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Rosmersholm
| Rosmersholm | |
|---|---|
 1886 edition of Rosmersholm | |
| Written by | Henrik Ibsen |
| Characters | Johannes Rosmer Rebecca West Professor Kroll Ulrik Brendel Peder Mortensgaard Mrs. Helseth |
| Original language | Danish |
| Subject | Aristocrat who converted to liberalism |
| Genre | Well-made play |
| Setting | Rosmer's Manor |
Rosmersholm (pronounced [ˈrɔ̀sməʂˌhɔɫm]) is an 1886 play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It tells the story of Johannes Rosmer, an aristocratic former clergyman and owner of the Rosmersholm manor who is haunted by his wife's suicide and his own idealistic desires for societal reform, and Rebecca West, a strong-willed companion who challenges his convictions, leading to a deep exploration of morality, political activism, and the struggle for personal and social change amidst a backdrop of intense personal and political turmoil. Rosmersholm has been described as one of Ibsen's darkest, most complex, subtle, beautiful, mystical, multilayered and ambiguous plays. The play explores the tension between old and new, between liberation and servitude, between narratives, action or inaction, and of "what to do with ourselves when the world collapses around us."[1] Rosmersholm and The Wild Duck are "often to be observed in the critics' estimates vying with each other as rivals for the top place among Ibsen's works."[2]
Ibsen scholar Jon Nygaard writes that the loss of joy of life is an underlying theme of several of Ibsen's plays, including Rosmersholm, in which "the spirit of the dead and the aristocracy of officials [lingers heavily] over the manor [and] the Rosmerian view of life ennobles man – but it kills happiness". A key theme in Rosmersholm and other plays was, according to Nygaard, "the joy of life that was lost – and the new Puritan Civil Servant State that was coming. It was the spirit of civil servants from Upper Telemark, the Paus family."[3]
The play was written in Danish—the common written language of Denmark and Norway at the time—and originally published in Copenhagen by the Danish publisher Gyldendal.
- ^ O'Dell, Liam. "'Rosmersholm' review – Ibsen's lesser-known play gets an intense modern adaptation". Retrieved 30 March 2024.
- ^ McFarlane, James (1999). "Introduction". In: Ibsen, Henrik, An Enemy of the People; The Wild Duck; Rosmersholm. Oxford World Classics. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. ix. ISBN 0192839438, ISBN 9780192839435.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Nygaard2012was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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