Ibsen’s Metatheatrical Finales
Ewa Partyga
ewa.partyga@ispan.plInstitute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7929-2875
Abstract
This article brings a comparative reading of the finales of three dramas by Henrik Ibsen: Rosmersholm (1886), Hedda Gabler (1890), and The Master Builder (1892). The metatheatrical techniques used by the dramatist in these three final scenes serve to problematize the situation of the onstage spectators and the theatrical audience with their varied interpretative strategies. Death of the characters is presented in a metatheatrical frame that is constructed a little differently in each drama. The metatheatrical devices complement one another in order to underscore the power of perceptual schemas, to demonstrate the way they operate, and to suggest ways of undermining them. Ibsen does not, however, try to favour one interpretative strategy over any other; he encourages the audiences to take personal responsibility for the meaning of what they see. In all the plays under discussion, the scene of a play within a play involves an instance of repetition. For this reason, the proposed reading makes use of Kierkegaard’s concept of repetition, which enables one to comprehend the theatre as a place of expanding consciousness. Ibsen’s metatheatrical motifs reinforce this function of theatre, yet they also help us understand that both the meaning of a theatrical work or event and the process of its reception involve Kierkegaard’s dialectics of paradox.
Keywords:
Henrik Ibsen, metatheater, drama history 1800-1900, dialectics of paradox, Soren KierkegaardReferences
Alnæs, Nina S. Wilkołak w salonie. Tłumaczenie Ewa Partyga. Kraków: Księgarnia Akademicka, 2010.
Google Scholar
Andersen, Anette Storli. Deus ex machina? Henrik Ibsen og teatret i norsk offentlighet 1780–1864. Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, 2010.
Google Scholar
Dingstad, Ståle. Den smilende Ibsen: Henrik Ibsens forfatterskap – stykkevis og delt. Oslo: Senter for Ibsen-studier, 2013.
Google Scholar
Fischer‐Lichte, Erika. "Ibsen's Ghosts – A Play for All Theatre Concepts?". Ibsen Studies 7, no. 1 (2007): 61-83. https://doi.org/10.1080/15021860701464505.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15021860701464505
Google Scholar
Fryszman, Alek. "Komizm i tragizm ofiary". Principia. Pisma koncepcyjne w filozofii i socjologii teoretycznej 23 (1999): 95-116.
Google Scholar
Gjervan, Ellen Karoline. Creating Theatrical Space: A Study of Henrik Ibsen's Production Books. Bergen 1852–1857. Bergen: University of Bergen, 2010.
Google Scholar
Gołębiewska, Maria. Wiedza egzystencjalna: O trzech koncepcjach poznania w filozofii egzystencji. Warszawa: Fundacja Aletheia, 2008.
Google Scholar
Kasperski, Edward. "Ironiczna antropologia: Rozdwojenie i podwojenie człowieka u Kierkegaarda". Studia Filozoficzne, nr 4 (1990): 177-192.
Google Scholar
Mróz, Piotr. Søren Kierkegaard i sztuka niemożliwa: Poglądy estetyczne Kierkegaardowskich autorów pseudonimowych. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Libron, 2013.
Google Scholar
Sæther, Astrid, et al., eds. Den biografiske Ibsen. Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, 2010.
Google Scholar
Authors
Ewa Partygaewa.partyga@ispan.pl
Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7929-2875
Assistant Professor of Theater Studies in the Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences, and a lecturer at the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw. The editor of the series Studia Komparatystyczne Instytutu Sztuki PAN. Teatr. Sztuka. Kultura [“Comparative Studies of the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Theatre. Art. Culture”]. Her research interests include cultural history of drama and theater in comparative perspective (focusing on 19th-21st centuries); Scandinavian drama and theater, with an emphasis on Norwegian drama and theater.
Statistics
Abstract views: 156PDF downloads: 66
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Ewa Partyga
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The author grants a royalty-free nonexclusive license (CC BY 4.0) to use the article in Pamiętnik Teatralny, retains full copyright, and agrees to identify the work as first having been published in Pamiętnik Teatralny should it be published or used again (download licence agreement). By submitting an article the author agrees to make it available under CC BY 4.0 license.
From issue 1/2018 to 3/2022 all articles were published under a Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. During this period the authors granted a royalty-free nonexclusive license (CC BY-ND 4.0) to use their article in Pamiętnik Teatralny, retained full copyright, and agreed to identify the work as first having been published in our journal should it be published or used again.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Ewa Partyga, Barba and Bjørneboe: Letters Full of Dreams , Pamiętnik Teatralny: Vol. 66 No. 1/2 (2017)
