From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
When We Dead Awaken (Norwegian: Når vi døde vågner) is the last play written by Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in 1899, and first staged in Stuttgart in 1900.
[edit] Plot summary
Arnold Rubek, a celebrated sculptor and his wife, Maia, find themselves tense and ill at ease while traveling. Maia finds herself drawn to Ulfheim, a brutal hunter who contrasts sharply with her cold, withdrawn husband. Rubek, for his part, encounters Irene, a beautiful woman from his past. Awakening memories, desires, and an acute existential crisis in Rubek, Irene leads him to a mountaintop. As they approach the summit, both are killed in an avalanche. From the valley below, we hear Maia singing exultantly.
[edit] Themes and style
The play is dominated by images of stone and petrification. The play charts a progression up into the mountains, and Rubek is a sculptor. One of Ibsen's most dreamlike plays, When We Dead Awaken is also one of his most despairing. "When we dead awaken," Irene explains, "We find that we have never lived." The play is suffused by an intense desire for life, but whether it can be achieved is left problematic, given the play's ironic conclusion (which is, incidentally, reminiscent of Ibsen's early play Brand and one of his major works, The Master Builder).
[edit] Further reading
- Hurt, John. Catiline's Dream: An Essay on Ibsen's Plays (Urbana: University Of Illinois Press, 1972).
- Valency, Maurice. The Flower and the Castle: An Introduction to Modern Drama (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1966).
[edit] External links
