The Relationship between Modern Theatre and Society According to Henrik Ibsen’s Plays: Rosmersholm, The Wild Duck, and A Doll’s House

Abstract

Henrik Ibsen is considered one of the greatest writers on society and its problems in the modern era, as his works deal with society in all its forms in a realistic way, in which he presents the motives and consequences of social problems and their impact on society to study these problems through them to and propose solutions through theatre. Most of his writings were very serious about addressing these social issues. The method of collecting information in the study came through reviewing a group of sources related to realistic theater and social theory, then reading the plays covered in a critical and analytical reading. Based on that, the method of writing this study came and used a group of sources that directly relate to the subject. Thus, this study addresses the following questions 1) Does the theater have a human function? 2) Is there a direct relationship between modern theatre and society? The importance of this study is in dealing with social issues, which makes the aim of this study to analyze the impact of each of these concepts on society and what results from them. This study is an interpretation of these themes that Ibsen wanted to deal with in a literary way according to the Marxist theory as a literary theory. This study provides literary objectives and realistic study in realistic theatre based on the aforementioned theatrical works Rosmersholm (1886), The Wild Duck (1884), and A Doll’s House (1879).