Facing Death | August Strindberg | Drama | Question Answers

Short Explanation:

This drama presents the tragic ending of a protagonist Durand; who dies at last to provide money for his daughters. However he had strained relationship with his daughter till his demise as they thought him the destroyer of the family.

Characters:

Here is the list of Characters in the drama ‘Facing Death‘

Monsieur Durand – a pensioner, runs hotel
Adele – his daughter (27)
Annette – his daughter (24)
Therese – his daughter (24)
Antonio – a lieutenant, paying guest of Durand’s hotel
Pierre – an errand boy
Mrs. Durand – already dead
Rene – his son – already dead

Explantion

The drama begins from the dining room.
The play shows three daughters behaving unwell towards Durand. They think that Durand is the reason behind their family’s poverty.
Among three daughters, Adele helps in the kitchen. but other two daughters are shown as they spend time singing, flirting, wearing fancy. They do not speak with manner to their father.
Pierre was sent for coffee bread but he returns empty hand with few bills. Baker, Butcher, and Grocer gave nothing but only bills as Durand had not paid their dues.
Antonio was the only one guest of that hotel. He comes for coffee but the Durand family was already having financial problem to run hotel. They were short of provisions. Antonio was informed by Durand that he is going to shut the hotel. But Antonio offers help.
Durand explains Antonio about the behaviours of Annette and Therese that they are not interested in helping family work. He explains the incident that had happened with American Family’s boy; about Therese’s affair. Durand thinks that lack of food might teach his daughters.
Durand, taking Antonio’s help goes to bring coffee bread.
Therese arrives carrying a rat – trap. She says that the bait is always eaten but there were never any mouse. Adele reminds her about her dress and hair before the guest.
Antonio flirts with her and suddenly Annette arrives. He says that Annette is well dressed than Therese. Therese claims that Annette is older than her and they start to fight. Antonio controls Therese from fighting and kisses her. At the same time Durand was watching it from the open – door.
Durand returns some money and threatens Antonio to leave the house. Durand warned Antonio that he could shoot Antonio. Daughters said that he is a war deserted. Antonio goes but daughters defend that Antonio should not be removed like that. They argued with father for making a bad decision. Durand had seen the Antonio kissing Therese but Therese denies saying this hasn’t happened. Durand saw it with his eyes but Therese claims that it was not happened. Durand asks Annette about the incident but she also denies that it had not been happened.

Adele brings milk for Durand. Suddenly Therese snatches the glass of milk and says he should not get anything to have. She blames father for not keeping money for his daughter and bringing them to the worst situation.
Adele brings another unpaid bill that she has found in the kitchen. She claims that Durand needed to be put in asylum when mother told the bad habits of him. Then Durand drinks water and tries to smoke tobacco. Daughters complain him about he affording his smoking. But Durand clears it that the pipe was given six months before.
Therese again snatches the match box. Durand gets emotional and explains that he had spent a lot of matches when his daughters were small and how carelessly Mrs. Durand left children without proper care. He explains that he used to care his daughters every night whether they were sleeping well or not. He also says that Mrs. Durand kept the children thirsty saying they should not be provided water, and he used to make them drink.
Therese still argues that it was his duty as a father to take care of his daughters. Durand says that he says that he had fulfilled his duty more than required. Adele added that he should continue to care his daughters as they are in deprived condition and she questions that what could happen to them in the absence of Durand’s care.
Durand says that he knew such condition could happen but he couldn’t stop it happening. Therese replies if he could require thanks for taking this family to abyss.
Durand requests them to be less unkind to him. He says that they could manage food for their pet but they grudge for his milk and matches. Therese warns him for talking about her cat’s food as well Annette asks if that is he who ate the rat bait.
We come to know why did Therese not caught any rats but bait is eaten. We come to know the situation of Durand that to fulfil his hunger he ate the rat bait. If it was poisoned he could have died.
Therese questions what would happen when he leaves daughters in such condition.
Durand directly says that they would go and prostitute. He links it with Mrs. Durand who said that she would do prostitute when she spent housekeeping money in lottery tickets.

