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Henrik Ibsen father of modern drama
Henrik Ibsen father of modern drama
How did Henrik Ibsen influence literature
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During the nineteenth century a realism playwright, director and poet Henrik Ibsen was known for his brilliant human observations through a captious perspective. ''His work became extended metaphors,'' (J.L. Styan 1981, p. 26) where the objective was to ignite social modification and increase awareness of issues happening in his society through realistic dramatisation. Ibsen became the maestro of psychological characterisation and thoroughly elaborated descriptions of everyday life in realistic settings, as well as dialogues that truly captured the formulations of the natural human language. It's understood that one of the reasons Henrik Ibsen was successful in his time was due to the lack of bright, satisfactory declarations to his dramas, where he frequently left out didactic solutions to his plays instrumental problems in question, only demonstrating the consequences, leaving the audience to their own thoughts and interpretations. Ibsen closely featured human behaviours with honesty and acute observation which often developed disturbing and embarrassing questions by the public. I personally believe Henrik Ibsen's triumph was owed by his ability to reach ahead of his time, and in his inclusion of symbolic elements in drama. Through illustrating examples from Hedda Gabler and academic research, I will discuss how containing a detailed knowledge and understanding of Ibsen's original work conditions enriches my appreciation for the play.
It is known that Hernik Ibsen was particularly creative with his staging. Always kept in mind the perceiver's by leading them throughout the play by character movement and language, ''The nineteenth century's greatest drawback in the realistic theatre was that explanatory signs could not be hu...
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...l issues and explicates a world more realistically on stage, using his plays characters to manipulate with it's audiences feelings and thoughts, forcing them to set foot in revaluation of their common beliefs.
Works Cited
Gail Finney, Connell University Press (1991), Literacy Criticism – Women in Modern Drama: Fraud, Feminists and European Theatre
J. L. Styan, Cambridge University Press (1981)- Modern Drama in Theory and Practice: Volume 2, Symbolism, Surrealism, and the absurd
Frederick J. Marker,C. D. Innes University of Toronto Press, (1998) - Literary Collections - Modernism in European Drama: Ibsen, Strindberg, Pirandello, Beckett
Marshall, G (2006) Actresses On The Victorian Stage: Femenine Performance And The Galatea Myth / Gail Marshall, n.p: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2006.
Henrik Ibsen, Dramatic Publishing Company, (1974) – Hedda Gabler
Pellegrini, Ann. “The Plays of Paula Vogel.” A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Drama. Ed. David Krasner. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005. 473-84.
Joseph Mankiewicz 1950’s ‘film du theatre’ All About Eve, provides an insight into the qualities needed to succeed in the star-studded world of the theatre. In particular, the protagonists, Margo Channing and her “carbon copy”, Eve Harrington, are portrayed as flawed characters because of their single-minded pursuit of fame and fortune. Whilst Margo eventually recognizes the absurdity of her dreams in a 1950s socially-conservative chauvinistic world, Eve appears to emerge triumphantly but discredited due to her wily, manipulative streak.
It is difficult to imagine a play which is completely successful in portraying drama as Bertolt Brecht envisioned it to be. For many years before and since Brecht proposed his theory of “Epic Theatre”, writers, directors and actors have been focused on the vitality of entertaining the audience, and creating characters with which the spectator can empathize. ‘Epic Theatre’ believes that the actor-spectator relationship should be one of distinct separation, and that the spectator should learn from the actor rather than relate to him. Two contemporary plays that have been written in the last thirty years which examine and work with Brechtian ideals are ‘Fanshen’ by David Hare, and ‘The Laramie Project’ by Moises Kaufman. The question to be examined is whether either of these two plays are entirely successful in achieving what was later called, ‘The Alienation Effect”.
Butler, Judith. Ed. Case, Sue-Ellen. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution." Performing Feminisms: Feminist Critical Theory and Theatre. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.
Brecht argues that the ultimate purpose of play is to induce pleasure and to entertain, and that--because of this purpose--play needs no justification. Plays should not be simply copied from or seen through older performances, but need to develop on their own to better relate to a new audience. Through the use of alienation which aims to make the familiar unfamiliar, play and theatre can be seen under a new perspective, and the actor can feel more free to perform under a new guise.
When a play is presented on film, the director takes the script, and with poetic license, interprets it. A film not only contains the actual words of the author (in this case Shakespeare), but it includes action, acting, and cinematographic techniques; the three are used to better portray the author’s story. Using these elements, the director’s interpretation of the plot is reinforced. The film provides symbolic images and a visual interpretation, hence Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” is better understood by the viewers.
A man, intoxicated and impoverished, lay on the dirty streets of patriarchal Norway, and as the jeering citizens sauntered by, they could have never guessed that this man, Henrik Ibsen, would be the Prometheus of women’s rights and the creator of the modern play. Having been born in 1828, Ibsen lived through various examples of the subjection of women within the law, such as Great Britain allowing men to lock up and beat their wives “in moderation” (Bray 33). Therefore, Ibsen was known for his realistic style of writing within both poetry and plays, which usually dealt with everyday situations and people (31). Focusing on the rights of women, Ibsen’s trademark was “...looking at these problems without the distortions of romanticism” and often receiving harsh criticism for doing so (31). In an attempt to support his family, Ibsen became a pharmaceutical apprentice, but after three years he abandoned this profession and began writing poetry. After an apprenticeship in the theater, he began writing his own plays, including a drama in verse, Peer Gynt (31). While working and writing in Norway, Ibsen and several social critics observed “...the penalty society pays when only half of its members participate fully as citizens”, deciding to flee Norway in hopes of finding a more accepting social environment (33). Ibsen wrote A Doll’s House, his most famous work about women suffering through the oppressive patriarchal society, while living primarily in Germany and Italy where he “...was exposed to these social norms and tensions to a much greater extent than he would have been had he remained solely in Norway” (32). While Sweden, Norway, and Denmark began to grant legal majority to women, Ibsen understood the legal improvements f...
The analysis argues the use of symbolism as it applies to the aspects of the characters and their relationships. Henrik Ibsen’s extensive use of symbols is applied to capture the reader’s attention. Symbols like the Christmas tree, the locked mailbox, the Tarantella, Dr. Rank’s calling cards, and the letters add a delicate meaning to the characters and help convey ideas and themes throughout the play.
3. Shipley, Joseph T. The Crown Guide to the World's Great Plays. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1984. 332 - 333.
Work Cited Ibsen, Henrik. A. Hedda Gabler. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Trans. Michael Meyer.
Worthen, William B. Modern Drama and the Rhetoric of Theater. Berkeley: U of California P, 1992.
Northram, John. "Ibsen's Search for the Hero." Ibsen: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Rolf Fjelde. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1965. 107-113.
Ibsen’s theatre background has shaped “A Doll’s House” into a realistic prose drama, which ensured that his idea’s and themes could be easily translated to engage a wider audience.
Banham, Martin, ed., The Cambridge Guide to Theatre, 3rd edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995)
Although Ibsen portrays A Doll House as a Realistic play due to the societal problems, which include women, illnesses, and laws; he attempts to address society and cause change within the Norwegian society without openly talking about these issues. The actions of characters, such as Nora, represent the fact that an individual can make progress in societal reform. Therefore, Ibsen’s identification and attempt to change society symbolizes a Realistic desire of finding solutions to problems. The ultimate goal of Realism is to better everyday life for the majority of people, while trying to deepen the understanding of society’s problems.