Facing Death
 |
| August Strindberg |
- August Strindberg (1849-1912), was a prominent Swedish writer, playwright, and painter. He was ranked one the most important authors in Sweden.
- His works fall into two major literary movements; Naturalism and Expressionism. His theatre tries to create a perfect illusion of reality through detailed sets, an unpoetic literary style that reflect the way real people speak and a style of acting that tries to recreate reality.
Setting
The setting of the play is Durand’s dining room having a long table. The door is open, so cypress trees over the tops of the churchyard are visible from the dining room. Lake Leman, with the Savoy Alps and the French bathing – resort named Evian are also seen through the door. To left is a door to the kitchen. To right is a door to inner rooms.
Central Idea of the play:
The one-act play ‘Facing Death’ written by Swedish writer August Strindberg is a dramatization of a heroic sacrifice made by a bankrupt father for the sake of his daughters. The father opts suicide to provide his daughters with insurance money. This reveals that a devoted father even can take his own life for the well-being of his daughters.
Characterization
Monsieur Durand
The main character of the play is Monsieur Durand, a tragic hero. Durand is a pension (lodge) proprietor having three daughters, formerly connected with the state railroad. He is a widower in financial ruin. He uses his house as a lodge to run his house financially. In the beginning of the play, he appears informing his daughter Adele that his chest has been bad for the last few days and that affects him to walk the steep hill. He is blamed by her daughters for wasting their dowry and not doing anything worth for their future. He brings candles for the anniversary of his dead son, Rene. Responding to Adele’s reaction for buying candles and preferring Rene in case he is alive; he reminds her of that Rene was not as his sisters are now. He hesitatingly informs Antonio who, comes for his coffee, that they are unable to continue to do business due to financial crisis. He rejects Antonio’s help and wants to end the business instantly for it doesn’t bring bread for them. Becoming the eye witness of Antonio kissing his daughter Therese, he shouts at her. But her daughter blames him mistreating the guest and challenges him to prove it. He asks her another daughter Annette, who is also an eye witness, for favour but she says that she sees nothing. He asks his daughters to keep the insurance document safe. He discloses his secret with his eldest daughter Adele about why he told lie about his birthplace. Finally, he takes poison and puts his house on fire because he wants to provide his daughters with insurance money.
Adele
Adele is Durand’s daughter of twenty-seven. She works hard in the kitchen. When the play opens, she comes from kitchen wearing apron and turned-up sleeves. Having carried a tray with coffee things, she asks her father if he has not been for the coffee-bread. She blames him for not doing anything good for the well-being of his daughters and she also blames him that he has wasted their dowry. She is not happy with her father’s act of buying candles for his brother’s death ceremony in the extreme shortage of money. She misses her dead mother while she talks to his father about the financial crisis and asks her father to borrow some money. She blames her father for leaving three daughters homeless and friendless, without anything to live on.
Annette
Durand’s one of the two youngest daughter, age twenty-four, comes well-dressed while Antonio and Therese are talking. She sees Antonio kissing her twin sister Therese but she doesn’t give her father a favour when she is asked. She is also not positive to her father. He blames father waste money on smoking. Towards the end of the play, she slightly changes her opinion about her father. Her father asks Adele to find a job for Annette as a teacher.
Therese
She is Durand’s one of two youngest daughters of twenty-four. She flirts with the guests in the lodge. She, for the first time in the play, comes carrying a rat-trap. She wears a morning negligee (a loose dressing gown) and her hair is down. She finds Antonio sitting alone and talks to him about her father whom she hates. She asks Adele for milk for cat and a piece of cheese for her rats. Adele complains her not to be appropriate before a stranger. But she says that they all are old friends. She cries and says Antonio that he is tired of her and thinking of giving up her. She is also jealous of her twin sister Annette. She says that her father is a liar and blames him for mistreating the guests. She behaves very badly to her father. She even grabs a glass of milk from her father’s hand. For her, the cat is more important than her father. She seems too unkind to her father. She is youngest and liveliest, quick for good and bad, thoughtless but weak.
Antonio
He is a lieutenant in an Italian cavalry regiment in French Switzerland in the eighties. He is one of the guests in Durand’s lodge. While he goes for his coffee, he is informed not to be served due to Durand’s bankruptcy. He immediately offers him a help but Durand rejects it. He asks Durand to let him stay for a month longer by paying in advance. He wants to extend his stay in the lodge because Therese is in relation with him. Durand finds him kissing her and attempts to shout at her but she rejects his blame. Having violent conversation with Durand, Antonio leaves the lodge paying ten francs.
