Illusions and Realities in Ibsen’s Plays The Wild Duck and Ghosts
In Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, illusions and reality are set into a conflict within the story of a son’s personal desire to confront idealism. Throughout much of the play, the son, Greger, argues the value of truth with the reluctant Dr. Relling. Relling insists on the importance of illusions, but fails to discourage Greger’s intentions and a play that begins as a comedy quickly turns into a tragedy because of these conflicts. At the heart of the illusions in this play are the ways that people assume many roles in a family, impersonating multiple ideals as ways for managing their relationships. This theme of impersonation is also developed in Ibsen’s Ghosts, where family relations are slowly undone as the illusions and deceptions are stripped away. In both plays, deceptions are strategic and designed to protect the children from the pains and struggles of their families’ histories. Ultimately, in these plays, families are held together by illusions, yet torn apart by truths that have been concealed to protect the children.
In The Wild Duck, as Relling continues to discourage Greger from revealing damaging truths about family secrets, Relling insists, "If you take away make-believe from the average man, you take away happiness as well" (Ibsen, 294). Relling is referring to the ways the Ekdal family is structured on particular deceptions; however, these are designed to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. Hedvig, the fourteen year old daughter, represents one of the innocents, and Greger’s father, Old Werle, represents a part of the guilty side. The key to these dualisms of false and truth, innocent and guilty, illusion and reality, lies in...
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Both The Wild Duck, and Ghosts are tragedies that involve what might be understood as “the sins of the fathers;” however, Ibsen seems to suggest that some truths are better maintained as illusions. In both plays, the truth destroys the lives of those who have been protected from the past and in both cases the past involves relationships that have indirect consequences on the children’s understandings of their lives. In the end, whether it is right or wrong to maintain the illusions is not as significant as the question of who has the right to determine what is real, and what is true for others.
Works Cited
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Henrik Ibsen, “The Wild Duck,” Four Great Plays by Henrik Ibsen, NY: Bantam Books.
Henrik Ibsen, “Ghosts,” Playreader’s Repertory, M.R. White and F. Whiting, Eds., London: Foresom and Company.
Jane Addams was a Victorian woman born into a male-dominated society on September 6, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois. Her father was a wealthy landowner and an Illinois senator who did not object to his daughter’s choice to further her education, but who wanted her to have a traditional life. For years after his death, Addams tried to reconcile the family role she was expected to play with her need to achieve personal fulfillment.
As a girl and young woman, Jane Addams was deeply influenced by her father, John Huy Addams. Mr. Addams was a Hicksite Quaker and an outspoken abolitionist (“Dream” 2...
The Hull House was one of the first settlement houses in the United States and acted as “a place where young college graduates could live together in a poor urban district while providing outreach to the surrounding community (Opdycke pg. 2).” Through the creation of the Hull House, Jane established the principle of learning from life itself. Jane was able to draw interest from many volunteers that were able to help her create a kindergarten for children of the less fortunate in the Chicago slums. Residents of the settlements held professional training as lawyers, teachers, economists or physicians. These volunteers were able to use their experiences to help those less privileged in the community. In the beginning, Jane spent most of her income on the settlement but was able to draw a significant amount of money from a circle of donors. She was able to obtain four years of free rent from her landlord due to her efforts in helping the community, and eventually was able to fill an entire block full of settlements. Through her many settlements, she established many programs and clubs that were open to the local community. Through clubs, sports programs, kindergartens, art classes, concerts, plays, and even schools, Addams quickly established a platform where people could help one another in pursuit of a common goal. Addams continuous efforts led to constant
...). A future research idea piggybacks on this program by encouraging an initiation of state and/or national legislation, specifically for change moving towards healthier school nutrition and additional school nutrition education. This legislation would also mandate increases in the amount of time children are allowed for physical activity in their school day as a lack of physical activity is a huge risk factor for overweight and obesity. Another thought is to designate a school health coordinator who will be responsible for maintaining and continuing the positive work that this study began. Utilizing the success of this program and others like it in this regards will lead to action on all levels of the social ecological framework. Ultimately, a multilevel examination of determinants and interventions needs to be aimed at preventing child overweight and obesity.
