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Realism
Gustave Courbetand the French Realist painters
• "[They] call me ‘the socialist painter.' I accept that title with pleasure. I am not only a socialist but a democrat and a Republican as well--in a word, a partisan of all the revolution and above all a Realist ... for ‘Realist' means a sincere lover of the honest truth."
Stone Breakers
Major ideas
• Charles Darwin • Humans were animals• People influenced by heredity and environment
– Social Darwinism – the most fit social groups survive
• August Comte – “father of Sociology” • Karl Marx– Working class is exploited by the bourgeoisie– Workers will unite to overthrow their oppressors and
create a classless society– Marxism thrived due to perceived evils of the industrial
revolution
Historical Accuracy
• Theatre directors like Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, focused more on historical accuracy.
• The Duke influence directors who later produced important realist playwrights– Stanislavski– Antoine
Box Set
Realist beliefs
– Truth can be observed and verified through science
– Social problems are the most important and can be solved using the scientific method
– The purpose of art was to improve society – Plays could be like case studies– Realist plays allowed people to watch people
unobserved (4th wall)
• Sigurd Ibsen, Henrik’s son, "art gives liberty of action to forces and possibilities to which life does not grant the chance of coming into their rights."
Henrik Ibsen
1828-1906
Norway
Brief background on Norway
• 16th to 19th century Danish was the standard written language due to Danish rule over Norway (1536 -1814)
• Upper classes spoke Dano-Norwegian (Danish with a Norwegian pronunciation and inclusion of local words)
• After Danish rule ended, Dano-Norwegian remained official language while adding local forms
Ibsen
• Born in Skien, east coast of Norway, about 100 miles south of Oslo
• Father was had a general store and distillery but became financially ruined• It was rumored that Ibsen was actually the son
of a lover of Ibsen’s mother. • Both events became themes in Ibsen’s work– Finance and the rules of the middle class– Secrets including secret love
• 1851 - resident playwright and stage manager of the Norwegian National Theatre in Bergen.
• 1857-62 – director of Norwegian Theatre in Christiania until it went bankrupt
• 1864- lived abroad except for brief periods until 1891• His early works were romantic verse dramas drawn
from the Scandinavian past.• Started writing in prose, Moved toward realism
– Social/problem plays – societal issues– Character plays (psychological)
Influences
• Realism• Melodrama• Well made play (Eugene Scribe 1791 -1861) – (Scribe is believe to have written 400-500 plays)– Careful exposition– Surprises including letters opened at critical moments;
relationships and identities revealed– Suspense – Climax is late in play– Denouement – resolution of all loose ends in the play
Doll House – based on Laura Kieler (1849-1932)