Ethical Choice Of Mother In Ibsen’s Drama

Henrik Ibsen is known as the "father of modern drama", enjoying a high reputation in the history of world drama. He consciously shoulders social responsibility and condemns the social unhealthy tendencies as his life mission. His plays boldly reveal social malpractices and bluntly state ethical and moral issues that permeate society. In the plays of Lady Inger, Brand, Ghosts and Little Eyolf, he shapes four adorable, abominable and pathetic mothers by creating the characters, behavior and motives of mothers in his dramas. Applying the method of ethical literary criticism, this paper mainly probes into the sentiment of these four mothers, the ways of their feeling expression, and the choices of them based on their sentiment. Besides, the paper aims to present the deep conflicts of human nature by interpreting choices of these mothers on account of the ethical consciousness, ethical identity, and the combination and modification of Sphinx factor in the behavioral process of these mothers. Then, the interpretation of the significant importance of mother in children’s life enlightens mothers in contemporary society.The current paper is divided into three parts. The first chapter mainly analyses the sentiment of mothers, trimming mother’s emotional skeleton from three dimensions of natural, ethical and rational sentiment of mother and highlighting the gradually increased human factor of mother in the ethical choice and the process of rationality controlling irrationality. Through the analysis of these three kinds of mother’ sentiment, it could understand mother’s love for her offspring and set the foundation for discussion of mother’s choices in later plot. The second chapter mainly pays attention to discuss the expression of mother’s sentiment in dramas. As to the natural emotion, it emphasizes from ethical context, ethical identity and rational will these three perspectives to analyze mother’s natural emotional conversion and expression. During the analysis of the expression of ethical emotion, it probes into the contrast and conflict between motherhood and lust, taboo and responsibility to present motherhood on the ethical basis. In the expression of rational emotion, it mainly analyses the ethical identity and consciousness of mother which can inspire and guide mother rational will. The third chapter focuses on the ethical choice of mother. The special ethical identity of mother requires mother appropriately handle with ethical conflicts. The mother emotion and its expression would be summed as the choices of mother. Ethical choice is the best way to express her love to children. Each choice of mother is connected with the fate of her progeny. The ethical choice of mother includes three types:rational choice, irrational choice and ethical dilemma.Based on the research above, this present paper tries to prove that the ethical choice of mother has a decisive influence on the growth of her children. The life security and fate of children are affected by every mother choices which range from mother’s marriage to the process of mother’s nurture of her children. The degree of self-identity recognition of mother and the degree of implementation of this ethical identity are significant important for the growth of children. The ethical choice which is accord with mother’s identity can facilitate children’s growth, while the improper ethical choice could cause a tragic end for the mother and her offspring. Through these mothers’ tragic life, Henrik Ibsen wants to tell us that every mother should take responsibility for her each ethical choice and her children.