Ibsen’s Pied Piper
15 March 2020
This is actually a really sad play, though I’m not sure if I would go as far as calling it a tragedy. In a way though it seems to be just what one would expect from a master like Ibsen, and it is certainly a play that definitely cuts to the heart. Sure, it may not actually be what I would call ‘Ibsen’s Pide Piper’, but in a way there are elements that are the same, but also elements that I quite different, particularly since the play continues on after the tragic conclusion to act 1.
So, we have this gentleman Alfred Allmers who seems to spend most of his time away from home. He has a child named Eyolf who happens to be lame, and as such they have kept him rather sheltered. The problem is that Eyolf really doesn’t like living such a sheltered existence, and he actually wants to go out and experience the world. The other problem is that Alfred hasn’t spent all that much time with him, something that he has decided that will change.
Well, during the first act they are visited by this woman known as the rat-wife. Namely she is pretty much like the Pied Piper in that she can lead rats away through the use of music. However, Alfred seems to think that she is a bit of a crank so sends her on her way. The problem is that when she leaves, she entices Eyolf to go with her, and later in the day he is found drowned down in the nearby fjord.
See, I did mention that it is heart wrenching, and act 2 has the main character trying to deal the the loss, but there is also an instance of Alfred’s sister Asta, and a young man that wishes to marry her. At first she doesn’t like the idea, but after the tragedy happens, she eventually changes her mind, and in marrying him, they are able to begin to deal with the guilt of Eyolf’s death.
I guess the major thing that comes out of this play is how many of us don’t realise what we have until they have been taken away from us. Sure, Alfred had already made the decision to spend some more time with his son, but in a way it feels as if it had come too late. This isn’t a case of remorse, but in a way it is, though there does seem to be some realisation that maybe they could have been better.
In fact, the first part of the play has a lot to do with the problems between Alfred and his wife Rita, who are blaming each other for Eyolf’s injuries, and in part also blaming Eyolf for the fact that their marriage seems to be disintegrating. Of course, during this argument, they don’t actually realise that Eyolf has left to follow the rat wife.
As I mentioned, Eyolf really didn’t like the idea of living a sheltered life – he wants to live a normal life like everybody else, but of course there was concern that he might not be able to. This is a key point because disabled people do seem to have problems integrating into society, not because there is a problem with them, but because there is a problem with society. This is especially the case when they are younger, since children can be incredibly mean and visicious at times. I still remember when I was at primary school, we had a special education unit for disabled children, yet the whole concept of integration really didn’t seem to work. Yeah, this is another one of those wonderful things that governments do, claiming that it would be better for the children, but in the end it is just an excuse to cut back on services, much in the same way that all of the mental hospitals were closed down because it was believed that would be much better living in society, though people I have spoken to have suggested that this is when the homelessness rate skyrocketed.
Yet one must also consider the nature of relationships, particularly when there is a disruption in the family. Here we have Alfred and Rita fighting, no doubt once again, and poor Eyolf is caught in the middle of it. No doubt hearing his parents wish that he was never born, and blaming each other for his injury, alienated him all the more, so one does wander whether it was the rat-wife that actually lured him out because Alfred said that he did not want her services, or whether he followed her simply because he basically wanted to get out of this toxic environment.