Original artwork, not a still
An Enemy of the People · 1882
The minority is always right.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Stockmann says it in a fury at a crowd that will not hear his proof, and Ibsen does not let the audience simply cheer: the same man is also sneering at the stupid. That tension is why it keeps being quoted, both as a banner for lone dissenters and as a warning about self-righteous ones. It is the play's bluntest statement of the individual against the crowd.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for An Enemy of the PeopleShow the scene
From Act IV of Ibsen's play An Enemy of the People. Dr. Stockmann speaks at a public meeting where the press man Hovstad and the chairman Aslaksen have turned against him. Hovstad insists the majority always has right on its side. Stockmann answers that it never does, that the stupid form an overwhelming majority, and that he and a few others are in the right. In R. Farquharson Sharp's English translation the last sentence reads that the minority is always in the right. The crowd erupts, the meeting brands him an enemy of the people, and he leaves with his family as it howls after them.
Sources (1)
- Project Gutenberg: An Enemy of the People (trans. R. Farquharson Sharp)Act IV, public meetingReference checked
Context reviewed
