The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-01-07
THE IDEAL IN THE
PLAYS OF IBSEN
The Great ReAlist Fought Against
Hypocrisy for the EnnOblcment Of
Mankind.

BY ELIZABETH AVERY COTTON.
Ibsen. though the most ironic Of
realists. rarely neglects in his dramas
&C. present. more or less directly, "the
claim Of the ideal" From Brand to
ing demand is: BE true: be your
self" 1t must be borne in mind,
however, that Ibsen's conception OF
being one's SELF involved even from
the first the willingness to suffer for
One's ideals. And in his second per-
Tod. he began to emphasize the larger
conception that he who develops his
Inner freedom will not only te able
self completely to fulfil"
but will in the end be of the greatest
value 10 society. My purpose, how
ever, is not SO much to trace the de-
Xelopment Of Ibsen's combination in
diyidual-sOciai creed as it is to show
in a cursory manner that Ibsen's
criticism Of life ever tended toward
the ennoblement Of mankind.
Even in his early romantic dramas,
1hsen began his never-ending battle
against falsehood and hypocrisy. Thus
in d Vikings Sigurd and Gunner's
conspired lie destroys the happiness
of all concerned, and leads inevita-
bly, to the catastrophe. again in
The ~Prctcndcrs, the tragedy is due
i'm a large measure to Skule's falsely
claiming Hakon's great Kings
thought"
In Loves Comedy. which chrome
logically precedes II Pretcnders
the collective conventional lies OF
which society is SO largely based are
boldly attacked. And though WI
may not agree with the apparen
moral Of the play that the only love
that lasts-the only love that uplift
is that which Is sacrificed befor,
"wedlock's tragedy in prose" begins
yet we feel that Ibsen's representa-
ton. in his play. of 1.-The contrast il
our state Of society between the aetna
and the ideal in all that relates t
love and marriage ought to improv
the actual.
And beyond the mirk" Of the un
versal social sham SO mercilessly por
trayed. one may descry "one gimme
still OF glory" That "glimmer" 1t
sen never wholly lost sight of. T
ITO look afar across the fields G
flight:
toward he gleam and to follow
was his life's mission. His watch
word like Falk's was:
I'll fight under the splendor Of til
sum-.
I or the iie-onc OF us two mu
yield";
Ior Ibsen realized that
truths appealing clarion must /
unded
before men blinded by social pr
JUDGES could see the light.
In actual practice, however, IbSeu
zeal for truth was never SO QuiXOt
as Falk's. nor so uncompromiSing
that of Brand, his next hero. In FAC
in Brand, Ibsen not only drasticai
arraigns the Faint-heart" OF I'll
dead and MINDLESS world in gener
and of the Norwegian people in pa
%ticular; but he also shows clearly tn
the tragedy of Brand. himself, is
much the tragedy Of the eXtrelnis
who fatally ignores the eternal pri
ciples of love and mercy as it Is
the idealst who for the sake Of
altruistc aspirations sacrifices
that is most dear to him. But thou,
Ihsen does not justify Brands 8.
or nothing" life-principle which /
hin to refuse his dying mother t
and to scourge with It
rods Of sacrifice" his beloved wife, J
the lasting sympathy OF most of
is with the mistaken idealist "
at the cost of u~nspeakable angui
to himself doOms his only child
death rather than forsake his prizes
duties. and who receives for his cart
~ reward merely "the marty
need:
"Baffed where lie sought to wak,
Stoned By all. by all forsaken.'
And not until he "plunges il
deaths dark night" does he find
merciful God OF Love. His life Ne
IL. therefore. apparently a failu