Donna Inger eroina del tragico moderno. Una lettura di Ibsen attraverso Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard’s essay "The Tragic in Ancient Drama Reflected in the Tragic in Modern Drama" (in "Either/Or" I) is here used in its heuristic potential for deeper understanding of Ibsen’s "Lady Inger of Østråt", with special attention to the representation of the protagonist. The ancient substantial determinants, state, family and fate, are clearly recognisable in the play, but the dramatic interest is concentrated on Inger’s self-reflected inner conflict, resulting from her colliding duties as both a political leader and a mother of a secret natural son in life danger. This double role connects her to two opposed dimensions, which also correlate with the male and female spheres, and founds the relativity of her behaviour between good and evil, thus giving her the complexity typical of a modern tragic character. She endures her anxiety in secret and solitude for a long time, until a solution seems available. But then, she is led by her ambition to try to obtain personal power through murder, and her renewed inner trouble, already before knowing that the victim is her very son, makes clear that no reconciliation is actually possible.