Plato and Ibsen

After reading some of Ibsen’s plays and participating in class discussions on others, it seems that Plato largely influenced the playwright. 

Part I.  The Master Builder

The idea of castles in the air raised by Ibsen in The Master Builder is similar to the Platonic distinction amongst forms and things in the world.  Hilda desires for Soleness to build, “the absolute loveliest thing in the whole world” which is later named castle in the air (Ibsen 412).  Hilda additionally explains the ease of building and promises that it will provide a hiding place.  However, these lovely constructions seem foundationless, which ultimately lead to the destruction of Soleness.

Plato’s intelligible world is one that is imperfect yet accessible.  However, while there are things in the world that seem beautiful, big, or round, they are so because they participate in the form of the Beauty, Bigness, or Roundness.  In his dialogue, The Phaedo, he explains:

“I no longer understand or recognize those other sophisticated causes, and if someone tells me that a thing is beautiful because it has a bright color or shape or any such thing, I ignore these other reasons- for all these confuse me- but I simply, naively, and perhaps foolishly cling to this, that nothing else makes it beautiful other than the presence of, or the sharing in, or however you may describe its relationship to that Beautiful we mentioned, for I will not insist on the precise nature of the relationship, but that all beautiful things are beautiful by the Beautiful” (Phaedo 100d1-12).

            This world of forms is unreachable, however, things in the real world may participate in them. The Phaedo says forms are unchangeable (78c10-d9), intelligible, not perceptible (79a1-5), divine (80a3, b1), and causes of being (100c).  While it is difficult to understand the exact relationship between the intelligible objects and the forms they partake in, Plato claims it is a type of participation through abstraction.  These forms should guide our morality and lead us to understand the imperfections of the intelligible world. 

Furthermore, forms are objects of anamnesis (the loss of forgetfulness); a sort of answer to the sophistic paradox found in The Meno:

“Meno:  How will you look for it, Socrates, when you do not know at all what it is?  How will you aim to search for something you do not know at all?  If you should meet with it, how will you know that this is the thing that you did not know?

Socrates:  I know what you want to say, Meno.  Do you realize what a debater’s argument you are bringing up, that a man cannot search either for what he knows or for what he does not know?  He cannot search for what he knows- since he knows it, there is no need to search- nor for what he does not know, for he does not know what to look for” (Meno 80d4-7-e1-5). 

 Because knowledge for Plato is a priori and not empirical, forms are recollectable truths.  This genuine knowledge lies outside of bodily experience and inside the soul, and differs from true belief in that it is knowable truth because of its origin.  From here, Plato’s case begins to stray from commonplace logical argumentation; however, many of the aforementioned tenants are seen in The Master Builder. 

One thing to note is the fact that Soleness is a self-taught master builder.  This may somehow relate to Platonic anamnesis, especially in terms of the type of knowledge that Plato describes in The Meno (see Dustin’s blog, “On the Varieties of Truth” that explains Socrates’ instruction of the Slave Boy). 

Secondly, the concept of castles in the air is a sort of materialization of forms in the text- those goals and ideas that are impossible to reach; yet we strive to embody or achieve them anyways.  Soleness, however, was mesmerized by these false hopes, so that instead of providing an ethical framework to strive towards, his desire to build castles in the air became an all-encompassing passion that killed him in the end.

Thirdly, Hilda’s existence in the intelligible world is questioned.  It seems that she may be a sort of second half to Soleness who expresses his pent-up desires.  If we take this idea seriously, perhaps Hilda represents Soleness’ actual soul (his psyche), which has access to the form world.  This may be the reason why she desires Soleness (who may be representative of the material body) to reach it.