Chapter I: Part 1

THE
SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE MODERN
DRAMA

EMMA GOLDMAN

BOSTON: RICHARD G. BADGER
TORONTO: THE COPP CLARK CO., LIMITED

Copyright, 1914, by Richard G. Badger
All Rights Reserved
THE GORHAM PRESS, BOSTON, U. S. A.

FOREWORD

In order to understand the social and dynamic significance of modern dramatic art it is necessary, I believe, to ascertain the difference between the functions of art for art's sake and art as the mirror of life.

Art for art's sake presupposes an attitude of aloofness on the part of the artist toward the complex struggle of life: he must rise above the ebb and tide of life. He is to be merely an artistic conjurer of beautiful forms, a creator of pure fancy.

That is not the attitude of modern art, which is preëminently the reflex, the mirror of life. The artist being a part of life cannot detach himself from the events and occurrences that pass panorama-like before his eyes, impressing themselves upon his emotional and intellectual vision.

The modern artist is, in the words of August Strindberg, "a lay preacher popularizing the pressing questions of his time." Not necessarily because his aim is to proselyte, but because he can best express himself by being true to life.

Millet, Meunier, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, Emerson, Walt Whitman, Tolstoy, Ibsen, Strindberg, Hauptmann and a host of others mirror in their work as much of the spiritual and social revolt as is expressed by the most fiery speech of the propagandist. And more important still, they compel far greater attention. Their creative genius, imbued with the spirit of sincerity and truth, strikes root where the ordinary word often falls on barren soil.

The reason that many radicals as well as conservatives fail to grasp the powerful message of art is perhaps not far to seek. The average radical is as hidebound by mere terms as the man devoid of all ideas. "Bloated plutocrats," "economic determinism," "class consciousness," and similar expressions sum up for him the symbols of revolt. But since art speaks a language of its own, a language embracing the entire gamut of human emotions, it often sounds meaningless to those whose hearing has been dulled by the din of stereotyped phrases.

On the other hand, the conservative sees danger only in the advocacy of the Red Flag. He has too long been fed on the historic legend that it is only the "rabble" which makes revolutions, and not those who wield the brush or pen. It is therefore legitimate to applaud the artist and hound the rabble. Both radical and conservative have to learn that any mode of creative work, which with true perception portrays social wrongs earnestly and boldly, may be a greater menace to our social fabric and a more powerful inspiration than the wildest harangue of the soapbox orator.

Unfortunately, we in America have so far looked upon the theater as a place of amusement only, exclusive of ideas and inspiration. Because the modern drama of Europe has till recently been inaccessible in printed form to the average theatergoer in this country, he had to content himself with the interpretation, or rather misinterpretation, of our dramatic critics. As a result the social significance of the Modern Drama has well nigh been lost to the general public.

As to the native drama, America has so far produced very little worthy to be considered in a social light. Lacking the cultural and evolutionary tradition of the Old World, America has necessarily first to prepare the soil out of which sprouts creative genius.

The hundred and one springs of local and sectional life must have time to furrow their common channel into the seething sea of life at large, and social questions and problems make themselves felt, if not crystallized, before the throbbing pulse of the big national heart can find its reflex in a great literature--and specifically in the drama--of a social character. This evolution has been going on in this country for a considerable time, shaping the widespread unrest that is now beginning to assume more or less definite social form and expression.

Therefore, America could not so far produce its own social drama. But in proportion as the crystallization progresses, and sectional and national questions become clarified as fundamentally social problems, the drama develops. Indeed, very commendable beginnings in this direction have been made within recent years, among them "The Easiest Way," by Eugene Walter, "Keeping Up Appearances," and other plays by Butler Davenport, "Nowadays" and two others volumes of one-act plays, by George Middleton,--attempts that hold out an encouraging promise for the future.

* * * * *

The Modern Drama, as all modern literature, mirrors the complex struggle of life,--the struggle which, whatever its individual or topical expression, ever has its roots in the depth of human nature and social environment, and hence is, to that extent, universal. Such literature, such drama, is at once the reflex and the inspiration of mankind in its eternal seeking for things higher and better. Perhaps those who learn the great truths of the social travail in the school of life, do not need the message of the drama. But there is another class whose number is legion, for whom that message is indispensable. In countries where political oppression affects all classes, the best intellectual element have made common cause with the people, have become their teachers, comrades, and spokesmen. But in America political pressure has so far affected only the "common" people. It is they who are thrown into prison; they who are persecuted and mobbed, tarred and deported. Therefore another medium is needed to arouse the intellectuals of this country, to make them realize their relation to the people, to the social unrest permeating the atmosphere.

The medium which has the power to do that is the Modern Drama, because it mirrors every phase of life and embraces every strata of society,--the Modern Drama, showing each and all caught in the throes of the tremendous changes going on, and forced either to become part of the process or be left behind.

Ibsen, Strindberg, Hauptmann, Tolstoy, Shaw, Galsworthy and the other dramatists contained in this volume represent the social iconoclasts of our time. They know that society has gone beyond the stage of patching up, and that man must throw off the dead weight of the past, with all its ghosts and spooks, if he is to go foot free to meet the future.

This is the social significance which differentiates modern dramatic art from art for art's sake. It is the dynamite which undermines superstition, shakes the social pillars, and prepares men and women for the reconstruction.

