Ibsen's Concept of Tragedy

Author(s): Sverre Arestad

Source: PMLA, Vol. 74, No. 3 (Jun., 1959), pp. 285-297
Published by: Modern Language Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/460590
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 IBSEN'S CONCEPT OF TRAGEDY
By Sverre Arestad

are representative, respectively, of the three

periods of Ibsen's authorship. Brand rests on the
THE extensive
writer commentaries
of tragedy are varied on Ibsen
and, as aand ethical views of the early nineteenth
asmoral
one
might suspect, even contradictory. S. H.century.
But- Ghosts diflers fundamentally from
Brandas
cher, for example, found Ibsen deficient in athat it is a product of the naturalism of
tragic dramatist on nearly all counts.1 Mythe pri?
period of Ibsen's "social dramas" or "problem
plays." Although The Master Builder was writ?
mary purpose in this essay will be to present
ten after Ghosts, Ibsen has restored in this play
Ibsen's concept of tragedy through an analysis
his previous concept of a universal order and he
of Brand (1866), Ghosts (1881), Rosmersholm
has pass?
(1886), and The Master Builder (1892), with reintroduced a belief, which is held by the
chief protagonist, Solness, if not by Ibsen him?
ing attention to Emperor and Galilean (1873),
self, in the idea of the existence of God. The
while my secondary purpose will be to determine
tragic theme of The Master Builder is thus re?
how successful he was as a writer of tragedy.
lated
Ibsen has been called many things: a scourge, to that of Brand and Emperor and Galilean,
andan
an iconoclast, a proclaimer of the ideal, it is not to be understood against the
enemy of convention, and an uprooter of naturalistic
tradi? background of Ghosts.
tion. He is said to have reflected in his dramas his Critics agree that Darwinism destroyed the
own ethical indignation at the paltriness of the conditions for high tragedy and with it the hero
world and at the contemptibility of man, and, type in literature. Some hold that not until the
like Brand, he is said to have held in disdain twentieth century did Eugene O'Neill in his
those who did not meet his ideal claims, to Mourning Becomes Electra first revitalize high
have despised the weak and condemned the dila- tragedy in a new and meaningful way. Ibsen had
tory. In short, Ibsen has been thought of as anwritten high tragedy exclusively until he com?
uncompromising idealist and a moralist. This pleted Emperor and Galilean (1873). He then
tendency to attribute to Ibsen pronouncements shifted to the naturalistic position and produced
which have been made by his dramatic charac? his first "social drama," Pillars of Society (1877).
ters has largely derived from his dual purpose as After A Doll's House (1879) he wrote his only
a writer of tragedy. Well aware of this duality of naturalistic tragedy, Ghosts (1881), then a
purpose as a writer, Ibsen once said: "a student comedy of manners, An Enemy of the People
has essentially the same task as the poet: to make (1882), and a tragicomedy, The Wild Duck
clear to himself, and thereby to others, the tem? (1884). In his very next play, Rosmersholm
poral and eternal questions which are astir in the (1886), Ibsen returned to high tragedy, less
age and in the community to which he belongs."2 than a decade after he had produced his first
Ibsen's numerous "temporal questions" never naturalistic drama. While Rosmersholm failed as
constitute tragic themes; they often occupy a high tragedy, The Master Builder succeeded. I
good share of the action and they invariably lie would suggest that Ibsen very soon came to
clearly and prominently exposed. The tragic realize that naturalism and high tragedy were
themes as often as not lie buried beneath the sur? mutally exclusive, and perhaps also that only
face, especially in the later plays, and they always high tragedy could be completely successful. In
concern the eternal problems of man. To get at any event, he restored in The Master Builder the
Ibsen's concept of tragedy, the often polemical, conditions for high tragedy and thereby rein?
contemporary elements must therefore be sub- troduced through Solness the hero type to world
ordinated to the long-range questions. drama.
The key to Ibsen's concept of tragedy centers Although the hero type is central to every suc?
on the question of whether or not man is free to cessful tragedy from Ibsen's pen, he neverthe?
order his life as he chooses, a question which he less treats numerous tragic themes that center
tested against both the conventions of the early about the ordinary individual, the common run
nineteenth century and the naturalism of the of humanity. Ibsen is after all a poet of all
1870's and 1880's. Ibsen begin writing high
tragedy, shifted to naturalistic tragedy in mid- 1 Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art (New York,
1951), pp. 270-271.
career, and returned to high tragedy in his final 2 Speeches and New Letters, Introd., Lee M. Hollander
period. Brand, Ghosts, and The Master Builder (Boston, 1910), p. 51.
285

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286 Ibsen's Concept of Tragedy

humanity, and his interests in the man opportunity

are not to indicate
con? that his is a false
fined to the select few amongassumption, whom he based on arrogance and not on
could
count himself, that is, those who humility. Ibsen placed
possessed no? Brand in a similar situa?
bility of character and aristocracy tion, and
ofwemind.
shall soonNo see how Brand, even
Ibsen drama, however, whose chief though he accepts all the
protagonist is conditions imposed on
of common cast is a wholly successful him by a higher will, misjudges his calling and
tragedy,
as a comparison of Brand and The Master falls victim to his own zeal. Emperor Julian, un?
Builder with Ghosts clearly shows. Brand andlike Brand, refuses to accept any restrictions on
The Master Builder are tragedies of idealism, the exercise of his will. He rejects the idea of
whose chief protagonists are of heroic propor? "freedom under necessity," and seeks unsuccess-
tions and about whom there is a quality of great? fully to bring about a synthesis of the classical
ness. Ghosts, on the other hand, is a tragedy of and the Christian traditions on the basis of his
attrition, whose chief protagonist, Mrs. Alving, will and his own choice.
own
while possessing admirable qualities, lacks those Brand, written in the midst of this protracted
qualities which would have made her a heroic speculation on the nature of individual freedom
character. Without a protagonist of heroic pro? of choice and action, became Ibsen's most pro?
portions high tragedy is unthinkable, and, per? found tragedy of idealism.
haps too, successful tragedy of any kind.
II
The tragedies of Ibsen's first period?from
Lady Inger of Ostrat (1854) to Emperor and Gali? Brand is an uncompromising idealist, who has
lean (1873)?revolve around the broad theme ofdetermined to fulfill his mission as an agent of
idealism. The specific question that Ibsen asksGod, by bringing to the people the desire to live
again and again in a half dozen plays is whether a Christlike life, and, by steeling their wills, the
man is the master of his own destiny, that is, means to fulfill that desire. He has married
how far he of his own free will may determine Agnes, a woman of as great a spirit as himself,
how he shall live and how he shall die. Lady Inger compassionate, forgiving, considerate, aware of
early in life declared her complete independence the weaknesses and limitations of man and will-
of God. Her demand for absolute freedom, rep? ing to compromise with those weaknesses and
resented in her conscious revolt against her pre- limitations, but forced to accede to Brand's in-
determined destiny, was inevitably punished human demands of no compromise. He has as?
through retribution, which came in the shape of sumed the family guilt, as a result of which he
the fulfillment of a prophecy that "all her issue refuses to give his mother the last sacrament
would wither on the bough." The destruction of unless she will give up all her worldly possessions.
her children and her own tragic death demon? When it is feared that his child will die unless
strate that man cannot defy heaven and escape he is removed from the damp climate of the
punishment. cramped valley, Brand only for a moment wavers
Ibsen followed this first excursion into the area in his resolve to consider no obstacle too great
of self-determination by a more sophisticated if one but wills to overcome it. But when the
doctor observes that it is strange that Brand
representation of the same theme in The Vikings
at Helgeland (1857). Hjo'rdis and Sigurd are should yield when his own son's life is in jeopardy
caught in the web of fate spun by the heathen though he will not do so under any other con-
Norns, but they choose to be masters of their siderations, Brand reverses his impulsive de?
own destiny. Their tragic deaths support thecision, declines to move away, and as a result
view that man is free to make the countless de- his son dies.
cisions that ostensibly govern his own life, but Agnes must willingly give up all physical me-
he must do so within a predetermined order of mentos?a lock of hair, a cap?she must not look
things. Perhaps, Ibsen now seems to say, thisupon her son's grave; she must, in fact, divest
question could be resolved if man accepted his her mind and soul of any remembrance of him
fate and worked out his destiny within the es? whatever, and she must do this willingly and
tablished plan. In his next tragedy, The Pre- gladly, for such are the demands of God. Being
tenders (1863), Ibsen places King Hakon in such inadequate to these demands, Agnes dies. Brand,
a situation. Hakon, an elect of God, feels so without realizing it, has lost the one person who
secure that he refuses to pray, answering (in his has sustained him in his mission. lie discovers
first spoken line), "I need not, I am certain of now that he has been bereft of his power and
Him." Largely neglected in the play for Earl desire to preach to his people, who are assembled
Skule and Bishop Nicholas, Hakon barely has in the newly constructed church. He locks the

