Facts

The Lady from the Sea

The Lady from the Sea was written in Munich in 1888. The earliest extant draft is dated June 5th 1888, but as usual Ibsen had been thinking about the subject for some time. A number of elements derive from his stay in Molde in the summer of 1885. It is assumed that Ibsen not only used Molde as his model for the little "town by a fjord in the northern part of Norway" where the action takes place; he was also said to have heard two legends there that made an impression on him, and which he used in the play. One of them told of a Norwegian of Finnish stock whose magically compelling eyes lured a parson's wife away from her husband and home. The other one told of a seaman who had been away from home so long that he was thought to be dead, until he suddenly appeared and found his wife married to another man.

In 1886 Ibsen had written Rosmersholm. In the summer following its publication he was in North Jutland in Denmark, where he spent six weeks from mid-July until the end of August 1887 in Sæby on the east coast of the peninsula. It was there he collected material and found inspiration for The Lady from the Sea and – not least – enjoyed being near the open sea.

The sea was intended to be the central motif of the play right from the start. In his first notes for the play, dated June 5th 1888, Ibsen writes:

"The lure of the sea. Longing for the sea. People's affinity to the sea. Tied to the sea. Dependent on the sea. Compulsion to return to it. A species of fish forming a prototype in the development of species. Are there still rudiments of this in the human mind? In the mind of some individuals?
The images of the turmoil of life in the sea and of «what is eternally lost».
The sea has power over moods, has its own willpower. The sea can hypnotize. Nature can in general. The great secret is the dependency of the human will on «what is without willpower».
She has come from the sea, where her father's parsonage lay. Grew up out there – by the free, open sea. Became secretly betrothed to the irresponsible young mate – an expelled sea-cadet – , who spent the winter ashore in an outlying harbour on account of a shipwreck. Had to break off the relationship in accordance with her father's wishes.

The first fully worked-out version is entitled "The Mermaid", and is dated as follows:

Ibsen then made a number of changes, deletions and additions. Dates in the manuscript of the first draft show that the second act was completed in a new version on August 18th. Two days later he began the third act, and on August 31st he began the fourth act. We do not know exactly when the new draft was finished and work on the fair copy started, but this was sent to Jacob Hegel from Munich on September 25th 1888.

First edition
The Lady from the Sea came out on November 28 th 1888 at Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag (F. Hegel & Søn) in Copenhagen and Christiania in an edition of 10 000 copies. On December 27th 1887 Ibsen's friend and publisher for 22 years, Frederik Hegel, had died. His son Jacob Hegel was ready to take over, and thus was the publisher of The Lady from the Sea.

The book had a mixed reception. In general the reviewers were more positive than in the case of the previous play, Rosmersholm, most of all, probably, because of the play's optimistic ending. But the only reviewers who were wholly enthusiastic were Edvard Brandes in Politiken and J. A. Runstrøm in the Swedish Ny Illustrerad Tidning.

First performance
The Lady from the Sea was first staged on February 12th 1889 in two places: at Hoftheater in Weimar and at Christiania Theater. The latter production was directed by Bjørn Bjørnson, and the parts of Dr. Wangel and Ellida were played by Sigvard and Laura Gundersen. According to a congratulatory telegram to Ibsen this production was received with "very great acclamation", and it had 26 performances in less than two years.

The play was then produced at Det Kongelige (Royal) Teater in Copenhagen (first night February 17th), the Finnish theatre in Helsingfors (February 22nd) and Kungliga (Royal) Dramatiska Teatern in Stockholm (first night in March).

By Jens-Morten Hanssen / ibsen.net