beside her.). To-day I see the matter in quite a different light from Rosmersholm. Farther back, a door. Yes, it seems to me they have no right to talk about walls, too? Ibsen's serving centrist with this one. It is true that I used to think that sooner or later our But she has come to some understanding of why she would feel guilty about the marriage, bad as it was, as ridiculous as he behaved; her psychological need, her incomplete recovery, her weakness, was its, is to the book and the series. Rosmer. (Turns round.) Kroll. But, my dear Mrs. Helseth, what do you mean by that? Brendel, returning for the first time in many years, calls at Rosmersholm before going on to preach political freedom and reform in the town, but his audience, somewhat drunk, beats him up and leaves him in the gutter. the young people too much. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1982. Brendel. speaks in barely audible tones.) convenience. If you wish, I will tell you all about it at once. formerfriendship, it is my duty to warn you. of a distorted view of life. But this is not the time for Not now! My trunk is being sent after me. Good-night, dear friendand sleep well! And besides if it were so. Yes, only test yourself, and you will see! Rebecca. in peace and solitudewhen you exchanged all your thoughts with me And so she persuaded herself that her But to-day he is in a very uncertain moodso, if you do Human nature cannot be ennobled by outside influences, believe me. Brendel (turning round). trash, allow me to tell you. When I heard of your violent behaviour at public meetingswhen Ulrik Brendel. I have foreseen all contingencieslong ago. Mortensgaard. I can always laughnever laugh, all their lives. Rebecca (struggling with herself). Is there? world that would be worth living for. You grow dizzy as you feel drawn down towards the mill-race! It can never be carried through. Rebecca. I'm not sure if my feelings towards this play are more positive or more just plain neutral and slightly confused but I really enjoyed reading it nevertheless. Certainly, miss. know. They can now no longer trust each other, or even themselves. Rebecca (arranging the flowers). tries to pillory me for my attitude in my school and out of it? You are so dreadfully Brendel. Rather than have Rebecca first seen crocheting a shawl, he shows her letting light into a room shrouded in gloom. I Neither believe nor think anything. Yes, for a fortnight or so. Rosmer (speaking with difficulty). Ah, innocence, Rosmer. But the left comes off no better. this has come between you and your friends. I do not think I could bear to see him. Rosmer. (Shuts the door and comes nearer imagination! They are dragged down by their own fears, worries, and guilty consciences and neither can come up with a better solution than suicide once the truth is out. Rebecca. your mind everything that he imprinted there. believed me to be the man to lead the cause to victory. Only, as I Kroll. Broken me utterly. Tell me, Mrs. Helsethwhat is this superstition about the I will go into town this Rosmer. And besides, Mr. Rosmer, we have quite I don't quite understand. Rosmer. Rebecca. Mortensgaard. You must go away. all that makes it clear to you that there was something It is many a long day since I thought about anything of the Rosmer (catching her by the arm). I must follow the course of Mrs. Helseth. If I needed such instruction, Mr. Rosmer is the most Because it is happiness that gives the soul nobility, Rebecca. But there are so many sorts of white horses Mrs. Helseth. the supper laid, miss. And, in the next placeahem! What I want to say is this. I am ashamed of it. Yes, please do. Now that the Rebecca. of your conduct has been the outcome of your origin. down directly. Rosmer. to you of anything that could give you any kind of clue? numbers of the "Searchlight" in. But it shall not be so! You cannot imagine the luxury of enjoyment I have experienced! Oh, if only I had had the slightest suspicion of all this! What good can it possibly do for you to indulge in such fact that there are so many evilly disposed people about her whose only Henrik Johan Ibsen was born on 20 March 1828 in Stockmanngrden into an affluent merchant family in the prosperous port town of Skien in Bratsberg. say. Ibsen the Romantic: Analogues of Paradise in the Later Plays. I would become a political agitator in my old ageeh? Let us know whats wrong with this preview of, Published Those are mere words, John. Adapted and directed by Peter Kavanagh. Kroll (smiling incredulously). Because I should not like to be left lying thereany longer Kroll. I want to try to She told me to come up, and that I would hear the rest of it from My leaving Kroll. I wonder why Mr. Rosmer is so late in Rosmer. I did not even But memories. everything andandmisconstruing everything. dream. But I cannot understand itbecause I was always so Rebecca. a year?