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 Sverre Arestad 287

church door, that his

throws ideal is false the
away because it is based on will
key, and p
with all the congregation
and not on love, which following
renders him incapable of him
the heights. When the
fulfilling bailiff falsely a
his mission.
that a school of herring
It has often been saidisthat
entering
Brand, like Agnes, th
the congregation deserts
should have made some Brand and sto
concession to human
After the people have
frailty?to thatdeserted Brand,
of his mother, particularly, but
and the bailiff watch him,
above all a wife.
to that of his lonely warri
Brand, however, was
solitary path, slowly wending
by nature absolutely inflexible.his way
Moreover, he
snowy wasteland toward
thought of himselfhis ice.
as infallible, churc
an assumption
mately to be engulfed
which suggestsin an his
his weakness, avalanche.
flaw, and which
church symbolizes Brand's
also contained the seeds of his ownuncompr
destruction.
concept of Christianity, Although Ibsen has with its
committed himself dema
to such
the will, the callan to duty,
inflexible and
character, he has the
nevertheless suc- ab
love.
ceeded in showing behind Brand's seeming ob-
Alone, Brand gives voice
durateness a sensitivity to his of
to the enormity utter
the
at the state of man. He sees visions of darkness decision that Brand has taken upon himself. The
for mankind through the night of the future. sheer force of Brand's argument against Agnes'
Suddenly he wonders if he has been dreaming, appeal that he show mercy toward his mother
whether his visions of ennobling man's soul were reveals the depth of despair he experienced in
but the "vain phantoms of a fever'd brain" and having to carry out his obligation.
the image of man's pure soul is completely out? Brand's no-compromise position becomes
worn, and whether the Maker's spirit has fled clearer if we consider that (1) he was an ethical
the realm of human habitation. An invisible character, according to the Kierkegaardian
choir informs Brand that he was born for earth view, and (2) he was a divine instrument, a
and never will inherit God's spirit, and that he sacrifice to the inscrutable purposes of God
is lost whether he spurns God's bidding or re- (which also might have been suggested by
veres it. Although Brand has sacrificed joy forKierkegaard). Disregarding for the moment the
"tears and strife," he has not succeeded in slay? persistent intruder, influence, let us consider
ing the fiend of evil. The choir disappears and briefly Kierkegaard's view of man, for it helps
Brand begins to weep. Agnes now appears and to clarify the character of Brand. Kierkegaard
announces that she has found him again becauseprovided for three stages or stadia in man's
he has been released from the "fever'd dreams moral, intellectual, and spiritual development:
that bound him." But Brand's tears are not re- the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious.
pentant tears, he will not relent, and therefore Brand was an ethical character, which means
an abyss still separates him from Agnes. Brand that he had deliberately made a choice and
must make his dream come true; he must "livetherefore must assume full responsibility for his
the vision into deed." Brand heeds neither the every act. (Ejnar, by contrast, is an aesthetic
Phantom who warns him that his goal has led character, who has not willfully committed him?
him astray nor Agnes who admonishes him to self, and who is therefore not ultimately re?
die since the earth can no longer use him. Insponsible for the results of his actions.) Although
agony he asks Christ why He has forsaken him, a minister, Brand had not entered the highest or
and bursts into tears. As Brand kneels to pray, religious stage on Kierkegaard's progressive
Gerd shoots the bird of evil, and she, Brand, and scale, which justifies Ibsen's statement that he
the whole valley are buried in the resulting just happened to make Brand a minister, but
avalanche. Brand speaks: that he could just as well have made him a mem?
God, I plunge into death's night,? ber of any other profession, a claim confirmed
Shall they wholly miss thy Light by two later characters: Emperor Julian and the
Who unto man's utmost might architect Solness.
Will'd?? (v, 262)3 To attain and maintain his idealistic position
Brand must continually call upon all his powers
As the avalanche buries Brand,
to refuse a voice of
compromise which
any kind.he He must ad-
does not hear proclaims: "He is the God of
Love." 3 All quotations from Ibsen's plays (except Ghosts) are from
The tragedy of Brand, then, is that of atheman
Areher edition of Ibsen's Collected Works (New York,
1906?). The quotations from Ghosts are from the Modern
who in attempting to live according to theLibrary
ideal,edition. The Roman numerals indicate acts, the
and demanding that others do likewise, realizes
Arabic numerals pages.

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 288 Ibsen's Concept of Tragedy

