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Henrik Ibsen’s play, An Enemy of the People (1882),1 is set in the nineteenth century in a Norwegian coastal town. The town has recently opened its Baths, a kind of health resort designed to attract `visitors’ and `convalescents’. The Baths are expected to bring great economic benefits to the town and enable its citizens to flourish in ways they have not previously. The protagonist of the play is Thomas Stockmann, a physician. His brother, Peter Stockmann, is the town’s mayor. Thomas and Peter jir.2012.0140 have an intense sibling rivalry, a force that is present throughout the play. Early in the play (Act I, p. 6) readers learn that they often quibble about whose idea the Baths were. Though all of the townspeople are excited about what the Baths will do for their standard of living, early on readers are alerted that Dr Stockmann may have uncovered a problem (Act I, pp. 10?1). Because some of the previous patrons had become more ill, Dr Stockmann had taken a sample of the water and requested that a local university test it. The results are back. Dr Stockmann declares that the Baths are a `cesspool’, `poisoned’ and a `serious danger to health’ (Act I, p. 18). The pipes must be re-laid in order to purify the water. Though this will be inconvenient, Dr Stockmann expects to be treated as a hero (Act I, pp. 19?0). Dr Stockmann’s expectations prove to be na�ve, howi ever. The press–represented by Hovstad, editor of thedoi: 10.1093/phe/phpPeople’s Herald, Billing, jir.2012.0140 have an intense sibling rivalry, a force that is present throughout the play. Early in the play (Act I, p. 6) readers learn that they often quibble about whose idea the Baths were. Though all of the townspeople are excited about what the Baths will do for their standard of living, early on readers are alerted that Dr Stockmann may have uncovered a problem (Act I, pp. 10?1). Because some of the previous patrons had become more ill, Dr Stockmann had taken a sample of the water and requested that a local university test it. The results are back. Dr Stockmann declares that the Baths are a `cesspool’, `poisoned’ and a `serious danger to health’ (Act I, p. 18). The pipes must be re-laid in order to purify the water. Though this will be inconvenient, Dr Stockmann expects to be treated as a hero (Act I, pp. 19?0). Dr Stockmann’s expectations prove to be na�ve, howi ever. The press–represented by Hovstad, editor of thedoi: 10.1093/phe/phpPeople’s Herald, Billing, journal.pone.0158910 a journalist, and Aslaksen, a printer–claim that they will give Dr Stockmann full support. When Mayor Stockmann questions the report’s accuracy and points out how costly it will be to relay the pipes, however, the press’s allegiance changes. Dr Stockmann becomes an object of ridicule and is eventually declared `an enemy of the people’ (Act IV, p. 85). Given how quickly the press and the townspeople turn against Dr Stockmann, and given that they do so based on little or no evidence, one suspects that this play is a critique of one aspect of democracy. Arthur Miller suggests that a central theme of the play `is the question of whether the democratic guarantees protecting political minorities ought to be set aside in times of crises’ (Miller (1950): 8). This seems correct, and such a theme gives the play much contemporary interest. But there is another theme at work that is also of consequence to contemporary readers. The three main characters in this play–Thomas Stockmann, Peter Stockmann and Thomas’s wife, Katherine–each has special obligations i.