Pierre
An errand boy/helper who is sent by Durand to get bread. He returns home without bread but with bills to be paid. He brings message from the baker that no more bread will be sent until he is paid. He further explains that the bills are also from the butcher and the grocer.
Plot of the play
· The play opens with the conversation between Durand and Adele. Adele asks her father whether he has been for the coffee-bread.
· He tells her that his chest has been bad for the last few days that him to walk the steep hill, so he sends Pierre for that work.
· Adele says that he must be tired for he has wasted their dowry, he is leaving three daughters unprovided, homeless and friendless – blame/shows his father’s faults for their financial ruin.
· Pierre comes back with bills but without bread. The baker sends message that he will not send any more bread until he is paid. The butcher and the grocer also send them the bills.
· Adele finds some candles in the basket. The candles are for the death anniversary of his little son, Rene.
· Adele expresses her disagreement for buying such things when there is no money for buying food items.
· Durand asks for favour to enjoy his sorrow one time a year. He says that he wants to be able to live in memory of the most beautiful thing in life ever gives him.
· Responding to irony by Adele about the dead Rene, Durand tells her that he was better than his sisters are now.
· Antonio comes for his coffee bread and Durand informs him that they are going to close the pension due to their financial crisis. He asks Antonio to leave the pension.
· Durand rejects Antonio’s offer that he is ready to pay in advance if they allow him to stay a month longer.
· Durand says that the pension doesn’t bring enough bread for them. for him, it brings only humiliations. He expresses his disgust to the two daughters’ activities like singing, dancing, wandering and flirting with the guests
· He pays an unpaid bill – Durand goes to bring coffee- bread taking that money.
· When he returns, he finds Antonio kissing Therese. There has been argument regarding this matter. Therese rejects his father’s blame and asks him to prove it. He asks another daughter named Annette who is an eye witness for favour but she says that she sees nothing.
· Durand eats even rat’s bait. Fortunately, it isn’t poisoned.
· Durand permits his daughter Therese to marry Antonio. Knowing her father has insurance policy and getting permission to marry Antonio, Therese shows little affection to father and tells him not to die.
· He informs his daughter that he has life insurance policy but he has sold it to pay off the debts. Further, he says that he has paid fire insurance and gives Adele documents.
· Durand discloses his secret about his birthplace to his daughter Adele. According to him, he was born in France and fell in love with a lady (his wife) before he reached the age of conscription (rule/order/law that compels someone to join armed force after certain age). To able to marry her, they migrated to Switzerland and naturalized there. When the last war broke out, it looked as if he was going to carry a weapon against his own country, so to save his face he has to tell a lie.
· He tells Adele another truth that her mother is responsible for their financial ruin. Her mother’s carelessness and foolish speculations wasted their paternal inheritance so completely that he had to give up his business and start that pension and their maternal inheritances had to be used in the bringing up them, children.
· He convinces Adele that what her mother told in the death-bed was not true. he didn’t say what was true because he didn’t want to make his daughters unhappy for, they had a belief that their mother was blameless.
· Durand informs his daughter Adele that he will die soon and asks her to give Therese a motherly care. For him, Therese is liveliest, quick for good and bad, thoughtless but weak.
· Durand takes poison from the glass and asks Adele to find a teaching job for Annette and to manage for her sisters. He seems to transfer his responsibilities to his eldest daughter Adele.
· A distant clanging of bells is heard; the smoke increases. Durand drops his head in his hands on the table.
· Adele notices that the house is on fire and warned her father that he would be burned down but Durand lifts his head, takes the water glass up and puts it down with a meaningful gesture.
· Again, he asks his daughter if she has got the insurance papers and tell it to Therese and Annette.
· His head falls. The bell in distances strikes again.
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
a. Where does the play take place?
The play takes place in the dining room of Durand family. There is a long table in the dining room. The door of the dining room is open. the tops of churchyard cypress trees, Lake Leman, with the Savoy Alps and the French bathing resort Evian are also seen through the open door.
b. Why do the grocery, the baker and butcher send their bills to the Durand household?
The grocery, the baker and butcher send their bills to the Durand household because Durand family haven’t paid yet due to their financial crisis. They have brought necessary food items like bread from baker, meet from butcher, and may be other food items from grocery but they have not paid their bills. The baker says he will not send any more bread until he is paid.
c. Why does Monsieur Durand spend money on candles when he doesn’t have money to buy even bread?
