John Gabriel Borkman

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Data
Title: John Gabriel Borkman
Author: Henrik Ibsen
people
  • John Gabriel Borkmann, former bank director
  • Gunhild, his wife
  • Erhard, student, her son
  • Ella Rentheim, Mrs. Borkmann's twin sister
  • Fanny Wilton
  • Wilhelm Foldal, assistant clerk at an accounting chamber
  • Frida, his daughter
  • Chambermaid with Mrs. Borkmann

John Gabriel Borkman is a play by Henrik Ibsen from 1896.

Emergence

Henrik Ibsen wrote the play John Gabriel Borkman in Kristiania (now Oslo ) in 1896 . The writer was influenced by a real incident that preoccupied society. In the 1850s, a well-known officer from Kristiania was sentenced to four years in prison and detention for fraud. After serving his sentence, the officer returned home mentally changed and completely isolated from the outside world. His wife could no longer have access to him either. Ibsen became aware of this incident during his first trip to Kristiania (1850-1851). The author used his second stay in the city (1857–1864) to follow the fate of the officer in question.

Since Henrik Ibsen also dealt with the work of the literary critic, philosopher and writer Georg Brandes on William Shakespeare , he came into contact with his theories about the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche . In particular, the central theses of the superman and the will to power are clearly reflected in the play John Gabriel Borkman .

action

The banker John Gabriel Borkman was sentenced to several years in prison for fraud. Illegal transactions Borkman had its bank in the ruin driven and also his own money and the playful to the clientele. After his release he leads the life of a hermit and isolates himself completely from the outside world. The reason for withdrawing from society is shame about what happened and thus the loss of social prestige. Borkman and his wife Gunhild, who is particularly suffering from the situation and reproaches her husband, live in the house of Gunhild's sister Ella Rentheim. Borkman retires to a room on the first floor, while Gunhild lives on the first floor.

Ella was John Gabriel Borkman's real love, but for the sake of his career he decided to marry Gunhild. In return for the appointment of Borkman as head of the bank, his former friend Hinkel demanded that he renounce Ella. Ella is now seriously ill and only has a short time to live. Between her and Gunhild, a fight develops over Borkman's son Erhard, whom Ella took in after the bankruptcy . She wants her nephew, a student at the beginning of adult life, to move to town with her and stand by her before death. Her sister Gunhild, on the other hand, wants her son to have a career in order to restore the family's reputation that had been damaged by John Gabriel Borkman.

Borkman himself, still hoping for a rehabilitation , would like to use Erhard for his future plans and get to the top of the economy with him . Erhard is overwhelmed with the demands that are made on him from different sides. At the end of the play, John Gabriel Borkman dies after talking to Ella and experiencing one last flicker of love between the two. The two warring sisters then reconcile.

premiere

John Gabriel Borkman was first introduced to the public through readings. The first took place on December 14, 1896 at the Avenue Theater in London . On January 10, 1897, two world premieres took place in Helsinki (at the Finnish National Theater in Finnish and at Svenska Teatern in Swedish). Both productions received praise from both the audience and the critics.

Modern productions (selection)

literature

  • Thorben Flügger: Liberalism, bourgeoisie and gender relations in Henrik Ibsen's "John Gabriel Borkman" . GRIN Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-640-43882-2 ( limited preview in Google book search).

Web links

Commons : John Gabriel Borkman  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files