Emma Goldman

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE
_Foreword_ 3

THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA
_Henrik Ibsen_ 11
The Pillars of Society 13
A Doll's House 18
Ghosts 25
An Enemy of Society 34
_August Strindberg_ 43
The Father 45
Countess Julie 51
Comrades 61

THE GERMAN DRAMA
_Hermann Sudermann_ 69
Magda 71
The Fires of St. John 80
_Gerhart Hauptmann_ 87
Lonely Lives 87
The Weavers 98
The Sunken Bell 108
_Frank Wedekind_ 118
The Awakening of Spring 118

THE FRENCH DRAMA
_Maurice Maeterlinck_ 129
Monna Vanna 129
_Edmond Rostand_ 138
Chantecler 138
_Brieux_ 147
Damaged Goods 147
Maternity 161

THE ENGLISH DRAMA
_George Bernard Shaw_ 175
Mrs. Warren's Profession 176
Major Barbara 186
_John Galsworthy_ 196
Strife 197
Justice 208
The Pigeon 215
_Stanley Houghton_ 226
Hindle Wakes 226
_Githa Sowerby_ 235
Rutherford and Son 235

THE IRISH DRAMA
_William Butler Yeats_ 250
Where There Is Nothing 252
_Lenox Robinson_ 261
Harvest 261
_T. G. Murray_ 267
Maurice Harte 267
THE RUSSIAN DRAMA
_Leo Tolstoy_ 275
The Power of Darkness 276
_Anton Tchekhof_ 283
The Seagull 284
The Cherry Orchard 290
_Maxim Gorki_ 294
A Night's Lodging 294
_Leonid Andreyev_ 302
King-Hunger 302

THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MODERN DRAMA

THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA

HENRIK IBSEN

In a letter to George Brandes, shortly after the Paris Commune, Henrik Ibsen wrote concerning the State and political liberty:

"The State is the curse of the individual. How has the national strength of Prussia been purchased? By the sinking of the individual in a political and geographical formula.... The State must go! That will be a revolution which will find me on its side. Undermine the idea of the State, set up in its place spontaneous action, and the idea that spiritual relationship is the only thing that makes for unity, and you will start the elements of a liberty which will be something worth possessing."

The State was not the only _bête noire_ of Henrik Ibsen. Every other institution which, like the State, rests upon a lie, was an iniquity to him. Uncompromising demolisher of all false idols and dynamiter of all social shams and hypocrisy, Ibsen consistently strove to uproot every stone of our social structure. Above all did he thunder his fiery indictment against the four cardinal sins of modern society: the Lie inherent in our social arrangements; Sacrifice and Duty, the twin curses that fetter the spirit of man; the narrow-mindedness and pettiness of Provincialism, that stifles all growth; and the Lack of Joy and Purpose in Work which turns life into a vale of misery and tears.

So strongly did Ibsen feel on these matters, that in none of his works did he lose sight of them. Indeed, they recur again and again, like a _Leitmotif_ in music, in everything he wrote. These issues form the keynote to the revolutionary significance of his dramatic works, as well as to the psychology of Henrik Ibsen himself.

It is, therefore, not a little surprising that most of the interpreters and admirers of Ibsen so enthusiastically accept his art, and yet remain utterly indifferent to, not to say ignorant of, the message contained in it. That is mainly because they are, in the words of Mrs. Alving, "so pitifully afraid of the light." Hence they go about seeking mysteries and hunting symbols, and completely losing sight of the meaning that is as clear as daylight in all of the works of Ibsen, and mainly in the group of his social plays, "The Pillars of Society," "A Doll's House," "Ghosts," and "An Enemy of the People."

THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY

The disintegrating effect of the Social Lie, of Duty, as an imposition and outrage, and of the spirit of Provincialism, as a stifling factor, are brought out with dynamic force in "The Pillars of Society."

_Consul Bernick_, driven by the conception of his duty toward the House of Bernick, begins his career with a terrible lie. He sells his love for _Lona Hessel_ in return for the large dowry of her step-sister _Betty_, whom he does not love. To forget his treachery, he enters into a clandestine relationship with an actress of the town. When surprised in her room by the drunken husband, young _Bernick_ jumps out of the window, and then graciously accepts the offer of his bosom friend, _Johan_, to let him take the blame.

_Johan_, together with his faithful sister _Lona_, leaves for America. In return for his devotion, young _Bernick_ helps to rob his friend of his good name, by acquiescing in the rumors circulating in the town that _Johan_ had broken into the safe of the _Bernicks_ and stolen a large sum of money.

In the opening scene of "The Pillars of Society," we find _Consul Bernick_ at the height of his career. The richest, most powerful and respected citizen of the community, he is held up as the model of an ideal husband and devoted father. In short, a worthy pillar of society.

The best ladies of the town come together in the home of the Bernicks. They represent the society for the "Lapsed and Lost," and they gather to do a little charitable sewing and a lot of charitable gossip. It is through them we learn that _Dina Dorf_, the ward of _Bernick_, is the issue of the supposed escapade of _Johan_ and the actress.

With them, giving unctuous spiritual advice and representing the purity and morality of the community, is _Rector Rorlund_, hidebound, self-righteous, and narrow-minded.

Into this deadening atmosphere of mental and social provincialism comes _Lona Hessel_, refreshing and invigorating as the wind of the plains. She has returned to her native town together with _Johan_.

The moment she enters the house of _Bernick_, the whole structure begins to totter. For in _Lona's_ own words, "Fie, fie--this moral linen here smells so tainted--just like a shroud. I am accustomed to the air of the prairies now, I can tell you.... Wait a little, wait a little--we'll soon rise from the sepulcher. We must have broad daylight here when my boy comes."

