Action and Consequence in Ibsen, Chekhov and Strindberg

by Zander Brietzke

 Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov and August Strindberg--innovators of modern drama--created characters whose reckless pursuits of irrational objectives blind them to better options. Ibsen's protagonists in A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler and The Master Builder try to bend the world to conform to their personal visions--with disastrous results. Chekhov's characters refuse to do anything, instead dramatizing their lives as if they were actors in a play (which they are). Rehearsing the intractable squabbles between men and women in The Dance of Death and The Ghost Sonata , Strindberg suggests that only in life beyond death can humanity transcend the brutality of existence. Together, the lives of these characters offer a study of the individual's struggle with modernity.

212 pages, Paperback

Published September 29, 2017