G. Thompson
There is a 1966 TV version of An Enemy of the People available on Youtube (Miller adaptation)
-- actually worth watching, once you adjust to the BW.
When we are in the middle of a play, things may be a bit disorganized, by design, as we are feeling our way toward conclusions. The last class is where we try to tie up loose ends.
An Enemy of the People is one of his "social problem" plays, one which presents a fully realized and domesticated version of issues current in European liberalism. Norway was politically aligned with Denmark, and along with Scandinavia was (as it is today) very progressive for the time--Ibsen's plays dig beneath that civilized veneer just a bit.
Last time--noted Ibsen's career. I think we should consider him as a dramatist of ideas, set in conflict--in this case, how would we describe the conflict?
This is in part work for Monday's class, but we can touch on it briefly here.
Also for Monday: consider the play as a play. Why is Ibsen doing this in this genre? What does he gain from it? What happens to social problems if they are presented to us in the guise of art? Shouldn't plays be for either entertainment or disinterested mimesis?
Science vs. economic interests. Give this its due--don't close off entirely on Dr. Stockmann's side.
Family conflict: Thomas and Peter Stockmann have some old issues. Also: Morten Kiil vs. town, which involves the Stockmann family at the end. Family vs. community.
Does Peter have a point?
Gradualism vs. radicalism
Popular opinion vs. what--science? moderation?
What does Ibsen apparently think of the press?
Our goal for today is to further our understandings of the characters, building on work from last time and extending through the play's conclusion. For next time we'll continue what we don't finish today and look at issues from the play as a whole. We might view some of the TV portrayal if time permits. Also there may be a critical article scanned and posted to Canvas [I will have access to this Tues. night].
Last week we did some group work based on act I, and discussed briefly Dr. Stockmann, his brother the mayor Peter Stockmann, and Mrs. Stockmann. Two groups were working with Hovstad and Billing and Asklasken, and with Petra and Morten Kiil.
Recap on the three groups from last time.
Dr. Stockmann (Joe, Melanie, others)
Peter Stockmann (Katie, Rachel, others)
Mrs. Stockmann (Mark, Jessica, others)
Petra Stockmann and Morten Kiil (Breanna, others)
Hovstad, Billing, Asklaksen (Jacob, Anna, others)
Ibsen, An Enemy of the People, notes (Miller adaptation)
[Bold face below--points to return to from the first act, not covered last week.]
17 Play opens with characters eating. Why? They like their creature comforts . . .
Contrast later with Peter Stockmann, who is snipingly critical.
Becomes a way of contrasting Peter Stockmann's control and successful position with his brother, who has come out of hard times more recently (the north).
Kiil is Mrs. Stockmann's foster father (says Meyer). One of the Stockmann boys is named after him (Morten). Kiil is happy to eat their roast beef and pinch their apples. (Roast beef signifies prosperity.) The butcher told him they bought roast beef--small town-ish.
Asklaksen is called a printer in Meyer's translation; Miller makes him a publisher, more in keeping with his level of control.
Stage directions about Peter Stockmann, 18. I don't know what to make of Miller's note about him standing in the center of the ship--meaning he's a careful, moderate man? He's a bachelor, whereas Dr. Stockmann has a family.
19 Class difference between Peter Stockmann and Billing; Billing nods to him, not vice versa. Stockmann sticks to his tea and toast in the evening--"healthier and more economical"
why does Dr. Stockmann knock on his own door???
20 Stage notes on Hovstad--has risen from the peasantry; radical.
What does it mean in this time to be a radical?
Hovstad is an opponent of the mayor--bit of exposition here, as the Doctor is a frequent contributor to the newspaper, esp. re baths.
21 Peter Stockmann--"spirit of tolerance"--discuss.
Exposition about the baths--European tradition of healthy waters. Lots of those in Germany, Poland, etc. Nałęczów for example.
22 Peter Stockmann characterizes himself as a "man of action," in contrast to his brother, the "man of ideas."
Comment to Mrs. Stockmann about Billing--"people without background"--snobbery
24 Peter's comment to his brother about their eating roast beef.
Dr. Stockmann--comment about their days "in that crooked corner of the north"--a bit like being in the UP, but worse. They deserve some comfort now (25)
26 Hints to the mayor about "conditions" with the water.
Peter Stockmann--address problems in "a businesslike manner, through the proper channels"--put a pin in this for later.
