Women, Family, and Duty Theme Analysis

Chronicling Dr. Stockmann’s quest to solve an injustice in his town, An Enemy of the People examines the role of women in such crusades and asks if activism can coexist with familial duty. While Dr. Stockmann publicizes his findings about the baths without thinking about the repercussions for him or his family, other men frequently reproach him for putting his ideals above his obligation to provide for his family, assuming that his wife, Katherine, and daughter, Petra, can’t appreciate or participate in his campaign. However, not only are Katherine and Petra his staunchest supporters, they’re actually better at furthering his ideological aims and planning for ensuing backlash than he is himself. Ultimately, it’s the women who demonstrate both a sincere commitment to ideals and the ability to handle the practical consequences of living by them, thus emerging as the play’s real activists and demonstrating the supportive and influential public roles that women can occupy beyond the domestic sphere.

The constant criticism Dr. Stockmann faces for putting his ideals over his family obligations creates a false opposition between the activist and the domestic, traditionally feminine sphere. Trying to bully Dr. Stockmann out of publishing his findings, his brother Peter argues that, regardless of the veracity of his ideas, he must put them aside because if he voices an unpopular opinion he won’t be able to support his family. Similarly, at the public meeting, Hovstad says that Stockmann has failed his wife and children because his activism threatens his ability to provide for them. These men’s comments suggest that the only thing women value is economic security, and that they are incapable of appreciating or participating in an activist campaign.

In fact, the play’s women are more supportive than any of Dr. Stockmann’s professed male allies, and much better at advancing his agenda than Stockmann himself. Even though their financial security is at stake, Petra and Katherine stand by Dr. Stockmann publicly, demonstrating a commitment to his ideals much stronger than characters like Hovstad or Billing, who can provide for themselves yet quickly desert the doctor. At the public meeting, the women’s loyal and encouraging behavior contrasts with the newspapermen’s total betrayal, showing that the women are much more prepared to face the consequences of activism than these self-professed idealists.

While Dr. Stockmann undertakes his crusade with a great deal of naïveté, assuming that everyone around him will instantly understand and accept his ideas, the women display much more prudence and finesse. Understanding that Peter Stockmann feels undervalued and disrespected by his brother, Katherine quietly urges her husband to be more diplomatic with the mayor; she’s also the first to express doubt that the spa’s owners will enthusiastically accept his recommendation of expensive repairs, showing that she can be savvy and engaged in public life. Just as her mother is alert to possible problems before Dr. Stockmann, Petra discovers Hovstad and Billing’s hypocrisy long before her father does, when they ask her to translate a popular novel that conflicts with their ideals. It’s only when prodded by his wife and daughter that Dr. Stockmann actually evaluates the men in whom he’s put his trust.

As they face social exclusion and even physical attacks at the end of the play, the women’s calm efforts to uphold family life while remaining true to their ideals emerges as the most genuine display of activism. Disillusioned by the disastrous public meeting, Dr. Stockmann takes refuge in his disdain for society and the sanctity of ideals, leaving Katherine to handle the practical consequences of his actions. While he stomps around the house, looking at stones that unruly boys have thrown inside, it’s she who cleans up and finds a handyman to fix the broken windows.

In the last scene, Dr. Stockmann decides to start a school in which he will educate children to live according to his ideas of truth and individualism. His daughter Petra, who has been fired from her job as a schoolteacher, vows to help him, and he breezily tells Katherine that she’ll “have to scrimp and save” in order to run a house on whatever meager income he brings in. In this sense, the women merge their traditional duties with new roles as activists, despite the prevailing view that these spheres are inherently opposed. The women end the play as Dr. Stockmann’s partners in activism; however, it’s important to note that he includes them not out of any particularly egalitarian feelings about women, but because he can’t function without their help.

Dr. Stockmann emerges from his trials without sacrificing his ideals, but this moral victory is entirely dependent on the practical women around him, who are able to forge a life within a society that is hostile to their ideals. Through Katherine and Petra, the play challenges the idea that women and the domestic sphere have no place in activist campaigns, reminding readers that the task of learning to live by powerful ideas, though less glamorous, is even more important than simply voicing them publicly.