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= The_Wild_Duck =
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Introduction
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'The Wild Duck' (original Norwegian title: 'Vildanden') is an 1884
play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It explores the
complexities of truth and illusion through the story of a family torn
apart by secrets and the intrusion of an idealistic outsider. It
focuses on the Ekdal family, whose fragile peace is shattered by
Gregers Werle, an idealist who insists on exposing hidden truths,
leading to tragic consequences. The play was written in a realistic
style, but literary scholars have pointed out the play's kinship with
symbolism. It blends themes such as deception, betrayal, and the
disillusionment of modern life with moments of comedy and satire, and
is considered the first modern masterpiece in the genre of
tragicomedy. 'The Wild Duck' and 'Rosmersholm' are "often to be
observed in the critics' estimates vying with each other as rivals for
the top place among Ibsen's works".
Themes of visibility and recognition permeate the narrative, featuring
characters struggling to be seen while metaphorically and literally
blind to each other's true selves, symbolized through motifs such as
blindness, photography, and the wounded wild duck. Like other Ibsen
plays, it is rich in references to Ibsen's family, with "Old Ekdal"
widely considered one of the most famous literary portraits of the
playwright's father Knud Ibsen. The character "Gregers Werle"
represents the spirit of the Paus family and Upper Telemark, a broader
theme that is found in many of Ibsen's plays.
Characters
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* Håkon Werle, a wholesale merchant
* Gregers Werle, his son
* Old Ekdal, the former business partner of Håkon Werle
* Hjalmar Ekdal, Old Ekdal's son, a photographer
* Gina Ekdal, Hjalmar Ekdal's wife
* Hedvig, Hjalmar Ekdal's daughter, aged fourteen
* Mrs. Sørby, housekeeper and fiancée of Håkon Werle
* Relling, a doctor, lives below the Ekdals
* Molvik, formerly a student of theology, lives below the Ekdals
* Pettersen, servant to Håkon Werle
* Jensen, a hired waiter
* Mr. Balle, a dinner guest
* Mr. Flor, a dinner guest
Plot
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The first act opens with a dinner party hosted by Håkon Werle, a
wealthy merchant and industrialist. The gathering is attended by his
son, Gregers Werle, who has just returned to his father's home
following a self-imposed exile. There, he learns the fate of a former
classmate, Hjalmar Ekdal. Hjalmar married Gina, a young servant in the
Werle household. The older Werle had arranged the match by providing
Hjalmar with a home and profession as a photographer. Gregers, whose
mother died believing that Gina and Håkon had carried on an affair,
becomes enraged at the thought that his old friend is living a life
built on a lie.
The remaining four acts take place in Hjalmar Ekdal's apartments. The
Ekdals initially appear to be living a life of cozy domesticity.
Hjalmar's father makes a living doing odd copying jobs for Werle.
Hjalmar runs a portrait studio out of the apartment. Gina helps him
run the business in addition to keeping house. They both dote on their
daughter Hedvig. Gregers travels directly to their home from the
party. While getting acquainted with the family, Hjalmar confesses
that Hedvig is both his greatest joy and greatest sorrow, because she
is slowly losing her eyesight. The family eagerly reveals a loft in
the apartment where they keep various animals like rabbits and
pigeons. Most prized is the wild duck they rescued. The duck was
wounded by none other than Werle, whose eyesight is also failing. His
shot winged the duck, which dived to the bottom of the lake to drown
itself by clinging to the seaweed. However, Werle's dog retrieved it,
and despite its wounds from the shot and the dog's teeth, the Ekdals
nursed the duck back to good health.
Gregers decides to rent the spare room in the apartment. The next day,
he begins to realize that there are more lies hanging over the Ekdals
than Gina's affair with his father. While talking to Hedvig, she
explains that Hjalmar keeps her from school because of her eyesight,
but he has no time to tutor her, leaving the girl to escape into
imaginary worlds through pictures she sees in books. During their
conversation, Gregers hears shots in the attic, and the family
explains that Old Ekdal entertains himself by hunting rabbits and
birds in the loft, and Hjalmar often joins in the hunts. The activity
helps Old Ekdal cling to his former life as a great hunter. Hjalmar
also speaks of his 'great invention', which he never specifies. It is
related to photography, and he is certain that it will enable him to
pay off his debts to Werle and finally make himself and his family
completely independent. In order to work on his invention, he often
needs to lie down on the couch and think about it.
