South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-12-04

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phase OF society, the women who
undermined the foundations OF de-
ception and restriction upon which
men subjected them. and who built
upon truth. the freed ON and liberties
enjoyed by the woman OF the pres
ent generation
Ibsen has given Us no one drama
showing the injustice OF shutting
women from any special profession
or industry, but he has through his
various works. given Va an accur-
ate account OF the grim struggle
women fought against restrictions
and limitations. and when We read OF
that heroic venture, one is inclined
TO feel that the victims OF such mar
row and cramping Influences could
not possibly rise above them.
He recognized and how truly. that
woman IL force which properly d.
rected will move obstacles in the
| path OF progress; but which damned
up will menace progress instead OF
being its chiefest highway. And how
very cleverly and true TO life he
I painted the woman Of that time
I impulsive, infinitely weary of the
mOnotOny about her. yet incapable
I OF rising 10 a higher level, pretend
| ing to despise the petty convention
alties OF her small world, yet bound
7 hand and foot by them with its die
/ tation ever upon her tongue. And
the young girl OF Ibsen's time-what
| a contrast TO our young girl, She
was, 80 the poet tells US, totally ig-
norant OF life for ignorance was then
called beautiful innocence" and
she developed into young woman
hood. her curiosity being appeased
by the fanciful imaginatiOns Of COM
panions a little older and therefore
a little wiser than herself. The Cir
Of that period recurs again and again
in the dramas OF Ibsen as also does
the wife who Is a complete surrend-
er. a negation of self.
But later, Ibsen prophesied the
woman with a career: he also had
something very vital TO say on re-
constructing the demands Of the
marriage relation and strange as il
may seem, his ideals OF the true
foundations of conjugal happiness fit
In with our modern viewpoint. He
proclaimed to the horror OF his day,
that woman who became a wife
must hold fast 10 her own individu-
atty; that marriage must be union.
not fusion
Those OF US who are casually de-
Gliding these days on the assets and
| liabilities Of either career or mar
riage. 1t would be well to spend an
/ hour in retrospect upon that period
when women gOaded by desires OF
I self-expression were forced to beat
their life out in vain, and that
through their very despair. they rose
| against the tyranny of age-lOng Gus
ton. and fought desperately YEARLY
at times Tor fight seemed often flu
| tile to this modern age when women
stand socially and politically enfran-
| chised. an equal of man, moulding
her life TO the promptings of her
/ heart.
Career or marriage? Whichever
she chooses she brings to that es-
! tate the knowledge that the chOoser
/ is herself and that she is the guild
! ing star Of her own fate. Whichever
I she chooses her two great strong
holds are her faith in God and man
which stand unshadowed by the
gloom OF the past.
Read the Norwegian dramatist a
/ little farther and you Will discover
that the beauty and strength of wo-
man has not been excelled by the
/ pen of any creator be he poet, dra-
matist or a writer or prose. not ev-
/ en- in the romantic age OF Eliza
beth. To me there is something al
most uncanny In the fact that any
man could probe so remorsel essly in
TO the depths Of a wOman's conscious
ness and discern her inmost fancies.
Yet he did so and painted TO the
audience Of that period. a vivid por-
trait Of the modern woman-her
/ freedom a glorious heritage gained
through the ages.
And this man who so ably por-
/ trayed the woman Of today for the
woman Of the past. has given to us
! just as wonderful a picture OF her
who lived during the old regime with
Its tinsel. its hypocrisy, its lying
propriety. its pitiful cowardice which
| lie behind u like a museum open for
instruction"