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Effects of Realism in Literature and Art

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Two significant time periods in literature and art were the periods of Romanticism and Realism. Before Realism was really brought into literature, Romanticism was the style of choice. Authors of the Romanticism phase generally depicted their characters as heartfelt and full of intuition. These characters were most often known to follow their own hearts instead of their logic. Authors were responsible for building characters who “placed greater emphasis on the value of intuition and imagination than on objective reason” (Keenan.)
After the phase of Romanticism, Realism came into play. Realism really became an active movement in literature in the mid-nineteenth century, during a period of revolution and innovation in Europe (Maier). …show more content…

He wrote during the nineteenth century, however his works continue to be studied in literature and humanities classes around the world. Henrik Ibsen was one who was viewed as neutral regarding many topics, or that is how it is seen through his work. The truth of the matter is that Henrik Ibsen had strong opinions that he often times would shine a brief light on in his works. However, more times than not Henrik Ibsen did ultimately disagree with the majority of the public. It has been said that Ibsen believed “the majority is always wrong” (Dickinson).
Over Ibsen’s career, his works made a transition between three different phases that represent the Realism topic as a whole; the first phase being more of the Romanticism genre. It was not until the mid- eighteen hundreds that he began the transition into Realism. Ghosts was one of the first pieces of work in Ibsen’s realistic collection. Overall Ghosts is a story that hits close to home for a large number of readers. The presence of a disease such as syphilis, with the combination of the overall family problems surprised readers of Ibsen’s earlier works (“Henrik Ibsen”). It was unlike anything they had encountered. Instead of being discreet about a topic such as syphilis being passed around a family, Ibsen made it his focal point of the entire play. Ibsen’s last phase of

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