During a lunch with Gregers and Hjalmar's friends Relling and Molvik,
Håkon arrives to try to convince Gregers to return home. Gregers
insists that he cannot return and that he will tell Hjalmar the truth.
Håkon is certain that Hjalmar will not be grateful for Gregers'
intervention. After he leaves, Gregers asks Hjalmar to accompany him
on a walk, where he reveals the truth about Gina's affair with his
father.
Upon returning home, Hjalmar is aloof from his wife and daughter. He
demands to handle all future photography business by himself with no
help from Gina. He also demands to manage the family's finances, which
Gina has traditionally done. Gina begs him to reconsider, suggesting
that with all his time consumed he will not be able to work on his
invention. Hedvig adds that he also will not have time to spend in the
loft with the wild duck. Embittered by Gregers' news, Hjalmar bristles
at the suggestion and confesses that he would like to wring the duck's
neck. Indulging his mood, Hjalmar confronts Gina about her affair with
Håkon. She confesses to it, but insists that she loves Hjalmar
intensely.
In the midst of the argument, Gregers returns, stunned to find that
the couple are not overjoyed to be living without such a lie hanging
over their heads. Mrs. Sørby arrives with a letter for Hedvig, and the
news that she herself is marrying Håkon. The letter announces that
Håkon is paying Old Ekdal a pension of 100 crowns per month until his
death. Upon his death, the allowance will be transferred to Hedvig for
the remainder of her life. This news sickens Hjalmar even further, and
it dawns on him that Hedvig may very well be Håkon's child. He cannot
stand the sight of Hedvig any longer, and leaves the house to drink
with Molvik and Relling. Gregers tries to calm the distraught Hedvig
by suggesting that she sacrifice the wild duck for her father's
happiness. Hedvig is desperate to win back her father's love, and
agrees to have her grandfather shoot the duck in the morning.
The next day, Relling arrives to tell the family that Hjalmar has
stayed with him. He is appalled at what Gregers has done, and he
reveals that he long ago implanted the idea of the invention with
Hjalmar as a "life-lie" to keep him from giving in to despair. The
pair argue as Hjalmar returns to gather his materials to work on the
invention. He is overwhelmed by the number of details involved in
moving out of the apartment. Hedvig is overjoyed to see him, but
Hjalmar demands to be "free from intruders" while he thinks about his
next move. Crushed, Hedvig remembers the wild duck and goes to the
loft with a pistol. After hearing a shot, the family assumes Old Ekdal
is hunting in the loft, but Gregers knows he has shot the wild duck
for Hedvig. He explains the sacrifice to Hjalmar who is deeply
touched. When Old Ekdal emerges from his room, the family realizes he
could not have fired the gun in the loft. They rush in to see Hedvig
lying on the ground. No one can find a wound, and Relling has to
examine the girl. He finds that the shot has penetrated her breastbone
and she died immediately. Given the powder burns on her shirt, he
determines that she shot herself. Hjalmar begs for her to live again
so that she can see how much he loves her. The play ends with Relling
and Gregers arguing again. Gregers insists that Hedvig did not die in
vain, because her suicide unleashed a greatness within Hjalmar.
Relling sneers at the notion, and insists that Hjalmar will be a drunk
within a year.
Analysis and criticism
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Guided by a fervent strain of idealism, Gregers endeavors to reveal
the truth to Hjalmar, and thereby free him from the mendacity which
surrounds him. To that end, Gregers takes up residence in the Ekdal
home.
He meddles in the affairs of a strange family, producing disastrous
results. Figuratively speaking, he lives in a house whose closets are
full of skeletons. Over the course of the play the many secrets that
lie behind the Ekdals' apparently happy home are revealed to Gregers,
who insists on pursuing the absolute truth, or the "Summons of the
Ideal". This family has achieved a tolerable 'modus vivendi' by
ignoring the skeletons (among the secrets: Gregers' father may have
impregnated his servant Gina then married her off to Hjalmar to
legitimize the child, and Hjalmar's father has been disgraced and
imprisoned for a crime the elder Werle contributed to but allowed
Ekdahl alone to take the blame) and by permitting each member to live
in a dreamworld of his own--the feckless father believing himself to
be a great inventor, the grandfather dwelling on the past when he was
a mighty sportsman, and little Hedvig, the child, centering her
emotional life on an attic where a wounded wild duck leads a crippled
existence in a make-believe forest.
To the idealist all this appears intolerable. To him as to other
admirers of Ibsen it must seem that the whole family is leading a life
"based on a lie"; all sorts of evils are "growing in the dark". The
remedy is obviously to face facts, to speak frankly, to let in the
light. However, in this play the revelation of the truth is 'not' a
happy event because it rips up the foundation of the Ekdal family.
When the skeletons are brought out of the closet, the whole dreamworld
collapses; the weak husband thinks it is his duty to leave his wife,
and the little girl, after trying to sacrifice her precious duck,
shoots herself with the same gun (overhearing the fatal words from
Hjalmar: "Would she lay down her life for me?"). One of the famous
quotes from the doctor Relling who built up and maintained the lies
the family is founded on is "Deprive the average human being of his
life-lie, and you rob him of his happiness."
Different translations use different words for the "life-lie". In Eva
le Gallienne's translation, Relling says "I try to discover the Basic
Lie - the pet illusion - that makes life possible; and then I foster
it." He also says "No, no; that's what I said: the Basic Lie that
makes life possible."
On a symbolical level, Gregers and Relling seem to be opposites (the
virtue of truth against the "basic lie"). The two seem to have
confronted each other at several cross-roads, and the play ends with
an exchange, almost a wager between the two over the possibilities of
Hjalmar and his future. In this respect, Relling is a cynic who is not
able to think Hjalmar will ever change, while Gregers still thinks
there is hope for his eventual "redemption".
Before the play starts, Gregers worked on a plant in the mountains,
and is accused by Relling (present there as well), of "intriguing"
with the local serfs (actually commoners). Thus, there is a social
criticism in the play, where Gregers is trying to get in touch with
common men, whilst his father is mingling with high society figures -
a setting in which his friend Hjalmar Ekdal is a stranger, and his
father, disgraced by old Werle, is ignored by his son amongst his
betters. From a social rather than a symbolic point of view, Gregers
is trying to root out an unhealthy system, arguing that "truth shall
set you free". In that respect, Relling, plotting with old Werle, is
an advocate for the same system, and initially the opposite of
Gregers.
One could argue that Gregers would feel responsible for the Ekdal
family and their plight, as this is an apparent consequence of his
father's manipulations and schemes. Early on, he mentions that his
mother obviously died from neglect, or was driven into alcoholism by
her husband's actions. As old Werle points out: "you see me with the
eyes of your mother". In this respect, the Ekdal family are helpless
victims, and so is Hedvig.
Background
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Robert Ferguson notes that 'The Wild Duck' did not come easily to
Ibsen. During the writing process, Norway was characterized by
political turmoil, and from his voluntary exile in Rome, Ibsen was
concerned that "the strength of an intimate, personal play such as
'The Wild Duck' might drown in the political debate over the
introduction of parliamentarism in Norway". In the spring of 1884 a
young relative, Count Christopher Paus, paid Ibsen an extended visit
to Rome. Jørgen Haave wrote that "Ibsen had not been this close to his
own family since he left his hometown over 30 years ago;" it fact it
was the only meeting between Ibsen and his family during Ibsen's
decades in exile. Ibsen was eager to hear news regarding the family in
Skien. Shortly after the meeting Ibsen declared that he had overcome a
writer's block and that he "writes with full force." In the summer of
1884 he completed the play in Gossensaß.
As in many of Ibsen's plays, characters are based on or named after
his family members to a greater or lesser extent. The character Old
Ekdal is regarded by most Ibsen scholars as one of Ibsen's most
important literary portraits of his father Knud Ibsen. Ibsen had
previously portrayed his father as the characters "Jon Gynt" and
"Daniel Hejre", where the son's judgment of his father's wastefulness
was both harsh and bitter. In old Ekdal's character, however, the poet
looks at his father, "the forlorn Knud Ibsen, in a conciliatory and
compassionate way".
According to Ibsen scholar Jon Nygaard, the character Gregers Werle
represents the spirit of the Paus family and Upper Telemark, a broader
theme that is found in many of Ibsen's plays; Nygaard points out that
Høydalsverket, where Werle lived for years, is an obvious reference to
Upper Telemark and especially Høydalsmo; Ibsen's ancestor Paul Paus
owned Høydalsmo Stave Church.
