Henrik Ibsen

“ Death must have been instantaneous.
Hialmar. And I! I hunted her from me like an animal! And she crept terrified into the garret and died for love of me! [Sobbing.] I can never atone to her! I can never tell her——! [Clenches his hands and cries, upwards.] O thou above——! If thou be indeed! Why hast thou done this thing to me?
Gina. Hush, hush, you mustn’t go on that awful way. We had no right to keep her, I suppose.
Molvik. The child is not dead, but sleepeth.
Relling. Bosh!
Hialmar. [Becomes calm, goes over to the sofa, folds his arms, and looks at Hedvig.] There she lies so stiff and still. ”

“ Aslaksen. Yes, but look here——
Billing. Hurrah! It’s war! War!
Dr. Stockmann. I shall smite them to the earth, I shall crush them, I shall level their entrenchments to the ground in the eyes of all right-thinking men! That’s what I shall do!
Aslaksen. But above all things be temperate, Doctor; bombard with moderation——
Billing. Not at all, not at all! Don’t spare the dynamite!
Dr. Stockmann. [Going on imperturbably.] For now it’s no mere question of water-works and sewers, you see. No, the whole community must be purged, disinfected——
Billing. ”

“ Hedvig. Yes, for it’s my wild duck.
Gregers. Of course it is.
Hedvig. Yes, it belongs to me. But I lend it to father and grandfather as often as they please.
Gregers. Indeed? What do they do with it?
Hedvig. Oh, they look after it, and build places for it, and so on.
Gregers. I see; for no doubt the wild duck is by far the most distinguished inhabitant of the garret?
Hedvig. Yes, indeed she is; for she is a real wild fowl, you know. And then she is so much to be pitied; she has no one to care for, poor thing.
Gregers. She has no family, as the rabbits have——
Hedvig. ”

“ Hovstad. The majority always has right on its side.
Billing. Yes, and truth too, strike me dead!
Dr. Stockmann. The majority never has right on its side. Never I say! That is one of the social lies that a free, thinking man is bound to rebel against. Who make up the majority in any given country? Is it the wise men or the fools? I think we must agree that the fools are in a terrible, overwhelming majority, all the wide world over. But how in the devil’s name can it ever be right for the fools to rule over the wise men? ”

“ Relling. The powder has burnt the body of her dress. She must have pressed the pistol right against her breast and fired.
Gregers. Hedvig has not died in vain. Did you not see how sorrow set free what is noble in him?
Relling. Most people are ennobled by the actual presence of death. But how long do you suppose this nobility will last in him?
Gregers. Why should it not endure and increase throughout his life?
Relling. Before a year is over, little Hedvig will be nothing to him but a pretty theme for declamation.
Gregers. How dare you say that of Hialmar Ekdal? ”

“ Stockmann. But are you sure this idea of going abroad is altogether wise, Thomas?
Dr. Stockmann. Would you have me stay here, where they have pilloried me as an enemy of the people, branded me, smashed my windows! And look here, Katrina, they’ve torn a hole in my black trousers, too.
Mrs. Stockmann. Oh dear; and these are the best you have!
Dr. Stockmann. A man should never put on his best trousers when he goes out to battle for freedom and truth. Well, I don’t care so much about the trousers; them you can always patch up for me. ”

“ Hedvig. Oh yes, father, do!
Gina. Hush! Don’t wake him!
Hialmar. [More softly.] I will fulfil it, I say. The day shall come when——And that is why I say it’s a good thing we have let the room; for that makes me more independent. The man who has a mission in life must be independent. [By the, arm-chair, with emotion.] Poor old white-haired father! Rely on your Hialmar. He has broad shoulders—strong shoulders, at any rate. You shall yet wake up some fine day and—— [To Gina.] Do you not believe it?
Gina. ”

“ There are certain claims—what shall I call them?—let me say claims of the ideal—certain obligations, which a man cannot disregard without injury to his soul.
Hedvig. [Going after him.] But think of the wild duck,—the poor wild duck!
Hialmar. [Stops.] I tell you I will spare it—for your sake. Not a hair of its head shall be—I mean, it shall be spared. There are greater problems than that to be dealt with. But you should go out a little now, Hedvig, as usual; it is getting dusk enough for you now. ”

“ Relling, I shall not give up the struggle until I have rescued Hialmar from your clutches!
Relling. So much the worse for him. Rob the average man of his life-illusion, and you rob him of his happiness at the same stroke. [To Hedvig, who comes in from the sitting-room.] Well, little wild-duck-mother, I'm just going down to see whether papa is still lying meditating upon that wonderful invention of his. ”

“ And it is not people of that sort that constitute the real danger to society; it is not they who are most active in poisoning the sources of our spiritual life and making a plague-spot of the ground beneath our feet; it is not they who are the most dangerous enemies of truth and freedom in our society.
Cries from All Sides. Who, then? Who is it? Name, name!
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, you may be sure I shall name them! For this is the great discovery I made yesterday: [In a louder tone.] The most dangerous foe to truth and freedom in our midst is the compact majority. ”

“ Stockmann. Yes, and now I have the whole town on my back—— [Flaring up.] But no—not if I had the devil and his dam on my back—! Never—never, I tell you!
Burgomaster. The father of a family has no right [13] to act as you are doing. You have no right to do it, Thomas.
Dr. Stockmann. I have no right! There’s only one thing in the world that a free man has no right to do; and do you know what that is?
Burgomaster. No.
Dr. Stockmann. Of course not; but I will tell you. A free man has no right to wallow in filth like a cur; he has no right to act so that he ought to spit in his own face! ”

“ For a party-leader is just like a wolf, you see—like a ravening wolf; he must devour a certain number of smaller animals a year, if he’s to exist at all. Just look at Hovstad and Aslaksen! How many small animals they polish off—or at least mangle and maim, so that they’re fit for nothing else but to be house-owners and subscribers to the People’s Messenger! [Sits on the edge of the table.] Just come here, Katrina—see how bravely the sun shines to-day! And how the blessed fresh spring air blows in upon me!
Mrs. Stockmann. Yes, if only we could live on sunshine and spring air, Thomas.Thomas. ”

“ There can be no doubt that The Wild Duck marks a reaction in the poet’s mood, following upon the eager vivacity wherewith, in An Enemy of the People, he had flung his defiance at the “compact Liberal majority,” which, as the reception of Ghosts had proved, could not endure to be told the truth. Having said his say and liberated his soul, he now began to ask himself whether human nature was, after all, capable of assimilating the strong meat of truth—whether illusion might not be, for the average man, the only thing that could make life livable. ”

“ Hedvig. I only wanted to come in beside you, father.
Hialmar. [After a pause.] What makes you go prying around like that? Perhaps you are told off to watch me?
Hedvig. No, no.
Hialmar. What is your mother doing out there?
Hedvig. Oh, mother’s in the middle of making the herring-salad. [Goes to the table.] Isn’t there any little thing I could help you with, father?
280Hialmar. Oh no. It is right that I should bear the whole burden—so long as my strength holds out. Set your mind at rest, Hedvig; if only your father keeps his health——
Hedvig. ”

“ Stockmann. Yes, by Heaven, I am, Mr. Hovstad! I am going to revolt against the lie that truth belongs exclusively to the majority. What sort of truths do the majority rally round? Truths so stricken in years that they are sinking into decrepitude. When a truth is so old as that, gentlemen, it’s in a fair way to become a lie. ”

“ Stockmann. Yes, but the boys, Thomas.
Dr. Stockmann. [Comes to a standstill.] What an extraordinary woman you are, Katrina! Would you rather have the boys grow up in such a society as ours? Why, you could see for yourself yesterday evening that one half of the population is stark mad, and if the other half hasn’t lost its wits, that’s only because they are brute beasts who haven’t any wits to lose. ”

“ Gregers. For surely nothing in the world can compare with the joy of forgiving one who has erred, and raising her up to oneself in love.
Hialmar. Do you think a man can so easily throw off the effects of the bitter cup I have drained?
Gregers. No, not a common man, perhaps. But a man like you——!
Hialmar. Good God! I know that well enough. But you must keep me up to it, Gregers. It takes time, you know.
Gregers. You have much of the wild duck in you, Hialmar.
Relling has come in at the passage door.
Relling. Oho! is the wild duck to the fore again? ”

