Gradual or drastic measures essay

The hopes of the citizens remains shattered and hence my conviction that the earth would be far much better without a government holding on to an industrial economy. To discuss this view I will closely refer to the theme of moral decay in Henrik Ibsen’s play, An Enemy of the People and In An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, Dr. Stockmann, a member of the Baths committee, discovers that the Baths are polluted. He refers to the Baths as “cesspool,” “poisoned,” and “a sombre hazard to health” (Act I, p. He hence advocates an urgent remedy to the situation. This information makes the media people betray Thomas despite their earlier promise to publish his report. We see here that the media personalities, whose obligation is to expose the rot in the society, beat a hasty retreat to protect their interests as individuals.

They do not care about the welfare of the visitors who will use the contaminated water. This is the highest form of moral decay in the media. Peter further tries to cripple Thomas’ effort and take away expertise power from him by telling him that the matter is not only a scientific one but, “it is a mixture of both the technical and pecuniary factors” (Act II, p. 41 when he asks Thomas, “Did you never contemplate what concerns this might have for you individually?” “For you and your family?”All this is in an effort to protect his position as a mayor of the town by covering up his failures. Peter, therefore, proposes that Thomas must publicly denounce the rumours about the condition of the Baths (Act II, P.

He says the baths must not be shut down so as to spare the economic welfare of the town. He suggests gradual approach to the matter, and by adopting this approach, only some visitors will be affected as they gradually deal with the situation. Other than the media, and the Mayor, we also see Katherine, Thomas’ wife, proposing the same approach out of her own self interest. They have resigned to the idea that they cannot change anything rather than accept things as they are. Thomas has therefore to agree to what the Mayor suggests for the sake of the welfare of the family. Mortein Kiil, Thomas’ father-in- law is also one of the characters who are morally decayed; the spillage from his tanneries is the source of the pollution of the baths.

He cannot therefore imagine the reputation of his tanneries being dragged into this mess. He hence tells Thomas to be quiet about the matter and goes ahead to say that he has used the inheritance meant for Katherine and her sons to buy shares from the Baths. He proposes the repair of the Baths which is process rather than have the Baths completely shut down and have the conduit pipes re-laid. The above view is clearly brought out in the conversation between two characters Bunnista and Bananabelle. Bunnista is a revolutionary animal character who rescues animals from research facilities. Bananabelle asks Bunnista if he is aware that if he recycled a single aluminium container he could save enough energy to power a television set for three hours.