Childhood obesity has been on the rise in the last couple of years. In the 1970’s childhood obesity was never a concern to the public until the number increased over the years. An alarming rate of 31% of all adults have been obese since they were children and the rates of childhood obesity don’t fall too behind with an 18% of children being obese. That makes almost half of obese adults and children. A child that is obese has a 70-80% higher chance of staying obese even through their adulthood if no action is taken. Childhood obesity is not something children are in control of, these children suffer from different outcomes since they can’t look after themselves and heavily rely on someone to aid them when they need it. These numbers can be drastically altered in a positive way by educating both children and parents about healthy, nutritious foods to consume, supplying schools with better lunch and healthier vending machines with healthy choices and promoting after school activities to keep children active and away from electronics.
http://www.ccs.com/ccs/c 1994 Tammany, Jane. The Ellert. Henrik Ibsen's Theatre Aesthetic and Dramatic Art. New York: Philosophical Library, 1980.
Growing up in El Salvador, soccer was a sport that significantly impacted my childhood. My cousins and uncles taught me how to play soccer, as well as various techniques that would later benefit me on the soccer field. At the age of seven I started to play for one of most well-known soccer clubs in El Salvador. Practicing twenty three hours a week was really paying off, as I could see in my medal and trophy gain. Not only did they represent my accomplishments, but they also gave joy to my teammates, community, and family because they were the people who encouraged me to give my best. Playing soccer was also a way to release stress because when my family was going through hardships, it was easier for me to let all of my negative energy on the
Obesity is not a disease. It is a condition where our body stores excessive fat and affects our health or well-being. Childhood obesity is a major cause for disease and health risks which may be lifelong. Childhood obesity is becoming a threat to society because of its prevalence. Obesity reduces life expectancy. Childhood obesity is an epidemic in the United States. The number of obese children has increased and doubled within two decades. (Helping your overweight child." Pamphlet by: National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases, 1997, p. 2+.) The childhood obesity epidemic requires more prevention focused on the first five years of a child’s
Who is at fault for childhood obesity? Is it the parents or is it the fault of health officials for providing lack of information? No matter who is at fault, childhood obesity is very real and needs to be addressed. It has reached epidemic proportions and has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Our children are at risk for a variety of health issues that are preventable. The estimated 9 million overweight children, including 4.5 million obese children, are at risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, asthma, and other pulmonary diseases, high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, stroke, and other chronic illnesses (Weiting 545.) This growing epidemic of overweight and obese children as well as teenagers must be stopped. It is up to us as parents, family members, caregivers, and medical professionals to educate our children to exercise and eat right to prevent childhood obesity.
Some researchers claim that more than 300,000 Americans are dying due to obesity every year and the number is rising annually. That is a huge number and it can be fixed a number of ways but some individuals are lazy some can’t lose the weight because of medical reason. Obesity causes disease from diabetes to heart disease and in some cases death. Obesity in children is growing problems to children who are obese have a higher chance to get diabetes or heart failure. The school environment is one of several settings that can influence children’s food choices and eating habits. Schools can ensure that the available food and beverage options are healthy and help young people eat food that meets dietary recommendations for fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nonfat or low-fat dairy products.
2. Setterquist, Jan. Ibsen and the Beginnings of Anglo-Irish Drama. New York: Gordian Press, 1974. 46 - 49, 58 - 59, 82 - 93, 154 - 166.
Davies, H. Neville. 1982. "Not just a bang and a whimper: the inconclusiveness of Ibsen's A Doll's House." Critical Quarterly 24:33-34.
In both Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House the subversion of perception and the insubordination of supposedly inferior characters has massive implications on the overall message of the play. These mechanisms bring to light a multitude of questions about the correctness of social norms and the future of both Russian and Norwegian society. They are powerful reminders of ever-changing society and the nature of human relationships, and they leave the reader at once confused and motivated for change.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. In Four Major Plays. Trans. James McFarlane and Jens Arup. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
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.