The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-01-07

"a ~ where h3pSFFa
West deliberately determines TO die
that Rosmer may recover his faith
In his power 10 nnobie human souls:
faith IN the human souls power to
attain nobility" That Kosrner's
serene spiritual life had really tanned
Rebecca's Savag instincts. had en-
nobied her lii So that she. too.
understood that innocence alone Is
the source Of peace and happiness.
and had made her faith capable Of
the supreme test of sacriice-this IS.
| think. Ihsen's nobiest EXPRESSION OF
his own faith in the nobility of char
acter. of Will, and Of soul" which is
eventually 10 give mankind their
real liberty
Therefore. in the dramas which
follow, 1bsen devotes himself exclu-
Slveiy TO the study Of individual char
acter. These dramas are full Of sym
bolism. full of hidden meanings; but
his old theme Of individual freedom
still occupies the foreground. The
struggle for self-realization, however,
is no longer with external social re
Strlctlons, but rather with internal
spiritual conditions. ibsen still be-
lieves that the best way To improve
humanity is through the improve
ment of the individual: but his ideal
of 'SocialiZed liberty" Is more
definitely recognized as "a far or
divine event" And SO he turns from
Ills bIdIUS, HIS St~Ock1naunS, ana MS
koSmerS, caStinS their pearls before
the swinish multitude with the vain
hope of Immediately TRANSFORMING
them into noble men. and portrayS
instead the Lady from the Sea, Hedda
Gabler, the Master Builder. Little
Eyolfs parents, and John Gabriel
BOrkman, who, however enigmatic or
neurotic, are at least not too good
For human natures daily food
Nevertheless the claim Of the idea
is still presented, though more subtls
and more indirectly than in the
dramas Of the two preceding groups
The theme of The Lady from
Sea. however. is as clear as it il
ideal. In this. Ibsen sets forth hi:
conception that true freedom neces
states a sense of personal response
bllity: a sense of moral obligation
h conception is very much Tx
Rants philosophy of the freedom
come emancipated from their OWL
baser natures-who overcome tn
| lower by the higher nature, indeed
it rather closely resembles st. James
perfect law of liberty" At any rate
it is an ideal that cannot be too oftel
, e1pounded. The Lady from the Sc
l also states positively the conception
of true marriage, which in Ghost
and A Dolls House Ibsen had illus
trated negatively. DR.. Wangei b
! his self-abnegation leads his wife Q
: her own free will to surrender he
self-aSsertivenesS, and SO togethe
n they become mutual helpmates.
Both Ibsen and his critics say tbs
: he had no moral and no problem i
r mind when writing Hedda Gable
However that may be, he pictures S
vividly the vanitas yanitatum Of
life without an interest, without a
q ideal. that even this play present
3 though most negatively, the deman
Of the ideal.
n And The Master Builder also SUE
n gests by contrast the ideal Of sci
realizatien; for Solness's naturalist
n creed is far removed from the la
r. Of liberty ~inculcated in The Lady fro
the Sea. Beneath the symbolism
va the later play. there is hidden muo
subtle meaning; but taken literal
The Master Builder depicts a man
boundless egoism, yet Of sensiti'
conscience, whose nature. has bee
= warped bv his continued ruthle
- sacrifice Of his life to the God
~ Success. Symbolically, the pl:
= shows, among other things. the futi
% ity Of the attempt Of the older gene
alton to thwart the achievements
= the younger; and, possibly, also Il
: fate of the builders Of castles in t
y air who attempt to climb as hi:
~ as they can build
le Interpreted literally. there seer
little foundation for the stage pr
n s%entation Of Hilda Wangel as an i
a spring influence in the life Of ST
I'd ness. She insists on his risking
a life merely to crafty her sense
power over him. In this and in 9th
respects, she shows herself to be.
she has been aptly called, IAN u
es fledged Hedda Gabler": certainly S
In is equally enigmatic. Even as a syl
at boil Of Youth wantonly eoading A
n, to attempt the impossible in orc
OF that it may mott be outstripped by t
en- rising generation, she is still decide
ny ~ inexplicable. But according to
at recent critic, She becomes plausible
.ot taken "as a type-igure of h ide
of personifying Ibsen's own youth,
in ambitions; and SO perhaps after
there is some justification for I
OF ideaiized stage Hilda. For there
by ground for believing that the und'
a lying mood Of The Master Buii<