“ Aslaksen. [Ringing the bell.] Order, gentlemen! I must beg leave to support the Burgomaster’s resolution. I quite agree with him that there is something beneath the surface of the Doctor’s agitation. In all his talk about the Baths, it is really a revolution he is aiming at; he wants to effect a redistribution of power. No one doubts the excellence of Dr. Stockmann’s intentions—of course there cannot be two opinions as to that. I, too, am in favour of self-government by the people, if only it doesn’t cost the ratepayers too much. ”

“ Every time we celebrate any little family festival—Gina’s and my wedding-day, or whatever it may be—in comes the old man in the lieutenant’s uniform of happier days. But if he only hears a knock at the door—for he daren’t show himself to strangers, you know—he hurries back to his room again as fast as his old legs can carry him. Oh, it’s heartrending for a son to see such things!
Gregers. How long do you think it will take you to finish your invention?
Hialmar. Come now, you mustn’t expect me to enter into particulars like that. An invention is not a thing completely under one’s own control. ”

“ I tell you there is not a happier sportsman in the world than that old man pottering about in there among all that rubbish. The four or five withered Christmas-trees he has saved up are the same to him as the whole great fresh Höidal forest; the cock and the hens are big game-birds in the fir-tops; and the rabbits that flop about the garret floor are the bears he has to battle with—the mighty hunter of the mountains!
Gregers. Poor unfortunate old man! Yes; he has indeed had to narrow the ideals of his youth.
Relling. While I think of it, Mr. Werle, junior—don’t use that foreign word: ideals. ”

“ Stockmann. [Reflecting.] No, upon my soul, you’re right there; you’ve never had the frankness to do that. Well, well, I won’t put you on the rack, Mr. Hovstad. Let me be the freethinker then. And now I'll make it clear to you all, and on scientific grounds too, that the Messenger is leading you shamefully by the nose, when it tells you that you, the masses, the crowd, are the true pith of the people. I tell you that’s only a newspaper lie. The masses are nothing but the raw material that must be fashioned into a People. ”

“ Gregers. Yes, an amazingly clever dog; one that goes to the bottom after wild ducks when they dive and bite themselves fast in tangle and sea-weed, down among the ooze.
Hialmar. Upon my word now, Gregers—I don’t in the least know what you’re driving at.
Gregers. Oh well, you might not be much the wiser if you did. It’s understood, then, that I move in early to-morrow morning. [To Gina.] I won’t give you any trouble; I do everything for myself. [To Hialmar.] We can talk about the rest to-morrow.—Good-night, Mrs. Ekdal. [Nods to Hedvig.] Good-night.
Gina. Good-night, Mr. Werle. ”

“ Stockmann. That source is poisoned, man! Are you mad? We live by trafficking in filth and corruption! The whole of our flourishing social life is rooted in a lie!
Burgomaster. Idle fancies—or worse. The man who scatters broadcast such offensive insinuations against his native place must be an enemy of society. ”

“ Gregers. Not so fine as in your time. They have been thinned a good deal.
Ekdal. Thinned? [More softly, and as if afraid.] It’s dangerous work that. Bad things come of it. The woods revenge themselves.
Hialmar. [Filling up his glass.] Come—a little more, father.
Gregers. How can a man like you—such a man for the open air—live in the midst of a stuffy town, boxed within four walls?
Ekdal. [Laughs quietly and glances at Hialmar.] Oh, it’s not so bad here. Not at all so bad. ”

“ Björnson says, ‘The majority is always right’; and as a practical politician he is bound, I suppose, to say so. I, on the contrary, of necessity say, ‘The minority is always right.’ Naturally I am not thinking of that minority of stagnationists who are left behind by the great middle party, which with us is called Liberal; I mean that minority which leads the van, and pushes on to points which the majority has not yet reached. I hold that that man is in the right who is most closely in league with the future. ”

“ Hialmar. [Gloomily.] Gregers—I am going! When a man has felt the crushing hand of Fate, you see——Say good-bye to your father for me.
Gregers. Yes, yes. Are you going straight home?
Hialmar. Yes. Why?
Gregers. Oh, because I may perhaps look in on you later.
Hialmar. No, you mustn’t do that. You must not come to my home. Mine is a melancholy abode, Gregers; especially after a splendid banquet like this. We can always arrange to meet somewhere in the town.
Mrs. Sörby. [Who has quietly approached.] Are you going, Ekdal?
Hialmar. Yes.
Mrs. Sörby. Remember me to Gina. ”