Broad daylight is indeed needed in the community of _Consul Bernick_, and above all in the life of the _Consul_ himself.

It seems to be the psychology of a lie that it can never stand alone. _Consul Bernick_ is compelled to weave a network of lies to sustain his foundation. In the disguise of a good husband, he upbraids, nags, and tortures his wife on the slightest provocation. In the mask of a devoted father, he tyrannizes and bullies his only child as only a despot used to being obeyed can do. Under the cloak of a benevolent citizen he buys up public land for his own profit. Posing as a true Christian, he even goes so far as to jeopardize human life. Because of business considerations he sends _The Indian Girl_, an unseaworthy, rotten vessel, on a voyage, although he is assured by one of his most capable and faithful workers that the ship cannot make the journey, that it is sure to go down. But _Consul Bernick_ is a pillar of society; he needs the respect and good will of his fellow citizens. He must go from precipice to precipice, to keep up appearances.

_Lona_ alone sees the abyss facing him, and tells him: "What does it matter whether such a society is supported or not? What is it that passes current here? Lies and shams--nothing else. Here are you, the first man in the town, living in wealth and pride, in power and honor, you, who have set the brand of crime upon an innocent man." She might have added, _many_ innocent men, for _Johan_ was not the only one at whose expense _Karsten Bernick_ built up his career.

The end is inevitable. In the words of _Lona_: "All this eminence, and you yourself along with it, stand on a trembling quicksand; a moment may come, a word may be spoken, and, if you do not save yourself in time, you and your whole grandeur go to the bottom."

But for _Lona_, or, rather, what she symbolizes, _Bernick_--even as _The Indian Girl_--would go to the bottom.

In the last act, the whole town is preparing to give the great philanthropist and benefactor, the eminent pillar of society, an ovation. There are fireworks, music, gifts and speeches in honor of _Consul Bernick_. At that very moment, the only child of the _Consul_ is hiding in _The Indian Girl_ to escape the tyranny of his home. _Johan_, too, is supposed to sail on the same ship, and with him, _Dina_, who has learned the whole truth and is eager to escape from her prison, to go to a free atmosphere, to become independent, and then to unite with _Johan_ in love and freedom. As _Dina_ says: "Yes, I will be your wife. But first I will work, and become something for myself, just as you are. I will give myself, I will not be taken."

_Consul Bernick_, too, is beginning to realize himself. The strain of events and the final shock that he had exposed his own child to such peril, act like a stroke of lightning on the _Consul_. It makes him see that a house built on lies, shams, and crime must eventually sink by its own weight. Surrounded by those who truly love and therefore understand him, _Consul Bernick_, no longer the pillar of society, but the man becomes conscious of his better self.

"Where have I been?" he exclaims. "You will be horrified when you know. Now, I feel as if I had just recovered my senses after being poisoned. But I feel--I feel that I _can_ be young and strong again. Oh, come nearer--closer around me. Come, Betty! Come, Olaf! Come, Martha! Oh, Martha, it seems as though I had never seen you in all these years. And we--we have a long, earnest day of work before us; I most of all. But let it come; gather close around me, you true and faithful women. I have learned this, in these days: it is you women who are the Pillars of Society."

_Lona:_ "Thee you have learned a poor wisdom, brother-in-law. No, no; the spirit of Truth and of Freedom--these are the Pillars of Society."

The spirit of truth and freedom is the socio-revolutionary significance of "The Pillars of Society." Those, who, like _Consul Bernick_, fail to realize this all-important fact, go on patching up _The Indian Girl_, which is Ibsen's symbol for our society. But they, too, must learn that society is rotten to the core; that patching up or reforming one sore spot merely drives the social poison deeper into the system, and that all must go to the bottom unless the spirit of Truth and Freedom revolutionize the world.

A DOLL'S HOUSE

In "A Doll's House" Ibsen returns to the subject so vital to him,--the Social Lie and Duty,--this time as manifesting themselves in the sacred institution of the home and in the position of woman in her gilded cage.

_Nora_ is the beloved, adored wife of _Torvald Helmer_. He is an admirable man, rigidly honest, of high moral ideals, and passionately devoted to his wife and children. In short, a good man and an enviable husband. Almost every mother would be proud of such a match for her daughter, and the latter would consider herself fortunate to become the wife of such a man.

_Nora_, too, considers herself fortunate. Indeed, she worships her husband, believes in him implicitly, and is sure that if ever her safety should be menaced, _Torvald_, her idol, her god, would perform the miracle.

When a woman loves as _Nora_ does, nothing else matters; least of all, social, legal or moral considerations. Therefore, when her husband's life is threatened, it is no effort, it is joy for _Nora_ to forge her father's name to a note and borrow 800 cronen on it, in order to take her sick husband to Italy.

In her eagerness to serve her husband, and in perfect innocence of the legal aspect of her act, she does not give the matter much thought, except for her anxiety to shield him from any emergency that may call upon him to perform the miracle in her behalf. She works hard, and saves every penny of her pin-money to pay back the amount she borrowed on the forged check.

_Nora_ is light-hearted and gay, apparently without depth. Who, indeed, would expect depth of a doll, a "squirrel," a song-bird? Her purpose in life is to be happy for her husband's sake, for the sake of the children; to sing, dance, and play with them. Besides, is she not shielded, protected, and cared for? Who, then, would suspect _Nora_ of depth? But already in the opening scene, when _Torvald_ inquires what his precious "squirrel" wants for a Christmas present, _Nora_ quickly asks him for money. Is it to buy macaroons or finery? In her talk with _Mrs. Linden_, _Nora_ reveals her inner self, and forecasts the inevitable debacle of her doll's house.

After telling her friend how she had saved her husband, _Nora_ says: "When Torvald gave me money for clothes and so on, I never used more than half of it; I always bought the simplest things.... Torvald never noticed anything. But it was often very hard, Christina dear. For it's nice to be beautifully dressed. Now, isn't it?... Well, and besides that, I made money in other ways. Last winter I was so lucky--I got a heap of copying to do. I shut myself up every evening and wrote far into the night. Oh, sometimes I was so tired, so tired. And yet it was splendid to work in that way and earn money. I almost felt as if I was a man."

Down deep in the consciousness of _Nora_ there evidently slumbers personality and character, which could come into full bloom only through a great miracle--not the kind _Nora_ hopes for, but a miracle just the same.

_Nora_ had borrowed the money from _Nils Krogstad_, a man with a shady past in the eyes of the community and of the righteous moralist, _Torvald Helmer_. So long as _Krogstad_ is allowed the little breathing space a Christian people grants to him who has once broken its laws, he is reasonably human. He does not molest _Nora_. But when _Helmer_ becomes director of the bank in which _Krogstad_ is employed, and threatens the man with dismissal, _Krogstad_ naturally fights back. For as he says to _Nora_: "If need be, I shall fight as though for my life to keep my little place in the bank.... It's not only for the money: that matters least to me. It's something else. Well, I'd better make a clean breast of it. Of course you know, like every one else, that some years ago I--got into trouble.... The matter never came into court; but from that moment all paths were barred to me. Then I took up the business you know about. I was obliged to grasp at something; and I don't think I've been one of the worst. But now I must clear out of it all. My sons are growing up; for their sake I must try to win back as much respectability as I can. This place in the bank was the first step, and now your husband wants to kick me off the ladder, back into the mire. Mrs. Helmer, you evidently have no clear idea what you have really done. But I can assure you that it was nothing more and nothing worse that made me an outcast from society.... But this I may tell you, that If I'm flung into the gutter a second time, you shall keep me company."

Even when _Nora_ is confronted with this awful threat, she does not fear for herself, only for _Torvald_,--so good, so true, who has such an aversion to debts, but who loves her so devotedly that for her sake he would take the blame upon himself. But this must never be. _Nora_, too, begins a fight for life, for her husband's life and that of her children. Did not _Helmer_ tell her that the very presence of a criminal like _Krogstad_ poisons the children? And is she not a criminal?

_Torvald Helmer_ assures her, in his male conceit, that "early corruption generally comes from the mother's side, but of course the father's influence may act in the same way. And this Krogstad has been poisoning his own children for years past by a life of lies and hypocrisy--that's why I call him morally ruined."

Poor _Nora_, who cannot understand why a daughter has no right to spare her dying father anxiety, or why a wife has no right to save her husband's life, is surely not aware of the true character of her idol. But gradually the veil is lifted. At first, when in reply to her desperate pleading for _Krogstad_, her husband discloses the true reason for wanting to get rid of him: "The fact is, he was a college chum of mine--there was one of those rash friendships between us that one so often repents later. I don't mind confessing it--he calls me by my Christian name; and he insists on doing it even when others are present. He delights in putting on airs of familiarity--Torvald here, Torvald there! I assure you it's most painful to me. He would make my position at the bank perfectly unendurable."

And then again when the final blow comes. For forty-eight hours _Nora_ battles for her ideal, never doubting _Torvald_ for a moment. Indeed, so absolutely sure is she of her strong oak, her lord, her god, that she would rather kill herself than have him take the blame for her act. The end comes, and with it the doll's house tumbles down, and _Nora_ discards her doll's dress--she sheds her skin, as it were. _Torvald Helmer_ proves himself a petty Philistine, a bully and a coward, as so many good husbands when they throw off their respectable cloak.

_Helmer's_ rage over _Nora's_ crime subsides the moment the danger of publicity is averted--proving that _Helmer_, like many a moralist, is not so much incensed at _Nora's_ offense as by the fear of being found out. Not so _Nora_. Finding out is her salvation. It is then that she realizes how much she has been wronged, that she is only a plaything, a doll to _Helmer_. In her disillusionment she says, "You have never loved me. You only thought it amusing to be in love with me."

_Helmer._ Why, Nora, what a thing to say!

_Nora._ Yes, it is so, Torvald. While I was at home with father he
used to tell me all his opinions and I held the same opinions. If I
had others I concealed them, because he would not have liked it. He
used to call me his doll child, and play with me as I played with my
dolls. Then I came to live in your house---- ... I mean I passed
from father's hands into yours. You settled everything according to
your taste; and I got the same tastes as you; or I pretended to--I
don't know which--both ways perhaps. When I look back on it now, I
seem to have been living here like a beggar, from hand to mouth. I
lived by performing tricks for you, Torvald. But you would have it
so. You and father have done me a great wrong. It's your fault that
my life has been wasted....

_Helmer._ It's exasperating! Can you forsake your holiest duties in
this way?

_Nora._ What do you call my holiest duties?

_Helmer._ Do you ask me that? Your duties to your husband and your
children.

_Nora._ I have other duties equally sacred.

_Helmer._ Impossible! What duties do you mean?

_Nora._ My duties toward myself.

_Helmer._ Before all else you are a wife and a mother.

_Nora._ That I no longer believe. I think that before all else I am
a human being, just as much as you are--or, at least, I will try to
become one. I know that most people agree with you, Torvald, and
that they say so in books. But henceforth I can't be satisfied with
what most people say, and what is in books. I must think things out
for myself and try to get clear about them.... I had been living
here these eight years with a strange man, and had borne him three
children--Oh! I can't bear to think of it--I could tear myself to
pieces!... I can't spend the night in a strange man's house.

Is there anything more degrading to woman than to live with a stranger, and bear him children? Yet, the lie of the marriage institution decrees that she shall continue to do so, and the social conception of duty insists that for the sake of that lie she need be nothing else than a plaything, a doll, a nonentity.

When _Nora_ closes behind her the door of her doll's house, she opens wide the gate of life for woman, and proclaims the revolutionary message that only perfect freedom and communion make a true bond between man and woman, meeting in the open, without lies, without shame, free from the bondage of duty.

GHOSTS

The social and revolutionary significance of Henrik Ibsen is brought out with even greater force in "Ghosts" than in his preceding works.

Not only does this pioneer of modern dramatic art undermine in "Ghosts" the Social Lie and the paralyzing effect of Duty, but the uselessness and evil of Sacrifice, the dreary Lack of Joy and of Purpose in Work are brought to light as most pernicious and destructive elements in life.

_Mrs. Alving_, having made what her family called a most admirable match, discovers shortly after her marriage that her husband is a drunkard and a _roué_. In her despair she flees to her young friend, the divinity student _Manders_. But he, preparing to save souls, even though they be encased in rotten bodies, sends _Mrs. Alving_ back to her husband and her duties toward her home.

_Helen Alving_ is young and immature. Besides, she loves young _Manders_; his command is law to her. She returns home, and for twenty-five years suffers all the misery and torture of the damned. That she survives is due mainly to her passionate love for the child born of that horrible relationship--her boy _Oswald_, her all in life. He must be saved at any cost. To do that, she had sacrificed her great yearning for him and sent him away from the poisonous atmosphere of her home.

And now he has returned, fine and free, much to the disgust of _Pastor Manders_, whose limited vision cannot conceive that out in the large world free men and women can live a decent and creative life.

_Manders._ But how is it possible that a--a young man or young woman
with any decent principles can endure to live in that way?--in the
eyes of all the world!

_Oswald._ What are they to do? A poor young artist--a poor girl. It
costs a lot of money to get married. What are they to do?

_Manders._ What are they to do? Let me tell you, Mr. Alving, what
they ought to do. They ought to exercise self-restraint from the
first; that's what they ought to do.

_Oswald._ Such talk as that won't go far with warm-blooded young
people, over head and ears in love.

_Mrs. Alving._ No, it wouldn't go far.

_Manders._ How can the authorities tolerate such things? Allow it to
go on in the light of day? (_To Mrs. Alving._) Had I not cause to be
deeply concerned about your son? In circles where open immorality
prevails, and has even a sort of prestige----!

_Oswald._ Let me tell you, sir, that I have been a constant
Sunday-guest in one or two such irregular homes----

_Manders._ On Sunday of all days!

_Oswald._ Isn't that the day to enjoy one's self? Well, never have I
heard an offensive word, and still less have I ever witnessed
anything that could be called immoral. No; do you know when and
where I have found immorality in artistic circles?

_Manders._ No! Thank heaven, I don't!

_Oswald._ Well, then, allow me to inform you. I have met with it
when one or other of our pattern husbands and fathers has come to
Paris to have a look around on his own account, and has done the
artists the honor of visiting their humble haunts. _They_ knew what
was what. These gentlemen could tell us all about places and things
we had never dreamt of.

_Manders._ What? Do you mean to say that respectable men from home
here would----?

_Oswald._ Have you never heard these respectable men, when they got
home again, talking about the way in which immorality was running
rampant abroad?

_Manders_. Yes, of course.

_Mrs. Alving._ I have, too.

_Oswald._ Well, you may take their word for it. They know what they
are talking about! Oh! that that great, free, glorious life out
there should be defiled in such a way!

_Pastor Manders_ is outraged, and when _Oswald_ leaves, he delivers himself of a tirade against _Mrs. Alving_ for her "irresponsible proclivities to shirk her duty."

_Manders._ It is only the spirit of rebellion that craves for
happiness in this life. What right have we human beings to
happiness? No, we have to do our duty! And your duty was to hold
firmly to the man you had once chosen and to whom you were bound by
a holy tie.... It was your duty to bear with humility the cross
which a Higher Power had, for your own good, laid upon you. But
instead of that you rebelliously cast away the cross.... I was but a
poor instrument in a Higher Hand. And what a blessing has it not
been to you all the days of your life, that I got you to resume the
yoke of duty and obedience!

The price _Mrs. Alving_ had to pay for her yoke, her duty and obedience, staggers even _Dr. Manders_, when she reveals to him the martyrdom she had endured those long years.

_Mrs. Alving._ You have now spoken out, Pastor Manders; and
to-morrow you are to speak publicly in memory of my husband. I
shall not speak to-morrow. But now I will speak out a little to you,
as you have spoken to me.... I want you to know that after nineteen
years of marriage my husband remained as dissolute in his desires as
he was when you married us. After Oswald's birth, I thought Alving
seemed to be a little better. But it did not last long. And then I
had to struggle twice as hard, fighting for life or death, so that
nobody should know what sort of a man my child's father was. I had
my little son to bear it for. But when the last insult was added;
when my own servant-maid---- Then I swore to myself: This shall come
to an end. And so I took the upper hand in the house--the whole
control over him and over everything else. For now I had a weapon
against him, you see; he dared not oppose me. It was then that
Oswald was sent from home. He was in his seventh year, and was
beginning to observe and ask questions, as children do. That I could
not bear. I thought the child must get poisoned by merely breathing
the air in this polluted home. That was why I placed him out. And
now you can see, too, why he was never allowed to set foot inside
his home so long as his father lived. No one knows what it has cost
me.... From the day after to-morrow it shall be for me as though he
who is dead had never lived in this house. No one shall be here but
my boy and his mother. (_From within the dining-room comes the noise
of a chair overturned, and at the same moment is heard:_)

_Regina (sharply, but whispering)._ Oswald! take care! are you mad?
let me go!

_Mrs. Alving (starts in terror)._ Ah! (_She stares wildly toward
the half-opened door. Oswald is heard coughing and humming inside.)_

_Manders (excited)._ What in the world is the matter? What is it,
Mrs. Alving?

_Mrs. Alving (hoarsely)._ Ghosts! The couple from the conservatory
has risen again!

Ghosts, indeed! _Mrs. Alving_ sees this but too clearly when she discovers that though she did not want _Oswald_ to inherit a single penny from the purchase money _Captain Alving_ had paid for her, all her sacrifice did not save _Oswald_ from the poisoned heritage of his father. She learns soon enough that her beloved boy had inherited a terrible disease from his father, as a result of which he will never again be able to work. She also finds out that, for all her freedom, she has remained in the clutches of Ghosts, and that she has fostered in _Oswald's_ mind an ideal of his father, the more terrible because of her own loathing for the man. Too late she realizes her fatal mistake:

_Mrs. Alving._ I ought never to have concealed the facts of Alving's
life. But ... in my superstitious awe for Duty and Decency I lied to
my boy, year after year. Oh! what a coward, what a coward I have
been!... Ghosts! When I heard Regina and Oswald in there, it was as
though I saw the Ghosts before me. But I almost think we are all of
us Ghosts, Pastor Manders. It is not only what we have inherited
from our father and mother that "walks" in us. It is all sorts of
dead ideas, and lifeless old beliefs, and so forth. They have no
vitality, but they cling to us all the same, and we can't get rid of
them.... There must be Ghosts all the country over, as thick as the
sand of the sea. And then we are, one and all, so pitifully afraid
of the light.... When you forced me under the yoke you called Duty
and Obligation; when you praised as right and proper what my whole
soul rebelled against, as something loathsome. It was then that I
began to look into the seams of your doctrine. I only wished to pick
at a single knot; but when I had got that undone, the whole thing
ravelled out. And then I understood that it was all machine-sewn....
It was a crime against us both.

Indeed, a crime on which the sacred institution is built, and for which thousands of innocent children must pay with their happiness and life, while their mothers continue to the very end without ever learning how hideously criminal their life is.

Not so _Mrs. Alving_ who, though at a terrible price, works herself out to the truth; aye, even to the height of understanding the dissolute life of the father of her child, who had lived in cramped provincial surroundings, and could find no purpose in life, no outlet for his exuberance. It is through her child, through _Oswald_, that all this becomes illumed to her.

_Oswald._ Ah, the joy of life, mother; that's a thing you don't know
much about in these parts. I have never felt it here.... And then,
too, the joy of work. At bottom, it's the same thing. But that too
you know nothing about.... Here people are brought up to believe
that work is a curse and a punishment for sin, and that life is
something miserable, something we want to be done with, the sooner
the better.... Have you noticed that everything I have painted has
turned upon the joy of life? always, always upon the joy of
life?--light and sunshine and glorious air, and faces radiant with
happiness? That is why I am afraid of remaining at home with you.

_Mrs. Alving._ Oswald, you spoke of the joy of life; and at that
word a new light burst for me over my life and all it has
contained.... You ought to have known your father when he was a
young lieutenant. He was brimming over with the joy of life!... He
had no object in life, but only an official position. He had no work
into which he could throw himself heart and soul; he had only
business. He had not a single comrade that knew what the joy of life
meant--only loafers and boon companions----.... So that happened
which was sure to happen.... Oswald, my dear boy; has it shaken you
very much?

_Oswald._ Of course it came upon me as a great surprise, but, after
all, it can't matter much to me.

_Mrs. Alving._ Can't matter! That your father was so infinitely
miserable!

_Oswald._ Of course I can pity him as I would anybody else; but----

_Mrs. Alving._ Nothing more? Your own father!

_Oswald._ Oh, there! "Father," "father"! I never knew anything of
father. I don't remember anything about him except--that he once
made me sick.

_Mrs. Alving._ That's a terrible way to speak! Should not a son love
his father, all the same?

_Oswald._ When a son has nothing to thank his father for? has never
known him? Do you really cling to the old superstition?--you who are
so enlightened in other ways?

_Mrs. Alving._ Is that only a superstition?

In truth, a superstition--one that is kept like the sword of Damocles over the child who does not ask to be given life, and is yet tied with a thousand chains to those who bring him into a cheerless, joyless, and wretched world.

* * * * *

The voice of Henrik Ibsen in "Ghosts" sounds like the trumpets before the walls of Jericho. Into the remotest nooks and corners reaches his voice, with its thundering indictment of our moral cancers, our social poisons, our hideous crimes against unborn and born victims. Verily a more revolutionary condemnation has never been uttered in dramatic form before or since the great Henrik Ibsen.

We need, therefore, not be surprised at the vile abuse and denunciation heaped upon Ibsen's head by the Church, the State, and other moral eunuchs. But the spirit of Henrik Ibsen could not be daunted. It asserted itself with even greater defiance in "An Enemy of Society,"--a powerful arraignment of the political and economic Lie,--Ibsen's own confession of faith.

AN ENEMY OF SOCIETY

Dr. Thomas Stockmann is called to the position of medical adviser to the management of the "Baths," the main resource of his native town.

A sincere man of high ideals, _Dr. Stockmann_ returns home after an absence of many years, full of the spirit of enterprise and progressive innovation. For as he says to his brother _Peter_, the town _Burgomaster_, "I am so glad and content. I feel so unspeakably happy in the midst of all this growing, germinating life. After all, what a glorious time we do live in. It is as if a new world were springing up around us."

_Burgomaster._ Do you really think so?

_Dr. Stockmann._ Well, of course, you can't see this as clearly as I
do. You've spent all your life in this place, and so your
perceptions have been dulled. But I, who had to live up there in
that small hole in the north all those years, hardly ever seeing a
soul to speak a stimulating word to me--all this affects me as if I
were carried to the midst of a crowded city--I know well enough that
the conditions of life are small compared with many other towns. But
here is life, growth, an infinity of things to work for and to
strive for; and that is the main point.

In this spirit _Dr. Stockmann_ sets to his task. After two years of careful investigation, he finds that the Baths are built on a swamp, full of poisonous germs, and that people who come there for their health will be infected with fever.

_Thomas Stockmann_ is a conscientious physician. He loves his native town, but he loves his fellow-men more. He considers it his duty to communicate his discovery to the highest authority of the town, the _Burgomaster_, his brother _Peter Stockmann_.

_Dr. Stockmann_ is indeed an idealist; else he would know that the man is often lost in the official. Besides, _Peter Stockmann_ is also the president of the board of directors and one of the heaviest stockholders of the Baths. Sufficient reason to upbraid his reckless medical brother as a dangerous man:

_Burgomaster._ Anyhow, you've an ingrained propensity for going your
own way. And that in a well-ordered community is almost as
dangerous. The individual must submit himself to the whole
community, or, to speak more correctly, bow to the authority that
watches over the welfare of all.

But the _Doctor_ is not disconcerted: _Peter_ is an official; he is not concerned with ideals. But there is the press,--that is the medium for his purpose! The staff of the _People's Messenger_--_Hovstad_, _Billings_, and _Aslaksen_, are deeply impressed by the _Doctor's_ discovery. With one eye to good copy and the other to the political chances, they immediately put the _People's Messenger_ at the disposal of _Thomas Stockmann_. _Hovstad_ sees great possibilities for a thorough radical reform of the whole life of the community.

_Hovstad._ To you, as a doctor and a man of science, this business
of the water-works is an isolated affair. I fancy it hasn't occurred
to you that a good many other things are connected with it.... The
swamp our whole municipal life stands and rots in.... I think a
journalist assumes an immense responsibility when he neglects an
opportunity of aiding the masses, the poor, the oppressed. I know
well enough that the upper classes will call this stirring up the
people, and so forth, but they can do as they please, if only my
conscience is clear.

_Aslaksen_, printer of the _People's Messenger_, chairman of the Householders' Association, and agent for the Moderation Society, has, like _Hovstad_, a keen eye to business. He assures the _Doctor_ of his whole-hearted coöperation, especially emphasizing that, "It might do you no harm to have us middle-class men at your back. We now form a compact majority in the town--when we really make up our minds to. And it's always as well, Doctor, to have the majority with you.... And so I think it wouldn't be amiss if we made some sort of a demonstration.... Of course with great moderation, Doctor. I am always in favor of moderation; for moderation is a citizen's first virtue--at least those are my sentiments."

Truly, _Dr. Stockmann_ is an idealist; else he would not place so much faith in the staff of the _People's Messenger_, who love the people so well that they constantly feed them with high-sounding phrases of democratic principles and of the noble function of the press, while they pilfer their pockets.

That is expressed in _Hovstad's_ own words, when _Petra_, the daughter of _Dr. Stockmann_, returns a sentimental novel she was to translate for the _People's Messenger_: "This can't possibly go into the _Messenger_," she tells _Hovstad_; "it is in direct contradiction to your own opinion."

_Hovstad._ Well, but for the sake of the cause--

_Petra._ You don't understand me yet. It is all about a supernatural
power that looks after the so-called good people here on earth, and
turns all things to their advantage at last, and all the bad people
are punished.

_Hovstad._ Yes, but that's very fine. It's the very thing the public
like.

_Petra._ And would you supply the public with such stuff? Why, you
don't believe one word of it yourself. You know well enough that
things don't really happen like that.

_Hovstad._ You're right there; but an editor can't always do as he
likes. He often has to yield to public opinion in small matters.
After all, politics is the chief thing in life--at any rate for a
newspaper; and if I want the people to follow me along the path of
emancipation and progress, I mustn't scare them away. If they find
such a moral story down in the cellar, they're much more willing to
stand what is printed above it--they feel themselves safer.

