The most obvious boundary I noticed in Act 1 was between Gregers and his father. There is a lot of tension between him and his father. It seems as if Gregers has a struggle with his father and also an internal struggle with himself about trusting his father and how he feels about his late mother. He seems to dislike his father because of the way his mother felt, even though she has passed away. Even though some people think his father is a good man, like Hjalmer believes that his father has a heart since he set him up with a wife and a job, but Gregers still cannot trust his father and feels like his father is manipulating him. So the fact that he cannot trust his father becomes a boundary in their relationship.
Werle seems to have his own boundaries, on page 130, he "looks for something on the writing table, seeming to with that Gregers would leave; when he fails to stir, Werle crosses toward the door." Ibsen makes it sound like Werle has some type of business to attend to with all his papers and his study but his son simply stands and refuses to leave. Even though Werle wants his son to leave he can't say it, so that becomes a boundary for him that it wouldn't be socially acceptable to cross. So he tries to get out of it by just heading to the door to leave. This shows Werle coming to a boundary and then trying to slip out of it.
The reader doesn't know all the details, but when Hjalmer talks to Gregers he speaks about his father going to prison, and so that could be a boundary for Hjalmer and his family that maybe their status in society has been affected by the legal troubles that his father has had. That could be displaying an economic or social boundary for their family. The fact that Ekdal went to prison, he obviously fell out of the business world that him and Werle were equals in. So now he has more economic and social boundaries than he used to.
In this time period obviously there was a lot of economic boundaries due to your class. Werle talks about his relation with Mrs. Sorby, "Yes, but I'm afraid it can't go on. The world is quick to make inferences about a woman in her position." (134). So he is discussing a couple of boundaries here. First of all, he is discussing the social boundary that it simply isn't acceptable to have a relationship with your employee. But also, economically, the world "is quick to make inferences", so the general public judges "woman in her position". So women of a lower class. So Ibsen displays that in this time period there were certain judgments about different classes and boundaries as to what was acceptable for a person based on which class you were in.
Ibsen uses a lot of gossip and it's all very complicated. It's interesting because it creates an illusion as though the audience is almost a part of the action because you're constantly trying to figure out who said what and whether it's true or not and who is talking to whom.This could create boundaries because you may not know what is true or not. Or you may only be seeing part of the picture, which is what Gregers seems to imply that Hjalmer is doing.
Also at the dinner party, when Ekdal walks in and everyone sees him, a guest who didn't see is asking who it was and Gregers simply says "Oh, no one. Only the bookkeeper and somebody else" (128). And even his own son, Hjalmer, when asked if he knew him says "I don't know-I didn't notice-" The dashes show his hesitation. And both men have obviously come to a boundary where they feel it is socially inappropriate to mention Ekdal or make a big deal that he was just there even though it obviously is a big deal.
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