Peer Gynt and the Idea of Self

Abstract

PEER GYNT AND THE IDEA OF SELF Peer Gynt very probably will always be thought of as Ibsen's greatest work. Certainly, it is his most national and also his most universal drama. A great deal has been written about this poetic drama, and with so complex a work there are of necessity differences of view and differences of emphasis among the critics. I believe, however, that some of the differences of interpretation might well be reconciled if Peer Gynt were studied in relation to Ibsen's other "will" plays, if attention were given to the play's structure, and, above all, if its rich symbolism were considered as an integral part of the play's composition and not just as extraneous decoration or embellishment. The distinction that Ibsen makes between the Gyntish Self and the true Self attains clarity only when the symbolism has been elucidated. It is the true Self, not the Gyntish Self, that carries the principal theme of the play. I believe there will proceed from this approach to Peer Gynt an unequivocal statement of what Ibsen intended to convey in it. I The years from 1863 to 1873 might well be termed Ibsen's period of greatest achievement. This is the decade of the great "will" plays, Brand (1866), Peer Gynt (1867), and Emperor and Galilean (1873), which are introduced by Ibsen's only successful historical tragedy, The Pretenders (1863). The broad subject that gives cohesive unity to these four plays is that of an uncompromising personal idealism, which is explored with infinite variation through the theme on the nature of the will. Ideologically, these dramas have their roots in the early works of Ibsen, but, being products of a mature art, the four later dramas convey more authoritatively and convincingly than the preceding ones Ibsen's view of man's freedom of choice and freedom of action. Brand marks the height of Ibsen's accomplishment in tragedy within the early nineteenth century tradition, while the four plays as a whole reveal Ibsen's use of irony, ironic humor and the paradox at their best. I shall consider briefly the relationship of these four plays with the last of the early works (Love's Comedy), their own particular unity, and the special affinity between Brand and Peer Gynt. At the end of Love's Comedy (1862) the poet Falk assumes a position which can loosely be called idealistic. He has freed himself from the last "manacle of slavery" (tradition), and he can now carry on the war against the lie: social hypocrisy. But there is no assurance that he will succeed, for the point of view he adopts is not his own but that of Svanhild. Falk therefore sets out into the world with a breach in his armor, namely, that he has 103 104 MODERN DRAMA September relied on another's faith in his belief rather than on his own. The idealist Falk, who lived on borrowed goods, becomes the doubter and the procrastinator Skule of The Pretenders. Skule demonstrates that one could not live for or by another person's view; the best he could do was to die for it. The unity between Love's Comedy and The Pretenders is thus t...lrrough the Falk-Skule relationship, and this is extended into Brand. It is self-evident that Brand is an individual who not only has evolved his own view but who also has unshakable faith in it. The further unity between The Pretenders and Brand is achieved through the passive Hakon and Brand. Hakon, who had a complete but rather naive faith in himself because he was so certain of God's support in his endeavors, as he interpreted it, discovered eventually that some punishment was meted out from above even to him, and it was incomprehensible to him why he who had not sinned should be punished at all. There was confusion rather than doubt in Hakon's mind when he, answering Margrete's question of whether he realized he had condemned her father to death, said: "God, God,-why hast thou stricken me so sorely, when I have in nowise sinned!" (III, 241) But his great sin was his...