Los Angeles herald., 1905-08-20

- education IN tne 1DSen uIbiudS.
THE Dolls House." which will be
given a hearing at the Burbank theater
on wednesday afternoon, IL among the
most popular OF the dramatlsts works
and in the leading role, Nora, such
actresses have appeared as Gabrielle
Rejane, Modjeska, Mrs. Fiske, Eleanor
Duse and Ethel Barrymore. Even those
critics who oppose 1bsen's works most
strenuously say that this Is one OF the
least offensive Of his dramas.
Ibsen's female admirers are legion.
There are several classes of them, as
he appeals to them in various ways,
according as they weave their own
feelings and sentiments into what he
says. with many he ID worshipped
as the saviour who has come to rescue
women from the servile condition in
which they believe their sex Is most
unhappiy existing.
Women admirers Of Ibsen generally
consider that their sex Is not now hav-
ing a fair chance in the world. 1t Is
quite difficult to grasp just what 1t Is
they are demanding or just how they
would go about getting IT, The fact
that men sin and escape punishment
from conventional society and that
women very seldom do is apparently
one center Of discord. Some want men
punished more and some want women
punished less, and some want the race
educated to point where there will
be no more sin to punish. The Ibsen
feminists have arisen to demand an
adjustment of the social laws and of
tho marriage relation.
They are protesting vigorously that
men have made dolls and pets and
playthings of the members of their sex.
They are haunted by a constant fear
that they are not being thought of as
mems equals, and some are willing
to be as bad as men in order to prove
that they are. They want to be
"emancipated" and they want free
dom for women" and they apparently
feel that the more like men they can
become the more power they can
WELD over the destinies Of the earth.
But 1t is not in any violent and i'm
mediate adjustment Of the social laws
that 1bsen places his hopes for the
moral and spiritual Improvement Of
the people. Here is what he said once
in lecture: II have always regarded
it as my task to raise the country and
to give the people a higher position.
In this work two factors assert them
selves. 1t is for the mothers to
awake, by slow and intense work, a |
conscious feeling of CULTURE and disci- |
pline. This feeling must be awakened
in individuals before one can elevate
a people The women will solve the
question of mankind, but they must do
so as mothers. Herein lies the great
task of women
There is no doubt but that Ibsen is
sincerely endeavoring to better the
conditions of the world. He believes
that his method Is the right one for
presenting what he considers to be the |
great problems Of the world. But these |
are problems of all mankind. He is |
not the champion Of any one sex.
James Huneker in his "Iconoclasts"
says regarding 1.-The Dolls House:''
Mora Helmer, a lark-like creature
in act grows before our eyes from
scene to scene until at the fall of the
curtain she is another woman. In few
dramas has there been such continu-
GUS growth The play seems a trif1e
outmoded today, not because its main
problem will ever grow stale, but be-
cause Of the many and conflicting
meanings read into 1t by apostles Of
feminine supremacy. Ibsen declared in
one Of his few public speeches that he
had no intention of representing the
conventional, emancipated woman.
1T is Nora as an individual cheated
Of her true rights that the dramatist
depicts, for her marriage, as she dis
covers in the crisis, has been merely
material and not that spiritual tie
Ibsen insists upon as the only happy
one In this relation. So she goes away
to find herself, and her going was the
signal for almost a social war in Eu-
rope. His critics forgot that Ibsen was
a skilled deviser of theatric effects,
and such an unconventional exit was
not without it's artistic values. This
does not mean that he was insincere-l
Nora's departure was logical neces-
sity Without it the play would he
sheer sentimental. and therefore banal,
nonsense. Nevertheless, that slammed
door reverberated across the roof of
the world, and not over the knocking
at the gate in Macbeth was there such
critical controversy.
"One finds Nora Helmer a fascinat-
ing type of woman to study. To be ]
sure, she is not new-neither is Mother
Eve, but can we ponder the apple ,
story too often or unproftably? This
Scandinavian Frou-Frou. bursting with ,
joy of life, is confronted with grave !
problem, and as she has been brought
up perfectly irresponsible and a doll.
she solves the problem In an irrespon- p,
sible manner. She commits forgery,
that the end justified the
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