Rosmersholm
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Rosmersholm is a play written in 1886 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In the estimation of many critics the piece is Ibsen's masterwork, only equalled by The Wild Duck of 1884.[1] As expressed by the protagonist, Rosmer, the theme of the play is social and political change, in which the traditional ruling classes relinquish their right to impose their ideals on the rest of society,[2] but the action is entirely personal, resting on the conduct of the immoral, or amoral, "free thinking" heroine, Rebecca, who sets herself to undermine Rosmer's religious and political beliefs because of his influential position in the community. Rebecca has abandoned not only Christianity but, unlike Rosmer, she has abandoned the whole ethical system of Christianity as well. Possibly she may be taken as Ibsen's answer to the question of whether or not Christian ethics can be expected to survive the death of the Christian religion.[3]
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[edit] List of Characters
- Johannes Rosmer, a former clergyman and owner of Rosmersholm
- Rebecca West, a resident at Rosmersholm
- Professor Kroll, Rosmer's brother-in-law
- Ulrik Brendel, Rosmer's childhood tutor
- Peder Mortensgaard, a newspaper editor whom Rosmer, while still a priest, denounced for adultery
- Mrs. Helseth, housekeeper at Rosmersholm
[edit] Plot Details
The play opens one year after the suicide of Rosmer's wife, Beata. Rebecca moved into the family home, Rosmersholm, as a friend of Beata, but she lives there still; it becomes plain that the she and Rosmer are in love, but Rosmer insists throughout the play that their relationship is completely innocent.
Rosmer is a highly respected member of his community and he intends to use his position to support the newly elected government and its reformist, if not revolutionary, agenda. However, when Rosmer announces this to his friend and brother-in-law Kroll, the local schoolmaster, Kroll becomes enraged at what he sees as his friend's betrayal of his ruling-class roots. Kroll then begins an attempt to sabotage Rosmer's plans, confronting him with his relationship with Rebecca and denouncing the pair, initially in guarded terms, in the local newspaper. Rosmer becomes consumed by his guilt, now believing he, rather than mental illness, caused his wife's suicide. He attempts to erase the guilt by erasing the memory of his wife and proposing to Rebecca. However, Rebecca rejects him outright. Kroll accuses her of using Rosmer as a tool to work her own political agenda in the household. She admits that it was she who drove Mrs. Rosmer to deeper depths of insanity and in a way even encouraged her suicide: initially to increase her power over Rosmer, but later because she fell in love with him. However, because of her past she cannot accept Rosmer's marriage proposal.
This leads to the ultimate breakdown in the play where neither Rosmer nor Rebecca can deal with their past crimes—she has acknowledged her part in the destruction of Beata but she has also committed incest with her adopted father while suspecting that he was her natural parent, her suspicion harshly confirmed by Kroll as he attempts to come between the couple—and they can no longer trust each other, or even themselves. Rosmer then asks Rebecca to prove her devotion to him by committing suicide the same way his former wife did, by jumping into the mill-race. As Rebecca calmly seems to agree, issuing instructions about the recovery of her body from the water, Rosmer says he will join her, as he is still in love with her and he cannot conceive of a way in which they can live together. The play concludes with both characters jumping into the mill-race and the housekeeper, Mrs. Helseth, screaming in terror: "The dead woman has taken them".
[edit] Subsidiary characters
The actions of Brendel and Mortensgaard do not take the plot forward, although Mortengaard reveals to Rosmer that Beata sent his newspaper a letter denying any rumours that her husband was unfaithful with Rebecca: that his wife considered such unfounded suspicion, which may have contributed to her decision to kill herself, upsets Rosmer greatly. Brendel, returning for the first time in many years, calls at Rosmersholm before going on to preach political freedom and reform in the town, but his audience, somewhat drunk, beats him up and leaves him in the gutter. Returning to the house after the incident, he acknowledges that his ideals have not survived the encounter. He now recommends the approach of the pragmatic Mortensgaard, who demonstrates his own lack of ideals by urging Rosmer to support the reform movement while still professing to be Christian, though in reality Rosmer has lost his faith. Mortensgaard's intent is to show that there are morally respectable characters who support his liberal cause.[4]
[edit] Imagery
The central image of the play is the White Horse of Rosmersholm, the "family ghost" in Rebecca's phrase. The white horse is seen or rumoured to be seen by the characters of the play after the suicide of Beata. The white horse symbolizes the past that revolves around Rosmer's dead wife, and haunts the main characters. The presence of the white horse at their death represents their incapability to deal with the memories that haunt them. The symbolism of the white horse is similar to the symbolic ghosts that the character Mrs. Alving refers to in Ibsen's 1881 tragedy Ghosts.
Ibsen selected the name of Rosmer for his protagonist in conscious echo of the Norwegian legend of Rosmer Havmand, a merman who lures a young woman to her death by drowning; it is the allure he holds for Rebecca that instigates the tragedy.[5]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Ibsen, Henrik; McFarlane, James (trans) (1999). An Enemy of the People; The Wild Duck; Rosmersholm. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, ix. ISBN 0192839438.
- ^ Agate, James (1926-10-01), "Rosmersholm", The Sunday Times
- ^ Krutch, Joseph Wood (1953). "Modernism" in modern drama, a definition and an estimate. Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press, p15.
- ^ Lowenthal, Leo (1986). Literature and the Image of Man. Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, p167. ISBN 0887380573.
- ^ McFarlane, James (1994). The Cambridge Companion to Ibsen. Cambridge, England: The Cambridge University Press, p113. ISBN 052142321X.
[edit] External links
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