Here is Ibsen's favorite trick of unrequited self-
sacrifice; it is Sigurd, in Gunnar's armor, who kills the mystical white
bear, but it is Gunnar who reaps the advantage. It is only fair to say
that there is more than this to applaud in _The Vikings at Helgeland_;
it moves on a consistent and high level of austere romantic beauty. Mr.
William Archer, who admires the play more than any Scandinavian critic
has done, justly draws attention to the nobility of Oernulf's entrance in
the third act. Yet, on the whole, I confess myself unable to be
surprised at the severity with which Heiberg judged _The Vikings_ at its
first appearance, a severity which must have wounded Ibsen to the quick.
The year 1857 was one of unsettlement in Ibsen's condition. The period
for which he had undertaken to manage the theatre at Bergen had now come
to a close, and he was not anxious to prolong it. He had had enough of
Bergen, to which only one chain now bound him. Those who read the
incidents of a poet's life into the pages of his works may gratify their
tendency by seeing in the discussions between Dagny and Hioerdis some
echo of the thoughts which were occupying Ibsen's mind in relation to
the married state.
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