August Strindberg
Summary:
This play has presented the main
character as Mr. Durand who is a former railroad employee, widower and
pensioner. Here in this play, he has been presented as a financially ruined
person. Mr. Durand is spending his life living along with his three daughters.
His three daughters are:Adele (27), Annette (24) and Therese (24 years)
The relationship between father
and three daughters is not good. They are completely bankrupt. They have been
facing a financial crisis for the last ten years. They have turned their home
into a lodge for the rest of their lives. Adele works in the kitchen and Mr.
Durand engages himself in other kinds of works such as serving guests,
cleaning, delivering and bringing food items etc.
In the lodge, Mr. Darund’s two
daughters only try to seek others’ attention. They don’t help in other tasks in
the lodge except playing, singing and flirting with the customers.
The entire Durand family has been
living and spending their lives borrowing money from others for years. The
family is dealing with financial hardships. With bills piling up, Durand is
trying to figure out how to provide for his three daughters after their
mother’s death.
Mr. Durand has to pay several
bills. He has to pay everyone like the baker, the butcher and the grocer. Their
work boy, Pierre, comes up empty-handed when he goes for
bread. Rather he brings only unpaid bills. Durand buys candles to light on the
death anniversary of his late (Zariia) son, René, who died in infancy. He still
loves him and misses him.
At their lodge, he has the only
paying guest who is Antonio (an Italian army lieutenant). Durand tells Antonio
that due to bankruptcy and lack of supplies, they can no longer house him.
Antonio offers to pay in advance and lets him stay for another month but Durand
refuses. He also says that last spring he had no guests for three months and
finally an American family came and helped him. When Durand goes for a
coffee-bread, Therese flirts with guest Antonio and they kiss.
Durand is quite surprised to see
them kissing when he appears at the door. Enraged, he angrily drives Antonio
away from his house. He also throws away the money given by him. Therese and
Annette are unhappy to see their father’s act. They want the guest (Antonio) to
be there. Both girls misbehave with their father. They even snatch the glass of
milk from him as he could not bring bread. In compulsion, they make him drink
only a glass of water. As he prepares to light his bribery pipe, Therese
snatches the match.
Mr. Durand is hungry for a long
time and eats rats’ feed too. But he luckily survives because it isn’t
poisonous. All his three daughters accuse him of spoiling the condition of the
house. They claim that if mother had been alive, the condition of the house
would not have deteriorated. When their mother was alive, she did not have a
good relationship with their father Durand. The daughters seem to take the
mother’s side and only blame the father. Actually, their mother used to waste
money in the lottery. Most of the time she was scolded. She was threatened that
she would work as a prostitute.
When the wind blows, Mr. Durand
tells his daughters to put out the stove fire and take care of the insurance
documents properly. He also says that he is going to bring money from insurance
for them. Now the daughters start behaving well with him. Seeing Therese’s
unhappiness, he allows her to marry Lieutenant Antonio if he truly loves her.
Hearing this, Therese is now overjoyed and returns the match to him.
He calls his eldest daughter
Adele and asks if there are candles. He tells Adele to hide documents from a
fire insurance policy and begins to reveal the secrets he has kept inside his
heart. He was born in France. He had fallen in love with a woman even before the
age of recruitment. In order to be able to marry, they came to Switzerland and
obtained native citizenship. During the final war, he joined the Swiss Army and
fought against the French army. It means that he took up arms against his own
country. To hide that shame, he lies that he was born in Switzerland.
He also states that due to his
mother’s carelessness and foolish speculations, he lost the ancestral property
and the maternal property. In this way, they ran out of their inheritance.
While his wife was alive, she
taught the children to hate their father Durand. She made them obey herself.
Most of the time, she blamed her husband and became successful to make the
children against their father. After her death, Mr. Durand remained silent all
his life because he did not want his daughters to doubt their mother’s
goodness.
Mr. Durand suggests Adele take
maternal care of her sisters. He suggests finding a teacher’s place for
youngest daughter Annette so that she can be in good company and keep insurance
documents properly. In the end, he drinks the poison from the glass and the
house is seen burning. Thus Durand sets the house on fire and poisoned himself
so that his daughters could receive 5000 francs as compensation from the fire
insurance.
Understanding
the text
Answer the following questions.
A.
Where does the play take place?
The play takes place in Monsieur Durand’s dining room. He
lives there with his three daughters as the owner of a boarding house, widower
and former railroad worker.
B.
Why do the grocery, the baker and the
butcher send their bills to the Durand household?
As Durand hasn’t paid their bills for a long time, the
grocery, the baker and the butcher send their bills to Durand’s household. As a
consequence, they couldn’t provide any further items until the bills were paid.
C.
Why does Monsieur Duran spend money on candles
when he doesn’t have money to buy even bread?
