An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen

(from Four Great Plays by Henrik Ibsen, pp. 129-215)

Website with helpful links: www.jlc.net/~rwright/pages/plays.html

Act I

1. What do Hovstad and Mayor Stockmann discuss?

2. What does Mayor Stockmann accuse Dr. Stockmann of?

3. What does Dr. Stockmann receive?

4. What does Morten say he wouldn’t mind being?

5. According to Petra, what are the teachers at school forced to teach?

6. What does Dr. Stockmann tell Hovstad and Billing about?

7. What does everyone agree that Dr. Stockmann will be regarded as?

Act II

1. Why is Morten Kiil pleased with Dr. Stockmann?

2. Why does Hovstad insist on publicizing the information about the Baths?

3. How does Aslaksen insist they procede regarding the article? (pp. 151-153)

Why? How are he and Hovstad different?

Dr. Stockmann says they can print the report if___? (p. 154, top)

4. What information about the situation does Mayor Stockmann present to Dr. Stockmann?

5. What is Dr. Stockmann’s response to Mayor Stockmann’s wanting to hush up the situation at the Baths? (p. 157)

6. What does Mayor Stockmann insist that Dr. Stockmann do now? (p. 159)

7. What threat does Mayor Stockmann make to Dr. Stockmann? (pp. 160-161)

8. What does Dr. Stockmann look at that lets him know he cannot do what Mayor Stockmann wants?

What does Dr. Stockmann say?

Act III

1. What will Hovstad and Billing do with the conflict between Dr. Stockmann and Mayor Stockmann?

2. On p. 166, what does Dr. Stockmann say people have tried to do to him today?

3. What does Aslaksen say about local authorities? Why is he “timid” with them, but not with state or local government authorities?

4. Why do Billing and Hovstad need Aslaksen? (p. 169)

5. What kind of articles do Hovstad and Billing have in the paper even though they know it’s wrong to have them there?

What are they hoping to accomplish by doing this? In your opinion, is this a good idea? Explain.

6. How does Petra come to feel towards Hovstad? Why? What does she vow?

7. What does Mayor Stockmann persuade Hovstad and Aslaksen to believe? (pp. 174-175)

8. What accusation does Hovstad throw at Dr. Stockmann? (p. 179)

9. According to Aslaksen, what controls the newspaper? (p. 179)

10. What does Hovstad agree to publish? What is this article taking the place of? (pp. 179-180)

11. Will Katherine stand by her husband?

Review Questions:

1. Mayor Stockmann states that the public has no need of new ideas and is better off without them.

a) Give your opinion of this statement. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

b) Give some modern-day examples of some “ideas” that certain people believe others are “better off without.”

2. At the end of Act III, Dr. Stockmann has decided that he’ll go ahead on his own with his claims about the Baths. This will mean the loss of his job. Do you think Dr. Stockmann’s decision is a wise one? What are the advantages to it? Do these outweigh the probable loss of his job? Explain!

Act IV

1. Why does the public believe that Dr. Stockmann is wrong?

2. What isn’t Dr. Stockmann allowed to speak about? (p. 185)

3. What does Dr. Stockmann say in his a long, rambling speech about the majority versus the “intellectually superior” people? (pp. 190-192)

Do you agree with him? Explain.

4. What is Dr. Stockmann declared after he says that he would rather see the town ruined than base its existence on lies? (p. 195)

5. Where does Dr. Stockmann plan what way does Dr. Stockmann tell Mayor Stockmann that “a free man has no right” to behave? (p. 205)

7. What does Mayor Stockmann accuse Dr. Stockmann of to discredit him?

8. What does Morten Kiil try to force Dr. Stockmann to do?

9. What motivates Hovstad and Billing to offer their support?

10. What does Dr. Stockmann send out?

11. What are Dr. Stockmann’s plans now?

12. According to Dr. Stockmann, who is “the strongest man in the world” ?

What characters from other works that we have read would qualify under this definition?