Ethical Dilemma And Freedom Crisis

The Warriors at Helgeland is a important work in Henrik Ibsen's early romantic dramas, in this play, Ibsen creates a Tragedy women Hjordis. This thesis mainly probes into the problem that how dose Hjordis'tragedy present and what produces her tragic life, using the method of ethical literary criticism. This thesis is dived into four chapters. The first two chapters mainly discuss Hjordis'dilemma between two different ethics. The last two chapters analyses Hjordis' seeking for "freedom" and her final failures. After the analysis of Hjordis'ethical choose and freedom pursuit, I consider that her tragedy comes form two deep ethical reasons, first, she has to struggle between two different ethics. on the surface, Hjordis has some Nixe's characteristics, such as:yearning for freedom and sea, being magical and Anti-tradition, but, infact, she can't Brought out of gender bondage. In Hjordis'words and behaviors, we can find that she is a practitioner of traditional morality. This contradiction makes the failure of Hjordis'reform. Second, Hjordis tries her best to avoid own marriage to get her "freedom", not scruple to abandon the responsibilities and obligations of a mother and wife. This behavior will not lead her to the real freedom, because Ibsen's freedom is not related to the power and status, but to the responsibilities and obligations. Falling into the ethical dilemma and being incapable to get out makes Hjordis walking to destroy. Her blinding chase and irrational attitude to a freedom make herself trapped in a freedom crisis which we can find from other women in Ibsen's plays, such as Rebecca and Hedda. Ibsen used to make "women" to be pioneers of "freedom" and "reform" in his dramas and in this drama, Ibsen apply a social problem that how women built a real equal social norms or chase their ideal life in a male society, not be Superficial or excessive.