An Enemy of the People Overview and Characters

Summary

In a recorded lecture for an English class on Henrik Ibsen's play 'An Enemy of the People,' John M. Withers IV explores the intricacies and controversies of the play. He discusses the importance of understanding whether students are examining the original Ibsen version or Arthur Miller's adaptation, while providing a historical and thematic context. Withers emphasizes key themes such as the conflict between science and tradition, and economy versus science, drawing parallels to modern-day issues. He also delves into the characters and their roles in advancing these themes, encouraging students to consider who they believe is the play's hero and how Ibsen's work reflects ongoing societal debates.

Highlights

• John M. Withers IV discusses the historical and thematic context of 'An Enemy of the People.' 🎭
• The lecture distinguishes between Henrik Ibsen's original play and Arthur Miller's adaptation. 📚
• Key themes include the conflict between science and tradition, and economy versus science. 💡
• Modern parallels are drawn with issues like pandemic management and economic pressures. 🌍
• Withers analyzes characters like Dr. Thomas Stockman and Mayor Peter Stockman, exploring their conflicting truths. 🏛️

Key Takeaways

• Understand whether you're examining Ibsen's or Miller's version of the play. 📘
• Explore themes like science vs. tradition and economy vs. science, still relevant today. 🚀
• Consider who the hero is according to Ibsen and why that might differ from modern interpretation. 🤔
• Embrace the complexity of character motivations in understanding the play's themes. 🔍
• Reflect on how modern contexts, like pandemics, resonate with Ibsen's work. 🌐

Overview

John M. Withers IV's recorded lecture dives deep into the world of Henrik Ibsen's 'An Enemy of the People,' an impactful play from 1882 that remains relevant today. The session begins by clarifying the differences between the original Ibsen version and Arthur Miller's adaptation, urging students to be clear about which they are studying. Withers talks about Ibsen's inclination towards exploring family dynamics and societal issues, a theme also seen in his previous work, 'A Doll's House.'

Focusing on the main themes of the play, Withers highlights the clash between science and tradition, as well as the economy versus scientific truth. Applying these themes to a modern context, he discusses how similar debates are ongoing, especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. He emphasizes the importance of understanding these themes in light of contemporary societal challenges.

Throughout the lecture, Withers encourages students to reflect on the characters and their motivations. Dr. Thomas Stockman and Mayor Peter Stockman represent opposing viewpoints—science against the economy. Withers leaves the question of the hero open-ended, prompting students to consider Ibsen's intended message versus their personal interpretations. As the lecture concludes, students are urged to ponder these complexities and develop their insights on the play's relevance today.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Introduction and Background In this introduction and background section, the instructor welcomes students back to English 112. The instructor mentions they are recording this lecture from home due to quarantine. They discuss 'An Enemy of the People' as available on Blackboard from Project Gutenberg, emphasizing it is the original version by Ibsen, not the Arthur Miller adaptation commonly found in stores. The plays are essentially the same.
• 03:00 - 10:00: Discussion of Ibsen's "A Doll's House" The chapter focuses on Henrik Ibsen's play 'A Doll's House,' discussing its themes and characters. The speaker emphasizes the importance of specifying whether one is referring to the original version by Ibsen or any adaptations like the one by Miller, though noting that both versions are largely similar. The discussion is primarily centered around the original text by Ibsen.
• 10:00 - 18:00: Introduction to "An Enemy of the People" The introduction to 'An Enemy of the People' begins with a brief background on the playwright Henrik Ibsen, with a particular focus on one of his other significant works, 'A Doll's House' from 1879. The speaker notes that while 'A Doll's House' is not a requirement for the semester, it is often included in high school world literature classes. The speaker shares a personal anecdote about their experience teaching the play while at North Casting, affectionately recalling the school mascot, the Wildcats. The speaker emphasizes the enduring importance and relevance of 'A Doll's House' as a classic piece of world literature.
• 18:00 - 34:00: Themes and Characters of "An Enemy of the People" The chapter "Themes and Characters of 'An Enemy of the People'" opens with a discussion on the contrasting reception of Henrik Ibsen's play 'A Doll's House' between its contemporary audience and modern viewers. While modern audiences, such as students, find it simple to comprehend the characters' motivations and themes, they struggle to understand the controversy surrounding it during its initial reception. The chapter promises to delve into the reasons behind this historical controversy before transitioning into an analysis of the relevant themes and characters of 'An Enemy of the People'.
• 34:00 - 43:30: Conclusion The chapter titled 'Conclusion' focuses on a reflection of Henrik Ibsen’s play 'A Doll’s House.' The discussion centers on the thematic elements and the stage design, which resembles a doll's house, allowing audiences to peer into the private world of the characters as if they are dolls in a playhouse. This metaphor underscores the family drama and the intimate, domestic setting of the narrative, connecting the characters' roles and identities to the themes of family and societal expectations. The chapter also hints at Ibsen’s subsequent play, 'An Enemy of the People,' suggesting a continuity or contrast in thematic exploration.

