Thomas Stockmann

“ Peter Stockmann. Yes, and for once I must talk frankly to you. Hitherto I have tried to avoid doing so, because I know how irritable you are; but now I must tell you the truth, Thomas. You have no conception what an amount of harm you do yourself by your impetuosity. You complain of the authorities, you even complain of the government—you are always pulling them to pieces; you insist that you have been neglected and persecuted. But what else can such a cantankerous man as you expect? ”

“ 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! ”

“ Mrs. Stockmann (putting her arm into his) . Then I will show them that an old woman can be a man for once. I am going to stand by you, Thomas!
Dr. Stockmann. Bravely said, Katherine! It shall be made public—as I am a living soul! If I can't hire a hall, I shall hire a drum, and parade the town with it and read it at every street-corner.
Peter Stockmann. You are surely not such an errant fool as that!
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, I am.
Aslaksen. You won't find a single man in the whole town to go with you.
Billing. No, I'm damned if you will.
Mrs. Stockmann. Don't give in, Thomas. ”

“ Stockmann. Yes, they have behaved abominably to you here, Thomas; but is that any reason for leaving the country altogether?
Dr. Stockmann. Do you think the plebeians aren’t just as insolent 154in other towns? Oh yes, they are, my dear; it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other. Well, never mind; let the curs yelp; that’s not the worst; the worst is that every one, all over the country, is the slave of his party. Not that I suppose—very likely it’s no better in the free West either; the compact majority, and enlightened public opinion, and all the other devil’s trash is rampant there too. ”

“ Do you hear, Katherine?—I won't accept it.
Mrs. Stockmann. You are quite right, Thomas.
Petra (lifting her glass) . Your health, father!
Hovstad and Billing. Your health, Doctor! Good health!
Horster (touches glasses with DR. STOCKMANN) . I hope it will bring you nothing but good luck.
Dr. Stockmann. Thank you, thank you, my dear fellows! I feel tremendously happy! It is a splendid thing for a man to be able to feel that he has done a service to his native town and to his fellow-citizens. Hurrah, Katherine! ”

“ Stockmann. But really, my dear Thomas, you do say such imprudent things.
Dr. Stockmann. What! Isn’t it the truth that I tell them? Don’t they turn all ideas upside down? Don’t 155they stir up right and wrong into one hotch-potch? Don’t they call lies everything that I know to be the truth? But the maddest thing of all is to see crowds of grown men, calling themselves Liberals, go about persuading themselves and others that they are friends of freedom! Did you ever hear anything like it, Katrina?
Mrs. Stockmann. Yes, yes, no doubt. But——
Petra enters from the sitting-room. ”

“ Stockmann. [Looking at the letter.] He daren’t do otherwise, he says. He is very unwilling to do it; but he daren’t do otherwise—on account of his fellow citizens—out of respect for public opinion—is in a dependent position—doesn’t dare to offend certain influential men——
Mrs. Stockmann. There, you see, Thomas.
153Dr. Stockmann. Yes, yes, I see well enough; they are all cowards, every one of them, in this town; no one dares do anything for fear of all the rest. [Throws the letter on the table.] But it’s all the same to us, Katrina. We will shape our course for the new world, and then ”

“ Peter Stockmann. Yes, Thomas, you are an extremely cantankerous man to work with—I know that to my cost. You disregard everything that you ought to have consideration for. You seem completely to forget that it is me you have to thank for your appointment here as medical officer to the Baths.
Dr. Stockmann. I was entitled to it as a matter of course!—I and nobody else! ”

“ Dr. Stockmann (as PETRA helps him into his coat) , Good. Come, Katherine! Come, boys!
Mrs. Stockmann (in an undertone) . Thomas, dear, let us go out by the back way.
Dr. Stockmann. No back ways for me, Katherine, (Raising his voice.) You will hear more of this enemy of the people, before he shakes the dust off his shoes upon you! I am not so forgiving as a certain Person; I do not say: "I forgive you, for ye know not what ye do."
Aslaksen (shouting) . That is a blasphemous comparison, Dr. Stockmann!
Billing. It is, by God! It's dreadful for an earnest man to listen to. ”

