The Washington times., 1903-01-11
IBSEN REGARDED AS
SOCIALIST PLAYWRIGHT
Expounds and EIucidates His
More Notable Writings

and intricate evolution. It is impos-
sibIe. consequently, TO include his great
Efework in a single formula Probably
the safest thing we can say about him
is. That he has at all times strivan
to be a true artist. and has, without
any mercenary or other irrelevant con
sfderation. labored to infuse into the
creations Of his imagination as much
OF The throbbing blood OF humanity as
possible; that he is what he has FIRE
quentIy claimed for himself, a painter OF
human life and human destinies, and
only in the second place q preacher Of
new aims and new ideals.
An Iuuovator Of Dramatic Form.
It is furthermore conceded by eminent
critics that he is an innovator Of dra-
matte form. By the Introduction OF
mastery way OF giving the history of his
characters. by means of q few occasional
remarks from the mouth Of some one
among them. he has almost succeeded in
returning TO The old Greek rule about the
unity Of space and time lin Ghosts he
has even some four hours TO spare),
and he has found the new formula so
earnestly sought for by Schiller and
Others, a substitute for the destiny OF
fate of Greek tragedy.
Shakespeare. il Is true, in his i'm
mortal tragedies made good use of the
surrounding circumstances. making OF
Romeo and Juliet the doomed scapegoats
Of the strife between their families;
Macbeth the victim of an oyerpOweTing
temptation. and Hamlet, the hero of his
most modern play, sad sufferer Cor
the sins Of others. But ne did not and
could not, since the conditions were not
yet ripe for il, get hold Of the modern
Erinys-the social conditions and the
law Of heredIty-not as outlined by The
old Hebrews, but as an outflow of the
inherent organic qualities Of what We
are used TO call mind and matter.
i New Viewpoint
While. therefore. the ethical bearing
Of the plays OF Shakespeare, NIolere and
Others had refe TO the Individual
the plays Of Isl d his school take
account of both Individual, the So
ciety and even the preceding genera
tons that nodded them. Romeo and
Juliet" Macbeth" g-rd hamlet could
in the days Of Elizabeth teach fathers to
cease fighting and let love have its way,
persons Of greedy ambition 10 stop
short OF murder. or married women 10 be
faithful TO their husbands and leave
their ears alone; but they could not di-
- 8 "a
age about a single social reform OF the
Iiddiug themselves of single antiQuated
moral precept. Nobody can justly blame
the venerable dramatist on this account.
since biology and sociology and the
theory of evolution were yet unborn. It
is only calling attention to an historical
fact
But Henrik Isbens living in the age Of
Darwin and HaeckeI and Herbert Spencer
and Karl Marx, and having behind him
Rousseau and the French Revolution,
naturally had 10 conceive his characters
on the background Of modern ideas and to
place them in the existing modern so
ciety. with its reckIessnesS. its doubts.
and its cropping for new solutions Of the
old riddles And the more Itfe-Iike he
succeeded in making them and stamped
with the mark of creative genius. the
better did they preach TO thoughtful men
and women the defects and needs Of the
society that fostered them. such as they
were, and about the needs Of personal
responsibility for ones own actions
The Lesson of GHOSTS"
What then. for instance, does a play
like Ghosts" teach US? Is the only
lesson we can draw from it an admo-
milton not to be so frightfully anxious 10
throw mud on man or woman that
secures a divorce2 (And the American
critics should please remember that
conditions in thiz. as in most other re-
spects, are much more liberal IL this
country than in most parts of EUROPE
By no means! Every person acquainted
with the entire production OF Ibsen
knows. OF rather feels. that he regards
divorce as a poor and Objectionable ex-
pedient. except in extreme cases; that
he is by no means q believer in so-caHed
free love, and that, on the contrary, he
seems to put an explicit confidence in
nature TO uphold monogamistic rela-
tions. # only left alone.
It is plain enough TO everybody who
reads Ibsen carefully that Mrs. Al
Wings great mistake. or sin. if you
viii. was that while loving Pastor Man
deTs- she sacrificed this early and true
affection for the sake Of a good mar
rage. a rich husband that could Sc
cure her old mother few closing years
Of comfort. So strongly is belief in
the sanetiJy OF true affection between
man and woman rooted IN his mind, that
even in this play. which evidently sprang
out of the need for defending his Nora,
he does not forget 10 emphasize the les
son that man should take good care not
to violate this powerful natural in
stlnct.
And so Mrs AIving proves true
tragieaI character. since she does not
merely suffer for the wrongs of others,
having herself at a critical point Of her
life committed a fatal mistake. that, in
Ibsen's opinion, was just as much bound
TO have sad CONSEQUENCES az tho no