An Enemy of the People Overview and Characters Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 good morning welcome back to english 112. thank you for tuning in today um i'm still home on quarantine at the moment so i'm having to record today's lecture about enemy other people so we can keep moving forward um the any other people that found on blackboard from the project gutenberg website of course is the original ibsen version of that play often people go out and find at the bookstore they find the arthur miller version they're basically the same play in
• 00:30 - 01:00 english they really are kind of a strange translation set i'm going to be talking about the ibsen play primarily today because he wrote it if you're looking at the miller besides some ips and facts and trivia the rest will be applicable the names are the same so either version just make sure that when you're writing a paper about it you're very clear if you're using the epson version or the miller version but for the most part they are the same so i want to talk first before we get into ibsen's uh
• 01:00 - 01:30 many of the people i want to give a little background on playwright henrik gibson particularly his other big play at doll's house from 1879. a doll's house is not required for this semester hopefully you did read it in high school world literature class when i taught at north casting go wildcats i always was sure to spend some time on ibsen's dollhouse it's one of the best world literature plays out there i thought i had a lot to still say to
• 01:30 - 02:00 modern audiences the odd part about ibsen's dollhouse is that was highly controversial when he wrote it but i had to take time every semester to explain why it was controversial because my students understood the play fine they had no trouble following the characters and their motivations understanding the themes but my students never knew why it was controversial and kind of go over that in detail so let me start there this highly controversial play of why it's controversial and then we'll talk about
• 02:00 - 02:30 his next major's play which is an enemy of the people so a doll's house is a family story takes place largely in one home setting most theaters when their stages play make it look like a doll's house as if you're looking in the side of a children's playhouse there and so then the characters just become dolls on the stage it's kind of the thematic idea it is a family play it's a family drama in a lot of ways you're looking at the
• 02:30 - 03:00 helmer family the patriarch the man of the family is is torvald helmer who is sick and has some really good lines no play but doesn't do a lot because he is probably dying his doctor shows up frank some business associates but the only other main character i wanna talk about today in a quick recap is nora helmer the wife this course being in 1839 was a modern play at the time it was set contemporary
• 03:00 - 03:30 to the 1870s um which made it modern it's time period antique to you and torvald helmer had a had had a really nice job and made a lot of good money always had this really lovely house there's a maid and cooked characters and children that kind of walked through at one point kind of ushered off the bed this is taking place right before christmas celebrations and torvald's been sick for some time torwells needed the rest cure probably for something like tuberculosis and it
• 03:30 - 04:00 would be fatal in the 1870s and torvald's been sick for some time he's been able to work unable to make money and so he's been able to really provide for the household in his absence his wife nora has tried to keep the household running modern audiences will see that as being very progressive and very probably responsible financially the 1870s audience didn't understand it that way
• 04:00 - 04:30 torvald particularly will not understand it he does not think his wife should have any part of the household budget and the money he does not think that she should be taking care of any of that and he so quite upset by her um and about her at the end of the play kind of jumping ahead quickly she's had to keep the house floating she's had to take out some loans she's had to try to borrow some money because she cannot work because she's an upper class kind of person not lowly like the maid who
• 04:30 - 05:00 has a job and is making her own money or like her friend mrs land who shows up who's a secretary who is on her own and kind of a model for what laura wants to be when she grows up in many ways despite the fact you already adult um but anyway it's gonna be in the play and then i play it's all about to come crashing down the loans are due there's no money um there's no money to pay for the christmas bills there's no money to pay for continuing services for torvald he's probably about to die anyway
• 05:00 - 05:30 and nora's got to bring shane down a family by having taken these loans and not being able to pay them back and then kind of bankrupting her family trying to keep it afloat so nora does what she thinks she has to do and she leaves she runs off on her family takes off hopes that that will follow her it probably won't because she has no financial stake because she was not really a person in 1870s you couldn't own property she could not take out loans except from shady people um it's all that's going to default back to her husband torvald who's too sick to