As a strange scenario, Monsieur Durand spends money on
candles when he doesn’t have money to buy even bread. This is because he wishes
to burn the candles on the death anniversary of his late loving son, Rene, who
died in his childhood. From the death of his son, Durand was heartbroken.
D.
Why did Monsieur Duran sell his life
insurance?
Monsieur sold his life insurance to pay off the loan to his
debtor. He was in the worst condition and the debtor was furious with him for
not paying his money.
E.
Why has Monsieur Duran paid fire
insurance?
He wants to compensate for his daughter’s financial
difficulties.
Thus, to file compensation he has paid fire insurance. He
wants to burn down his own house and claim compensation, with the proceeds
going to his daughters.
F.
How did Monsieur Duran and Mrs. Duran run
out of their inheritances from both the sides?
Monsieur Durand and Mrs. Duran ran out of their inheritances
from both sides due to recklessness and stupid speculation of Mrs. Duran. Both
of them lost their parental and maternal assets.
G.
Why does Monsieur Duran tell a lie about
his birthplace?
Monsieur Durand tells a lie about his birthplace because he
used to love a woman before his marriageable age. To marry that lady, he left
his hometown and migrated to Switzerland. He tells a lie to protect his and his
wife’s reputation. Also, he had fought against his homeland from the side of
Switzerland. So, he wanted to mask his humiliation. Therefore, he tells a lie.
H.
What business is Monsieur Duran running
to make a living?
Monsieur is running a lodge to make a living. He turned his
house into a lodge and restaurant. His visitors may stay with him there. He
made it like such a hotel with a good facility to earn money.
I.
What plan does Monsieur Duran have to
help his daughters with money?
Monsieur Durand plans to burn his house and commit suicide
to help his daughters with money, which will come as compensation for burning.
He paid for fire insurance to claim compensation after he will burn his own
home. He wishes to give his life for the sake of his daughters.
J.
How does Monsieur Duran die?
Monsieur Durand dies by committing suicide. He drinks poison
and sets his own house on fire at the end of the play. The motto behind this
was to help his daughters with money which will come as compensation for fire
insurance policy which he had paid earlier.
Reference
to the context
a.
Sketch the character of Monsieur Duran.
Monsieur Durand is the leading character of the one-act play
‘Facing Death’ written by August Strindberg. In this play, he is portrayed as a
widower, the owner of the lodge and a former railway worker. He is financially
weak and he has three daughters. They all live in the lodge. He has turned his
living house into a lodge to make a living. In this play, Durand is a loving,
caring and protective father who has a fragile relationship with his daughters.
Due to bankruptcy, his living is being hard. He isn’t even receiving love from
his daughters as they always despise him and blame him. But it is shown in the
play that despite the hatred and dislike of his daughters, he gave his life for
the sake of his daughters. Also, he is a devoted husband and keeps worrying
about his dead son. He is a sad hero who deals with financial hardships before
tragically giving his life for the sake of his daughters.
b.
How do we know that the Duran family has
reached a dead end?
By watching the sequence of his downfall and his miserable
condition, we know that the Durand family has reached a dead end. Mr. Durand’s
family is completely bankrupt and is spending their life in the lodge, which he
turned into his own house to make a living. They already have lost ancestral
property.
Mr. Durand’s household has been borrowing money from others
for years so he is full of debt. There are bills in his name and he is unable
to pay those bills. His condition is going worse and he has nothing to do. His
daughters hat him and blame him all the town for that miserable condition
though it was because of their mother’s recklessness and stupid speculation.
His family is dying of hunger and starvation. His
relationship with his daughters is not good. His debtors are forcing him to pay
their bills whereas Durand is surviving by eating rat food. And in his mind, he
has a plan to kill himself and burn his house. By this sequence of action, we
know that the Durand family has reached a dead end.
c.
‘The mother, though already dead, seems
to have had a great influence on the daughters, especially Theresa.’ Do you
agree?
Yes, I must agree with this sentence as the mother, though
already dead, had a great influence on the daughters, especially Theresa. When
she was alive she used to teach the hate towards their father. She forcefully
made them obey her. Most of the time she blamed her husband and taught the same
to the daughters.
After the death, Mr. Durand remained silent all his life
because he didn’t want his daughters to question their mother’s goodness. But
due to their mother’s teaching, his daughters keep hating him. They thought and
blamed their father that he was the root of their financial hardships.
And especially Theresa, the most influenced by her mother is
the one who always showed rude behaviour to the father. She threw the matches
away when he tried to burn tobacco. Similarly, she snatches the glass of milk
from him. She was cruel towards the father and never showed respect and love.
d.
Discuss the relationship between Monsieur
Duran and his wife.
