Enemy of the People

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This play was incredible. It definitely opened up some ideas of what is going on today as it was questioning the ideas of majority and democracy vs. truth. It was adapted by Miller during or soon after the McCarthy era, where Miller was in some danger.

Early on in the play, Dr. Stockmann (who is telling the town that the springs which will be a tourist boon of the town were built too low and are poisoned from the tannery) niavely says; what can go wrong, we have the liberal press and the majority on our side. But the mayor is fairly handy at converting the liberal media (who pretend radical, but are really just opportunists) and does the same with the majority. The is much in the book dealing with logic of "realistic" vs. the truth .... in this case scientific proof.

At one point, facing a mob, Dr. Stockmann said this discovery of the poison springs has actually led him to a far greater discovery:

"I revolt against the age-old lie that the majority is always right! — hosted (he’s an aristocrat all the sudden) And more! I tell you now that the majority is always wrong, and in this way! … Was the majority right when they stood by while Jesus was crucified? (Silence). Was the majority right when they refused to believe the that the earth moved around the sun and let Galileo be driven to his knees like a dog? It takes the majority fifty years to be right. The majority is never right until it does right."
Further on he tells the story of one soldier who sees danger ahead and must fight with and argue with the company to get them to turn around: "Before many may know something, one must know it!"

The play ends on a somber note. All the windows are broken from rocks and a mob is outside and Dr. Stockmann says: 
Rembember everybody, you are fighting for the truth, and that’s why you are alone. And that makes you strong. We’re the strongest people in the world … and the strong must learn to be lonely!

The play is much more complicated because there is a self-righteous, almost comedic quality to Dr. Stockmann and his belief in truth ... nonetheless, if he is right about the poison then he is right to stand strong for truth.

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