"The modern drama"

The dramatic encounter of the patrician class with the "modern" after 1814 can be described as "the drama of the modern." The encounter is dramatic because the modern differs from traditional society in that it is dynamic and undermines traditional habits and customs. The modern therefore radically changed the basis of the patrician class's inherited and learned social relations and experiences, their way of being and thinking.

The modernity that they so brutally encountered was characterized primarily by the fact that it was a "post-traditional" order that was based on abstract systems and laws, and that, as Knud Ibsen became a clear example of, there was a detachment from social relations and established contexts. He was born as a son of the patrician class, but grew up as a stepson in the Paus family.

The patrician class had managed to circumvent and exploit the autocracy, but it was unable to circumvent the new civil service state after 1814.

What happened after 1814 was that professional civil servants with civil service degrees took over what had previously been informal networks and organizations that the patricians had developed and dominated. They had been based on mutual dependence and volunteerism among peers. The most important positions were unpaid and based on honor.

After 1814, the number of professional civil servants not only increased, but they also moved up both on the tax lists and in the state hierarchy.

After 1814, the number of professional civil servants not only increased, but they also moved up both on the tax lists and in the state hierarchy.

The new civil service state emphasized formal and abstract knowledge and required higher education. To obtain office, one had to pass an exam and education – a civil service exam. Knud Ibsen did not get this, but his half-brothers Paus. Therefore, the half-brothers Paus were given offices and positions, and they represented a completely different tradition than the generosity and mutual responsibility of the patrician class for family members. This was the most important reason why Henrik Ibsen did not receive any help and support from his rich uncle Paus in Skien.