A play with a great idea

Muslims don't commit suicide. That was the belief which people hardly could change. Three years ago, many young people committed suicide in my country, Saudi Arabia. Those suicides were due to different factors mostly psychological and drug-related ones. People denied the number of incidents and said that the press is exaggerating about it. Even the press started to stop publishing such things. However, the number increased till everyone started talking about it because the suicides started to take place in public areas. For example, a young man hanged himself on a bridge that is 500 meters away from my home. People started to video that with their mobiles and circulate it among them. Then, the government, the religious men, the doctors started to discuss the matter on a large scale and its causes. Thanks to Allah such things are rarely taking place now. I mentioned such a thing as a proof that Ibsen's idea about "the majority is not always right" is an outstanding idea.

Ibsen's play, An Enemy to the People, has two themes. Firstly, it shows us how old believes and ideas can be sometimes harmful to us. Secondly, it depicts the lie we live in when we call ourselves "free thinkers" in private but once we are facing people, we retreat and deny it fearing society's rejection or people's sarcasm.

Critics believe that Ibsen wrote this play after critics rejection of his previous plays "Ghosts and A Doll's House" – which are both great ones. Ibsen did what his protagonist did as he put it " the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone." He stood up and published his plays about society ills.

I hope you people read the play and enjoy it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HerGuardian

Ibsen's play, An Enemy to the People, has two themes. Firstly, it shows us how old beliefs and ideas can be sometimes harmful to us. Secondly, it depicts the lie we live in when we call ourselves "free thinkers" in private but once we are facing people, we retreat and deny it fearing society's rejection or people's sarcasm.

---

Thirdly, the play shows that the truth teller, the 'whistle blower', is strongest when he 'stands most alone' - like Jesus Christ before Pilate. Understandably, sadly, there are too few whistle blowers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gladys

Thirdly, the play shows that the truth teller, the 'whistle blower', is strongest when he 'stands most alone' - like Jesus Christ before Pilate. Understandably, sadly, there are too few whistle blowers.

---

It's sadly true. It's as Ibsen put it " We are afraid of the majority." Men are not stong so they can't stand alone.:(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HerGuardian

It's as Ibsen put it "We are afraid of the majority." Men are not strong, so they can't stand alone.

---

I've just read 'Brand', published 16 years before 'An Enemy of the People'. A younger Ibsen, beginning his long self-exile from Norway, makes the same point but much more powerfully in this complex and monumental poem/play - his first success. Few realise that Ibsen is also among the greatest of poets.

Dr. Thomas Stockmann cuts a puny figure alongside Brand, a young disenchanted priest, who is nothing short of a firebrand shot from heaven. With his dictum, 'Naught or All', Brand consistently rejects the least compromise. He acts with unbridled courage and shines as a witness to the truth in his small family and isolated community.

This play also demonstrates that ‘the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone’. Throughout, ‘Brand’ dwarfs 'An Enemy of the People' in vigour and intensity, and its spectacular ending is no exception. Unlike Dr. Stockmann, Brand is larger than life - not dissimilar to Shakespeare's King Lear.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HerGuardian

Muslims don't commit suicide. That was the belief which people hardly could change. Three years ago, many young people committed suicide in my country, Saudi Arabia. Those suicides were due to different factors mostly psychological and drug-related ones. People denied the number of incidents and said that the press is exaggerating about it. Even the press started to stop publishing such things. However, the number increased till everyone started talking about it because the suicides started to take place in public areas. For example, a young man hanged himself on a bridge that is 500 meters away from my home. People started to video that with their mobiles and circulate it among them. Then, the government, the religious men, the doctors started to discuss the matter on a large scale and its causes. Thanks to Allah such things are rarely taking place now. I mentioned such a thing as a proof that Ibsen's idea about "the majority is not always right" is an outstanding idea.

Ibsen's play, An Enemy to the People, has two themes. Firstly, it shows us how old believes and ideas can be sometimes harmful to us. Secondly, it depicts the lie we live in when we call ourselves "free thinkers" in private but once we are facing people, we retreat and deny it fearing society's rejection or people's sarcasm.

Critics believe that Ibsen wrote this play after critics rejection of his previous plays "Ghosts and A Doll's House" – which are both great ones. Ibsen did what his protagonist did as he put it " the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone." He stood up and published his plays about society ills.

I hope you people read the play and enjoy it.

---

Wow I never knew that was going on in KSA. So everything is under control now? Alhamdulilah for Islam, where would we be without our guidance?

I liked your review a lot.

What I liked about this play was the fact that the protagonist did go against society and was the only liberal amongst a group of conservatives. This is the first semi-political work I enjoyed reading.