Ethical Dilemmas in the Enemy of the People - Assignment Example

Character analysis of “An Enemy of the People” The play “an enemy of the people” was a bold writing by Henrick Ibsen (1882). It was based on the theme of absurd propensity of the masses about the political systems they supported at that time. He basically targeted the duplicitous and crooked nature of the political construction that Norway public supported. In his attempt to highlight the features of political system that prevailed in Norway in 1880’s, he skillfully used a comedy tinge in this play and portrayed an extremely serious issue. The type of play was drama with a major sense of comedy that made a blunt social reality acceptable for the audiences. It was the story of a struggle by a daring person to do the morally correct deeds and speaking the truth even facing the immense social prejudice. Before analyzing the characters of the drama it would be appropriate to describe in a few words the story of the play. Main character of the play is of Dr. Thomas Stockman who portrayed as an admired resident of his small town near a coast side of Norway. It is the story of the time when western countries were socio-economically developing and had a lot of problems that the present day under developed world is facing. So, the town of Dr Thomas was also receiving the improvements through community efforts. For this a considerable sum of public and private funds were invested to develop baths in the town for attracting tourists. This project was guided by Dr. Stockmann and his brother who was by profession the Mayor of that town. The development of baths was considered as a matter of pride for the community but as the baths were demonstrating success, Dr. Stockmann exposed before the authority and town people that the waste material of the town's tannery was polluting the water reserves. He thought this discovery would be his greatest discovery. Assuming this he sent proposal and problem to his brother who was the Mayor of the town. But the attitude of authority astonished Stockmann as he could not even get in to the authorities. Nobody valued the sensitivity of the issue rather they were reluctant to declare the problem publicly as it could be an economic damage for their town. The quarrel started between the authorities and Stockmann but his brother, the Mayor warned him to comply with the community decisions. But Stockmann refused and called for an address to the people of the town at Captain Horster's place to convince people that the pools are polluted and must be closed as they had become a threat for community health. The townspeople on the other hand were expecting that the baths will bring wealth to the community. But because of improper planning of baths its closure became indispensible. When Stockmann called town people they refused to accept Stockmann's claims and stood against Dr Stockmann and those who had honestly expressed hold for his movement. People mocked him by calling him, an "Enemy of the People" as he rejeted the Victorian notion of community and the principles of democracy by his individual ideology that in the matters of the truth and falsehood, the individual must be higher to the masses. Dr Stockmann went over the main point of Ibsen's disapproval on the majority public of a society, with the extraordinary excerpt "the strongest man in the world is the man who stands most alone." The characters of this fabulous play are: Dr. Thomas Stockmann. Mrs. Stockmann, Petra, their offsprings: a daughter who was a teacher as a professional. Ejlif & Morten, were his sons. Peter Stockman was the elder brother of Dr Stockmann and was the mayor of the town. Morten Kiil was a character of a tanner (Mrs. Stockmann's adoptive father), also known as the badger. Hovstad was an editor, Billing, sub-editor and Aslaksen, a publisher. Captain Horster. By these characters Ibsen has tried to show the attitudes of people who have different occupations to portray his radical and progressive ideas. Indeed behind the characters Ibsen used, lied his brave effort. By Dr Stockmann’s character, Ibsen has attempted to reveal what he himself could not directly to communicate to the authorities of Norway at that time. The ultimate message of his play perhaps was the strength of advocating and speaking the truth even in the extreme difficult social situations. He tried to show that there is always a difference between the social reality and truth. Social reality is not always a truth. It can be a false notion held by the majority. To correct the masses, one who holds and knows the truth must stand up and advocate for the truth without fearing the consequences. Such a person is brave in true sense who withstands opposition and disapproval of the masses. With his efforts, the generations to come may accept and adopt the truth as a social reality. The Dr Stockmann was Ibsen’s main character who was honest to his profession. He was a man of principle and knew his ethical duties. Being a doctor he was very much concerned with the health of the people of his town. Along with this, he had radical and truthful ideas for which he was ready to pay any kind of price. He was concerned with the health of humanity not with the loss of material wealth. As the people of the town could not perceive his approach, they thought he was their enemy. To appeal the audiences, Ibsen portrayed Dr Stockmann and his allies as villains of the town, as they threatened the town people to disclose that the town baths were poisoned due to technical defects. In his belief it was his moral obligation to inform the town residents about water contamination and for this he lost his previous sound reputation. Albeit, Hovstad wished to print the doctor's statement on the baths but he was apprehensive to do so because his readers would be upset. He wanted to please his readers. Katrine Stockmann was a wise lady than her husband. The fine Doctor has to swallow the bitter cup till the last drop prior to he realized the insight of his wife. Captain Horster was a rich and generous person by nature who is ready to work for the charity of community people. Kill’s character is as a supporter of Dr Stockman which shows that being an old person he was wise and understood the dr.’s point of view. Conversely, Peter Stockmann who was the mayor of the town was not concerned with the problem rather he focused the material aspect of baths. It was his obligation to worry about the health of the tourists who were to visit his town and baths. In spite agonizing, he got offended to know that Thomas did the inquiry without seeking permission of authority. Ibsen used him to denote the usual official who believes that the individuals are supposed to comply not only with the society but also with the authorities. It should be the authority’s business to watch over town welfare not the individual. In short, Dr Stockmann was not a traitor of his town rather people suspected him as an enemy. The freedom of expression should not be snatched away in any circumstances even in the time of emergency because emergency in a country occur when the government fails to protect and administer the state. In such circumstances, the government prohibits the freedom of expression and the people with radical or conflicting ideas. References Ibsen, H. (1882). “An Enemy of the People”. In The Plays of Ibsen. Vol. 3. ed. M. Meyer. New York. Washington Square Press, 1986, pp. 375–506. Available at: www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=aop.024.0187a Llamzon, R. (2009). ‘Review – An Enemy of the People by Henrick Ibsen: A Commentary of Today's Society’. Available at: http://worldliteratures.suite101.com/article.cfm/review_an_enemy_of_the_people_by_henrick_ibsen Goldman, E., & Badger, R.G. (1914). ‘An enemy of the people, analysis’. The Social Significance of the Modern Drama. Boston: pp. 34-42. Available at: http://www.theatredatabase.com/19th_century/henrik_ibsen_012.html Cummings, M. J. (2003). “Plot Summary”. Available at: http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/EnemyPeople.html ‘Characters in an enemy of people’. Extracted from source: The Oxford Ibsen, (1960). Volume VI, Oxford University Press. Available at: http://ibsen.net/index.gan?id=495&subid=0 Read More