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)