• 05:30 - 06:00 pay them off he's probably going to die the house is going to be left in ruin the kids are probably wiping orphanages if not sold to factories and nora is a free woman the end of the play is quite dour quite melancholy because she runs off and abandons a family to die without her when this play was originally staged people walked out people walked out very
• 06:00 - 06:30 dissatisfied because the ending of the play showing this woman trying to take agency in her own life abandoning her family not being a good mother because she abandoned the family the 1870s audience did not appreciate that it's hard to explain that to my students you know 10 15 years ago when i talked with gaston many of them had homes only one parent in it or with multiple parents in it because divorce is such an inevitable part of life when i taught north gaston a decade ago very few of my students actually had the
• 06:30 - 07:00 original mother and father in their original marriage in their original home that's just not the modern moment with divorce rate being what it is and so that controversy was lost on them and i had to explain to them that controversy every semester because that they didn't get that part they understood why she ran off some people thought she was justified some folks thought that made a lot of sense they might do the same thing um but they didn't quite get the controversy of why an audience would be so upset by that somewhere between modern media and their modern
• 07:00 - 07:30 experiences and a truly contemporary day to your own in the very 2000s era day that was lost in translations 1870s play you know why is it controversial in fact since dollhouse was so controversial um directors forced him to write a second ending to it the one that winds up in most high school textbooks luckily is ibsen's original ending with noah running off the way he intended it to be but there is a second ending that you can find if you start reading doll's
• 07:30 - 08:00 house and really getting into your ipsum collection and there's a second ending that player the player i was forced to write with a happy ending which ibsen hated by the way if someone would be dark and depressing it's kind of ibsen's thing so that brings us to any other people ibsen 1882 you know his next major play i'm looking at the greatest hits at ibsen dolls house is probably his top hit any of the people is his second greatest hit here yep since any of the people
• 08:00 - 08:30 now on one hand this is a contemporary play to the 1880s um so it's very much a modern play of its time which means it's you know 200 years old to you and may feel like a relic of the past there are many ways of stage to play when we're talking about plays one of the conversations that we need to kind of think about is what is the director going to do to put this in front of an audience are they going to make it look like an 1880s play that's a very common
• 08:30 - 09:00 idea yeah much like the epson's dollhouse in the previous slide up here we have a a director and a set director that's trying to use period furnishings and period costumes and make it look like an 1880s play it's a very popular thing to do look at that kid's suit his hat it's little boots in that nice that's a very popular thing to do to make it kind of preserve that 1880s sometimes that winds up creating a disconnect between the audience and the
• 09:00 - 09:30 play itself because you're looking at antique play now you're thinking about antique ideas other directors will stage it in modern dress modern clothes modern modern set dressings and try to bring this 1880s play into the modern era i think that's what arthur miller was trying to do with it was trying to bring it from this ancient european play and put it for a contemporary audience in a contemporary american way which is surprising it didn't change names which are very european-esque names i didn't make it bob and sally and
• 09:30 - 10:00 fred and very simple american names for the audience but miller didn't in the translation so goodness that's what a power of the playwright has to be seated over to the power of the director the set dresser the cost tumor the lighting and sound people are going to use an 1880 sounding mob we're going to have a mob at the door that sounds like a modern contemporary mob and mix in some modern contemporary politics slogans in there are we going to have 1880s
• 10:00 - 10:30 looking banners for advertising the hot springs and the rest cure and the lobby to kind of get people in this mindset or we're going to put up 18 eight very contemporary modern politics ads to kind of get them thinking about the modern period and the does this play are very contemporary in a lot of ways very in the now moment contemporary in your generation contemporary we have a discussion of science versus tradition which i think still resonates in the
• 10:30 - 11:00 modern classroom we have a discussion of the economy versus science which i really think resonates now you know i'm having to do this impromptu lecture instead of doing it in class with you as a discussion because i'm at home in quarantine during a pandemic um i should have decided to use this video later i want to point out that it is currently 2022 which is a fake sounding date um i never thought i'd live to see something like 2022 or something like science fiction was
