Rosmersholm BD14870_.GIF (420 bytes) 1886
Rosmersholm
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From Act II

ROSMER.
Because it is happiness that gives the soul nobility, Rebecca.

REBECCA.
Do you not think suffering too? – the deepest suffering?

ROSMER.
Yes, if one can win through it – conquer it – conquer it completely.

REBECCA.
That is what you must do.

Trans. by R. Farquharson-Sharp.

 In the old official residence of Rosmersholm lives the former minister Johannes Rosmer, a radical and a free thinker. His wife Beate took her own life a few years earlier, and her companion, the young Rebekka West, continues to live in the house. The two have a special friendship and share many philosophical and political convictions. Rosmer’s brother-in-law, Headmaster Kroll, comes into open conflict with Rosmer and Rebekka when he realizes that they are getting politically active with leftist views. In this conflict the secrets of the past are gradually uncovered. At an early stage Rebekka was in love with Rosmer, and she implied to the neurotic, unhappy and childless Beate that she and Rosmer were expecting a baby. This caused Beate to commit suicide. The despairing Rosmer had to admit to having loved Rebekka the whole time, and finally they make the same choice as Beate – death by drowning in the Mill waterfall.
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