On the work of G. Ibsen


Creativity G. Ibsen reflected the most important problems of the moral life of the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. and laid the foundation for a new European theater. In his artistic evolution, the playwright went through four stages.

The first, “romantic” period of Ibsen’s work was closely connected with the national-patriotic rise that Norway experienced in the middle of the nineteenth century. At the center of his works of this time was the problem of awareness by the Norwegian people of their own identity. Heroes of his plays Ibsen clothed in the costumes of the historical past and endowed with romantic passions. Significant influence on him at this time had the Scandinavian sagas, Norwegian folklore and literature of romanticism.

The second stage, which the researchers call “transitional”, was marked by the creation of the plays Brand and Per Gynt, which witnessed Ibsen’s rejection of previously asserted romantic

ideals and his growing interest in the self-concept of man. The heroes of the plays of this time either sought to comprehend their essence, or, on the contrary, differed in personal “amorphism”, the lack of an inner core.

The third period, lasting more than a dozen years, can be conditionally designated as realistic. In the plays of these years, the stages of the spiritual self-determination of man were depicted, on the basis of which the playwright made broad generalizations about important trends in public life. One of the most significant achievements of this period was the image of emancipated women.

The fourth stage of the creative work of G. Ibsen was characterized by the strengthening of the symbolist load and the associated departure from social specifics. First and foremost, the playwright was interested in the relations between men and women, the essence of artistic creativity, the borderline states of the human psyche and philosophical problems.

Thus, in his creative development, G. Ibsen went from romanticism to symbolism, which enabled him to generalize the experience of his predecessors and on this foundation to create perfect examples of the “new drama”.


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On the work of G. Ibsen