A Comparative Reading of Ludvig Holberg’s Erasmus Montanus and Henrik Ibsen’s Contemporary Dramas

Abstract

The Scandinavian playwright Ludvig Holberg contributed to the debate of socio-political discussions with his entertaining comedies. Over a century later, Henrik Ibsen with his contemporary dramas also counteracts the way social order is established in certain communities. Both Scandinavian playwrights utilize similar comical techniques to critically question and oppose entrenched ideologies. Though their means to achieve what they intend are somewhat different, both seek to disclose how grand ideas can be brought down using seemingly low methods such as irony, satire, and imitation. Their common purpose in producing such works is to break out of fixed categories while fusing different fields to create even newer ones. Thus, both seek to disintegrate dominating structures to explore other ways of being and ruling. Present research aims to disentangle Holberg’s and Ibsen’s methods of intertwining Old Comedy as well as the Italian theatrical form of Commedia dell’arte. The analysis will therefore shed light on how social patterns of idealism, moralism, and criticism are manifested in Holberg’s Erasmus Montanus and Ibsen’s problem plays.

Keywords

• Ludvig Holberg
• Henrik Ibsen
• Comedy
• Social criticism
• Aristophanes
• Commedia dell’arte
• problem plays

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