Ibsen’s female characters voiced a matriarchal alternative that reality nullified.

Evidence

The one exception, Lowenthal admitted, might be seen in Ibsen’s female characterizations. Here, he argued, were echoes of the matriarchal alternative Fromm had discussed in the Zeiischrift. “The clash between the self-seeking world of men and the love and humanity represented by women is crucial in Ibsen’s dramas.” 105 Female egotism as it was depicted by Ibsen expressed a legitimate demand for material happiness, unlike the empty idealism of many of his male characters. Yet the reality of feminine existence in the late nineteenth century, which Ibsen’s plays also showed, betrayed the principles his female characters espoused. Their negation of the prevailing reality remained entirely without consequence. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 451

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Fromm’s matriarchal-theory work in the Institute’s early years, a thread the reader should track across the history.