The character Hedvig is named after the Paus family, where the Hedvig
name had been passed on for generations, and more specifically after
Ibsen's grandmother Hedevig Paus and sister Hedvig Ibsen.
Ibsen's model for Hedvig, especially her outward appearance, was a
13-year-old Italian-resident German girl he met in Gossensaß in the
summer of 1884, Martha Kopf (born 1870), daughter of the sculptor
Joseph von Kopf, who lived in Rome. Ibsen wrote in a letter to his son
Sigurd Ibsen: "The German sculptor, Professor Kopf from Rome, has with
him a 13-year-old daughter, who is the most excellent model for Hedvig
that I could wish for; she is beautiful, has a serious face and
personality, and is a little greedy." There is a bust of Martha Kopf
by her later husband Hugo Berwald.
Premiere
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'The Wild Duck' premiered on 9 January 1885 at Den Nationale Scene,
Bergen, Norway.
On 8 November 1894, the first English translation of 'The Wild Duck'
by William Archer was performed at the Novelty Theatre in London,
England. The play's first performance in the UK was well-received, and
it further contributed to Ibsen's growing reputation as a prominent
playwright in English-speaking countries.
Broadway
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Produced by Arthur Hopkins, the first English-language production of
'The Wild Duck' opened on March 11, 1918, at the Plymouth Theatre in
New York City. The three-act drama ran through April 1918.
* Dodson Mitchell as Werle
* Harry Mestayer as Gregers Werle
* Edward Connelly as Old Ekdal
* Lionel Atwill as Hjalmer Ekdal
* Amy Veness as Gina Ekdal
* Alla Nazimova as Hedvig
* Norah Lamison as Mrs. Sorby
* Lyster Chambers as Relling
* St. Clair Bayfield as Molvik
* Adelbert Knott as Graberg
* A. O. Huhn as Pettersen
* Frederick Gibbs as Jensen
* Walter C. Wilson as A Flabby Gentleman
* J. H. Wright as A Thin-Haired Gentleman
* George Paige as A Short-Sighted Gentleman
West End
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In October 2018, Almeida Theatre staged a new adaptation of the play,
created by Robert Icke.
Adaptations
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In 1926 the play was adapted into a German silent film, 'The House of
Lies'.
In 1963 the play was made into a motion picture by Tancred Ibsen,
Henrik Ibsen's grandson.
On 7 March 1968, Irish national public television, Raidió Teilifís
Éireann, broadcast a new production starring Ann Rowan, Marian
Richardson, Christopher Casson, T. P. McKenna, Blánaid Irvine,
Geoffrey Golden and Maurice Good.
In 1971, a television adaptation by Max Faber, directed by Alan
Bridges, was broadcast in the BBC's 'Play of the Month' series.
In 1976, a film version in German, written and directed by Hans W.
Geißendörfer, was released.
A 1983 film version in English by Tutte Lemkow, directed by Henri
Safran, with the characters' names completely anglicized, starred
Jeremy Irons and Liv Ullmann.
In 1989, Bo Widerberg directed a three-part Swedish TV series starring
Tomas von Brömssen, Pernilla August and Stellan Skarsgård.
In 2015, an Australian film adaptation 'The Daughter', directed by
Simon Stone, was released.
References
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* Ibsen, Henrik (1884). 'The Wild Duck'; trans. Stephen Mulrine.
London: Nick Hern Books, 2006
* Ibsen, Henrik (1961). 'The Wild Duck and Other Plays by Henrik
Ibsen'; newly translated by Eva Le Gallienne. New York: The Modern
Library; p. 194.
External links
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*
* '[
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73631 The Wild Duck]' at Project
Gutenberg
* [
http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/IbsWild.html Ibsen,
Henrik. 'The Wild Duck'] at University of Virginia Library
*
*
*
[
https://digital.library.illinois.edu/collections/810eac30-e3fb-012f-c5b6-0019b9e633c5-e/items?q=wild+duck
Costume sketches and poster] for the 1970 production at the Criterion
Theatre by Motley Theatre Design Group -
[
https://digital.library.illinois.edu/collections/810eac30-e3fb-012f-c5b6-0019b9e633c5-e
Motley Collection of Theatre & Costume Design]
License
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Duck
