Day Twenty
A chance encounter with a birthdays in history list inspired today’s column. Yes, I am writing about a man, and writing in a positive manner, but don’t get all bent out of shape. Men help form the lives and personalities of women, as well, and it is important that we consider the ways in which those men have inspired or constrained us. We will never understand the world of women unless we make some effort to understand the world of men. Today I present a positive image of a man; in the world of Trump, Musk, and their minions, it is refreshing to be able to show a man in a good light. Unfortunately, this particular man has been dead for more than a hundred years. Sigh.
DOLLS, GHOSTS, AND GUNS
Happy Birthday, Henrik Ibsen. The Norwegian playwright, dead for more than a hundred years, created female characters that were ahead of his time. The rich tapestry of his female protagonists and antagonists allow characters to grow and develop, as well as explore their own strengths and weaknesses. Most of his women are tragic, but in the tragedy he takes them into questions of their position in society, and how they strive to be more than the constraints on women permit them to be.
The frustrations of Hedda Gabler, more intelligent than the husband she married more for convenience than love, lead her to make rash judgements and bad decisions, but she remains strong to the end. It is only when she is cornered, trapped by a manipulative man who plans to use her for his own ends, that she takes the drastic step of taking her own life. The final scene is a powerful statement of just how desperate a woman can become when her dreams are not able to be realized, and the men around her live interesting lives while she has no outlet for her intellect.
The women in these plays are larger than life, and yet are within the realm of the realism that was his style. He saw beyond the primping and preening expected of women, and the fluff-headed ignorance that was cultivated. He recognized how women could grow and develop, and how they could be broken by a restrictive society that refused to recognize their dreams and their talents. It is hard to think of a playwright who has written more strong, independent characters, except perhaps Shakespeare…and that isn’t even certain.
For women, a career in theatre has often been a frustration, with the meaty roles going to men, and men having more lines and more time on stage than women. In spite of the (inaccurate) perception that women talk more, women on stage and screen don’t talk as much. When they do, often the lines they are given include a large amount of vapid chatter, characterized by an obsession with clothes, hair, makeup, and men. With Ibsen, any vapid chatter is a significant plot point, representing the world the women are forced to inhabit by the strict mores of their time.
As a playwright, I find it often comes natural to write men into my plays, and to build plays around men. This is what I grew up with, and what is the normal state for the world throughout my life. I spent many hours of agony working to ensure women were fairly represented; in spite of the fact that I am a woman, men just seemed to slide into roles easier. I have succeeded, and now write women without sweating over it, but many playwrights, screenwriters, and novelists are still trapped in a world where men are the doers and women are the watchers. Most of them don’t even realize it; they are just writing what seems to come naturally.
For Ibsen, his women are often watchers, but they are not happy about it. They will speak out, be heard, and refuse to fit into the neat little molds that are created for them. Even women such as Hedda Gabler and Nora Helmer (A Doll’s House), who make an unspoken agreement with society to follow the expectations, find those roles chafe. For Hedda, they have always chafed. Her father provided her with an education and she feels the lack of stimulation with agonizing clarity. For Nora, she seems happy with her role until a shock and a crisis creates a dramatic moment that leaves her unable to be the frivolous, childlike woman she has been. She must gain strength to leave her home and seek her independence.
I have seen many plays of Ibsen; those I haven’t seen I have read. He was an inspiration to me in my struggle to create my own strong, independent women characters. He’s not the only influence; no, it would be wrong to allow that role to fall to a man. Other influences include my grandmother, a former boss, my thesis advisor, women friends and colleagues, and, of course, strong public women such as Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Elizabeth Warren. But I do permit some select males to help me find my way, and I am proud to mark Ibsen as one of them. If he were alive today…he would be nearly two hundred…what would he make of the directions women have moved? What would he make of the men who continue trying to prevent our movement?