• 11:00 - 11:30 growing up between 22 this weird science fiction sounding year is compounded because we're in the middle of pandit it's been going on for three years globally and there's been a lot of discussion should you listen to this in the future beyond 2022 and trying to think about what makes this weird time period so strange there's a lot of discussion about science versus the economy you know do we try to protect people or we try to keep the capitalism going patriarchy capitalism science
• 11:30 - 12:00 good stuff in the modern media right now so there's a lot of control by the director and a player there's also a lot of control by the actors you know the director of vision of the play but the actors have to execute it how lines are inflected and given and recited matter how is all stage dressed to the audience matters um in a movie version you have one set of choices made and then everybody watching that movie until the end of time end of dvds into beta discs
• 12:00 - 12:30 end of streaming services will see that vision in that same way audience still has the power to understand it and the way they want to understand it and take from it what they will but that vision is preserved in a play that vision is a little bit more malleable it changes night to night i've seen plays multiple the same cast same theater same director i've had the privilege to watch the same play six seven times sometimes i love plays in a non-pandemic
• 12:30 - 13:00 time i'm a bit advocate for going to play i'm going to theater some of my my live theater my family loves that so we would go you know several times the same play because every night is slightly different you know the timing is a little bit different the line developer is a little different the attitude and perception of the actors is a little bit different based on what they're going through and so watching the same play multiple times can be very beneficial to seeing the range of how it can be done so we want to advocate for that we're reading or play
• 13:00 - 13:30 you're always reading the the possibilities of the play there's a lot of those possibilities when it's acted and directed and live that are made and a lot of choices being made before the audience ever forms their opinion of it and reading a play is planned the best way to do it quite honestly i often tell students that they would actually like shakespeare if they watched it but that reading shakespeare is horrible and he never intended you for reading that's why you wrote them down but it plays a thing right so
• 13:30 - 14:00 i do want to cover our main characters a little bit and kind of a couple main themes as we're going through this play but you have to kind of keep in mind who's talking to who what conversations are being had and the relationship between all the characters on the stage and there's a few more characters that i've listed here that are not that important i want to list kind of the major characters i thought their relationships from moment so you've got dr thomas stockman who's probably our central person here we also have mayor peter stottman the
• 14:00 - 14:30 brother of dr thomas stockman mrs stottman who's the wife of dr thomas stockman petra which is the oldest daughter who is of some age probably about ready to be married off go to college if that's an option in their financial bracket and time period in central europe 1880s captain horster who is a landowner and has some financial stake and everything and then of course hofstad the editor he's got this newspaper
• 14:30 - 15:00 article that he may or may not publish for dr stotman may or may not tell the truth for dr stockman may or may not be a utensil of mayor peterstoppen mayor peter stopman is a quick way to talk about peter um he is also the head of every committee in town it's a small town he's head of every comedian town he's in charge of the baths he's in charge of the entire economy and the central point between these two brothers which again is a very family play because gibson liked that family tension in a lot of ways
• 15:00 - 15:30 this recurring theme throughout a lot of this place but it's a very family play you know there's a disagreement between some family members how they're going to resolve that disagreement this becomes a little bit stranger because it's such a small town in europe where it's initially set um or california if you read the mueller play it's such a small town that only has one piece to its economy and the only viable piece the economy this small town is the baths it's these tourist attraction baths where people
• 15:30 - 16:00 are coming to take a rest cure they're coming to you know cure the tuberculosis and other other ailments and they're coming for a medical retreat that's the really the main purpose of town everything else the farms the bakery everything else is in service of that should the baths be shut down mayor stockman knows that the entire economy of the city will fall apart the little town will fall apart they're all gonna start to death they're gonna die penniless and hungry
• 16:00 - 16:30 if the baths don't make it because the entire fortune of this town is dependent on the baths yeah the rescuer this medical tourism antique and aspect as that is in the 1880s what they did did not know about tuberculosis and some other ailments that we take the medical knowledge for for granted is very common still in the 1880s for this rest cure to be prescribed kind of isolation rest good air
