"A revolution in the human spirit": An Analysis of Impulse and Impulsive Behaviour in Ibsen's Drama

Abstract

<p>This thesis will examine the role impulse and impulsive behaviour play in the major works of Henrik Ibsen. The twelve plays examined have been broken down into four chapters, differentiated by the type of impulse being examined. Peer Gynt, A Doll's House, and An Enemy of the People have been treated together as the studies of the immature, impulsive character who finds himself restricted by societal impositions. Chapter II examines Ghosts, John Gabriel Borkman, and The Lady from the Sea as plays in which a character's instinctual nature has been wilfully repressed, resulting in human tragedy in Ghosts and John Gabriel Borkman, and social harmony in the third play. The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, and Little Eyolf analyze the consequences of engaging in overtly impulsive behaviour. Through the efforts of a persuasive character who attempts to initiate an unimpulsive character into a new more instinctive type of behaviour, lives are destroyed in the first two plays and redeemed in the third. The final three plays to be considered, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, and When We Dead Awaken, concern themselves with the impulsively creative character and the paradoxical nature of the artistic act. In a final chapter, this emphasis on impulse will be related to Ibsen's primary ideas about human freedom and liberty.</p>