The Fisher Girl

by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Signe's letters followed him where he travelled, and were the thread he held by. She thought in every line to lead Petra straight to his embrace, but in reality she was doing just the opposite; for through these letters, Petra's taste for art rose up before him; the key note to her talents, which he had sought for himself in vain, Signe, without knowing it, had constantly in view,--and as soon as he understood this, he saw both his own and her mistake, and thereby became as a new man.

He watched himself narrowly in writing to Signe about that which her letters had taught him. The first word must not come from Petra's friends, but from Petra herself, that nothing should be hastened before its time. But now he also saw Petra in a new light. These moments constantly chasing one another, each one individually felt in full power, but regarded ad infinitum, opposed to each other, what could they be but the foreshadowing of an artist life? And the work must be to unite them into a complete whole; otherwise it would be only patchwork, and life itself unreal. Therefore: not too early to enter upon her career! Reticence as long as possible, yes even opposition.

Thus occupied, before he was aware of it, Petra had once more become the constant occupation of his mind, but with a DIFFERENT object. He studied art from every point of view, and especially artists, most of all, the artists of the stage. He saw much to appall a Christian, he saw the enormous abuses, but did he not see the same around him, even in the church itself? Though there were hypocritical ministers, the calling was still the same, great, eternal. If the search after truth wherever begun, gains power in life and poetry, should it not also reach the stage? Having assured himself on this point, he was glad to see from Signers letters, that Petra was developing her mind, and that Signe was the right one to help her. And now he had returned to see and thank the gentle guide, who knew not herself what she was to him.

But he had also come to see Petra again. How far had she got now? The word had been spoken, he could therefore talk freely with her about it; this was a relief to both, for thus they spoke not of the past.

In the meantime they were interrupted by guests from town, invited and uninvited! The affair was already so far advanced, that a single well employed opportunity must make all clear,--and this the guests brought with them. A large party was invited to meet them, and when after dinner, the gentlemen were together in the study, the conversation turned upon the stage; for a chaplain had seen a work on Christian ethics open upon the dean's table, and his eye had caught the appalling word: Theatre. This led to a hasty discussion, in the midst of which the dean entered; he had not been present at dinner, having been called away to a dying bed; he was very serious, and neither ate, nor took any part in the conversation; but he filled his pipe and listened. As soon as Odegaard observed this, he joined in the conversation himself, but for a long time he tried in vain to explain his views, for the chaplain had a habit of exclaiming every time a link in the chain of evidence was about to be adduced: "I deny it!" and then that which was about to be a proof, must itself be proved; consequently the matter was always going backwards; from the theatre, they had already passed to navigation, and now to get something proved in that, they were just going over to agriculture.

This was too much, so Odegaard elected himself chairman. There were several ministers present besides the chaplain, there was also a captain, a little swarthy man, with an immense abdomen, and a pair of small legs that went stumping one after the other. Odegaard called upon the chaplain to state his objections to the theatre. He began:

"Good men of even heathen times were opposed to the drama, Plato, Aristotle, because it was ruinous to morals. Socrates it is true, sometimes visited the theatre, but if any one concludes from that, that he approved of it, I deny it; one must see much of which one does not approve. The early Christians were expressly warned against the play, vide Tertullian, and since the revival of the drama in later times, earnest Christians have spoken and written against it, I name such men as Spener and Francke; I name a writer on Christian ethics, as Schwarz, I name Schleiermacher. ('Hear! hear!' cried the captain, for this name he knew.) The two latter admit dramatic representations to be allowable, and Schleiermacher even thinks that in a private company and by amateurs, a good play may be performed, but he condemns the actors on the stage. As a profession, it presents so many temptations to the Christian, that he MUST avoid it. And is it not also a temptation to the spectator? To be moved by fictitious suffering, to be elevated by a fictitious paragon of virtue, such (which in reading one can better defend oneself from,) entice us to believe, that we are ourselves what we see before us, our energy and force of will are weakened by it, it drags us down into the mere wish to see and hear, making us visionary. Is it not so? Who are the frequenters of the theatre? Idlers in search of amusement, voluptuaries who will be stimulated, vain people who wish to be seen, visionaries who flee hither to escape the actual life against which they dare not contend. Sin behind the curtain, sin before it! I have never heard sincere Christians say anything else."

The Capt.: "I am beginning to tremble for myself; if I have been in such a den of wolves each time I have attended the theatre, the devil----" "Fie captain," said a little girl who had come in with them, "you mustn't swear, or else you'll go to hell!"--"Aye my child, yes, yes."--Then Odegaard rose to speak:

"Plato raised the same objections against poetry as against the stage, and Aristotle's opinion is doubtful,--therefore I will leave them alone. The early Christians did well to abstain from the HEATHEN play,--I will also leave them alone. That earnest Christians in modern times should have their scruples about the theatre, I can well understand; I have had them myself. But if one admits that a poet has liberty to write a drama, then an actor has liberty to play it, for in writing, what other does a poet do than play it--in his thoughts, with ardour, with passion, and 'whosoever looketh after a woman to lust after her,' &c.--you know the words of Christ Himself. When Schleiermacher says, that the drama may only be played privately and by amateurs, it is the same as to assert, that the talents God has given us, shall be neglected, whereas the meaning really is, that they shall be developed to the highest possible perfection; and to this end have we received them. We are all acting every day, when we imitate others in joke or earnest. Where, in any single instance these powers outweigh all others, I really wonder if such a one ceased to cultivate them, if it would not soon be shown that THIS was sin. For he who does not follow his proper calling, becomes unfit for another, leads an unsettled wavering life,--in short becomes a far easier prey to temptation. Where work and inclination fall together, much temptation is locked out. Now if you say the calling is in itself too full of temptation, well, every one feels it differently. To ME that calling possesses the greatest temptation that dupes one to believe he is righteous himself, because he bears the commands of the Righteous,--dupes him to believe he himself is believing, because he speaks to the belief of others, or more plainly said: 'To me the ministerial calling has the greatest temptation of all.'" (Great uproar: I deny it! Yes! Silence! I deny it! It's true! Silence!) The Captain: "Well I never heard before that the pulpit was worse than the stage!" Laughter and cries from all: "No, he never said it was." Captain: "Yes, the deuce----" "No, no, captain, the devil will be coming!"--"Well, my child, well, well!" And Odegaard took up the thread:

"All the temptation of being excited in a moment, of sinking down into the mere wish to see and hear, of taking the models of virtue, and without trouble appropriating their life as ours, this verily is also present in the church!" (The same clamour again.)