27 Peter Stockmann--"The individual really must subordinate himself to the over-all"--is this intrinsically wrong? Is it wrong in context?
Is this more a domestic crisis or a public crisis? I think a fascinating aspect of the play is how these are interwoven.
29 Editorial comment about Captain Horster, silent role. He seems to have his eye on Petra.
30 Petra--note name, feminine version of Peter. Editorial comment about her being a "clear hope for the future"--not in Ibsen, of course. She brings a letter from the university.
31 Mrs. Stockmann--exposition about the letter and what it represents
Petra and translating an English novel--not just filling space.
33 Dr. Stockmann enters, with changed mien. Conversation about publicizing the findings. How do Billing and Hovstad react?
34 Dr. Stockmann sees the town controllers (his brother?) as baboons. The spa is a "pesthole." (Meyer uses "cesspit.")
36 He's kept quiet so as not to alarm people before he knew the facts. "Mere scientist" vs. "politicians." I told you so.
37 How does Mrs. Stockmann react? She has more of a sense of people in this case.
38 Hovstad and Billing anticipate a positive response from the public, and want to get on board with publicizing the letter--but they also see political and monetary advantage.
Scene 2 (in Miller's numbering)
39 Peter has returned the report. Fraternal rivalry (40)
40 Kiil enters--he's pleased with the news, but doesn't understand about microbes. "Nobody can see them but you"; exposition--Kiil was kicked off the town council, and so is happy to see them embarrassed.
44 Hovstad comes out with his interest--opposition to "a few bureaucrats"--resentment of the rich folks--it's a scandal to be publicized by the papers. 46, "give the underdog a lift"
46 Aslaksen--"I always try to be a moderate and careful man." "Temperance society"
Compare comments about Greeks and moderation
47 Business implications of closing down the spa. It's a "gold mine." Beware of "wild-eyed radicalism"--"the little man is behind you like a wall." Dr. Stockmann has the majority behind him (now).
49 "hypodermic"?? Compare "shaken out of its torpidity and its weak-kneed half-heartedness"
50 Dr. Stockmann and Mrs. Stockmann--talk about "the solid majority."
51 When Peter comes, the women have to leave during the serious conversation.
52 Info from the engineer--cost 300,000 crowns, and take two years. What to do in the meantime? Publicizing the pollution will ruin the town. What to do?
53 Proposal to keep it quiet and make little changes
54 "Without moral authority there can be no government"--so Peter's reputation has to be protected. Cover it up!
"The liberal, free, and independent press will stand up and do its duty!" Compare "The free press of our country will see to it that you do your duty" (Meyer's translation, 254)
55 "The public doesn't need new ideas."
how one-sided is this debate?
Conflict is out in the open (57)
59 Dr. and Mrs. Stockmann's discussion--"He's got all the power on his side" "Yes, but I have the truth on mine." Or: "What's the use of being right if you don't have the might?"
Petra's response?
60 Mrs. Stockmann--"there's so much injustice in the world! You've simply got to learn to live with it." Consequences for the family--back to poverty.
"I'm going to teach you what a man is." Mrs. Stockmann cries.
Act 2
63 The People's Daily Messenger. Irony in newspaper's name?
64 Billing, Hovstad discuss Asklaksen--"a coward". Their interest is in getting the government thrown out and putting in a "liberal administration"--"people of liberal opinions" is Meyer's translation.
"With hope and fear" is Miller's interjection.
66 "After all the lies in the papers . . ." Dr. Stockmann isn't being cautious of who he's talking to here; they print the papers. Ambition "to blow up every lie we live by."
Discuss this point: what is included in "every lie we live by"?
How much do politicians lie, or spin, or shade things, or tell different things to different audiences? How far will a political figure go if he / she tells the unvarnished truth to everyone, as Stockmann aspires to do? Do we need lies to make social and political life work?
Discuss--is Stockmann overreaching? This is Miller, not Ibsen--compare Meyer, 262-63.
