Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 13, 2025
The whole catastrophe is determined by Rosmer's inability to accept without proof Rebecca's declaration that Rosmersholm has "ennobled" her, and that she is no longer the same woman whose relentless egoism drove Beata into the mill-race. Rebecca herself puts it to him: "How can you believe me on my bare word after to-day?" There is only one proof she can give that of "going the way Beata went."
Observing the effect of comparative tenuity in these two plays, we cannot but surmise that the secret of the depth and richness of texture so characteristic of Ibsen's work, lay in his art of closely interweaving a drama of the present with a drama of the past. An Enemy of the People is a straightforward, spirited melody; The Wild Duck and Rosmersholm are subtly and intricately harmonized.
Thus in Rosmersholm, whenever the action takes a turn that foreshadows the tragic catastrophe, allusion is made to the weird symbol of "white horses." Similarly, in Hedda Gabler to take another instance the emphasis of repetition is flung on certain leading phrases, "Fancy that, Hedda!" "Wavy-haired Thea," "Vine-leaves in his hair," and "People don't do such things!"
The other instances are offered by the two apparitions of Ulric Brendel in Rosmersholm. Such a rallentando effect is like the apparent pause in the rush of a river before it thunders over a precipice. The possibility of suspending tension is of wider import than may at first sight appear. But for it, our dramas would have to be all bone and muscle, like the figures in an anatomical textbook.
Similarly, in the later plays of Henrik Ibsen, certain phrases are repeated frequently, to indicate the recurrence of certain dramatic moods. Thus, in "Rosmersholm," reference is made to the weird symbol of "white horses," whenever the mood of the momentary scene foreshadows the double suicide which is to terminate the play.
He found his characters and his themes in modern life and in his native land; and the social dramas followed one another in steady succession, 'Pillars of Society' , 'A Doll's House' , 'Ghosts' , 'An Enemy of the People' , the 'Wild Duck' , 'Rosmersholm' , the 'Lady from the Sea' , 'Hedda Gabler' , the 'Master-Builder' , 'Little Eyolf' , 'John Gabriel Borkman' and 'When We Dead Awaken' .
It is not merely a want of the knack of playwriting a vulgar, useful term that kept Browning or Tennyson from success on the stage. No one ever had such a prodigious "knack" as Ibsen, and Rosmersholm is the most amazing tour de force of craftmanship.
These are only a few of the re-adjustments which have constantly to be made if a play is shaping itself by a process of vital growth; and that is why the playwright may be advised to keep his material fluid as long as he can. Ibsen had written large portions of the play now known to us as Rosmersholm before he decided that Rebecca should not be married to Rosmer.
"His disciples claim that for him, at any rate," she answered. "But sometimes I question its truth. Where is the tonic effect of 'Rosmersholm? I think it full of terrors." She shuddered and added: "The White Horses will haunt me for weeks." "It's the atmosphere of crime," said he. "That quiet home on the western fiords reeks with it." She made a gesture of repulsion.
And yet The Fair Maid of the West seemed to me that evening, and seems to me evermore in retrospect, a nobler work than Rosmersholm; for the Norwegian drama gives a doleful exhibition of unnecessary misery, while the Elizabethan play is fresh and wholesome, and fragrant with the breath of joy.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking