The Ibsen Secret: A Key To The Prose Dramas Of Henrik Ibsen

Written and published in 1907 by Jennette Lee, (1860-1951). She also was the author of many other books and articles. Some of her most well known books include; Uncle William: The Man who was Shif'less (1906), Simeon Tetlow's Shadow (1909), and Mr. Achilles (1912). (207 pages)

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Contents:

Ibsen's Attitude----An Illustration of Symbolism: "A Doll's House"----Another Illustration of Symbolism: "Hedda Gabler"----Relation of Symbolism to the Reader or Spectator----Ibsen's Symbolism Defined----Chronological Development of Ibsen's Use of Symbol----Relation of Symbol to Plot----Relation of Symbolism to the Meaning of the Play----Ibsen's Message: Completion of the Resurrection Group----Portrait Plays----Confession.

Excerpts:

.....I have chosen "A Doll's House" for a first illustration of Ibsen's symbolism because it is well known and because the tarantella is at once more obvious and more subtle than many of the other symbols used. The symbol is, however, less finished than in other plays and will not bear too close application in detail, though it fits the play in its essential points. Dr. Rank, Nora's double in concealed disease, and Krogstad, her double in crime, both appear upon the scene for the last time during the tarantella dance-----that is, at the climax of the play. All the movement is directed toward this symbol. Everything hinges on it. It is the superficial motive of the play, toward which external events move, and it stands for the character in whose nature the real movement of the play takes place. the meaning of the play, which will be taken up later, cannot be understood unless this symbol and its bearing on the character of Nora are clearly seen.

....."A Doll's House" is the second play in which Ibsen made use of the kind of symbolism outlined here. He wrote, after this, ten plays; and with each of them his mastery of symbol increased, growing more detailed, more minute, more intricate. In "A Doll's House" we have the main features of his method plainly indicated. In later plays he grows more skillful in his use of the device, but in each case the symbol of the play is some material object or event, a part of the mechanism of the piece. This object is introduced early in the action; it is wrought more or less closely into the structure of the play; and its last appearance is the climax. From this point to the close of the play it becomes a chain of results.

.....In "Hedda Gabler", the artistic device of symbol will be found as subtle as in "A Doll's House", and more intricate and detailed in its application.