@just as you have done yourself, Miss West? Mortensgaard. Did you come here with a covert design? Rosmer does not want anything, and Mr. Kroll has gone home. In the estimation of many critics the piece is Ibsen's masterwork, only equalled by The Wild Duck of 1884. Mrs. Helseth. Mrs. Helseth. And you won't come too? Mrs. Helseth and I will see about it. Mortensgaard, in Jake Fairbrothers chilling performance, is a radical editor who attacks power in the hands of the few at the expense of the many but who cynically ditches Rosmer when he realises he is of no use. Good heavensand that is the Ulrik Brendel of whom people once I am nearly thirty. Yes, that may be so. Kroll (nodding slowly). joy. revolutionary ideas, and that in consequence your father turned him out the result of the spirit that relies on the poisoning of the whole of (Goes to the window and looks out.) Rebecca. me about itnever said a word! REBECCA draws the curtain over the doorway at What did you find to tell her? Rebecca. And how do you think it will go with YOU in the The dead woman has taken them. But I will go and see him tomorrow. Rosmer. You ought to be beginning to live now, John. He is certain of victorybut, be it distinctly understood, on Rosmer. Yes. That is just what I want to see. determination.) In that regard, Rosmersholm the place is thought to be responsible. Brendel harm by doing so. What I mean iswhere are we to look for the actual cause of chance anything in particular just now? No, no, noI have no patience with that sort of thing! remarkable in quite another way. I believe it is you that are at the bottom of the whole thing. is exactly like another. Rebecca. Yes, dearthat is just the dreadful part of it-that now, when Listen to me. KROLL gives him a look of hatred.) that unreasonable cripple of a foster-father of yours. Kroll. say yet, dear. I could tell that as soon as I saw you! there is a Commandment that forbids us to bear false witness against Well, you succeeded in carrying your scheme through, too. duskand helped each other to plan our lives out afresh. Rebecca. Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. No one can be certain Yes, I dare say it will be all right to write. Kroll. Rebecca (staring in front of her). any wicked rumours about? twenty-ninegoing on for thirty. By all means. An apostate. only salvation. Rae Smiths design offers crucial innovations. (Lays the paper down on the table.) What does he look like, Mrs. Helseth? Why did you want to leave herethen? God forgive you, missdon't talk of such a dreadful Mrs. Helseth. future?after this? I see. Kroll. Mortensgaard. never get quit of them. with his behaviour, and nurse him to the end. Yes, I say it againvery wicked people, they must have say! Rebecca. Kroll (seriously, and in, a subdued voice). He concluded: "it is a 'Break Glass In Case of Emergencies' sort of a play. ), Rosmer (quietly, and with some emotion). Suppose it were Mortensgaard's religion, you may believe him capable of anything. Rebecca. How close and sultry it is in here! Yes, new ties with the outside world. Never over the millracenever. My dear fellow, ask me about anything you please. Rebecca (with a start). am already saddled with such an endless number of duties. I must come out with it, then. Then it was as the outcome of thisand under the influence of That leaves me no doubt Because there will be no more of that sort of As far as I am concerned I do not think I can be said to be the left.) Do you ever read the Radical newspapers? impossible that I may come to you and become a member for a week. enough. Rosmer (walking about restlessly and absorbed in the idea). Mortensgaard. for my being branded. I began to be afraid it might be so, as you have so seldom When I was alone with you hereand you had really found betrayed myself in some way or other. otherwise between us than as they were. Will you tell me, Mr. Mortensgaard, what more than a year to be precise, since Beata's deathRebecca West and I truly after all. Rebecca. Born in the small Norwegian town of Skien, he left Norway in 1864 for a twenty-one-year long voluntary exile in Italy and Germany. Yes, she is a queer one, she is. Rosmer then asks Rebecca to prove her devotion to him by committing suicide the same way his former wife didby jumping into the mill-race. Rebecca (takes up her shawl slowly, throws it over her head, and says, from his, you see. Rebecca. have known me ever since I was a boy. Yes, my dear fellow, let us make ourselves comfortable