This is a play that has been written by Henrik Ibsen in 1882 in Norway and portrays the difference in the opinions of the people which are generated differently at different occasions. Ibsen has been very critical in analyzing different flaws in the society and has tried to unhide them with his skills of writing. He has been criticized as well many times for his way of showcasing the moral evils of the society so boldly. In this play he has done the same thing where he identified the behavior of the society towards his protagonist in the play who is Dr. Thomas Stockmann.
Dr. Thomas was a respectable citizen in a town of Norway as he has helped many people against the illnesses that have been caused previously. His brother was also a mayor of the town and both of them worked very well for the community services of their town. People loved both of them. It was when the town committee approved for the baths in the town which should be built in various areas of the town by the help of the government and private funding. This project was completed successful and the people praised both of these brothers as the economy saw uplift because many tourists visited after that time.
At the same time Dr. Thomas discovered that there are still various discrepancies in the bath rooms. In fact these flaws have been originated over time as the tannery waste from the town was hindering the sanitary conditions of the baths and was the cause of the diseases which tourists were getting after using them (Miller & Ibsen, 1977). He certainly had to take an immediate step to overcome the problem and he did so by going to his brother and authority to tell them about the serious condition of the baths.
As the problem was stated before the authorities they rejected his problems and future. He was totally surprised to see his stature in front of those who respected him just few moments ago. This made him to go public and he told people that the baths were not safe anymore and that the problem can be removed if they all can get together and move to authorities to carry out an extensive plan that could guarantee the sanitary and hygienic situation of the baths (Ibsen, 2009).
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Certainly he was expecting much from the people. However, he got shocked when the people went against him and stated him that he is just doing this for his popularity and nothing more. They suddenly changed their views about Dr. Thomas and labeled him as the traitor who didn’t want the people to be happy and prosper in the times when tourists visit their town. The people stated him as the “Enemy of the People.”
The way by which people treated Dr. Thomas was disgusting and describes the ethical dilemma that is present in the societies and explains the mean way of the people for their benefits. When we look into the current political situation of the world, we observe various critical decisions that have been taken in the same manner by which the people of the town took against Dr. Thomas. We can take an example of the security conditions of various and the war that has been going on against the terrorists. The strategy of United States has been very vague in the whole situation. First time it was the Soviet Strike on the Afghanistan which allowed United States to create a force of Muslims called Taliban to fight against Soviet Union. The whole idea was to showcase this fight was against the Muslims and not against an enemy. The overall aid which these Talban forces acquired from United States is no hidden from anyone. So when the Taliban forces were fighting against Soviets, they were good and they were right because of the religious constraints they had on them but when they went against United States, they were started to consider as the terrorists. This depicts the fact that the US policy makers have been successful in creating a stereotyping according to their desires and have critically emerged as the super power from this very act of aiding the Taliban. On critical perspectives in comparison with the play that was written by Ibsen describes the ethical dilemma that changes its patterns on regular basis just according to the benefits of their own. This is how in fact the whole political aggression is based upon. Even though of we move a little deep into the structural aspects of a society we believe that this is what that is happening all around us.
The trade was first considered as a way for the benefits of the different people but now it is termed as business that could provide certain benefits to a business man. Various changes in the business strategies all are based on this kind of ethical dilemma where their own benefits are always present. Even in small businesses we can observe these kinds of things very commonly. The people of the town might be the culprits in the above situation but they were not really left with a choice at all. Going with the rules would have caused more critical situations for the business and they didn’t want to be in that. The ethical dilemma is quite obvious and with the passage of time its severity has increased. Though there is no law against this, it should not be practiced.
Ibsen quite obviously was able to identify the clear discrepancy in the personalities of the people. The decisions are completely based on the current situations and assumptions. The true and false are thus totally depended upon the situations and not facts.