“ Mrs. Stockmann. Why, my dear Thomas, what have you been doing to him now?
Dr. Stockmann. Nothing at all. He can’t possibly expect me to account to him for everything—before the time comes.
18Mrs. Stockmann. What have you to account to him for?
Dr. Stockmann. H'm;—never mind about that, Katrina.—It’s very odd the postman doesn’t come.
[Hovstad, Billing and Horster have risen from table and come forward into the sitting-room. Eilif and Morten presently follow.
Billing. [Stretching himself.] Ah! Strike me dead if one doesn’t feel a new man after such a meal. ”

“ Dr. Stockmann. Out at the window with you, Mr. Hovstad!
Hovstad. [By the hall door.] Are you utterly crazy?
Dr. Stockmann. Out at the window, Mr. Aslaksen! Jump I tell you! Be quick about it!
Aslaksen. [Running round the writing-table.] Moderation, Doctor; I'm not at all strong; I can’t stand much—— [Screams.] Help! help!
Mrs. Stockmann, Petra, and Horster enter from sitting-room.
Mrs. Stockmann. Good heavens, Thomas! what can be the matter?
Dr. Stockmann. [Brandishing the umbrella.] Jump, I tell you! Out into the gutter!
Hovstad. An unprovoked assault! I call you to witness, Captain Horster. ”

“ Peter Stockmann. Well remember, he is the Medical Officer to the Baths.
Hovstad. Yes, and what is more, they owe their existence to him.
Peter Stockmann. To him? Indeed! It is true I have heard from time to time that some people are of that opinion. At the same time I must say I imagined that I took a modest part in the enterprise,
Mrs. Stockmann. Yes, that is what Thomas is always saying.
Hovstad. But who denies it, Mr. Stockmann? You set the thing going and made a practical concern of it; we all know that. I only meant that the idea of it came first from the doctor. ”

“ It gives us, in a word, a larger segment of life.
1 AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
(1882)
2 CHARACTERS. Doctor Thomas Stockmann, medical officer of the Baths. Mrs. Stockmann, his wife. Petra, their daughter, a teacher. Eilif
Petra }their sons, thirteen and ten years old respectively Peter Stockmann, the doctor’s elder brother, Burgomaster [5] and chief of police, chairman of the Baths Committee, etc. Morten Kiil, [6] master tanner, Mrs. Stockmann’s adoptive-father. Hovstad, editor of the “People’s Messenger.” Billing, on the staff of the paper. Horster, a ship’s captain. Aslaksen, a printer. ”

“ Mrs. Busk's own views are tolerably emancipated, when we are alone together; but now that this report about me is being spread, she dare not keep me on any longer.
Mrs. Stockmann. And someone who had been a guest of ours! That shows you the return you get for your hospitality, Thomas!
Dr. Stockmann. We won't live in such a disgusting hole any longer. Pack up as quickly as you can, Katherine; the sooner we can get away, the better.
Mrs. Stockmann. Be quiet—I think I hear someone in the hall. See who it is, Petra.
Petra (opening the door) . Oh, it's you, Captain Horster! Do come in. ”

“ Stockmann inevitably has to pay the penalty of his credulity. He finds every hall in town closed against him. Only one solitary citizen has the courage to open his doors to the persecuted Doctor, his old friend Horster. But the mob follows him even there and howls him down as an enemy of society. ”

“ The compact majority behind me? That's might enough, I should think!
Katrine Stockmann is wiser than her husband. For he who has no might need hope for no right. The good Doctor has to drink the bitter cup to the last drop before he realizes the wisdom of his wife.
Threatened by the authorities and repudiated by the People's Messenger, Dr. Stockmann attempts to secure a hall wherein to hold a public meeting. A free-born citizen, he believes in the Constitution and its guarantees; he is determined to maintain his right of free expression. ”

“ Aslaksen. And if only we proceed with moderation, I really don’t think there can be any danger.
Dr. Stockmann. Who the devil cares whether there’s danger or not! What I do, I do in the name of truth and for conscience' sake.
Hovstad. You are a man to be backed up, Doctor.
Aslaksen. Yes, there’s no doubt the Doctor is a true friend to the town; he’s what I call a friend of society.
84Billing. Strike me dead if Dr. Stockmann isn’t a Friend of the People, Aslaksen!
Aslaksen. I have no doubt the House-owners' Association will soon adopt that expression. ”

