When We Dead Awaken - History

History

Ibsen originally named the play The Resurrection Day, after Arnold Rubek's sculpture. Newly returned to Norway, after twenty-seven years abroad, he was thrilled to be back home. The Rubeks have also been traveling away from home for some time. Though he does not specify any location names in the play, Ibsen set the final two acts at Hardangervidda.

Ibsen could not decide on a surname for his leads, pivoting between Stubow and Rambow. In the first draft, the name became Stubek on the first few pages, until he finally settled on Rubek. Although Squire Ulfheim twice refers to his hunting servant directly by name as Lars, Lars is not listed in the cast of characters. The hotel manager initially had a name, Brager, and in the original, he is an Inspector, which also means 'overseer' in Norwegian. Ibsen refers to the nun as a 'Deaconess' in the original.

Part of Rubek's artistic death is what he considers hack work doing "portrait-busts". This is another reference to Ibsen's own life, as he considered many of his later plays to be 'portrait plays' (The Master Builder, Little Eyolf, John Gabriel Borkman), which simply recycled his central message. Furthermore, Rubek characterizes his early work with Irena as a form of 'poetry', with the implication being that his later, less significant works are prose. Ibsen felt similarly, wishing that he had continued writing poetry after Peer Gynt. Irena's outfit is also a reference to one worn by Laura Kieler in her last visit to Ibsen. The author was the basis for A Doll's House, and she resented Ibsen using her life in his work, just as Irena feels violated by Rubek.

The final scene was originally much different and more restrained. Ulfheim has a bottle of champagne atop the mountain, and all four characters drink a toast to freedom. When Ulfheim and Maia descend, Irena comments that "She has awakened from life's deep, heavy sleep". After disappearing into the mists on their way to the mountain top, there is no avalanche. The nun simply appears, looking for Irena, and the sun is seen gleaming high above the clouds.