to make
here to the principle that to will it so blessed
a thing anda fail
thing for him to be sacrificed,
that among the
is forgivable, but to refuse to will even the im? thousands of divers voices which ex?
press, each
possible, and therefore not attempt it, inishis ownonly
not way, the same thing, his also
will be heard, and perhaps especially his which is truly
unforgivable but contemptible; that is, his posi?
de profundis, proclaiming: God is Love.4
tion leads him into the paradox that only death
brings victory. Brand's courseBrand
of action, which
had voluntarily accepted responsibility
brought death to his son and ultimately
for his actions, butalso to not inquired whether
he had
his wife, is closely paralleled
hisin Brand's
choice own
was free or whether it was predeter-
death at the end of the drama, where Gerd mined. He failed to consider that what he chose
brings destruction to them both by shooting the to do was what God had decreed that he should
bird, symbol of evil. Brand's attempt thus to do. Ibsen clarified this aspect of Brand's char?
destroy evil, as represented by his erasing heredi?
acter by presenting one of an opposite nature in
tary guilt, remains tantamount to self-annihila- the person of Julian in Emperor and Galilean.
tion. It is significant that as the avalanche Julian's task in Emperor and Galilean was to
descends upon Brand, the falcon (the Phantom) attain harmony of being by uniting in himself
turns into a dove, but Brand pays for this the forces of the flesh and of the spirit, whereupon
transformation with his life.
he could proceed to effect a synthesis of the
Brand's greatness lies in his unyielding and classical and the Christian traditions, that is,
inflexible urge to attain the unattainable eveninstitute harmony in his world. The Oracle had
after the impossibility for successful achieve?informed him that he was a chosen man under
ment has been inexorably demonstrated. Evennecessity, that is, the necessity of doing God's
in defeat, Brand leaves us with the optimistic,bidding, all the while assuming full responsi?
encouraging, and germinating idea that although bility for his actions. Julian refused to subordi?
it has been demonstrated through him that man nate himself to a higher authority, for he would
cannot attain the unattainable he likewise will
not accept any limitations on his freedom of
not admit that he cannot. In a very real sense
choice. He rejected the formula "to will under
Brand's words, "But the path of yearning's necessity," and in denying necessity and thereby
left," are the most magnificent words that Ibsen a higher power, he discovered that what he
ever penned. struggled for he failed to achieve and what he
While the tragedy of Brand follows from the struggled against he served to promote. The
first condition, the tragic irony derives from the paradox is that in refusing to will what he must,
second, which is that Brand never discovered Julian willed what he wanted, only to discover,
that he was being used as a divine sacrifice, and as Brand did, that that is what he was all along
that his actions in fact were not his own. Thisdestined to do. "If some should think that I have
view coincides with a short passage from Kierke?
not fulfilled all expectations," says Juliah shortly
gaard 's Journals: before his death, "they ought in justice to reflect
Oh, the Governance of the world is an immense that there is a mysterious power without us,
house-keeping and a grandiose painting. Yet He, the which in a great measure governs the issue of
Master, God in Heaven, behaves like the cook and human
the undertakings" (v, 476). Maximus, the
artist. He says: "Now there must be introduced amystic, tells us that Julian was a sacrifice on
little pinch of spice, a little touch of red." We do the
not altar of necessity, a victim of his own will-
comprehend why, we are hardly aware of it, since that
fullness. Makrina, one of the Christians whom
little bit is so thoroughly absorbed in the whole. Julian
But had mercilessly persecuted, forgave Julian
God knows why.
his excesses, for, although Julian had thought he
A little pinch of spice! That is to say: Here a man
had opposed God's purpose with him, he had in
must be sacrificed, he is needed to impart a particular
fact been but an instrument of God. As Maxi?
taste to the rest.
These are the correctives. It is a woeful error if he mus puts it at the end: "What is it worth to live?
who is used for applying the corrective becomes im- All is sport and mockery?To will is to have to
patient and would make the corrective normative for will" (v, 479). But to have to will what? That
others. That is the temptation to bring everything tois the ever-perplexing, the insoluble enigma.
confusion. The tragic irony of Emperor and Galilean goes
A little pinch of spice! Humanly speaking, what beyond a that of Brand, and helps to clarify Ibsen's
view of the question of man's freedom of action,
painful thing thus to be sacrificed, to be the little pinch
of spice. But, on the other hand, God knows well him
whom He selects to use in this way, and then He 4 A Kierkegaard Anthology, ed. Robert Bretall (Princeton,
knows also how, in the inward understanding of it, 1947), p. unnumb., follows p. xxv of Introd.

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 Sverre Arestad 289

which necessary
according to therefore
both to separateBrand
the temporal an
Julian paradox, is a
whose
from the timeless, the local fromchief
the universal, ch
is a haunting mockery
so that we may ultimatelyof arrive atman's
the poet's c
vision of human life, which in turn
necessity to be completely conveys his Ma
free.
must inevitablyconcept
choose
of the tragedy ofhow
modern man. he sha
As Ghosts opens,
life, and yet his choice isOswald, Mrs. Alving's
predetermin
making of man a puppet
twenty-six-year-old artist son, in the h
has just returned
gods. In his struggle to Alving,
from Paris. Captain be Oswald's
completelfather, has
ever, he displays been his
dead several years, and Mrs. Alving,
heroic qualitiewith
fers death to compromise.
the aid now of Pastor Manders,Respect
is in the process f
nity of man and of liquidating her deceased
respect for husband's
the estate.
integ
individual are cornerstones of Ibsen's beliefs. Captain Alving had been accepted by the com?
These are the basic ideas that underlie Ibsen's munity as a charming officer, loyal husband, and
concept of tragedy in his first period. devoted father, but in actuality he was a liber-
In the final analysis, the tragic theme of
tine and a drunkard. He had seduced the
Brand attaches itself to the larger issues, andAlvings' maid, whose child, Regina, Oswald's
Brand himself is a heroic character. The spec? half-sister, is now Mrs. Alving's maid. When
tator is "lifted above the special case and Oswald was seven years old his mother had s
brought face to face with universal law and the him off to school in order to shield him from the
divine plan of the world."5 The viewer or reader environment at home, and during the entire
experiences at the conclusion of Brand, and of period of his absence she had falsely extolled his
Emperor and Galilean as well, the tragic cathar- father to him in what must have amounted over
sis, and because of the inevitability of things, the years to a voluminous correspondence. Now,
which he must accept, there also is restored to a number of years after the Captain's death,
him emotional equilibrium. If these are the cri- Mrs. Alving, who had thought her situation
teria by which we judge successful tragedy, through, has decided to dispose of her husband's
Ibsen has demonstrated his ability as a tragic share of the family estate in order to release her?
dramatist. self and Oswald from any ties with the depraved
III
Captain. She has had an orphanage built with
the Captain's money, which she will endow in his
Ibsen's concept of the tragedy of modern man thereby retaining the fiction of re-
memory,
is nowhere more forcefully representedspectability
than in about his name, while at the same
Ghosts, yet there is a question of whether time
Ghostsdischarging any obligation to him. His
is a successful tragedy.6 The limiting conditions
money, which symbolizes his hold on her, will
of the theater of modern realism, characterized
have been disposed of, and she will have gained
by the new dramatic technique which was es?
her self-sufficiency or independence, and through
sential to a representation of a naturalistic viewOswald, her son, she hopes to find a new
and with
of life, in part accounts for the fact that we"joy
life, areof life," based on freedom, that is, joy
denied the tragic experience at the conclusion
throughof freedom.
Ghosts. The new form itself, however, remainedWhen the orphanage burns down, the last
of secondary importance, and althoughvestigeIbsen,of Captain Alving's heritage, and thus
influence, has apparently been obliterated. We
who perfected it, sought always to be its master,
he sometimes became its slave. In larger part, however, the appalling truth of Os?
discover,
our failure to enjoy the tragic experience in
wald's afiiiction, which symbolizes in all its hor?
Ghosts is due to the breakdown of an established ror and ugliness the very nature of the Captain's
moral order, which in turn undermined the legacy to his son and through him to his mother.
formerly accepted values. In a valueless nat? Mrs. Alving resists her son's insistent account
uralistic order the protagonist was in fact de- of his dreadful condition, but she must inevitably
prived of the freedom of individual choice (he accept it, and when Oswald at the very end of
could choose, but any choice was meaningless), the play sinks into a state of complete physical
which would appear to be a necessary condition debility, from which there can be no return, Mrs.
for successful tragedy. In Ibsen's naturalistic
period the eternal and the universal elements 5 Butcher, Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, p.
271.
went underground and the provincial and the
6 I am indebted for my interpretation of Ghosts to Francis
contemporary matters emerged prominently. In Fergusson's essay on this play in The Idea of a Theatre
this period of Ibsen's authorship it becomes (Princeton, 1949), pp. 146-161.

