Henrik Ibsen's Realism in An Enemy of the People Wears the Garb of Idealism by Ubaji Isiaka Abubakar Eazy
Henrik Ibsen's Realism in An Enemy of the People Wears the Garb of Idealism Ubaji Isiaka Abubakar Eazy Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), a Norwegian playwright, is regarded as the father of modern realism in the dramatic arts. This is because his plays favour the use of day to day prosaic speech form for dialogue in a Victorian era that was still very much attuned to using versified and regal language in drama at the time. Also, Ibsen thematic troupes revolve around contemporary issues, issues that bother around the scandalous, that society would rather not have discussed. Nonetheless, his plays were quite acceptable. Ibsen realism is, however, more realized in the physical aspect of the theatre for he favours realistic scenery; using the actual objects rather than having them imagined by the characters and audience. Hence, you get to see a realistic depiction of a living room complete with chairs and window blinds or a kitchen with actual pots and cutleries. Today, we sh...