An Enemy of the People

Should you always tell the truth, no matter what the personal cost? In Henrik Ibsen’s classic play, An Enemy of the People, Dr. Tobias Stockman discovers that the town’s health spa water is contaminated. When he announces this, he is at first hailed as a hero by his fellow citizens. But his campaign to have the spa closed for repair threatens the economy of the town, and Dr. Stockman finds himself an enemy of the people, facing hostility and ridicule for insisting on telling a truth that others do not want to hear. Written as a response to his own critics, Ibsen’s 1882 fable has modern echoes, hailing the courage of those willing to stand against the crowd.