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290 Ibsen's Concept of Tragedy

Alving's dream of a life of joybeen cruelly crossed

through freedomand whose lives will be
both for herself and for her son ends with the forfeit if no solution is found. The enormity of
finality of unrelieved horror. What has beenher problem, in fact the hopelessness of at-
demonstrated is merely that Mrs. Alving should taining any kind of solution to it, is symbolized
have left her husband years before, at theby the Captain's legacy to her through her son.
moment when Pastor Manders sent her back to Wherever Mrs. Alving turns she discovers an
fulfill her duty in her unwanted marriage, whichobstruction barring her vision for a workable
formula; her attempts are repeatedly thwarted,
had been arranged for her by her family and sus?
tained by a conventional society. So dominant but she tries again. When we have all the infor-
mation, however, we must accept with her that
is the thesis of Ghosts that the tragic theme fades
she had in fact found no solution, and we dis?
from view just prior to the final curtain, and the
only question that the audience can ask is: Willcover that after having tested the validity of a
she or will she not give Oswald the poison whichposition that proved untenable, she shifted
will reduce to physical death the mindless and ground and sought desperately to find some
spiritless lump of human flesh that is now her means to patch up the ruined lives of her family.
son? Mrs. Alving's quest seems to be a kind of at?
The inherent tragic greatness of Ghosts has tempt to capture the elusive will-o'-the-wisp.
somehow escaped us, for neither Mrs. Alving's But athwart her every uncharted path stands
tragic quest nor the poet's vision of human lifePastor Manders; there is no possibility of going
has been fulfilled. When Mrs. Alving returnsaroundto him and she cannot go through him. But
her husband, she has to face a situation outPastor
of Manders is not just an individual; he is a
which develops her search for an understanding personification of all the obstacles to an attain-
of human existence. Before the play ends this ment of the joy of life. In his negative role he
search terminates in a meaningless nothingness drives Mrs. Alving to greater and greater efforts
for her and for us, for the whole fabric of to herfind a way out of the maze, the rattrap of
desired world collapses about her in a night-
existence. But there is still one ray of hope.
marish void, from which she can derive no com? Oswald speaks of the difference between condi?
fort and no guide for the fateful decision that tions
has at home and those in France, where the
been forced upon her. There is no reaching back joy of life serves as the basis of man's philosophy.
nor any continuing forward, which somehow Mrs. Alving suddenly remarks: "Now I see clear?
might relate these matters with all of life ly andhow it all happened. . . . Now I can speak.
thereby give meaning to them, for the repre? Now, my son, you shall know the whole truth.
sentation of the thesis of Ghosts remains but a Oswald! Regina!" As Mrs. Alving prepares to
segment of the human scene that begins and unburden herself to her children, Oswald speaks
ends in Mrs. Alving's drawing room. The sensa? perhaps the most important lines of the play:
tional conclusion of Ghosts serves to obliterate "Hush!?Here is the parson" (n, 59). "Hush!?
completely from mind the poetry that lies be? Here is the parson?" throws us back to where
neath its surface, and yet it is in the undercur-we were, for he symbolizes the obstruction
rents of the play that we must seek the tragic through which Mrs. Alving cannot penetrate to
idea which in the final analysis constitutes the get to the light. She does not understand this,
play's raison d'etre. for she thinks she has had an insight into the
Before the play opens Mrs. Alving had thought whole knotted problem. If she teils Oswald and
she had found the solution to the problem of her Regina the truth, things will come right. But
own happiness and that of the two young people. she doesn't know what Regina's response will be,
She had decided that if she could eradicate com? and not knowing that she cannot know that al?
pletely the influence of the Captain from their though she can remove Oswald's regret and re?
lives, she would succeed. Mrs. Alving's searchmorse she cannot remove his fear, and so she
had been intuitive; it was not predicated on actually has no solution.
knowledge or reason, and it was devoid of wis? Mrs. Alving must somehow get by Pastor
dom. It is this direct appeal to the intuitive fit- Manders to visualize clearly the poet's view of
ness of things which lends the poetic quality to human life, but this is in every instance impos?
her search. Not acceding to Pastor Manders' sible. Pastor Manders is Mrs. Alving's Boyg. He
appeal to conform, she makes a desperate effort represents the jumbled web of imponderables
to maintain her position, and she tests its va? which the individual must grasp, either intellec-
lidity with Pastor Manders, Regina, and Os? tually or intuitively. Mrs. Alving's failure to
wald. She reveals an abundance of compassion conquer Manders proves her inferior to the task
for the two young people whose destinies have which has been set for her or which she herself

