism, 1896, pp. 283-96. 
 DouMic, Re}^^ — 
 
 De Scribe a Ibsen. Causeries sur le Th^Htre Contemporain. 
 
 Paris, 1896. [See pp. 315-349.] In the course of his 
 
 criticism, Doumic refers to Prozor, to Mme. ArvMe Barine 
 
 in D4bats, to Paul Desjardins in Figaro, to Ehrhard's 
 
 " Henrik Ibsen." 
 Ehrhard, Aitguste — • 
 
 Henrik Ibsen et le Thdsttre Contemporain. Paris, 1892. 
 
 [He divides his discussion into sections: The Romantic 
 
 Dramas; the Philosophic Dramas; the Modern Dramas; 
 
 the Symbolic Dramas.] 
 Ellis, Havelock — 
 
 The New Spirit. Walter Scott. [The same volume 
 
 contains essays on Heine, Whitman, and Tolstoi.] 
 Garde, Axel — ■ 
 
 Der Grundgedanke in Henrik Ibsens Dichtung. Eine 
 
 litterarische Untersuchung. Autorisierte Ubertragung aus 
 
 dem Danischen, von M. Carl Ktichler. Leipzig, 1898. 
 GossE, Edmund-^ 
 
 Henrik Ibsen. Scribner, 1908. 
 GossE, Edmund — • 
 
 Northern Studies. Scott, 1890. [The Oamelot Series. 
 
 The first part written in 1873; the second part in 1889.] 
 Grein, J. T.— 
 
 Premieres of the Year. [p. 145.] 
 Halvorsen, J. B.^ 
 
 Bibliography of the Works of Asbjornsen. Christiania, 
 
 1873. [In Alfred Larsen's Life of Asbjornsen.] 
 Halvorsejt, J. B. — 
 
 Norsk Forfatter Lexikon, 1814-1856. (6 vols.) Christiania, 
 
 1885. [See J. E. Krafts and Chr. Langes.] 
 
520 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 Halvobsen, J. B. — 
 
 Bibliografiske Oplysninger til Henrik Ibsen's Samlede 
 Vaerker. Kjobenhavn, 1901. [An invaluable reference.] 
 
 HAsrsEif, P. — 
 
 lUustreret Dansk Litteraturhistorie. (2 vols.) Kjobenhavn, 
 1886. 
 
 Hanstein, Ad. voir — 
 
 Ibsen als Idealist. Leipzig, 1897. 
 
 Hapgood, Noemax — 
 
 The Stage in America, 1897-1900. Macmillan, 1901. [On 
 Ibsen, see pp. 206-218.] 
 
 HoHx, Feedeeick Winkel — 
 
 History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North. 
 [Translated by Rasmus B. Anderson.] With a Bibliog- 
 raphy of the Important Books in the English Language 
 relating to the Scandinavian Countries. Thorvald Solberg. 
 Griggs, 1895, pp. 413-500. 
 
 HuNEKEE, James — 
 
 Iconoclasts. A Book of Dramatists. Scribner, 1905. [On 
 Ibsen, see pp. 1-138.] 
 
 Ibseit, Hexeik — • 
 
 The Collected Works of. (11 vols.) Edited by William 
 Archer. Scribner, 1907. [The introductions form a body 
 of judicious criticism. A pocket edition has been issued, 
 including Gosse's Biography of Ibsen.] 
 
 JjEGEE, Heneik — 
 
 Illustreret Norsk Literaturhistorie. (2 vols.) Christiania, 
 1896. [Consult index to 2d part of Vol. II. Book 
 contains colour-plate of Ibsen in costume. See 2^ p. 709.] 
 
 JiEGEB, Heueik — 
 
 Henrik Ibsen. A Critical Biography. Translated by 
 William Morton Payne. With a Supplementary Chapter 
 by the Translator. McClurg, 1901. 
 
 Lasius, Theodoee — 
 
 HenriR Ibsen: Premisses Psychologiques et Religieuses de 
 son CEuvre. [Thesis. University de Paris.] Paris, 1906. 
 [Bibliography, French and German, pp. 167-174. Bibliog- 
 raphy of Kierkegaard. Note: 1. Analysis of Catilina; 
 2. Idealistic Tendency in Ibsen's Plays; 3. Realistic and 
 Symbolic Tendencies.] 
 
 Lauevik, Johx Niisen, and Morison, Maet (Translators) — 
 Letters of Henrik Ibsen. Duffield, 1905. 
 
 Lee, Jeajtitette — 
 
 The Ibsen Secret. A Key to the Prose Dramas of Henrik 
 Ibsen. Putnam, 1907. [Published previously in The Critic 
 and Putnam's.] 
 
 LemaJtee, Jules — 
 
 Impressions de Theatre. 5e s^r. On " Ghosts " and " A 
 Doll's House." [Dated August 9, 1889 and August 26, 
 1889.] 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 521 
 
 LlCHTENBEHGER, HesTBI 
 
 Revue des Cours et Conferences: Les Drames Symboliques 
 
 d'Ibsen. 
 
 Les Tendances g^n^rales du drame d'Ibsen, 11 Mai, 1899, 
 
 pp. 405-19. 
 
 Rosmersholm, 7 Mat's, 1901, pp. 792-800. 
 
 Rosmersholm, 28 Mars, 1901, pp. 110-114. 
 
 Lady from the Sea, 11 Avril, 1901, pp. 203-210. 
 