66 Asklaksen's concern once Stockmann leaves. Interests of property owners.
67 Billing has political ambitions.
68 Hovstad and Billing have to be concerned about Asklaksen, because he pays the bills. They consider alternative sources of funding, incl. Morten Kiil.
68 Petra's entrance, with book. The book is the opposite of what the newspaper guys believe in--they say it's what people want to believe. "But a paper that'll print a book like this has no principle." (70)
71 The mayor is there (Aslaksen); first visit to the newspaper (72)
73 ff. Repairing the springs is going to mean raising everyone's taxes, not just the rich.
"You'll forgive me for talking about facts in a newspaper office"--Boom!
74 Dr. Stockmann's is "a mad dream"--just destruction.
75 Liberals want higher taxes? . . . some accusations are long-lived.
76 Dr. Stockmann thinks people will think highly of him . . . until he finds the mayor's cane.
77 Mrs. Stockmann arrives: she wants them not to print the article because it will cost Dr. S. his job. Should he just pipe down, or compromise, in order to save his family?
79 "I have the people because I have the truth"--discuss
80 Mrs. Stockmann defends her husband. She gets more space in Meyer's translation than in Miller's adaptation--compare 280-81.
Act 2, scene 2 (in Miller's numbering; act four in Ibsen)
Ibsen has a conversation between citizens about what is about to happen--the crowd is excited, but amoral--they just want to see a fight. This is put later in Miller's version.
81 Capt. Horster's house--he's offered it to Dr. Stockmann for his talk. "I've been in a lot of places where people aren't allowed to say unpopular things." (82) That's not in Ibsen, though the general sense that the Captain is offering his space out of a sense of fairplay is.
83 Mrs. Stockmann is nervous--turns out that Billing printed the mayor's statement, but not Dr. Stockmann's article.
84 Petra has made a poster; the doctor is promoting an audience.
84 drunk man--comes in later, in Ibsen.
86 Dr. Stockmann wants to start, but Asklaksen insists on having a chairman to exert control. Citizens argue with Dr. Stockmann. "I'm here to save the life of the town." (87)
87-88 Asklaksen--"the highest civic virtue is moderation."
88 Peter gets to speak first here as well as in the newspaper.
Motion to gag Dr. Stockmann to keep him from expressing controversial opinions.
90 Appeal to the masses
92 Point of order, shouted down: Dr. Stockmann speaks on a different subject
93 Look closely at his speech here. "a mass of human beings does not become a People."
Meyer's translation--"The whole of our vaunted social system is founded upon a cesspit of lies!"
"The majority is never right until it does right." (95)
"Rights are sacred until it hurts for somebody to use them." (95)
96 Threat to go to out-of-town newspapers. "You're trying to build a town on a morality so rotten that it will infect the country and the world." The fools are a majority.
97 Asklaksen--resolution that Dr. Stockmann is an enemy of the people.
Horster is against the motion. Prospect of emigration to America.
Ibsen--Mrs. Stockmann tries to pull him back a bit, but cannot.
Conversation with Morten Kiil --turns out that he is the owner of the tannery. That's in act four in Ibsen, moved to act three in Miller.
Threat to Horster--may lose his ship.
Act three (act five)
99 Rocks through the window
100 They're evicted. Petra's fired.
103 Horster arrives.
105 "Oh, they're all decent men."
Peter's arrival--He regrets where things have ended up. He's still his brother.
107 Sign a statement.
108 Morten Kiil has been buying up stock--implication is that Dr. Stockmann has done this deliberately, for his father-in-law. Shares bought with money intended as their inheritance.
113 Temptation--maybe it wasn't a representative sample, the people were already sick, there could have been something wrong with the food . . .
He's repressed doubts. Threat is to give the shares to charity.
115 Asklaksen, Hovstad. The paper would have been boycotted and they would have lost money.
"We will prove to the public that you had to buy up the stock because the management would not make the changes required for public health." (117)
118 Will they support the tax needed to clean up the waters?
"looking for someone to blackmail into paying your printing bill." (119)
119 "insane with egotism"
120 Morten's been in a fight.
122 He can have everything he wants except admission that the water is poisoned.
124 They're going to start a school.
"the strong must learn to be lonely."