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 Sverre Arestad 291

has assumed. After a lifetime of effort she is as

separating her from those?Brand, the Emperor
helpless against him as she was on the fateful Julian?who met defeat as integrated per-
day twenty-five years earlier when he sent her sonalities, determined and persevering. So, while
back to her husband. She is now forced to the Mrs. Alving's situation can readily be recognized
admission that the human being is but a mote, as tragic, Ghosts itself is not a truly successful
tossed about on the currents of circumstances. tragedy. In Brand's and Emperor Julian's world,
In her fumbling way she has tried to overcome choice, although predetermined, was open to
the forces of darkness and of fear, but in thethem, but not so in Mrs. Alving's. Consequently,
end she must fall back on those illusions which the concept of freedom of choice has no validity
she has sought to destroy. Her quest for the
for her. Mrs. Alving's pitiable state at the con?
"joy of life," which through freedom wouldclusion of the play neither elevates nor awes but
have brought joy and happiness and dispelled
merely reassures the spectator that what he has
despair and hopelessness, has been pursuedthought all along is correct: that a world which
through every possible avenue, but nowhere has
is devoid of values is likewise devoid of the pos-
sibility of heroic action, and, lacking this, no
the road carried her sufficiently far. Her deepest
insight comes in her reference to the ghosts, true tragedy is possible.
which engender fear in her and deprive her of
IV
action. She can tell us that these ghosts are in-
escapable, that they represent all kinds of "oldAfter his failure to create completely suc?
dead ideas and all kinds of old dead beliefs and cessful naturalistic tragedy in Ghosts, Ibsen re?
turned to high tragedy in Rosmersholm. A usual
things of that kind. . . . And we are so miserably
interpretation of Rosmersholm is that it con?
afraid of the light, all of us" (n, 41). This state?
ment really leaves us as much in the dark as cerns
we Rosmer's and Rebecca's guilt, which ren?
were formerly, although we are placed in the ders them incapable of action. Many critics,
presence of one who, though inadequate tomoreover,the speak of both Rosmer and Rebecca
task, is attempting to understand the reasonasfor heroic characters, and from this deduce that
all the world's misery. Rosmersholm is successful high tragedy. Rebecca
The sensational thesis of Ghosts (a marriage hasof
also been said to have been finally ennobled,
convenience is an evil tyranny) has been carried thereby enabling her to make the supreme sacri?
to a final, brutal conclusion, and we have been fice and thus permitting Rosmer to believe in his
left with the single innocuous question of ability to ennoble man. These conclusions are
whether or not Mrs. Alving will give her son the secondary where they are not misleading.
poison?which in itself has no meaning?and Although Rosmersholm considers many mat?
consequently the tragic experience has been de- ters?tradition, progress, guilt, innocence, the
nied us. What has been lost from view is that willful yet will-less agent, and the ennoblement
Mrs. Alving has sought some significance inoflife man?the central theme of the play is similar
within a deterministic order, and having found to that of Emperor and Galilean. Rosmer, a man
none she has been cut adrift. Whatever action of noble character and lofty purpose, sets out to
she undertakes, therefore, with reference to Os?
accomplish much the same kind of mission that
Emperor Julian had attempted, except that
wald is devoid of meaning, for it is nowhere fixed.
Mrs. Alving cannot look back upon the experi? Rosmer's world is devoid of moral values and
ence of the race and she cannot look forward; his life is governed by naturalistic forces. Ros?
the result is indecision, irresoluteness. She is but like Brand, can accomplish his objective
mer,
an agent of circumstance, and whether sheonly doesby inducing the people to self-ennoblement.
something or does not do it is of no consequence. Rosmer's mission strikes at the very root of the
Her effectiveness as an individual has been com? problem Ibsen is considering: the distinction be?
pletely destroyed by those very forces she her? tween a moral order and a mechanistic order of
self sought to master. She represents the hope? the universe.
lessness of man caught up in an impersonal, Kroll is the enduring symbol of tradition, with
mechanistic order of things. Her conflict arose its outworn ideals, which is in the process of dis?
as a result of her effort to coerce from this fortui- integration. His antagonist, Mortensgaard, rep?
tous, fickle order a semblance of meaning which resents the "new spirit of the times," the ma?
would have been compatible with the dignity of terialistic view, the opportunistic attitude. He
man, and her tragedy lay in her failure to ac- has no ideals; he operates without any considera-
complish her mission. tion for values, individual or collective. Rosmer,
Mrs. Alving is a victim of attrition, a person the wistful visionary, the idealist, has assumed
who at the end is without a solid core, thus the obligation to bring about a synthesis of these

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 292 Ibsen's Concept of Tragedy

two opposing forces on a level ism. above partisan

Brendel says: "Peter Mortensgaard is the
conflict, and thereby create the lord and the leader of thefor
conditions future. Never have I
the ennoblement of the spiritstood of inman.
a more But
august by
presence. Peter Mortens?
becoming an apostate Rosmer gaard has hasrejected
the secret the
of omnipotence. He can do
Rosmersholm tradition, with its attendant whatever he will. . . . For Peter Mortensgaard
values, which has rendered him ineffective as an never wills more than he can do. Peter Mortens?
instrument of conciliation among the contending gaard is capable of living his life without ideals.
forces. He has been cut adrift, and so his useful? And that, do you see?that is just the mighty
ness has been destroyed. In seeking support in secret of action and of victory. It is the sum of
another person, Rebecca, he discovers that she the whole world's wisdom" (iv, 153).
too is rootless and consequently of no use to Although Rosmersholm was conceived as high
him. Rosmer still clings to his ideals, even tragedy, it ended as a tragedy of attrition.
though he knows they are nothing but illusions, Neither Rosmer nor Rebecca has solidity, they
and he goes to his death believing in them. are not heroic figures, and so at best a sickly pall
Rosmer is introduced as a noble character, hangs over the concluding scene of Rosmers?
with an idealistic view and a lofty cause. In holm. Technically, Ibsen failed to execute the
breaking with tradition he has forfeited his heri? play as it was conceived (high tragedy), but he
tage to the most indifferent opportunist, Mor- succeeded in his other purpose, which was to
tensgaard, a man without ideals, without noble suggest through Rosmer's and Rebecca's and
purpose. But Rosmer fails ultimately because his Brendel's failures and Mortensgaard's triumph
age is hostile to the ideal claims of man. Through? that the age was hostile to idealism, and that
out the course of the drama we see him slowly without idealism no progress is possible. At the
disintegrating, gradually losing his solid core, a end of Rosmersholm we are left with the dim
victim of attrition. As we observe Rosmer at the view that ideals are bankrupt and idealism
end, clinging to illusions, being pushed willy- doomed, and with the alternative ugly picture
nilly toward utter defeat, a sacrifice on the altar that Ulric Brendel gives of Mortensgaard, "the
of natural forces, we see this once noble figure, lord and leader of the future," the man without
who governed his life according to his own choice ideals, the man who wills only what he can read-
and the dictates of his own moral conscience, ily attain. The naturalistic order, devoid of
end as a pathetic nobody, deprived of those moral value and individual freedom of choice,
qualities which make for true tragic greatness. has thus created those conditions whereby the
His utter, crushing, unheroic defeat is heightened individual is deprived of dignity, of integrity,
by Rebecca's confession that in the process of and he who refuses to compromise because he
depriving Beata Rosmer of existence she was not cannot is inexorably ground to dust. Naturalism
impelled by her own free will, she was but an is hostile to idealism, inimical to the noble
instrument. She is the supreme representation in character, foreign to the lofty purpose, and to the
Ibsen of the willful yet will-less agents, whose ac? exercise of the will?in short, it excludes signifi?
tions are unpredictable on the basis of rational cant choice, without which no character can at?
human action, devoid of sufficient will to act tain tragic stature. Little wonder that Ibsen,
according to moral law and yet not inherently who believed in the concept of the dignity of
evil. Rosmer's defeat, in conjunction with Rebec? man, hastened to restore in The Master Builder
ca's, is further deepened when Ulrik Brendel those conditions which would reflect this quality.
adds his lament to the chorus of those whose
V
ideals have been destroyed. Brendel, a deeply
perceptive individual, is in many ways Ibsen's John Northam, in his illuminating study of
Ibsen's use of visual symbols, draws the familiar
most tragic figure, although he could not, I be?
lieve, be the subject of a successful tragedy. With conclusion that the tragedy of The Master
Builder concerns "the battle of the genera-
ironic humor he points up the only solution for
Rosmer and Rebecca: If she will cut off the first tions," which, "like the setting sun, is coming to
joint of her lovely little finger and snip the tip an end."7 Oddly enough, Northam does not even
of her incomparably beautiful left ear, perhaps mention the visual symbol of the quarry, the
all will turn out well. By thus saving the play key to the tragedy of Solness. Konstantin Reich-
from utter inanity, Brendel can record the un- ardt states that the tragedy of this play is that
derlying tragedy of Rosmersholm, and indirectly "the architect Solness lost his happiness both as
suggest the poet's vision of human life, by giving a man and as an artist because 'the viking
a witnessed account of the bankruptcy of ideal- 1 Ibsen's Dramatic Method (London, 1952), p. 183.

