Ibsen's Symbolism in "The Master Builder" and "When We 



Dead Awaken" 



BY PAUL H. GRUMMANN 



William Archer in the introduction to his translation of When 

 We Dead Awaken says : " But to his sane admirers the interest 

 of the play must always be melancholy, because it is purely patho- 

 logical. To deny this is, in my opinion, to cast a slur over all the 

 poet's previous work, and in great measure to justify the criti- 

 cisms of his most violent detractors. For When We Dead Awaken 

 is very like the sort of play that haunted the anti-Ibsenite imagi- 

 nation in the year 1893, or thereabouts. It is a piece of self- 

 caricature, a series of echoes from all the earlier plays, an exag- 

 geration of manner to the pitch of mannerism. Moreover, in his 

 treatment of symbolic motives, Ibsen did exactly what he had 

 hitherto, with perfect justice, plumed himself upon never doing: 

 he sacrificed the surface reality to the underlying meaning." 



The misconception at the bottom of this statement is probably 

 due to a onesided acceptance of the poet's insistence that his 

 plays are not to be taken symbolically. In spite of the poet's 

 attitude we have had critics without number who have attempted 

 to find symbolism in Ibsen's plays. Hedda Gabler as symbolical 

 of a revolver is probably the most picturesque of these attempts. 

 The church tower in The Master Builder has been so completely 

 plastered over with symbolic meanings that we are not surprised 

 that Ibsen cried out in self-defense. 



It is not proper, however, to accept the poet's statements in 

 matters of this kind, because he cannot possibly give an objective 

 view of himself. He may state his intentions but he cannot define 

 his own activity. Since no man can state to what extent he him- 

 self thinks symbolically, Ibsen cannot throw any real light upon 

 himself in this respect. 



If we take the term symbolism in its traditional sense, according 

 to which a special significance is arbitrarily attached to stated 



University Studies, Vol. X, No. 3, July 1910. 



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