Blind idealism in Ibsen's Brand

Azadeh Mazloumsaki Isaksen

doi:10.7557/13.3360

Abstract

It has been 112 years since the last play was written by Henrik Ibsen, and he still lives on through his works as a modern dramatist. His plays cannot be set aside; even in our time, they demand to be studied more than ever before. Ibsen has been studied and performed all around the world, especially in Asia, where he speaks to the political and social needs of that part of the world. The combination of current political circumstances, social inequalities, and human rights has given his plays a special urgency in Asia. However, even though Ibsen has seen a particular resurgence in Asia and the Middle East, the terrible events of 22 July 2011 in Oslo and Utøya bear certain traces of Ibsen in his country of birth as well. A false hero, trumpeting himself as a true philosopher in a land in need of rescue, brings only chaos and destruction. Ibsen is considered, from one side, as an idealist whose heroes are divine for rescuing the society from their life-lie. On the other side, he is as a deflator of heroism and a derider of blind idealism. To the former, in his hypothetical society, there is a triangular form at the apex of which a leader stands to lead the masses up from the base. The question is raised here: how do Ibsen’s plays enlighten the debate on the contemporary socio-political issues? By applying historical approach along with contextual methodology, this study answers the above question. The significance of conducting this study on Ibsen’s plays is to know the response of his plays to the current political matters.

Highlights

It has been 112 years since the last play was written by Henrik it only breaks out now and then” (Ibsen), and he still lives on through his works as a modern dramatist
Brand’s message is one of idealism, his mission the institution of a divine society, and he sacrifices himself, and his family as a symbol of this society, to achieve his goal. He loses his wife and his mother, and Alf, who represents a whole generation. This is not a play in which Ibsen loudly proclaims the “all or nothing” principle, but it is his admonition for the blind idealists not to sacrifice “all for nothing”
If I am putting words into Ibsen’s mouth, it is because my studies of his plays lead me to assume what Ibsen would say about new dictatorships appearing from a revolution’s installment of a new leader as its champion and hero

Summary

Introduction

The political techniques of ruling over the masses are seen in Ibsen’s plays. The remarkable subject in Brand, like most other plays by Ibsen, is the concept of illness in children.

Results

Conclusion