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 Sverre Arestad 293

spirit' and 'a robust new home. Solness finally suggests to Mrs. Sol?
conscience' wer
him."8 This is rather ness that she must afindbold
his remarks assump
enigmatical,
of the fact that with a "lurking, hidden does
Solness meaning in the most in?
regain
conscience," which nocent word I happen to say, for
enables I am a half-to
him
on his own terms. Halvdan Koht summarizes mad, a crazy man," only to categorically deny
the traditional position toward the tragicthis
ele?self-criticism: "But you are wrong, both you
ment of The Master Builder as follows: "The and the doctor. I am not in the state you imagine.
In reality there is nothing whatever the matter
dramatic, the tragic thing to Ibsen was the hope-
less struggle in an old man who stands between with me." Solness now confesses that he is
burned dreams and a new life." Koht continues: ready to sink under a boundless debt to Aline,
but she says he owes no one anything, and de?
The tragedy of the play was the conflict within the
mands to know what is behind all this. Solness
master builder himself?the conflict between his sup?
pressed answers: "But there is nothing behind it! I have
longing for a strong and free expansion of life
and the never
sore feeling of guilt which held him in its grip. done you any wrong?not wittingly and
He had a "corpse" to carry, even as Johannes Rosmer willingly, at any rate. And yet?and yet it
had. What the dead Beata was to Rosmer, the living seems as though a crushing debt rested upon me
Aline was to Solness. For Aline, too, was in reality and weighed me down" (n, 265-266).
dead; Solness had "sapped her life blood," had sacri? Here Solness reveals his ambivalent state of
ficed her for his own happiness, and now she seemed
mind: he suffers guilt, but rejects responsibility
only to live, But by this very fact he was bound to her
for the actions that have occasioned it. He can?
?bound by the past, by his own sin. Hilda came and
wanted to give him freedom, give him back a "robust"
not communicate to anyone about him why he
conscience, and for a while he thought that he could should not have a feeling of guilt, nor that his
feeling of fear far exceeds his feeling of guilt. As
win back his dream of happiness, build "a castle in the
air with a firm foundation under it." But it was im? an artist, Solness has challenged God to the
possible. Even Hilda experienced some feeling of howright to create on his own terms, and as a result
painful it could be to revolt against one's own past,he fears retribution at the hand of God. The
and he who revolted was?literally?hurled to the guilt feeling derives from Solness' creativity.
ground.9 He says:
The Master Builder considers several themesAll that I have succeeded in doing, building, creating
?all the beauty, security, cheerful comfort?ay, and
(guilt, the battle of the generations, revolt magnificence too?Oh, is it not terrible even to think
against convention and tradition, and so forth)
of. That all this I have to make up for, to pay for?
on the realistic level, but they neither indi-not in money, but in human happiness. And not with
vidually nor collectively convey the nature ofmy own happiness only, but with other people's too.
Solness' tragedy. The guilt theme, for example,
. . . That is the price which my position as an artist
is abandoned midway, where it is supplanted byhas cost me?and others. And every single day I have
the main theme, that of non serviam. Only to look on while the price is paid for me anew. Over
again, and over again?and over again forever! (n,
through an understanding of the significance of
286)
the symbols that Ibsen employs do we learn the
nature of the tragedy of Solness. The guilt
But since Solness is not the author of his creative
theme cannot be disregarded, however, for it is
gifts he vociferously rejects the idea that he
part of the action of the main theme. should assume the responsibilities attendant
As Old Brovik leaves for home in the first upon his creativity. This idea is analogous to the
scene of the play, he suggests the idea of guilt by
idea of "freedom under necessity" of Emperor
saying to Solness: "Good-night, sleep well, if you
and Galilean. Solness suffers more from a gnawing
can." In his initial meeting with Dr. Herdal,
8 Tragic Themes in Western Literature, ed. Cleanth Brooks
Solness states that he derives satisfaction from (New Haven, 1955), p. 147.
having Mrs. Solness address him in a caustic 9 Ibsen: His Life and Works (New York, 1931), n, 302-
manner, for "I seem to find a sort of?of salutary 303. Throughout the greater portion of the drama Solness ex?
periences a conflict within himself and, in so far as he does,
self-torture in allowing Aline to do me an injustice
Koht's view is eminently acceptable. I believe, however, that
. . . it is like paying off a little bit of a huge, im-after Solness has resolved his conflict, has regained his "ro-
measurable debt . . . and that always helps to bust conscience,'' and has restored his former relationship to
relieve one's mind a little" (i, 219). When Dr. his muse, Hilda, he again challenges God and suffers defeat.
Herdal protests that he does not understand Ibsen's primary purpose in The Master Builder is to represent
the reassertion of the human will and he does so through a
what Solness means, he simply drops the sub?protagonist who possesses some qualities that can be ex?
ject. In Act ii the Solnesses are discussing theirplained only in terms of the artist.

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 294 Ibsen's Concept of Tragedy

doubt than from a feeling of guilt, Solness for

seemshe ambiguous
"may to Hilda, so she seeks
not have had anything to doout with it." He
Mrs. Solness and at?
confirms her suspicion that
tempts to fathom the mystery by Solness' guilt isupon
drawing misplaced. Mrs. Solness assumes
the symbols of the helpers and servers, the the burden for her misspent life on the basis of
light-haired and black-haired devils, and the her own weakness: the death of the children was
troll?that is, the id, the daimon, man's evil an act of Providence and she, in her poverty of
genius. He says: mind and of spirit, was unable to accept it as
Don't you agree with me, Hilda, that there exist such; she completely exonerates Solness. When
special, chosen people who have been endowed with Hilda returns to Solness, although she cannot
the power and faculty of desiring a thing, craving for convey directly what she has learned, she can
a thing, willing a thing?so persistently and so?so aid him in freeing himself from his guilty con?
inexorably?that at last it has to happen? . . . It is not science, and he needs little urging to state his
one's self alone that can do such great things. Oh, no? case.
the helpers and servers?they must do their part too, When Hilda learns from Mrs. Solness that the
if it is to be of any good. But they never come of
burning of the old house which freed Solness was
themselves. One has to call upon them very persist?
to her the destruction of the old tradition which
ently?inwardly, you understand. . . . For it's the
troll in one, you see?it is that that calls to powers out? represented the way of life by which she lived,
side us. And then you must give in?whether you will but which an artist must break through?as
or no. . . . Oh, there are devils innumerable abroad Zweig puts it?in order to create (Ibsen had
in the world, Hilda, that one never sees! . . . Good treated this theme as early as 1862 in the poet
devils and bad devils; light-haired devils and black- Falk of Love's Comedy), she can in good con?
haired devils. If only you could always teil whether it science delare her Master Builder innocent of his
is the light or the dark ones that have got hold of you!
wife's wasted life. Moreover, she can now feel
(ii, 296-300)
completely free to act in accord with Solness to
Since one cannot ever know this, concludes achieve their kingdom, which is to build castles
Hilda, the only alternative is to acquire "a in the air on a firm foundation, that is, choose
really vigorous, radiantly healthy conscience?so how they shall live, in complete freedom from
that one dared to do what one would." Solness any authority whatever.
fears he no longer can command the helpers and Does this mean that only the artist can escape
convention and tradition? Does this mean that
servers; the alternative to this is to cut himself
completely adrift from all others. His next move only the artist can escape the restrictions that
therefore will be to release Ragnar, which limit will the actions of lesser men? Does this mean,
symbolize his severance of any connection finally,be? that only the artist can attain complete
tween himself and those about him, except personal freedom? In a sense the answer to all
Hilda. three questions is in the affirmative, but thereby
Before Solness releases Ragnar, Hilda re- the ultimate answer has not been given, for there
monstrates with him that he should "stand are forces over which the artist has no control
quite alone?do it all yourself" (n, 273). Solness
and which therefore prevent him from ever be?
answers, "I keep on?incessantly?in silence ing completely free. He does not and he cannot
and alone?brooding on that very thought" (n, have complete freedom of action, although he
274). Here Solness obviously is thinking of his may appear to have freedom of choice.
rivalry with God, while Hilda as firmly be? The limits of Solness' freedom of action are
lieves he is referring to his young rival, Ragnar. expressed through the retribution theme. This
For this reason Solness must still tread cau- matter is as involved as that of the question of
tiously; he cannot precipitately throw himself personal guilt, for it is considered on both the
into an exploration of his real fears, nor can he and the symbolic levels, although it is
realistic
communicate to Hilda his true nature. Hilda only the latter treatment that has any direct
must first gain Solness' confidence, for she must bearing upon the tragic theme. Ibsen evolves the
be able to exert sufficient infiuence upon him concept
to of retribution from the realistic to the
induce him to release Ragnar; before Solness can level through a series of scenes between
symbolic
again create, that is, deliver Hilda's kingdom Hildato
and Solness. When Hilda makes her initial
her, he must be free and independent. Theappearance first the Freudians exult, for they inter?
step is to regain his robust conscience, but this
pret her actions on the basis of sexual memory.
cannot be accomplished as long as Solness She feels
has come to claim her kingdom?Orangia?
pressure of guilt because of his treatment of Solness. But when the matter is broached
from
Aline. Solness' interpretation of his guilt to she dismisses it with the statement, "Pooh! I
Mrs.

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 Sverre Arestad 295

won't have anything towhose

everyone do with
nature excels the that
commonplace, stup
dom. I have set my heart
everyone upon
whose impulses quite
are creative, wrestles a d
one!" This different
perforce kingdom,
with his daimon. This is as a combatwe of sh
the very one that Solness
titans, a struggle betweenhimself
lovers, the most splen- has
heart on, with the did result
contest in whichthatwe mortals canhe realize
engage."10
can ultimately confide
Solness' strugglein Hilda
goes beyond what
this, however, for h
wishes are. When he
he had finally
set himself up against God,does
he had chal- do
ceases being the lenged
realistic
God in the realm young lady
of creation. This is the
and becomes Solness'
real pressure alter ego.
upon Solness, which In th
he mentions
scene (Act n), Solness
early in theconfides in
play, but which falls upon deaf Hilda
ears.
a good thing she has
Only now, come,
when he has because
had his healthy con? he m
someone to talk to, and
science there
restored, regained faith in is no
himself, in the one
he can talk about his artist fear of
in him, can he the
disclose younger
its nature to Hilda,
tion, which means retribution.
his alter ego, his muse. Here So
volves the concept of retribution with the Solness had built those poor little churches
younger generation, thereby leaving this, as al? with such honest and heartfelt devotion that he
most everything else that he says at this stage thought God ought to have been pleased with
of his development (Act ii), enveloped in an aura him. God pleased with Solness? He who gave
of ambiguity. But this is just double talk. No the troll in him leave to lord it over him just as
one, not even Hilda, would have understood it wished! He who bade the devils serve him!
what Solness meant had he stated at the begin-
Oh, no, he made me feel clearly enough that he was
nig that he feared retribution at the hand of not pleased with me. You see, that was really the
God. Although all of Solness' references to retri? reason why he made the old house burn down. . . . He
bution concern his relation to God, he cannot wanted to give me the chance to become an accom?
state this precisely until the final act of the play. plished master in my own sphere?so that I might
An excellent example of Ibsen's method in The build all the more glorious churches for him. At first I
Master Builder concerns the "great quarry," did not understand what he was driving at; but all of
right above which he has built his new house. He a sudden it flashed upon me. [Up there at Lysanger] I
refers to this in a casual manner when he points saw plainly why he had taken my little children from
me. It was that I should have nothing else to attach
out to Hilda what he has been building. The
myself to. No such thing as love and happiness, you
quarry symbolizes the pit, heil. While this does
understand. I was to be only a master builder?noth?
not become clear until the final scene of the play,
ing else. And all my life long I was to go on building for
it has nevertheless here set the ensuing course of
him. But I can teil you nothing came of that! . . . And
the action and hence determined the nature of
when I stood up there, high over everything, and was
the tragedy of The Master Builder?retributionhanging the wreath over the vane, I said to him: Hear
at the hand of God. me now, thou Mighty One! From this day forward I
The single act?the release of Ragnar?that will be a free builder?I, too, in my sphere?just as
Solness performs, which might indicate that hethou in thine. . . . But afterwards his turn came. . . .
sought to ease his conscience, follows upon hisBuilding homes for human beings?is not worth a rap,
Hilda. . . . Men have no use for these homes of theirs
realization that he can disclose to Hilda what the
?to be happy in. And I should not have any use for
real pressure upon him is. When Solness has con-
such a home, if I had had one. See, that is the upshot
vinced himself, with the encouragement and sup?
of the whole affair, however far back I look. Nothing
port of Hilda, his alter ego, that his responsi? really built; nor anything sacrificed for the chance of
bility toward others cannot be taken into account building. Nothing, nothing! The whole is nothing!
if it interferes with his goals, and that he need (iii, 351-354)
not submit to "the burden of personal guilt," he
can again heed the challenge to create on his With Hilda, Solness will once more challenge
own terms. This establishes that Solness has re- the authority of God, for he will be free to create
as he chooses. He will climb the tower of his
gained the robust conscience of his youth. He has
thus conquered the pale pessimism of Rosmer as house and he will say: "Hear me, Mighty Lord?
thou may'st judge me as seems best to thee. But
well as his own sickly conscience, and he has,
moreover, regained the courage to live and to hereafter I will build nothing but the loveliest
create, which Hedda Gabler had sought in vain. thing in the world . . . build it together with a
Solness has thus struggled with his daimon, and princess, whom I love?" (m, 356). In asserting
has fulfilled that combat of titans which Stefan
10 Master Builders: A Typology of the Spirit, trans. Eden
Zweig spoke of: "Thus it comes to pass that and Cedar Paul (New York, 1939), p. 245.