Editors of the stamp of _Hovstad_ seldom dare to express their real opinions. They cannot afford to "scare away" their readers. They generally yield to the most ignorant and vulgar public opinion; they do not set themselves up against constituted authority. Therefore the _People's Messenger_ drops the "greatest man" in town when it learns that the _Burgomaster_ and the influential citizens are determined that the truth shall be silenced. The _Burgomaster_ soundly denounces his brother's "rebellion."

_Burgomaster._ The public doesn't need new ideas. The public is best
served by the good old recognized ideas that they have already....
As an official, you've no right to have any individual conviction.

_Dr. Stockmann._ The source is poisoned, man! Are you mad? We live
by trafficking in filth and garbage. The whole of our developing
social life is rooted in a lie!

_Burgomaster._ Idle fancies--or something worse. The man who makes
such offensive insinuations against his own native place must be an
enemy of society.

_Dr. Stockmann._ And I must bear such treatment! In my own house.
Katrine! What do you think of it?

_Mrs. Stockmann._ Indeed, it is a shame and an insult,
Thomas----.... But, after all, your brother has the power----

_Dr. Stockmann._ Yes, but I have the right!

_Mrs. Stockmann._ Ah, yes, right, right! What is the good of being
right when you haven't any might?

_Dr. Stockmann._ What! No good in a free society to have right on
your side? You are absurd, Katrine. And besides, haven't I the free
and independent press with me? The compact majority behind me?
That's might enough, I should think!

_Katrine Stockmann_ is wiser than her husband. For he who has no might need hope for no right. The good _Doctor_ has to drink the bitter cup to the last drop before he realizes the wisdom of his wife.

Threatened by the authorities and repudiated by the _People's Messenger_, _Dr. Stockmann_ attempts to secure a hall wherein to hold a public meeting. A free-born citizen, he believes in the Constitution and its guarantees; he is determined to maintain his right of free expression. But like so many others, even most advanced liberals blinded by the spook of constitutional rights and free speech, _Dr. Stockmann_ inevitably has to pay the penalty of his credulity. He finds every hall in town closed against him. Only one solitary citizen has the courage to open his doors to the persecuted Doctor,--his old friend _Horster_. But the mob follows him even there and howls him down as an enemy of society. _Thomas Stockmann_ makes the discovery in his battle with ignorance, stupidity, and vested interests that "the most dangerous enemies of truth and freedom in our midst are the compact majority, the damned compact liberal majority." His experiences lead him to the conclusion that "the majority is never right.... That is one of those conventional lies against which a free, thoughtful man must rebel.... The majority has might unhappily--but right it has not."

_Hovstad._ The man who would ruin a whole community must be an enemy
of society!

_Dr. Stockmann._ It doesn't matter if a lying community is
ruined!... You'll poison the whole country in time; you will bring
it to such a pass that the whole country will deserve to perish. And
should it come to this, I say, from the bottom of my heart: Perish
the country! Perish all its people!

Driven out of the place, hooted and jeered by the mob, _Dr. Stockmann_ barely escapes with his life, and seeks safety in his home, only to find everything demolished there. In due time he is repudiated by the grocer, the baker, and the candlestick maker. The landlord, of course, is very sorry for him. The Stockmanns have always paid their rent regularly, but it would injure his reputation to have such an avowed rebel for a tenant. The grocer is sorry, and the butcher, too; but they can not jeopardize their business. Finally the board of education sends expressions of regret: _Petra_ is an excellent teacher and the boys of Stockmann splendid pupils, but it would contaminate the other children were the Stockmanns allowed to remain at school. And again _Dr. Stockmann_ learns a vital lesson. But he will not submit; he will be strong.

_Dr. Stockmann._ Should I let myself be beaten off the field by
public opinion, and the compact majority, and such deviltry? No,
thanks. Besides, what I want is so simple, so clear and
straightforward. I only want to drive into the heads of these curs
that the Liberals are the worst foes of free men; that
party-programmes wring the necks of all young living truths; that
considerations of expediency turn morality and righteousness upside
down, until life is simply hideous.... I don't see any man free and
brave enough to dare the Truth.... The strongest man is he who
stands most alone.

A confession of faith, indeed, because Henrik Ibsen, although recognized as a great dramatic artist, remained alone in his stand as a revolutionist.

His dramatic art, without his glorious rebellion against every authoritative institution, against every social and moral lie, against every vestige of bondage, were inconceivable. Just as his art would lose human significance, were his love of truth and freedom lacking. Already in "Brand," Henrik Ibsen demanded all or nothing, no weak-kneed moderation,--no compromise of any sort in the struggle for the ideal. His proud defiance, his enthusiastic daring, his utter indifference to consequences, are Henrik Ibsen's bugle call, heralding a new dawn and the birth of a new race.

STRINDBERG

"The reproach was levelled against my tragedy, 'The Father,' that it was so sad, as though one wanted merry tragedies. People clamour for the joy of life, and the theatrical managers order farces, as though the joy of life consisted in being foolish, and in describing people as if they were each and all afflicted with St. Vitus's dance or idiocy. I find the joy of life in the powerful, cruel struggle of life, and my enjoyment in discovering something, in learning something."

The passionate desire to discover something, to learn something, has made of August Strindberg a keen dissector of souls. Above all, of his own soul.

Surely there is no figure in contemporary literature, outside of Tolstoy, that laid bare the most secret nooks and corners of his own soul with the sincerity of August Strindberg. One so relentlessly honest with himself, could be no less with others.

That explains the bitter opposition and hatred of his critics. They did not object so much to Strindberg's self-torture; but that he should have dared to torture _them_, to hold up his searching mirror to _their_ sore spots, that they could not forgive.