Monsieur Durand and his wife don’t have a sound
relationship. Mrs. Durand always used to blame her husband even though she had
wrecked the familial property herself. Due to her rash gambling and stupid
speculation, she ruined the inherited property. She used to misuse money on
lottery tickets from the family budget. She threatened her husband with
becoming a prostitute for money after being beaten. She taught all her
daughters to hate their father and load them with negativity. She played the
main role in diverting her daughter’s mindset against their father.
e.
‘Money determines the relationship
between characters in this play.’ Elaborate this statement with examples from
the play.
‘Money determines the relationship between characters in
this play.’ This sentence is so truthful in this play. In the play ‘facing
death’, money is highlighted as the main asset and set up was made accordingly.
It is shown that money is very important in the life of Monsieur and his
daughters. Money is the cause behind all difficulties and issues among his
family. Mr. Durand’s family’s financial difficulties have led the entire family
to live a miserable existence. There was a lack of many vital requirements in
his
death of dad hero Monsieur Durand. Modern tragedy, since
used from the twentieth century, deals with various real problems rather than
being obsessed with ideology. It deals with socio-economic conditions, mental
health or destruction, common problems of people. The two main factors of
modern tragedy are realism and naturalism.
The common man of modern society is the protagonist of
modern tragedy. Anyway, it deals with the individual problems of a common man
like family problems, financial problems, and sociocultural problems to mental
problems like loneliness and depression. The character becomes the victim of
these problems and deals with hatred all around them.
The socio-cultural problems, fate, economic class, gender
and loneliness around them embrace the character. Thus, we can say facing death
is a modern tragedy as these all characters match with the protagonist of the
play.
Mr. Durand is a common man and his life is full of crises.
He has suffered through financial hardships and starvation. His relationship
with his wife and daughters is not smooth even though he loves them very much.
All of his daughters hate him. He doesn’t have money to buy even bread and he
had to turn his house into a lodge to make a living. And at the end, he kills
him with poison and even burns his own house for the welfare of his daughters.
This sequence of the downfall of Mr. Durand demonstrates facing death as a
modern tragedy.
family. The relationship between husband and wife and
between father and daughters have become worse due to lack of money. The family
faced starvation. Due to their poor economic condition, they were even unable
to purchase bread. In the play, it is portrayed as Mr. Durand is eating rat
food. Because of no money, he is unable to provide necessities for his
daughters.
Even more, the lack of money brought hatred to the girls
against the father. Due to their economic downturn, they are compelled to turn
their house into a lodge. The characters’ connection is being determined by
money. The baker, the grocery and the butcher are refusing to provide him with
items. Most of the time, his daughter blamed him and showed impolite behaviour
toward him. Thus the protagonist had been through a lot due to lack of money.
f.
Monsieur Duran 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?
Monsieur Duran killed himself so that his daughters would
get 5000 francs as compensation from the insurance company. This plan of his
tells us about their love, care and concern toward his daughter.
Mr Durand is a sad hero of the play who lives his life in
tragedy, hatred and starvation. in the play ‘facing death, it is shown that he
commits suicide by consuming poison and setting his house on fire to obtain
compensation from the fire insurance company which will help his daughter’s
financial condition. he spends his whole life in economic hardship and
downturns. As a result of the economic crisis, he has always been blamed by his
wife and his daughters. His plan for his daughters’ well-being illustrates that
he is a loving, caring and kind father who is serious and concerned about his
daughter’s future.
g.
Discuss Facing Death as a modern tragedy.
Modern tragedy generally refers to the oppression of the
hero. It deals with the tragic events of society rather than fortune or fame.
It came with a sad ending and shows the downfall of the hero. The play ‘facing
death’ is a modern tragedy as it ends with the tragic
Reference
beyond the text
a.
Write a few paragraphs describing the
role of the father in the family.
While both parents are equally important, a father is an
instrumental and key figure in the modern family. This is because he is the
head of the family. Other tasks and roles performed by a father are unique and
defined based on the cultural background of the community that he comes from.
However, from culture to culture, the fundamental tasks that are required of
manhood are basically the same.
A father should always be there for his wife and children to
provide the much-needed love and support. Showering them with lots of cash does
not necessarily indicate love and support. He should be ready to give them an
ear, comfort them and spend quality time as well as quantity time with them.
This is crucial in creating an emotional tie, a prerequisite for a strong and
healthy family relationship.
A father figure can significantly influence the life and
wellbeing of their child. In families where the father figure is present, the
father serves as one of the first male role models and male relationships the
child will encounter. Children are extremely sensitive and observant beings and
internalize relational experiences. These early interactions with their father
serve as a blueprint for what a relationship with a man looks like and impacts
both the father-son relationship and the father-daughter relationship. This
means that unhealthy relationships with a father figure can significantly
impact not only the child’s psychological wellbeing but their unconscious
relational choices as they become adults.
The father, therefore, plays the role of loving and
supporting his spouse and offspring.