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An Enemy of the People

In this lively political comedy, DR. THOMAS STOCKMAN is impetuous, indignant, good-natured, ebullient and brave, embodying that "joy of life" invoked, but proving tragically elusive in GHOSTS. He also is naive, a little vain, loving attention, and enjoying a good fight if necessary. He is a study of the kind of man who is likely to turn into a Socratic rebel; like Socrates, a designated 'enemy of the people' in any society. He is capable of being shocked and surprised at the wickedness and folly of the world, in contrast to his more cynical opponents, such as his brother, PETER, the Mayor, or the fair-weather political friends who desert him and who adroitly adjust to corruption.

The play opens with an emphasis upon the physical: upon feasting, healthy young bodies, the good doctor ministering to sick bodies; it concludes with the emphasis shifting to the spiritual: the doctor, in his study, who now intends to become the moral teacher ministering to unhealthy minds. The means (and metaphor) of this transformation is the polluted baths. As Thomas ponders the pollution menacing his society it metamorphoses from the discovery of the bacteria swarming in the spa water, to the discovery of polluted spiritual streams feeding into human society and its culture.