“ Public opinion is seldom so important as private opinion. Socrates was right and Athens wrong. Very frequently the multitude at the foot of the mountain are worshiping a golden calf, while the prophet, lonely and aloof upon the summit, is hearkening to the very voice of God.
The journalist is limited by the necessity of catering to majorities; he can never experience the felicity of Dr. Stockmann, who felt himself the strongest man on earth because he stood most alone. It may sometimes happen that the majority is right ”

“ He talks about the Baths; but it is a revolution he is aiming at—he wants to get the administration of the town put into new hands. No one doubts the honesty of the Doctor's intentions—no one will suggest that there can be any two opinions as to that, I myself am a believer in self-government for the people, provided it does not fall too heavily on the ratepayers. But that would be the case here; and that is why I will see Dr. Stockmann damned—I beg your pardon—before I go with him in the matter. You can pay too dearly for a thing sometimes ”

“ Poor, silly old Stockmann in An Enemy of the People blurts it out, blurts out that the water-supply is contaminated and his native health-resort no better than a death-trap, for no better reason than that he feels it is what he ought to do. ”

“ Stockmann accompanies him into the hall.
Hovstad. [As the Doctor re-enters.] Well, what do you say to that, Doctor? Don’t you think it is high time we should give all this weak-kneed, half-hearted cowardice a good shaking up?
Dr. Stockmann. Are you speaking of Aslaksen?
Hovstad. Yes, I am. He’s a decent enough fellow, but he’s one of those who are sunk in the swamp. And most people here are just like him; they are for ever wavering and wobbling from side to side; 54what with scruples and misgivings, they never dare advance a step. ”

“ Peter Stockmann. Yes, very well; but see that you get rid of him quickly. (Goes out through the door on the right, which ASLAKSEN opens for him and shuts after him.)
Hovstad. Pretend to be doing something, Aslaksen. (Sits down and writes. ASLAKSEN begins foraging among a heap of newspapers that are lying on a chair.)
Dr. Stockmann (coming in from the printing room) . Here I am again. (Puts down his hat and stick.)
Hovstad (writing) . Already, Doctor? Hurry up with what we were speaking about, Aslaksen. We are very pressed for time today. ”

“ Aslaksen. The man was evidently intoxicated.—Continue, Dr. Stockmann; but pray endeavour to be moderate.
Dr. Stockmann. Well, fellow citizens, I shall say no more about our leading men. If any one imagines, from what I have just said, that it’s these gentlemen I want to make short work of to-night, he is mistaken—altogether mistaken. For I cherish the comfortable 133conviction that these laggards, these relics of a decaying order of thought, are diligently cutting their own throats. They need no doctor to hasten their end. ”

“ Dr. Stockmann (looking first at one of them and then at the other) . What the devil do you both mean?
Aslaksen. May I ask if your father-in-law is not going round the town buying up all the shares in the Baths?
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, he has been buying Baths shares today; but—
Aslaksen. It would have been more prudent to get someone else to do it—someone less nearly related to you.
Hovstad. And you should not have let your name appear in the affair. There was no need for anyone to know that the attack on the Baths came from you. You ought to have consulted me, Dr. Stockmann. ”

“ Yes, it would be a trick—a fraud, a lie, a downright crime towards the public, towards the whole community!
Peter Stockmann. I have not, as I remarked before, been able to convince myself that there is actually any imminent danger.
Dr. Stockmann. You have! It is impossible that you should not be convinced. I know I have represented the facts absolutely truthfully and fairly. And you know it very well, Peter, only you won't acknowledge it. It was owing to your action that both the Baths and the water conduits were built where they are ”

“ But as soon as the opportune moment came I—and the others—took the matter into our hands
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, and made this mess of all my beautiful plan. It is pretty obvious now what clever fellows you were!
Peter Stockmann. To my mind the whole thing only seems to mean that you are seeking another outlet for your combativeness. You want to pick a quarrel with your superiors—an old habit of yours. You cannot put up with any authority over you. You look askance at anyone who occupies a superior official position ”

“ The minority is always in the right. (Renewed uproar.)
Hovstad. Aha!—so Dr. Stockmann has become an aristocrat since the day before yesterday!
Dr. Stockmann. I have already said that I don't intend to waste a word on the puny, narrow-chested, short-winded crew whom we are leaving astern. Pulsating life no longer concerns itself with them. I am thinking of the few, the scattered few amongst us, who have absorbed new and vigorous truths. Such men stand, as it were, at the outposts, so far ahead that the compact majority has not yet been able to come up with them ”