Quote 1: "No. Even the chickens have all the others that they were baby chicks with, but she's so completely apart from any of her own. So you see, everything is so really mysterious about the wild duck. There's no one who knows her, and no one who knows where she's come from either."
This quote is from Hedvig speaking to Gregers. The way that Hedvig describes the wild duck puts an interesting spin on it when she says "there's no one who knows her, and no one who knows where she's come from either". And basically describes the wild duck as being out of place and just different than the rest of the animals it's around. In this way, Hedvig could be the wild duck. She's somewhat out of place because of her age, she is the only child in the play. However, the adults banter back and forth and discuss fairly adult issues with her around in addition to her helping her mom with the photography business. She could feel very out of place. Also, since Ibsen has led to audience to assume that there is a possibility that Hedvig is not Hjalmer's daughter that could play into "no one knows where she's come from".
Quote 2: "Of course not. And I suppose it is your wife who manages here?
"My general rule is to delegate the routine matters to her, and that leaves me free to retire to the living room to think over more important things."
I picked this quote because it displays Hjalmer's completely delusional perception of himself and his and Gina's role in the family. Hjalmer thinks that Gina just does the mundane tasks and that he does all the big important things but in reality, Gina is running the family and running the business while Hjalmer basically does nothing. He is quite childlike in a sense that he seems to be completely oblivious to all that is going on around him. Gregers also seems quick to understand that Gina is the brains behind it all, yet even after Gregers mentions that Gina runs things, Hjalmer still believes that he does more important things. This definitely places Hjalmer in the "wild duck" position since he seems so completely submerged in lies and naivety that he doesn't even realize it.
Quote 3: "Yes, I am going to rescue that shipwrecked man. That's just what he suffered-shipwreck-when the storm broke over him. When all those harrowing investigations took place, he wasn't himself anymore. That pistol, there0 the one we use to shoot rabbits with-it's played a part in the tragedy of the Ekdals."
This caught my attention because the way Hjalmer describes Ekdal, he almost makes it sound like Ekdal is a "wild duck". He is completely oblivious to the fact that Gregers whole mission is to pull Hjalmer out of the "wild duck" position and bring him back up to reality. All the while, Hjalmer thinks that he is the one who is bringing his father out of all of this and saving him. Both men have life missions to "save" another man. It's interesting how Ibsen creates this image of a "wild duck" and many characters perceive others as being that wild duck, but yet none of them see themselves as the duck. So they're all circling trying to pull each other out of the lies when it seems as though they are all submersed in them in some form.
Quote 4: "Beg pardon-but it wouldn't be you who brought that stench in with you from the mines up there?"
"It's just like you to call what I'm bringing into this house a stench."
This exchange between Gregers and Dr. Relling is interesting because again we see boundaries. Neither man will come out and say what he really thinks, and Gina as well in the conversation, but instead they use little metaphors and quick comments that are more underhanded. They all think they know the truth but no one ever actually speaks what they think. Relling seems to be accusing Gregers of bring a "stench" with him. It seems like he doesn't like the fact that Gregers has come back and his poking around in everybody's business. But Gregers obviously perceives himself to be very noble and doing the "right thing".
Quote 5: "All right, I'll tell you, Mrs. Ekdal. He's suffering from an acute case of moralistic fever."
Relling talks about Gregers having "moralistic fever". I think what he means by this is that Gregers is all of a sudden decided that he has all these morals and that he can't let Hjalmer live in the lies anymore and that he has to do everything right and all of that. But Relling seems to be mocking him, a fever implies that it's temporary and all of a sudden Gregers has this "fever" about him. And also that he's sick, and pretty much implying that Gregers is just acting dumb and is just messing everything up. And that he should just let his "morals" go and move on without interfering in everyone's personal lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment