Henrik Ibsen

“ Rosmer. On my honour, Kroll—I have nothing whatever to do with Mortensgård.
Kroll. I do not believe you. On no subject and in no relation whatever will I henceforth believe you. It is war to the knife now. We will try whether we cannot disarm you.
Rosmer. Oh Kroll—how low—how very low you have sunk!
Kroll. I? And you think you have the right to say that to me! Remember Beata!
Rosmer. Still harping upon that?
Kroll. No. You must solve the enigma of the mill-race according to your own conscience—if you have anything of the sort left. ”

“ Wangel. And after that, Ellida? Afterwards? Have you thought of the outlook for both of us? What shape will our lives take—both yours and mine?
Ellida. We must not let that influence us. The future must shape itself as best it can. This that I am begging of you, Wangel,—this is the chief thing! Set me free! Give me back my full freedom.
Wangel. Ellida—this is a terrible demand you make upon me. Let me at least have time to collect myself and come to a resolve. Let us discuss the matter more thoroughly. And do you, too, give yourself time to reflect what you are doing! ”

“ Kroll. Yes, look into your own mind, and you will see! And if this is the case with you, one may easily guess how it must be with Johannes Rosmer. It is sheer, unmitigated madness—it is running blindfold to destruction—for him to think of coming openly forward and confessing himself an apostate! Only think—a man of his sensitive nature! Imagine him disowned and persecuted by the circle of which he has always formed a part—exposed to ruthless attacks from all the best people in the community! He is not—he never can be the man to endure all that.
Rebecca. He must endure it! ”

“ Kroll. Oh yes, I know. That is what both the tempters and their victims call it. But do you think there is any emancipation to be expected from the spirit that is now poisoning our whole social life?
Rosmer. I am not in love with the spirit that is in the ascendant, nor with either of the contending parties. I will try to bring together men from both sides—as many as I can—and to unite them as closely as possible. I will devote my life and all my energies to this one thing—the creation of a true democracy in this country.
Kroll. So you don’t think we have democracy enough already! ”

“ I do not want to take refuge in the plea that I am another man’s wife—or that I have no choice left me. For then my decision would decide nothing.
Wangel. You talk of choice! Choice, Ellida! Choice in this matter!
Ellida. Yes, choose I must—freely choose either course. I must be free to let him go away alone—or—to go with him.
Wangel. Do you understand what you are saying? Go with him! Place your whole fate in his hands!
Ellida. Did I not place my whole fate in your hands? And that—without thinking twice.
Wangel. That may be. But he! He! A total stranger! A man you know so little about! ”

“ Then let us see. You say that a great love is in you; that through me your mind has been ennobled. Is it so? Is your reckoning just, Rebecca? Shall we try to prove the sum? Say?
Rebecca. I am ready.
Rosmer. At any time?
Rebecca. Whenever you please. The sooner the better.
Rosmer. Then let me see, Rebecca,—if you for my sake—this very evening—— [Breaks off.] Oh, no, no, no!
Rebecca. Yes, Rosmer! Yes! Tell me, and you shall see.
Rosmer. Have you the courage—have you the will—gladly, as Ulric Brendel said—for my sake, to-night—gladly—to go the same way that Beata went? ”

“ I know all about the murder out at Skioldvik.
Ellida. Oh Wangel,—how can you——?
The Stranger. I was prepared for that move; and therefore,— [Takes a revolver out of his breast pocket] ,—I have provided myself with this.
Ellida. [Throws herself before Wangel.] No, no—do not kill him! Rather kill me!
The Stranger. Neither you nor him; be easy on that score. This is for myself; I will live and die a free man!
Ellida. [With increasing agitation.] Wangel! Let me tell you this—tell you in his hearing! I know you can keep me here! You have the power, and no doubt you will use it! ”

“ If she goes home to Skioldvik to-morrow, she will certainly never come back again.
Arnholm. Why, my dear Boletta, what have you got into your head?
Boletta. I am perfectly convinced of it. Just you wait! You shall see—she won’t return. Not while Hilda and I are at home, at any rate.
Arnholm. Hilda too?
Boletta. Well, perhaps Hilda might not matter so much. She is hardly more than a child yet; and I believe in her heart she worships Ellida. But with me it is different, you see; a stepmother who is not so very much older than oneself——
Arnholm. ”

“ Kroll. I remember, I remember. [In a lighter tone.] Well, how are things going out here?
Rebecca. Oh, everything is going its quiet, jog-trot way. One day is just like another.—And with you? Your wife——?
Kroll. Ah, my dear Miss West, don’t let us talk about my affairs. There is always something or other amiss in a family; especially in times like these.
Rebecca. [After a pause, sitting down in an easy-chair beside the sofa.] How is it you haven’t once been near us during the whole of the holidays?
Kroll. Oh, it doesn’t do to make oneself a nuisance——
Rebecca. ”

“ Rosmer. But the life I must now look forward too is one of struggle and unrest and strong agitations. For I will live my life, Rebecca! I will not be crushed to earth by horrible possibilities. I will not have my course of life forced upon me, either by the living or by—any one else.
Rebecca. No, no—do not! Be an absolutely free man, Rosmer! ”

“ Rosmer. I should have to believe you then. I should recover my faith in my mission. Faith in my power to ennoble human souls. Faith in the human soul’s power to attain nobility.
Rebecca. [Takes up her shawl slowly, and puts it over her head; says with composure.] You shall have your faith again.
Rosmer. Have you the will and the courage—for this,this, Rebecca? ”

“ Good heavens, Boletta, how could you be so gone on him when he was your tutor?
Boletta. [Smiling.] Yes, can you understand it? I remember once shedding bitter tears because he said he thought Boletta an ugly name.
Hilda. Think of that! [Looks down again.] I say! Look there! Just look!—There’s “the lady from the sea” walking with him—not with father—and jabbering away to him. I wonder whether those two aren’t a bit sweet on each other.
Boletta. You ought really to be ashamed of yourself. How dare you say such things about her? We were beginning to get on so well together ”

“ Rosmer. I knew well enough that sooner or later our beautiful, pure friendship might be misinterpreted and soiled. Not by Kroll—I could never have believed such a thing of him—but by all those other people with the coarse souls and the ignoble eyes. Oh yes—I had reason enough for keeping our alliance so jealously concealed. It was a dangerous secret.
Rebecca. Oh, why should we care what all those people think! We know in our own hearts that we are blameless. ”

“ What is it to us that the great outside world passes our doors on its way to the midnight sun? We cannot join in the stream. There is no midnight sun for us. Oh no; we must be content to linger our lives out, here in our carp-pond.
Arnholm. [Seats himself besides her.] Tell me now, dear Boletta—I wonder if there is not something or other,—some particular thing I mean—that you are all the time longing for, here at home? ”

“ Kroll. Yes; let us. [They seat themselves on the sofa.
Rosmer. [After a slight pause.] Don’t you think we lead a pleasant and comfortable life here?
39Kroll. Yes, your life is pleasant and comfortable now—and peaceful. You have found yourself a home, Rosmer. And I have lost mine.
Rosmer. My dear friend, don’t say that. The wound will heal again in time.
Kroll. Never; never. The barb will always rankle. Things can never be as they were.
Rosmer. Listen to me, Kroll. We have been fast friends for many and many a year. Does it seem to you conceivable that our friendship should ever go to wreck? ”

“ Yours is an upright nature, Ellida. You have a loyal heart.
Ellida. Yes, I have.
Wangel. Any relation in which you can feel secure and happy must be a full and perfect one.
Ellida. [Looking anxiously at him.] Well,—and then?
Wangel. You are not fitted to be a man’s second wife.
Ellida. What makes you think of that now?
Wangel. The suspicion has often crossed my mind; but to-day I saw it clearly. The children’s little commemoration—you looked on me as a sort of accomplice.—Well yes; a man’s memories are not to be wiped out—not mine, at all events. It is not in my nature.
Ellida. I know that. ”

“ Oh yes, Miss Wangel, believe me. It is not only all the honour and glory she enjoys through him; that, I should say, is almost the least part of it. But that she can help him to create,—that she can lighten his labour by being ever at his side, and tending him, and making life thoroughly comfortable for him. It seems to me that must be such a delight for a woman.
279Boletta. Oh, you don’t realise how selfish you are!
Lyngstrand. Am I selfish? Good heavens——! Oh, if you only knew me a little better——. [Bends forward towards her.] Miss Wangel,—when I am gone,—and I shall be soon——
Boletta. ”

“ Rosmer. Because no cause ever triumphs that has its origin in sin.
Rebecca. [Vehemently.] Oh, these are only ancestral doubts—ancestral fears—ancestral scruples. They say the dead come back to Rosmersholm in the shape of rushing white horses. I think this shows that it is true.
Rosmer. Be that as it may; what does it matter, so long as I cannot rid myself of the feeling? And believe me, Rebecca, it is as I tell you. The cause that is to win a lasting victory must have for its champion a happy, an innocent man.
Rebecca. Is happiness so indispensable to you, Rosmer?
Rosmer. Happiness? ”

“ Rebecca. [Behind him, rests her arms on the chair-back.] How beautiful it was when we sat in the twilight, in the room downstairs, helping each other to lay out our new life-plans! You were to set resolutely to work in the world—the living world of to-day, as you said. You were to go as a messenger of emancipation from home to home; to win over minds and wills; to create noble-men around you in wider and wider circles. Noble-men.
Rosmer. ”

“ Rosmer. When I heard of your violence on the platform—when I read all the rancorous speeches you made—your bitter onslaughts on your opponents—the contemptuous invectives you heaped on them—oh Kroll, to think that you—you—could come to this!—then my duty stood imperatively before me. Men are growing evil in this struggle. Peace and joy and mutual forbearance must once more enter into our souls. ”

“ Wangel. Not entirely. The germ of it all is innate in her. Ellida belongs to the sea-folk; that is the trouble.
Arnholm. What do you mean precisely, my dear Doctor?
Wangel. Have you not noticed that the people who live out by the open sea are like a race apart? They seem almost to live the life of the sea itself. There is the surge of the sea—and its ebb and flow too—both in their thoughts and in their feelings. And they never bear transplantation. No, I should have thought of that before. It was a positive sin against Ellida to take her away from the sea and bring her in here! ”

“ Mortensgård. That I don’t doubt. But it is too late now. You have branded me once for all—branded me for life. I suppose you can scarcely understand what that means. But now you may perhaps come to feel the smart of it yourself, Pastor Rosmer.
Rosmer. I?
Mortensgård. Yes. You surely don’t suppose that Rector Kroll and his set will ever forgive a desertion like yours? I hear the “County News” is going to be very savage in future. You too may find yourself a marked man before long.
Rosmer. In personal matters, Mr. Mortensgård, I feel myself secure from attack. My life is beyond reproach. ”

“ Boletta. [With a sigh.] Oh no, we have to put up with the dry land.
Arnholm. Well, at any rate, that is our natural element.
Ellida. No, I don’t think so at all.
Arnholm. Not dry land?
Ellida. No, I don’t believe it. I believe that if men had only accustomed themselves from the first to live their life on the sea—or even in the sea—we should by this time have been far more perfect than we are;—both better and happier.
Arnholm. Do you really believe that?
Ellida. Well, at any rate, it is a theory of mine. I have often talked of it with Wangel.
Arnholm. Indeed! And he——?
Ellida. ”

“ Kroll. Yes, just think of it! A man of his foul antecedents—a creature that was turned out of his place as a schoolmaster on account of his immoral life! A fellow like that sets himself up as a leader of the people! And succeeds too! Actually succeeds! I hear he is going to enlarge his paper. I know on good authority that he is on the lookout for a capable assistant.
Rebecca. I wonder that you and your friends don’t set up an opposition to him.
Kroll. That is the very thing we are going to do. ”