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 296 Ibsen's Concept of Tragedy

his freedom from God, Solnessthe

wasdevilin
to effect
release himre-
from his torment and
peating the words of Lucifer: Non
his serviam,
agony?he hadI long
willsince given up praying
not serve. There now is no return. Solness has to God. Or again, there are large issues at stake
been blessed or cursed with that which makes in Pillars of Society. New machines are to replace
man defiant of whatever forces overawe him, hand
and labor and nothing or no one shall stand in
he must bring his challenge to the responsible
the way of progress, cost what it may. Although
force: God. So Solness climbs the tower, shouts things turn out well in the end, Aune is sub-
his defiance of God (which only Hilda hears), jected to one of the most humiliating experiences
waves his hat to indicate that he has won the of any Ibsen character. He asserts his rights as
victory, and at that moment falls off the tower an individual, he must be master of his own life
into the stone quarry.11 in order to retain the respect of his family and
The tragedy of The Master Builder cannot so be
retain his own self-respect. But he must sub?
understood against the background of Ghosts, ordinate his individuality, and so must millions
but it is very nearly like that of Brand andlike Em? him. These situations might not themselves
peror and Galilean. We recall Brand's magnifi? produce successful tragedy, but they contain
cent line: "But the path of yearning's left," and
elements of the tragic sense.
the Emperor Julian's refusal to accept the only In Ibsen's second period Lona, Nora, Mrs>
tenable proposition for man, who with his Alving,
limi? Gregers, Dr. Stockman, and Rebecca are
tations must accommodate himself to the reformers,
plan people who proclaim the ideal, a
of a predetermined order of things. But as stock preoccupation of their day. Finally, in
Julian defied God's decree that he must will un? Rosmersholm, we learn through Rebecca the na?
der necessity, so Solness refused to bow to a ture of these individuals who go about making
higher authority. The haunting irony of man's ideal demands upon their fellow beings. She
limitations somehow hovers over the tragic con? makes it abundantly clear that her idealism, her
clusion of The Master Builder, but overshadow- urge to emancipate Rosmer, is only in part an
ing this is the true greatness of man who deter? inner urge, but in larger part a necessity, dic?
mines to accomplish a task beyond his powers, tated by a force external to herself and superior
and although he goes down to defeat, we claim to herself. She concludes that there are two kinds
victory. of will in us, our own and an external one. The
This concept of the tragedy of The Master external will is capricious, unlimited in power,
Builder, in which we are witness to the compul- with the result that we are all puppets who seem
sive, positive, bold, imaginative actions of the to will, but are will-less, who seem to direct our
protagonist, is superior, in my opinion, to the own lives, but whose lives are completely deter?
interpretations of those who look upon Solness mined. These people are all products of Ibsen's
as a man whose courage has left him, as one second period, and they bear little resemblance
beaten in the struggle between the generations, to their illustrious predecessors or successors,
and as a victim of attrition, corroded by guilt. respectively, Brand and Julian and Solness. Their
chief symbol is Mrs. Alving, who, as the curtain
VI falls, stands weeping in utter despair at the mean-
inglessness of it all. We ask, where among these
Ibsen has often been called the author of the
people is the uncompromising idealist, Brand,
middle class, who was concerned largely with itsthe defier of divine authority, Julian, and the
problems. Certainly, he reflected that atmos? author of his own destiny, Solness, who could
phere and those problems, but we should not maintain the idea of the integrity of the individ?
lose sight of the fact that his numerous galleryual and assert the concept of the dignity of
extends both to the right and the left of center, man! In Mrs. Alving's and Dr. Stockman's and
and he encompasses all of humanity. SometimesRebecca's and Rosmer's world they do not exist.
we have to look rather far down to find the lesser Belief in an idealistic view of life found no favor?
folk, and their destinies seem to be buried be-able soil during Ibsen's middle period, and as a
beneath the important business, which concernsconsequence no completely successful tragedy
the larger issues. But who can forget, for ex? came from his pen.
ample, the description of the father in Brand, The tragedy of Rosmersholm is in part a
who never appears on the stage, who has killed
his child because he could not endure to see it 111 am indebted to several individuals for fruitful sugges?
tions concerning my interpretation of The Master Builder,
slowly starve to death, and now lies on the floor,especially the use of the concept Non serviam and the identi?
holding the corpse tightly in his arms, calling onfication of the stone quarry with the pit.

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 Sverre Arestad 297

tragedy of idealism, The

butIbsen more
tragic hero therefore
a tragedy is an individual
of
tion, and insofar as who itdemonstrates
is the through
latteraction a professed
it fail
successful tragedy. belief
The in complete
dramas freedom ofwritten
choice. But the
the naturalistic tradition
triumph of the leave us
individual over with or
circumstances fe
of defeat and dissatisfaction, for
forces is thereby not assured, we
for his are m
life appears
witness to man as a to tool
be predetermined. In spite of this, theimp
of senseless, Ibsen
natural forces, and we are
hero repeatedly refuses denied the
to accept the conditions
catharsis and thereby which makefailhim ato subordinate individual, and
experience
tional equilibrium. consequently openly opposes the forces,
Paradoxically, Ibsen's the cir? f
to create successful cumstances, or the predetermined
naturalistic tragedy plan that c
be ascribed to the middle-class
prevent him from ordering his protagonis
life as he chooses.
Solness, the hero of In the
a resulting struggle values tragedy,
successful obtain, but there
Rosmer, of the middle can be class.
no absolute Solness'
certainty; yet notragedy
Ibsen hero
course the tragedy can of findidealism,
comforting assurancefor he
in a cynical cou
rejec?
attain that complete tion of the universal plan
freedom of which he is
which heboths
productvictory,
but his failure breeds and victim. Ibsen'sfor
tragic heroes
like reflect
Br
yearned to attain the
the unattainable
noblest expression and
of the terror and the glory
Julian he refused toofsubordinate
life, and they make ushimself,
sensitive to man'sev
God. The significance of
tragic fate. The
In spite Master
of their Bui
imperfectibility we
tragedy is that in reintroducing
come to admire their struggle toward thea uni
achieve?
order it re-established the
ment of complete freedom concept of
of choice and of action
which the naturalistic order had excluded. It against the powers and the forces of a bafiling
would seem from a study of Ibsen's concept andofa perplexing world.
tragedy that successful tragedy is dependentIbsenin believed in the integrity of the individual
the final analysis upon the age-old conditions,
and in the dignity of man, In his brooding upon
the human condition he saw these thwarted,
with their basis in moral values, where individ?
ual initiative, reflected in freedom of choicecoerced, challenged, trodden down, despised,
and of action, obtains. ridiculed. His purpose as an author was to de-
Throughout his career as a dramatist, Ibsen pict man's noblest efforts to retain his individ?
sought to understand the nature of man, but uality,
he to exert his will, to strive toward the
neither moralized nor proclaimed. From out ideal.
of In the process Ibsen depicted man's at?
his protracted speculations proceeded observa-tempt to achieve the unattainable and to will to
tions both on matters of current issue, which rise above circumstances to complete freedom.
often appeared to be polemical, and on ques? But man was denied success, and therein lay his
tions of long-range import, which never were. tragedy. Ibsen's tragedy of idealism is, therefore,
Even in Ibsen's earliest tragedies the dignity, the
many-prismed, reflecting now this facet of life,
integrity, and the true stature of man are re?that, now concerned with the grandeur of
now
vealed only by those who exercise freedom ofheroic personality, now with the seemingly
the
choice and who assume responsibility for the re- demands for individual recognition among
petty
sulting actions. An Ibsen tragic hero may
evenbe
the least of men.
noble like Brand or Emperor Julian or evil like
University or Washington
Bishop Nicholas, but he stands forth as a living
testimonial to the powers of the human will. Seattle 5

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