“An Enemy of the People” by Henrique Ibsen Essay

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Henrique Ibsen, the renowned Norwegian playwright who wrote the play titled An Enemy of the People once said that the majority is always wrong and managed to prove it in this play. Using the character Thomas Stockmann, the author manages to convince the world that the majority is not always right as it is universally considered. The enemy of the people is a play set in an imaginary town in Norway and Dr. Stockmann is a medical officer in this town whose mayor is his elder brother.

Dr. Stockmann proposes the establishment of a spa in the town which is approved and the spa is launched immediately (Ibsen, 2007). The spa becomes a popular spot for local and international tourists and within a short time, it becomes one of the most profitable economic resources in the town. The success of the spa promotes growth in the town as businesses thrive, creating a lot of employment

However, Dr. Stockmann discovers that there is a strange illness afflicting people in the town. He conducts his private investigations and finds out the strange disease has been caused by the water from the spa which has been contaminated by effluent from a nearby abattoir. Dr. Stockman writes to the mayor and the town council recommending the closure of the spa so that modifications can be made to keep away the effluent from the abattoir.

The mayor does not support the recommendations made by the doctor (Ibsen, 2007). The doctor who is still concerned that the public might suffer from an epidemic should they continue using water in the spa decides to take matters into his own hands. He wants to publish his findings in a local newspaper and the editors of the newspaper give him the space and the support. Upon learning what the doctor is up to, the mayor coerces the editors and in the long run, the article is not written. The mayor writes an article instead to assure the person that is all is well at the spa.

After his most convenient avenue of informing the masses about the dangers in the spa is disrupted by the mayor, the doctor decides to hold a public meeting to inform the people of the dangers that the spa poses to him. Many people attend the meeting, including the mayor and the editors of the newspaper that had betrayed him. The people who have already read the mayor’s article in the newspaper that claimed that there is nothing wrong with the spa are not convinced by the doctor’s assertions that the spa poses a health hazard (Ibsen 2007). They boo the doctor off saying that he is a traitor who wants to bring down the economic mainstay of the town.

The doctor blames their ignorance on what he calls the inability to think independently. In a real sense, the doctor is right. He has the interests of the town at heart. He wants to save the people from a looming epidemic by giving them protective information. However, the people are myopic. They feel that the closure of the spa will deny the town a source of income and reject the doctor’s advice.

Despite the opposition that he faces from the people, the doctor stands firm without any support because he knows the truth which the majority are not ready to accept. Whoever came with the phrase that the majority is always right has been proved wrong by this scenario in the enemy of the people and Henrique Ibsen has managed to prove that the majority is always wrong.

References

Ibsen, H. 2007. An enemy of the People. Durban: Longman.

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