Ibsen's Truth, Family Secrets, and Family Therapy

Abstract

In certain Ibsen plays a character (would-be family therapist) enters during a crisis revolving around family secrets. Taking two such plays as models, this paper examines family processes and clinical issues surrounding secrets and myths. In Ghosts, Ibsen demonstrates the tragic foreclosure visited upon the Alvings' lives by a generation of secrecy. For contrast, in The Wild Duck the would-be reformer Gregers brings out the truth, to expose and correct consequences of his father's past machinations. The biographical roots of Ibsen's obsession with truth and illusion are explored. Lastly, the notion that Ibsen and early family therapist were reformers is viewed in historical perspective.