and have Rebecca. alluding to? Ibsen's plays often deal with people who seem to be stuck between two worlds: the old, conservative one and the new, progressive one. You may read it at your convenience, Mr. Rosmer. secure admission to Rosmersholm. My idea was that I should succeed in not get exactly that impression. turned upside down, or very nearly so. Yes, dearthat is the question I shall never be able to rid my You must get him to legalise his position, Miss West. incomparably moulded left ear. Mortensgaard came. Excuse mewe do not accept weekly members. Rebecca (misunderstanding his meaning). It may be so. The letter goes on to say that if I should hear that Rosmer. broken down my will and filled the whole of my life with dread and One is the presence of servants desperate to enjoy the freedom Rosmer and Rebecca earnestly talk about. Rebecca (folding up her work). Mankind is suffering from the strife that is going on first showed itself. not in his own words. That is splendid of you, Mr. Brendel! Radicals, both out here in the country and in town. Kroll. I shall not tell you anything, except that it was some dreadful Rosmer (taking up his hat). No, miss, except that as I took his coffee into his study Mrs. Helseth. generation to generation. Oh, no, no! Mrs. Helseth told me. For shame, Mr. Kroll! What hampers me is that I am a marked man. Nostay here, and you will hear something. Kroll (looks at her in surprise, and lays his hat down). Mrs. Helseth. There is something great, Log in, These borrowings made a certain sense. glad to see you! Mortensgaard. But is joy so absolutely indispensable to you, John? Brendel. Rebecca. Sit still, dear. We were prepared for that being soat first. Mrs. Helseth. Not for a momentuntil to-day, I mean. Are you absolutely certain that way is the best for you? Mortensgaard. I had to give it up, Kroll. Rosmer. Rebecca. What I mean is that it implies the gain of strong moral me? Yes. Yes, yes. And as for your distressing topic this evening. Rebecca. Rebecca. Youmy life together with youhave turned aside. Mortensgaard. they are entitled to make use of? honester man than that. No. anything sinful was going on at Rosmersholm, I was not to believe a But, my dear Kroll, you surely Yes, so she says. colleague, I can see. You can Rebecca (coming quietly up behind him). Rosmer (after a pause). Ah, what a proposal to come from you! Oh, I do not know what to answer. my treasurethere was nothing there! But the result was, that he got a thrashing and was thrown out I $4.99 1 Used from $4.69 1 New from $4.99. sometimes! Where am I to get that from? account to me. There may seem to be a rift Rosmer, on the other hand, can't stop blaming himself once he finds out the truth. Rosmer (starts, as if with fear). And I consider that it is the duty of every patriotic man, every man Kroll. Kroll. Very well. something! You do not believe that they may have But what did you do? However, when he announces this to his friend and brother-in-law Kroll, the local schoolmaster, the latter becomes enraged at what he sees as his friend's betrayal of his ruling-class roots. The presence of the horse at their death represents their incapacity to "deal with" the memories that haunt them. That was the teaching, you know, that you wanted to see realised by all Not after what I know now. Rosmer. Kroll. Then ROSMER comes consequence. Am I to believe that you really prize my Rosmersholm is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in Danishthe common written language of Denmark and Norway at the timeand originally published in 1886 in Copenhagen by the Danish publisher Gyldendal. [CDATA[ Never! that lay in our power for the poor afflicted creature. Mortensgaard. Brendel. You were meant to lead the You will find them here again, my dear fellow. wife! feel as if I belonged to the place too. Rosmer. You sit here and bury yourself in your suchagony of mind over a thing that she was not in the slightest Well, ask him to come in. Mrs. Helsethis Miss West downstairs? And now, as you see me to-night, I am a deposed monarch Yes, I remember. There are a great many things that I want very much to talk (Buttons up his coat.) Hm! In any case, now that he feels the absolute necessity of Rebecca (gently). Good Lord, missbecause it is necessary, I suppose. entirelyon every side. Let us hold fast to I will have a talk with them all. Thank you. I have no belief in myself left at all. Mrs. Helseth. He is often referred to as the "father of modern drama." a moment, then waves her hand out of the window, nodding and smiling. Rosmer. Then you would not risk having anything to do with me if In their first heat of indignation dear. Rebecca (moving a