Dick Whitman as Peer Gynt
Someone on this forum last week pointed to the play Peer Gynt, containing "In The Hall of the Mountain King", in their predictions for tonight's episode. Clearly, they were right on the money, and Matt Weiner winked to all of us by having the piano lesson kid play that very piece as Don walks into Anna's house - the home of his very own "mountain king".
After reading up on the play on Wikipedia, it seems as if the parallels to the story of Don Draper run even deeper than we already know. In the play, Peer Gynt was a Norwegian anti-hero who comes from a farmer family, with a displaced father and broken home. He grows nicely into his father's shoes by making a mess out of his first marriage, running off with another woman, wallowing in his sin. Very comparable to Don's life thus far in Mad Men.
Now here's where it get's interesting: Gynt is led into the mountains by more women, then after a night of partying, collapses, and the play goes into a dream. In his dreams, he meets a troll-woman, the daughter of the mountain king. After some deliberation about what Gynt is to do (now that he seemingly has knocked up the troll daughter), the King poses this question: "What is the difference between troll and man?" His answer - "Man, be thyself; troll, to thyself be." In other words, Gynt must face whether he should spend the rest of his life alone, or whether to abandon his misdeeds and be himself. In the end, he chooses to be himself, and is redeemed.
But this is only in the dream. In reality, Peer continues to lead a self-serving life, and only at the end of it, does he realize he should have just been himself, not to himself.
Clearly, this is the very decision Dick/Don has been left to face heading into next week's finale. What will he do when he wakes up from his California dream and inevitably returns to New York? Last season, Don only daydreams about returning to his perfect home just in time for Thanksgiving - but he is too late to save his marriage this day. Now, the stakes are even higher, as his entire identity is on the line.
I truly love and admire how they've taken this classic story and interwoven it into the drama of Don Draper. Can't wait to see how it concludes next week!
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_Gynt
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Hey costume designer: it's supposed to be 1962 and I know for sure I wasn't wearing those ridiculous wide skirts with petticoats. We were all copying Jackie Kennedy by then. I've got photos of myself to prove it. Lose' em please. I heard Weiner wanted you to be authentic.
The scene with the petticoat was a flashback about 10 years back, going by an 8-yr-old daughter (he had just met Betty).
Wow. This is terrific analysis. Good job.
Katemc:
Late 1962, Sally is eight. Which means she was born in 1954. Don would have been ~in love~ (those are wings) in early 1954 at the latest, so this was probably Christmas, 1953, more likely 1952 and he came out to the coast to spend it with Anna. (I forget when Sally's birthday party was in Season One.)
12:57 EST
Yep, it was I that posted about Peer Gynt last week:
http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/talk/2008/10/the-mountain-ki.php
LOVE your analysis, and think it is right on.
But, who is Solveig here? The woman who takes Don back after a long absence, and still loves him. Initially, I thought it was Anna, who loves Don as a mother and welcomes him with open arms after an absence.
But now, I'm think with your analysis, it might be Betty. She may, after all that's been done, accept Don/Dick/Peer with open arms at the conclusion of next week's episode after his long absence.
We shall see!
Thanks Brian B. for the Peer Gynt shout out, I was thinking about it since I saw it on Sunday and wondered why no one else drew the same parallel on any other forum. Even the tempo of Grieg's opus works to illustrate this being the climax of season two.
I assumed that Anna characterized Solveig in this story because she takes him back in the house he made (bought for her) and reassures him that he is indeed part of the world (i.e. not a troll but a man without sin). We see him being essentially baptized by the world when stepping into the ocean at the end.
Don's desire to change is repeatedly thrwarted by his unwillingness to admit his own problems. Next week's episode is called "Meditations In An Emergency" and in that poem there is a line that goes:
"...One need never leave the confines of New York to get all the greenery one wishes—I can’t even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there’s a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life. "
Don has to return to New York and his life as Don Draper. Anna absolved him of any sin he felt he'd commited against Betty by lying to her about his past, "you love her," she said. Honesty may absolve someone of their sin but the greater showing of love is sometimes to quietly endure the guilt alone.
Don's entire life is summed up by this line near the beginning of the poem,
"I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love."
Don has spent most of his life in search of love but lacks a fundamental ability to accept it when it is given. He craves the romantic fantasy perhaps even moreso than Betty. Don's self-loathing gets in the way of his happiness every time.
I cannot wait for episode 13. This season was way more thematically challenging than the first.
Thanks, Brian B. for that very enlightening take. I was unaware of the Peer Gynt story and it fits so well. (The non sequitor) of the petticoats notwithstanding.)
Ethyl Rosenberg, I'm so glad you have finally been partially vindicated, your untimely execution also nothwithstanding.