Monsieur Durand spends money on candles when he doesn’t have money to buy bread because the candles are for the death anniversary of his dead son, Rene. Another intention of buying candles is to set his own house on fire to help his daughters with money.
d. Why did Monsieur Durand sell his life insurance?
He sold his life insurance to pay off the debt that he had taken to run his family. He noticed someone from whom he brought money became irritable when it was due. He did not have another way out to pay off the debt.
e. Why has Monsieur Durand paid fire insurance?
Monsieur Durand has paid fire insurance to claim insurance money as compensation. He intends to set his own house on fire and make claim as per the insurance policy to help his daughters with money.
f. How did Monsieur Durand and Mrs. Durand run out of their inheritances from both the sides?
They run out of their paternal inheritance due to Mrs. Durand’s carelessness and foolish speculations and their maternal inheritance had to be used in bringing up children. Thus, Mrs. Durand is responsible for their financial ruin.
g. Why does Monsieur Durand tell a lie about his birthplace?
He tells a lie about his birthplace to save his public self image. Actually, he was born in France but he left his country to be able to marry his beloved/wife. He had to leave because fell in love before he reached the age of conscription (the practice of ordering people by law to serve in the armed force) and naturalized in Switzerland. Later on, the war broke out and he looked as if he was going to fight against his own country. This made him feel ashamed and created a false story about himself.
h. What business is Monsieur Durand running to make a living?
Monsieur Durand is running a pension or lodge to make a living. He turns his house into the pension. Monsieur Durand and his daughters (specially Adele) serve the guests and allow them live there to earn their living. But this business also is about to be closed because it doesn’t yield enough bread. According to Durand, it brings them only humiliation.
i. What plan does Monsieur Durand have to help his daughters with money?
He plans to help his daughter with money by setting his own house on fire. As per the plan, he hands over fire insurance document to his eldest daughter, tells her his every secret and he takes poison to be born to death in his own house. Finally, he sets his house on fire and ends his life along with the house to provide his daughters with insurance money.
j. How does Monsieur Durand die?
He takes poison without informing his daughter Adele. He drops his head in his hands on the table. When Adele asks what the matter is with him and tries to make him run away from the burning house he lifts his head, takes the water glass up and puts it down in the way that she knows he has taken poison. He, for the last time, asks Adele to tell Therese and Annette that she has got the fire insurance papers. Then his head falls. In this way, he performs a heroic sacrifice to help his daughters with money.
Reference to the context
a. Sketch the character of Monsieur Durand. (Please, look above at the characterization section)
b. How do you know that the Durand family has reached a dead end?
It is evident that the Durand family has reached a dead end while they do not have food to eat, and the baker does not send any more bread until he is paid. The grocery, the butcher and the baker send them the bills but they do not have money to make payment. They do not have supplies to sustain an only customer, Antonio. When they run out of coffee bread, Durand informs him that they are not able to continue their business. This suggests that he asks him to leave the pension.
Running out of their inheritances, Durand family give up their business and starts the pension to earn their living. Durand realizes that the pension doesn’t bring enough bread for them. For him, it brings only humiliations. His two daughters Therese and Antonio do not support him upgrading their conditions for they do nothing in the pension except flirting with the guests. The conversation between the father and the daughter reveals that Durand has sold his life insurance to pay off the debt and he doesn’t have any way out to borrow money.
Another important factor showing their dead end is the daughters’ attitude to their father. No one understands such a caring and devoted father like Durand in the play. They always blame him thinking that he is the one who pushes them into financial ruin. He is spiritually defeated and forced to choose suicide.
c. The mother, though already dead, seems to have had a great influence on the daughters, especially Therese.’ Do you agree?
Yes, I absolutely agree with this statement. The daughters think that their father is responsible for their bankruptcy and pushing the family to the dead end. Whenever they are in extreme difficulty and misunderstanding with their father, they instantly recall their mother and say if they have their mother alive, she will find the way to outwit the problems. Every daughter recalls her while they have argument with their father.
One similar conduct is abusing their father and failing to understand his greatness. Durand suffers his wife’s bad attitude and her offensive behaviours. She spends the inheritances on buying lottery tickets. She even threatens him working as a prostitute in case she is broke.