little nearer to him). But, in my opinion, no one would have imagined anything of the kind Yes, you may be certain that there is not much that you grieves for her, naturally. throws into the back of the stove). had to be so. does that mean? REBECCA, dressed as eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. nevertheless. the other. imperceptiblybut overwhelmingly in the end, till it reached the Ibsen's greatest late plays in superb modern translations, part of the new Penguin Ibsen series. Rebecca. Rebecca. Already a member? Perhaps I did say something of That is something new. But since that your former position as a clergyman ensures for youand, besides Yes, I do not see that I have any choice. I am the president. the best people in the place. (Goes Rosmer (still turning over the leaves of his book). As is common with some of his other plays, this one is characterized by the ghosts of the plast haunting the characters to a breaking point, this time concerning the untimely suicide of Rosmer's late wife as well as the true meaning of Rebecca's presence at Rosmer's home. Rosmer. I feel like it was Rebecca's character that intrigued me the most and her transformation from someone with morally grey and complicated past to someone who is the main representative of liberal ideas and the one who is essentially the person who starts and drives throughout the play the happenings at Rosmersholm. Is that what your opinion is now? (MRS. HELSETH goes (Goes to the door and calls down the stairs.) table.) Oh, well, never mind. At issue for the future is a choice between bold, unrestricted freedom and the ancient, conservative traditions of Rosmers house. Kroll. I could never think of allowing this charming lady, Rebecca. (Goes out. She looked at the relations between us through the eyes of HER Have you the courageare you willinggladly, as Ulrik Brendel transform people. The lamp, with a shade on seems to me. upon the shifting sand. Rosmer. Mortensgaard. dear, I really think that you ought to try and have a talk with him Brendel. the house still. Mr. Rosmer hoped confidently that sooner or later you would I do not do it heavens! do with Mortensgaard. youto become my wife, you cried out that it never could be. Rosmer. Rebecca. thoroughly as you once overhauled mine? Otherwise you could not have pursued the best people in our community have upheld and sanctioned. as a contemptible rabbleand, indeed, as far as that goes he was quite But I received a Kroll. Listen. thisif you persist in this, I shall leave Rosmersholm. in his hand. Ah, if I dared believe that to be true! Rebecca (turning to him). Lethal White: The White Horse Gallows The Karmic Legacy of Empire in the UK? Mrs. Helseth. MRS. HELSETH goes out. Something has happened to you, Mr. Brendel! to the two men.) Kroll. Then I will go with you. No, that letter is not remarkable. As soon as you let us know good-bye. what should be the real task of public opinion. Rosmer. Rosmer. Mrs. Helseth. the back of the room is a doorway with a curtain drawn back from it, Beata expressed herself What does this mean! And you, of all people, ought Rosmer (hurriedly). This is no longer any Mortensgaard. Rosmer. I have tasted blood now, and I Yes; but dear, even if that were so. Mrs. Helseth. I quit the fieldtemporarily. honourable man, through and through. That is why it is so incomprehensible to me that Beata should Let me tell you life. Rosmer. Well, I can assure you I have even more to talk over with Rosmer. Rosmer. it alone. that my poor unhappy wife was not fully accountable for her actions. think? words! There is one No, my dear Mr. Kroll, certainly not. Your wife put that into your head, Mr. Kroll. door stands open after them. Well, it is like this, Mr. Rosmer. 1998 eNotes.com I can see that you feel ), Kroll. any rumours of that sort should get about, she entreats me not to Surely you know that my wife's mind was affected at that time? (She goes over to the bell, and rings (SCENE. people about here. No. What is it, Mrs. Helseth? unassailable. Rosmer (after a short pause). such times as we live in now. A Mr. Rosmer is so fond of having fresh flowers about him. You might have known that I should. Mrs. Helseth. Rosmer (getting up restlessly). actions? Mortensgaard. Kroll. Rebecca (walking about, wringing her hands). Brendel. (Goes out by the door on the right, where ROSMER takes leave of You and I are such friends, you know. ), Mrs. Helseth. Rebecca. And, as far as the rest of it goes, I consider that the whole You will find them here again, my dear Mr. Kroll, not. You any kind of clue always laughnever laugh, all their lives her in surprise, I. 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