 Hedda Gabler, 2 Mai, 1901, pp. 355-362. 
 
 Master Builder, pp. 355-362. 
 
 Little Eyolf, 6 Juin, 1901, pp. 593, 600. 
 
 Borkman, 13 Juin, 1901, pp. 650-657. 
 
 When We Dead, 20 Juin, 1901, pp. 673-679. 
 
 Realisme et Symbolisme dans I'oeuvre d'Ibsen, 4 Juil., 
 
 1901, pp. 809-816. 
 
 L'individualisme d'Ibsen. 11 Juil., 1901, pp. 843-851. 
 
 The same author has written another article on "When 
 
 We Dead Awaken"; Revue philomatique de Bordeaux, iv. 
 
 No. 5, pp. 193-209; also Le Pessimisme d'Ibsen: Revue 
 
 de Paris, 15, viii, 1901. Among the references given during 
 
 this course, note: 
 
 Gaultier, J. de — La Fiction universelle. Paris, 1903, 
 
 Mercure de France. 
 
 Geyer, Dr.— Le Theatre d'Ibsen. Revue Bleue, 16, 7, 1904. 
 
 [Medico-psychological.] 
 
 Leneveu, G. — Ibsen et Maeterlinck. Paris, 1902. OUendorf. 
 
 Prozor, Comte de — Le Peer Gynt d'Ibsen. Paris, 1897, 
 
 Mercure de France. 
 
 Barine, A. de — Henrik Ibsen: Brand. Revue Bleue, 15, 9, 
 
 1877. 
 
 Faguet, E. — Ibsen. Journal des D4bats, 11, 1 et IS, 11, 
 
 iii, 1897. 
 
 Lemaitrej J. — De I'influence r^cente des litteratures du 
 
 Nord. Revue des Deux Mondes, 15, xii, 1894. 
 
 Lemaltre, J. — John Gabriel Borkman. Revue des Deux 
 
 Mondes, 139, pp. 693-704; Journal des Dibats, 8, 1889; 
 
 7, 1895. 
 
 Lugn6-Poe — Ibsen et son public. Revue Bleue, 16 et 23, 
 
 vii, 1904. 
 
 Maeterlinck, Maurice. Solness. Le Figaro, No. 92, 1894. 
 
 Quesnel, L. Henrik Ibsen. Revue Suisse, VI x^^G; Revue 
 
 Bleue, 25, vii, 1874. 
 
 [Excellent German articles given; see Course.] 
 
 LiTZMANN, BeRTHOLD 
 
 Ibsens Dramen; 1877-1900. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte 
 des deutschen Dramas im 19 Jahrhundert. Hamburg, 
 1901. 
 LoTHAR, Rudolph — 
 
 Henrik Ibsen. Leipzig, 1902. [An invaluable referenCBj 
 with concise bibliography, pp. 169-171.] 
 
5M BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 Macfall, Haldane — 
 
 Ibsen: The Man, his Art, and his Significance. Morgan, 
 
 Shepard, 1907. 
 Matthews, Bbaitoer — 
 
 Inquires and Opinions. Scribper, 1907. [xi, Ibsen the 
 
 Playwright, pp. 329-279.] 
 Moore, George — 
 
 Impressions and Opinions, 1891, pp. 215-36. 
 
 MULLIKIS-, Cl^RA A. 
 
 Reading List on Modern Dramatists. The Boston Book 
 Co., 1907. 
 NoRDAU, Max — 
 
 Degeneration. Appleton, 1895. [Book III, Ego-mania. 
 Chapter iv. Ibsenism. pp. 338-415.] 
 
 OSSIP-LOURIE — 
 
 La Phiiosophie Sociale. Le Theatre d'Ibsen. Paris, 1900. 
 Passarge, L. — 
 
 Henrik Ibsen: Ein Beitrag zur neusten Geschichte der 
 
 norwegischen Nationalliteratur. Leipzig, 1883. 
 Paulsest, John — 
 
 Erinnerungen an Henrik Ibsen. [He is also to be credited 
 
 with Samliv med Ibsen (1906).] 
 Reich, Emil — 
 
 Henrik Ibsens Dramen. Sechzehn Vorlesungen. Leipzig, 
 
 1894. 
 Shaw, George Bernard— 
 
 Dramatic Opinions and Essays. (2 vols.) Brentano, 
 
 1906. [Containing many reviews on Ibsen, originally 
 
 written for the London Saturday Review.} 
 Shaw, George Bernard — 
 
 The Quintessence of Ibsenism. Brentano, 1905. [Carries 
 
 the reader through " Hedda Gabler," but does not consider 
 
 any of the Saga plays.] 
 Saroi-ea, Charles — 
 
 Henrik Ibsen, fetude sur sa Vie et son CEuvre. Paris, 
 
 1891. 
 Vasenius, Valfrid — 
 
 Henrik Ibsen. Ett Skalde portratt. Stockholm. [See the 
 
 Lothar bibliography.] 
 Walkley, a. B. — 
 
 Playhouse Impressions. London, 1892. [Ibsen, pp. 47-67.] 
 WiCKSTEED, Philip H. — 
 
 Four Lectures on Henrik Ibsen. Dealing chiefly with his 
 
 Metrical Works. Sonnenschein, 1893. [A most excellent 
 
 commentary.] 
 WoERNEH, Roman — 
 
 Henrik Ibsen. (2 vols.) Munich, 1900. [The first volume 
 
 only is at present procurable.]