• 16:30 - 17:00 hot baths open up your lungs maybe you'll breathe better and not you know choke death on your own phlegm you know antique knowledge like that antique medical knowledge maybe we know more after the second world war we learned a lot about how to take bodies apart put them back together again at the second world war it's a great advancement in science but in the 1880s that's contemporary knowledge is these bands work these bands are going to work and because of that it's the entire town's economy
• 17:00 - 17:30 what dr stockman brings up is a modern scientific approach um modern of course in the 1880s here this modern science that he says proves that the baths are dangerous the bats are going to kill people the bads are polluted there's something wrong here the baths need to be stopped and so we have the central problem between thomas stockman and peter stockman sometimes that is discussed as the
• 17:30 - 18:00 truth you know the truth what is the truth um that's an interesting way to talk about this and frame this peter stockman thinks his truth is more important than thomas stockman's peter stopman thinks that the proof of these baths having worked for so long as tangential proof is truth enough thomas stockman the educated doctor thomas stalman is putting his truth in modern science both of these men have a truth have a
• 18:00 - 18:30 valid point of view they're looking at and they think their point of view is correct um based on what they understand about the world so they both have a truth it's not like dr scottman has the truth and mayor peter stop is trying to hide the truth both these men have a truth right mrs stockman supporting character in a lot of ways so it's petra horster and hofstede all the rest are one of the most important characters to
• 18:30 - 19:00 um thomas and peter it's really their play everybody else is kind of fleshing out the world and giving us ideas about the world it's interesting to look at how mrs stockman treats her husband i mean she's somewhat deferential someone 1880s she is the wife he has the husband but she does when they're in private when it's just the two of them she does speak her mind a little bit which is very typical of the 1880s the wife quiet home quite in public but very local in the house is a very 1880s european attitude it's the way their patriarchy patriarchy was working
• 19:00 - 19:30 she had a power just not a power in public right and she does support him sort of pay attention to what mrs stockman says to her husband especially when they're alone about the truth and about change and about the nature of everything because she sort of sounds like she's on peter's side in term parts of that conversation while she's supporting her husband she all sounds like peter's got some points um of course captain horses and hofstede wind up swept up into this with their own kind of agendas and trying to sort out
• 19:30 - 20:00 whose agenda is correct right there's a mob scene at the end which is also you know trying to figure out who is correct kind of a mob of politic idea and so there's a truth aspect here which i think we need to talk about there's a family aspect here which we need to talk about because a family is being divided no matter what the outcome then the play is the family is being divided all right it's never going to be the same this family's never going to recover for many reasons so we've got a family being divided we've got truth being divided we have
• 20:00 - 20:30 a very family oriented peace i think what's more important besides the theme of truth especially in a 2022 modern era sense is this science versus economy this is a discussion that we see playing out in modern social media modern modern news channels just modern media in general is having this same discussion of science versus the economy you know do we let
• 20:30 - 21:00 a pandemic spread just to keep factories open or do we let people starve because we had to separate them for their own good um resolving that and maybe it's the peculiarity of 2020s that make me think that's probably the most important thing science versus the economy but i think that science versus economy is how they're framing the truth i think peter's seeing it one way is being a pro
• 21:00 - 21:30 economy person i think dr stockman seeing another way being a you know pro science person i'm not really sure epson's opinions on that matter at all one of the things that i like to discuss when we're going over this is who do you think the hero is this is a good spot for class discussion at some point if you see your classmates in the hallway or message them this is a good thing to talk about your classmates in and outside of class who do you think they hear this play is
• 21:30 - 22:00 i think ibsen has a hero in mind i think gibson has a viewpoint he thinks is more important than the other i think if some has something he's tried to say that viewpoint can be lost epson's viewpoint can be lost when the director doesn't agree with it or when actors don't fully understand it i think when an audience reading this play in a trapped form like a textbook or a website like gutenberg that has the text of play i think that it's the readers and
