“The Dead” and “A Doll’s House”: A Comparison
(PART 1)
It is well known that James Joyce, like so many other authors, often borrowed situations, characters and events from his own personal experience. What is not as well known is that Joyce often melded other pieces of literature for the framework of his stories. This is the case when considering Joyce’s short story “The Dead”, the final piece of his collection of short stories, Dubliners.
Joyce had a lifelong admiration for the socially-aware playwright Henrik Ibsen and actually wrote a short volume of criticism on selected plays of the Norwegian. The Irishman shared with Ibsen a strong dislike of the over-nationalistic sentiment brewing in the corners of Europe’s most oppressed areas. Joyce also respected Ibsen’s stance on many controversial issues, stances which would cause many Europeans to squirm in their seats and ‘boo’ a number of the Scandinavian writer’s greatest works.
Joyce’s first serious piece of literary criticism (actually less a criticism and more of an expression of devotion) was directed at one of the many socially critical plays of Ibsen. Joyce’s review of When We Dead Waken in the Fortnightly Review was well received in literary circles, and Ibsen himself even painstakingly translated the piece to see what this young Irishman had to say about him. Ibsen, after reading the overworked and over-polished review, wrote back to James. Many point to this as one of the key events in Joyce’s early literary life.
Joyce so admired Ibsen that he used much of his play, A Doll’s House as a scaffold for “The Dead.” Joyce recognized something personal to him in the domestic problems of Torvald and Nora and decided to fashion his own story around the framework of that play. Joyce spoke of his lukewarm attitude regarding this specific Ibsen play, but he was obviously touched enough by its plot and theme to include them as outlines for many of the main events of “The Dead”.
The stories are set around Christmas-time, with snow as a shared theme. “The snow was general all over Ireland”, as the prolific Irish author penned. Snow in both plays seems to be symbolic of death, as winter often metaphorically represents the decline of life. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 73” is a prime example of this theme of comparing seasons to the stages of life.
Death is a pervading theme within both literary pieces. Joyce’s “Michael Furey” represents the nature of death, hanging over the head of Gabriel Conroy, while Ibsen’s “Dr. Rank” repeatedly brings the theme of death into A Doll’s House, reminding the play’s characters of his impending death from an inherited congenital disease. Once again, death dangles over the play, though not in as dominant or thematically central a manner compared to “The Dead”.
Also dealing with the Christmas theme is the traditional acceptance of miracles and sentimentality around that time of year. The irony of both of Torvald and Gabriel is the fact that they each deny the actuality of miracles, even at the most miracle-likely time of year. Both men also deny the sentimental nature of their countrymen, while they themselves are reminiscing about times past with their significant others.
Gabriel dreams of a time when he and Gretta shared a secret and hidden love saying that he misses their “life together that no one knew of”and then reminisces about their honeymoon filled with passion. Torvald, too, wishes their love was a secret passion which “no one knew of,” saying “I am fancying that we love each other in secret...and that no one dreams that there is anything between us.” Shortly after that statement he expresses that he wishes she was just as he remembers her on their wedding, his new bride.
It is well known that James Joyce, like so many other authors, often borrowed situations, characters and events from his own personal experience. What is not as well known is that Joyce often melded other pieces of literature for the framework of his stories. This is the case when considering Joyce’s short story “The Dead”, the final piece of his collection of short stories, Dubliners.
Joyce had a lifelong admiration for the socially-aware playwright Henrik Ibsen and actually wrote a short volume of criticism on selected plays of the Norwegian. The Irishman shared with Ibsen a strong dislike of the over-nationalistic sentiment brewing in the corners of Europe’s most oppressed areas. Joyce also respected Ibsen’s stance on many controversial issues, stances which would cause many Europeans to squirm in their seats and ‘boo’ a number of the Scandinavian writer’s greatest works.
Joyce’s first serious piece of literary criticism (actually less a criticism and more of an expression of devotion) was directed at one of the many socially critical plays of Ibsen. Joyce’s review of When We Dead Waken in the Fortnightly Review was well received in literary circles, and Ibsen himself even painstakingly translated the piece to see what this young Irishman had to say about him. Ibsen, after reading the overworked and over-polished review, wrote back to James. Many point to this as one of the key events in Joyce’s early literary life.
Joyce so admired Ibsen that he used much of his play, A Doll’s House as a scaffold for “The Dead.” Joyce recognized something personal to him in the domestic problems of Torvald and Nora and decided to fashion his own story around the framework of that play. Joyce spoke of his lukewarm attitude regarding this specific Ibsen play, but he was obviously touched enough by its plot and theme to include them as outlines for many of the main events of “The Dead”.
The stories are set around Christmas-time, with snow as a shared theme. “The snow was general all over Ireland”, as the prolific Irish author penned. Snow in both plays seems to be symbolic of death, as winter often metaphorically represents the decline of life. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 73” is a prime example of this theme of comparing seasons to the stages of life.
Death is a pervading theme within both literary pieces. Joyce’s “Michael Furey” represents the nature of death, hanging over the head of Gabriel Conroy, while Ibsen’s “Dr. Rank” repeatedly brings the theme of death into A Doll’s House, reminding the play’s characters of his impending death from an inherited congenital disease. Once again, death dangles over the play, though not in as dominant or thematically central a manner compared to “The Dead”.
Also dealing with the Christmas theme is the traditional acceptance of miracles and sentimentality around that time of year. The irony of both of Torvald and Gabriel is the fact that they each deny the actuality of miracles, even at the most miracle-likely time of year. Both men also deny the sentimental nature of their countrymen, while they themselves are reminiscing about times past with their significant others.
Gabriel dreams of a time when he and Gretta shared a secret and hidden love saying that he misses their “life together that no one knew of”and then reminisces about their honeymoon filled with passion. Torvald, too, wishes their love was a secret passion which “no one knew of,” saying “I am fancying that we love each other in secret...and that no one dreams that there is anything between us.” Shortly after that statement he expresses that he wishes she was just as he remembers her on their wedding, his new bride.
posted by Brian at 5:27 p.m.
<< Home