Therese seems to have had a great influence of her mother as she does nothing good for the family and fails to perform appropriate role to improve the situation. She flirts openly with the guest. She is found kissing with Antonio but she denies and asks her father to prove it. Annette, being an eye witness takes her sister’s side by saying she sees nothing. Adele works hard in the kitchen but blames her father for every mistake. She is also negative to her father who is praise worthy. Her opinion about her father matches with that of her mother.
d. Discus the relationship between Monsieur Durand and his wife.
The relationship between Monsieur Durand and his wife is not good. There is no balance in their relation. One can mark lack of spiritual tie between the spouse and break of gender role on the part of the wife. She spends a part of inheritance buying lottery tickets and gives sense of infidelity while she says joining prostitute to fulfill her thirst of luxurious life. She is too materialistic and irresponsible to the family.
What she has done is, fills her immature daughters’ mind with negative idea about their father. She discloses his secret of his birthplace but she never tells them the reason why he has to tell a lie to the people. She convinces her daughters that the father is responsible for the financial ruin. Even in the death bed, she teaches them that the father has done nothing worth for the family.
Durand is not only devoted but also sensible enough for the happiness of his children. He knows that his wife has taught the children a false story about their financial ruin but does not tell the truth to his daughters before he decides to commit suicide. He suffers abuse from his daughters for he doesn’t want to make them unhappy knowing their mother’s reality. He doesn’t tell anything about their mother’s role to destroy inheritances because the children believe that she is loving and caring mother and they are happy with this idea.
e. “Money determines the relationship between characters in this play.” Elaborate this statement with examples from the play.
In this play, the characters except Durand seem too materialistic. They look as if they are running after money. But they lack idea of making money. All three daughters blame their father destroying their family. They are facing the shortage of food but no creativity comes in their mind. Adele, at least, work in the kitchen but other two sisters spend time singing, dancing, wandering and flirting with the guests in the pension. They start showing their love to their father as soon as they know that their father has bought fire insurance policy. They seem to be loving their father’s money but not him.
Mrs. Durand herself seems money-minded as she spends a part of inheritances on buying lottery tickets and even shows readiness to work as a prostitute to earn money for living.
The best daughter among three is Adele who blames her father for wasting their dowry, always asks her father to borrow money or do something to earn money but never thinks of any creative way to overcome the poverty. No daughter appreciates her father’s courage and sacrifice to grow them up because they fail to understand the truth. When they know that their father has bought a fire insurance policy, they instantly change the way they treat their father. Even Therese shows his matches and says that there is his milk. She asks her father not to die. This unexpected twist in their attitude seems to be because of their father’s insurance policy.
f. Monsieur Durand kills himself so that his daughters would get 5000 francs as the compensation from the insurance company. What does his plan tell us about him?
His plan tells us that he is a tragic hero who can sacrifice his life for the well-being of his daughters. He is a devoted father who remains loving and caring despite his daughters’ hatred towards him. He plans to be born to death by setting his own house on fire to help his daughters with insurance money. To his make his suicide less painful, he takes poison first. He lives for his daughters and also kills himself for them.
He might have purchased insurance policy with the intention of setting his house on fire. His daughters’ insult might have encouraged him to make a such a suicidal plan. He is humiliated by his daughters throughout his life. They always blame him for wasting dowry, leaving three daughters unprovided, homeless and friendless. So, he might have decided to help them with money. Though he is bankrupt, he has a fire insurance policy.
This may be his plan to get compensation for his daughters.
g. Discuss Facing Death as a modern tragedy.
The term ‘tragedy’ refers to a serious play with a sad ending, especially one in which the main character dies. Thus, tragedy reveals the downfall of the protagonist. Modern tragedy is the one in which the main character is from middle class or working-class family. In other words, the main character in modern tragedy is common man who faces poverty, sacrifices for the sake of the family and faces other common problems.
Facing Death is a perfect example of modern tragedy for its main character, Durand is a common man who sacrifices his life for the well-being of his daughters. It reveals a very sad ending of the protagonist. The problem is entirely household. The tragic hero’s struggle is limited to earning bread for the family. First his wife’s carelessness causes his downfall and the second one is situation that makes him commit suicide. In this play, poverty seems to be the antagonist that causes the sad ending of the hero, Durand. He is bankrupt, grief-stricken for his son’s death, lost his wife who spends a part of inheritances on buying lottery tickets and endures three daughters’ hatred.