• 22:00 - 22:30 directors and actors opinion of who is right and wrong that really is going to come across i think when you're reading it by yourself it's in you that's going to have to judge that more so than ibsen ibsen does have a favorite character ibsen does have a point of view that he thinks is correct um but that may not always read to the audience and so i'm not really concerned about it's in thought and a lot of times we start looking at spark notes or pink monkey or there's online cheat sheets about what does it all mean you wind up with a lot of discussion of
• 22:30 - 23:00 what did ibsen really say what did epson really want um let's look at ibsen's other plays and compare them and then see what epson's headspace is when he's writing um i don't really think that matters i think what matters is what comes across the audience in this case the audience is you because you're a reading it and who do you think the hero is the popular answers of course are somewhere between the mayor and the doctor you know do you think that dr stockman is the
• 23:00 - 23:30 hero because he represents a new voice a new generation a new idea of science being more important to other things and wanting to save the world through the modern science and using rational logical scientific evidence to support his viewpoints that's one way to look at it do you think peter stockman the mayor is the hero not because he's burying his head in the sand and trying to resist change but because he's trying to save the town
• 23:30 - 24:00 you know often we forget the fact that he wants to save the economy that could look like greed if you're not careful if you're acting in a certain way and then emphasizing certain lines we can see mayor peter stottman as being very greedy and self-centered and in it for himself but he can also be very altruistic he may be trying to save the economy of this town trying to save this town's moving forward his conservative approach may not be self-interest at all it might be him trying to save the town
• 24:00 - 24:30 and i think peter at least believes that he is saving the town um i think he believes that dr stockman's trying to kill him he's trying to kill them all you know it's a very odd modern problem not mrs stotman can she be the hero she's a minor character in some respects but is she the most heroic about petra petra seems to have the most to lose and the least to gain in the she sides with
• 24:30 - 25:00 her father scientifically and intelligence she kind of is looking toward new science but she's also going to find a husband in a community in this small community and if they leave she'll have a hard time doing that because she won't know anybody and have more time getting married off and have a good life which things that petra needs petra might go to college but she's still going to need to get married off and have a good life based on who she can marry and the reactions of the town are going to be very hard on petra
• 25:00 - 25:30 um so it makes she's the hero maybe she's the self-sacrificed gives it all to her father's beliefs but takes all of the burden um that he doesn't have to worry with having some money and some notoriety and he's got a better shot of continuing his life where she doesn't have a shot of starting hers if he messes this up maybe she's the one that's got the most to lose the entire play and truly has the one that's making the hardest
• 25:30 - 26:00 choices in the entire play maybe her deed is noble than heroic it is very possible in a very modern sense a very 2022-esque sense to see this place having no heroes whatsoever that's the hardest way to write the current paper if the paper in front of you is explain the hero in any of the people with an enthymeme style thesis and the hardest i mean to do is to start with there is no hero
• 26:00 - 26:30 because you have to figure out what the opposite side of that is make anything work then it just makes it trickier to write it's easier to write this paper who is the hero create enthymeme if you have the two ideas you know one position being dr stopman the other position being mayor stockman and then who do you actually agree with so i don't get too deep into the end of the play i do want you to finish reading it
• 26:30 - 27:00 um and kind of keep in mind heroics keep in mind who could be the hero as your who thinks most noble who would you agree with in this play as ultimately what's coming across to you as the reader and who you think is heroic is what do you think about the main ideas and who do you think you are in this play who do you identify with you understand politically and economically and geographically who are you what do you agree with these are things you need to wrestle with i want you to finish reading the play
• 27:00 - 27:30 clearly i want you to write um anthem about it which is a one sentence statement of purpose that sets up an argument in a very particular way you can review those notes in blackboard ask me about it i'll help you with it that's fine um and then ultimately write a paper about it using the play the play is a thing and we will pick up and discuss it more later i am sure but yeah pandemic being what it is
• 27:30 - 28:00 maybe won't have to wait and see so i do want you all to stay healthy to keep reading to think good thoughts be ready to write good ideas um if you have any questions please let me know but until then this has been today's lecture on emmy of the people ibsen 1882 have a good day
• 28:00 - 28:30 you