The San Francisco call., 1897-03-21
tragic note "to purge the mind by pity and by

tTdSlC uple 10 purge the ID ina Dy pity ana Dy
fear" as the ancient poet hath 1t.
On the contrary, we seem to see a dreary
morass. STRETCHING out endlessly under bleak
sky. But after reflection we come to the con-
clusion that this effect is the result of consum-
mate art, because it more perfectly than any
other illustrates that phase of his subject
which Ibsen dwells upon here. In this drama
he considers the most subtle feature OF the
whole question, namely, the voluntary de-
struction of one human creature, OF another S
possible soul deyelopm ent, joy, and fullness of
individuality. John Gabriel Borkman is q
man who has sacrificed everything to money
getting, not TO mere vulgar acquisition but IN
deshe of the power and splendor of money
which fire his Imagination.
To advance his purpose he gives up the
woman he loves and who loves him. Years
after, when he, having staked all and failed,
has become a broken and dishonored man,
and she an unhappy and loveless woman, she
tells him that he has committed the one NOR
tai sin, the crime for which there is no for
giveness. And when he, self-centered as of
old, and still nursing his dream of power,
wonders what she means, she tells him:
"You are murderer. You have killed the
love-life in me. Do you understand what
that means? The Bible speaks OF a mysteri-
Gus sin for which there is no forgiveness
have never understood what it could be- but
now l understand. The great, unpardona Bile
sin is 10 murder the love-liie in human
soul"
And again she says to him: sYou have done
to death all the gladness of life in me. From
the day when your image began TO dwindle in
my mind I have lived my life as though under
an eclipse During all these years it has grown
harder and harder for me, and at last utterly
impossible TO love any human creature. HUI
man beings, animals, plants-I shrank from
all-from all but one"
That one is his son and her nephew For
Borkman, after giving up Ella Rentheim for
the sake OF gaining the support of the man
necessary to his success had married her
sister.
His wife is hard woman who cannot for
give him for her humiliation, and for eight
years alter his return from prison he lives in
the upper part OF the house and she below
He spends his time pacing up and down the
long gallery "like a hungry wolf," and the
two never meet. To have Erhart, her nephew,
| with her is The one desire of Ella Rentheim's
life. His mother, on her part, has dedicated
his life to the building up of the family
honor. The aunt longs to make his life happy,
| but 1t must be as an adjunct of her own. Both
| OF these women wish to dominate the life of
! the young man with small regard OF his own
| right of self-freedom.
Meanwhile Maste Erhart has formed quite
other plans for himself, and, gayly shaking all
| obligations and responsible ilities from his
shoulders, departs with lady of uncertain
character ''to live his own life" Erhart's
| character is relentlessly Sc. fish "a sort OF
deadly satire on that "indivld d ualism" which
Ibsen no doubt sees quite often in the world
about him. 1t is il he said to his readers
"Dopt fatter yourselves, pleasure-loving
generation, that by individualism l mean q
selfish following of desire regardless of all
other claims. You see what that comes to IN
this instance and how hideous it is"
At the same time he makes US feel that those
others had no right to make such claims upon
Erhart's life. There is nothing wholly ad-
mirable and no character wholly unselfsh in
the drama. We look for something fine in the
loyalty of the one OLD FREUD who is still
faithful to Borkman, but we are shown that
even that friendship rests on basis OF deceit
and self-interest. There is a tact under
standing between the two that each shall pro-
! fess belief in the others success. The old
clerk desires to be a poet, to Borkman alone
he confdes the fact that he has written a
| tragedy.
Borkman encourages the. clerk in order that
the clerk may encourage him in his fantas tic
hopes for the future. And each conscious of
his own insincerity doubts the other and yet
clings with all the strength of vanity 10 the
delusion. The scene between the two is de.
/
pressingiy unlovely.
In the closing act the dialogue becomes
more impassioned and lifts some
what from the dead level of real
ism. Borkman. strangely excited, leaves the
house and wanders out In to the night, saying
ne must begin to climb those heights he has
vowed to reach. Ella goes with him. The two
come out on plateau overlooking the valley.
His mind dwells upon his one dominant
thought He speaks OF his "kingdom"-the
kingdom he was on the point of conquering.
81 seem to touch them, the prisoned mil
lions; can see the veins of metal stretch out
their winding, branching, Turing arms to me.
Isaw them before my eyes like living shapes
candle in my hand. y will whisper it
to you here in the stiffness of the night.
love you as you lie there spellbound in the
deeps and the darknessl l love you, life
craving riches with all your shining train of
power and glory! love you, love you, love
your
When he falls stricken to death, Ella says,
ait was the cold that killed him." and the
wife answers, "The cold--that had killed him
long ago." and Ella returns, "Yes, and
changed US into shadows-a dead man and
of u.s."
The sister says, "Yes, the coldness of heart"
which is a Fl tting last word for most power
ful and somber study of hard and selfish and
unloyeiy lives. GRACE s. MUssER.
LAND OF IFONIDAS.