Durand asks Adele to put out the fire because if it caught fire they wouldn’t get the insurance money. He orders Therese and Annette to shut the windows and to look after the draughts. He asks them to kiss him and reveals that he is going to get money for them. He had planned to die to get insurance money.
Therese in wonder asks if he could mange money and how much.
Durand says that he has life insurance. He adds that if he sells it he would get 600 francs and if he dies the money would be 5000 francs. He saw Therese happy and asks if Antonio really loves her. He says if he really loves her she should get married to him but he also suggests her to be less unkind to Antonio.
Therese says he must not die. Durand tells her not to stop him getting peace. Therese asks for forgiving. Durand says that he loved her so much that he felt her bad behaviour as nothing. Then she returns the glass of milk and matches. Therese says what she could do for him. Durand says as his daughter they are he needs nothing from them. They bid farewell. Annette was uncertain about his words and wishes if he could bring something for her. He then started talking to Adele.

Durand explains that he had sold his life insurance policy to pay someone’s due. He says he has a fire insurance. He gives it to Adele and asks to keep it secure. Then he starts explaining his family’s past realities.
He says that let the world label him incendiary (who destroys house) but he has lived honoured life caring his family.

Question Answers:

1. Describe Facing death as a modern tragedy.

-> Modern tragedy refers to the play that has tragic and unfortunate ending as the main hero of the play dies at last. Facing Death written by August Strindberg is a modern tragedy because in the end, the main character Mr. Durand dies sacrificing his life for the sake of his daughters’ betterment even though they always treated their father badly.

Durand along his life carried the faults made by Mrs. Durand. He never revealed his daughters that they were misjudging their father by listening to the false narrative of their mother. He never hated his daughters however they did never offered him kindness. He is the one who decides to die so that his daughters would be able to get 5000 francs. He dies at last providing a better future for his daughters. It makes the drama a modern tragedy.

2. Why does Monsieur Durand tell a lie about his birthplace?

Answer: Monsieur Durand tells a lie about his birthplace due to the humiliation and guilty he had for killing his own people. He had to shift the nation for marriage. He was a Frenchman but he always lied that he was a Swiss citizen to cover his guilt.
He lived in Switzerland for marriage settlements and then when the war broke out he had to fight against his own people being a sharp – shooter. He could not say that he was a French because he would have been mocked by many people and his own family.

3. 'Money determines the relationship between characters in the play Facing Death.' Elaborate this statement with examples from the play.

-> Yes, money has determined the relationship between characters in the play Facing death by August Strindberg. Monsieur Durand is the main character and the caring and innocent father. He is trying to run his family without the support of the daughters because they think their father is the reason behind their poor kind of lifestyle. They strongly believed their mother which was a lie. Mother before dying told them that Durand is the main reason behind the economic crisis of the family.

Daughters blamed their father and they think father has to complete all the works because he had kept them in such poor life. They don’t help in his hotel business well. Adele helps in kitchen but Annette and Therese just spend their time flirting, singing, and dressing well without supporting the family works. They don’t talk politely with Durand. They just make him feel humiliated from their unkind behaviour.

The example from the drama can be taken as when Durand was given milk to drink, Therese snatches it and says that he doesn’t deserve to eat or drink before fulfilling daughters’ hunger. When he was about to lit his cigar Annette snatches it saying he is not allowed to spend even a match. They call him war deserted. They call him liar because he lied his birthplace. However when Durand explained about the insurance money that can be provided from his death, they surprisingly show love toward Durand. They returned the milk and match. They talked nicely and kissed their father because he will provide them money from dying. It shows that they are not worried about father’s death but concerned about the 5000 francs he could get for them from insurance.

From this we can say that money determines relationship between characters in the play Facing Death.

4. Monsieur Durand kills himself so that his daughters would get 5000 francs as the compensation from the insurance company. What does his plan tell us about him?

-> This act of Durand to kill himself shows him a father who tried almost everything to support his 3 daughters. He was never the good character for his daughters. They thought he was war deserted, liar, and money waster after listening to mother’s false narratives.

However Durand did everything for them. He ran a hotel for their support. He never took rest and worked every time as they never helped their father. Durand bears all and keeps on supporting them, teaching them. And he makes the final move by providing insurance money to daughters. So, he kills himself. Durand is the tragic father who never wanted his daughters to have a bad life at all.