Ibsen Journal 2 (Com)

A dramatist often creates a gap between what the audience knows and what the characters know. With reference to at least two plays, discuss how and to what effect dramatists have used this technique.

The dramatists: Sophocles and Ibsen, both create a gap between what the audience knows and what the characters know through their own techniques.

In Oedipus, Sophocles is very obvious in his dramatic irony. By saying, "A dramatist often creates a gap between what the audience knows and what the characters know" it is very blatantly referring to dramatic irony. Sophocles does this in the sense that he structures his play knowing that the audience/reader already knows the outcome of the story. Because of this knowledge and awareness of the audience/reader, it leaves Sophocles (the dramatist) with the challenge of creatively unfolding the story in a way that the reader/audience cannot always anticipate or in a way that reader/audience can be drawn in. Because the gap is already there, Sophocles reinforces the gap to widen by emphasizing and making obvious the dramatic irony. He makes statements that are so blatant yet off the radar that if a person who did not know of the story previously, the person would have just glanced over that portion of the reading. The effect of this is it brings more attention and focus on (not necessarily the plot or storyline, but) the significance, attitudes and reasons for particular scenes or characters.

In The Wild Duck, Ibsen also creates this gap between what the audience knows and what the character knows. He does this through his creation of an illusionary world. By illusionary world, it is meant that Gregers finds himself blind to the realities around him; the same goes for other characters as well. Gregers especially in the scenes where he has "claims of the ideal", and where he would like a life based on truth, yet we as the audience knows that the people (given their particular situations) often create these illusions to give purpose and meaning to their lives. As the audience, we know and understand (and can think objectively) about the situation (that is their particular lives). The effect is that it gives us a better understanding of the characters themselves. As well as an instight into what Ibsen may personally have on topics such as a person's purpose/meaning in life or what people do to sustaint themselves during their lives.