English · Chapter 24
Study notes aligned to the official NEB syllabus.
August Strindberg (1849 to 1912) was a Swedish dramatist, novelist and painter, and one of the founders of modern European theatre. His work moves from naturalism to expressionism, and his plays are known for their harsh honesty about family life, money and the struggle between the sexes. Facing Death (Swedish title Inför döden, 1892) is a short naturalistic one-act play written during a difficult period in his own life. It is set in a small boarding house on Lake Leman in Switzerland and follows a ruined father through the last hours of his life. The play is compact, bitter and deeply moving, and it ends with an act of sacrifice that the father performs almost in silence.
Monsieur Durand is a former railway employee who now keeps a failing pension for lodgers. He is bankrupt, worn down by debt, and treated with open contempt by his own daughters, yet he never defends himself. His silent endurance and his final sacrifice make him the moral centre of the play.
Adele is the eldest daughter. She manages the kitchen and the household and is the most practical of the three. She is often sharp with her father, but she is also the one to whom he finally reveals the truth and entrusts the future of the family.
Annette is the second daughter. She shares her sisters' resentment of their father and their idealised memory of their mother, and she reflects the general mood of complaint and blame in the house.
Therese is the youngest daughter. She is the most openly rude and rebellious of the three, speaks to her father with contempt, and is more interested in the lodger Antonio than in the family's troubles.
Antonio is a lieutenant in the Italian cavalry and the last remaining boarder in the pension. His flirtation with Therese and his departure show how little is left to hold the household together.
Pierre is a baker's boy who comes to the house to demand payment of an overdue bill. He is a minor figure, but his visit exposes the family's poverty and humiliation.