The Wild Duck

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen
March 20, 1828 May 23, 1906 Born in Skien, Norwegian; lived most of his writing life in Germany and Italy The Wild Duck part of realist cycle of playsIbsens Golden Age The realist plays were controversial because they exposed the illusions and hypocrisies his audiences held so dear (Introduction xii)

A Changing World
Victorian period (1837 1901) transitioning to modern (1901 1960s):
Victorian period characterized by Puritan ideals, rising middle class, scientific discovery, industrialization Modern period characterized by uncertainty, experimentation, focus on the self, disillusionment (WWI and WWII)

Masters of suspicion: Freud, Nietzsche, Marx (exploring the genealogies, the secret histories, of morals and social
institutions, with the aim of freeing men from bonds to which they did

not even know they were subject.)

Realism
Literary movement during latter half of nineteenth century Characteristics:
Focus on the middle class Mimetic theory of art: art imitates life; contemporary reality heightened only to make conflicts clearer (Introduction xiii) unusually interested in the effect on the audience and its life (A Handbook to Literature)

Freudianism
Ibsens realist cycle predates all of Freuds publications Ibsen revealed the middle class social unconscious (Introduction viii) ...whenever we make a choice we are governed by hidden mental processes of which we are unaware and over which we have no control (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Oedipus Complex: attachment to parent of opposite sex; hostility toward parent of same sex (A Handbook to Literature)

Key Characters in The Wild Duck

Hkon Werle: wealthy father of Gregers Werle Gregers Werle: childhood friend of Hialmar Ekdal Hialmar Ekdal: disilluisioned friend of Gregers; Ginas husband and Hedvigs father Gina Ekdal: former housekeeper/lover of Hkon Werle; now Ekdal family wife and mother Hedvig Ekdal: fourteen-year-old daughter of Hilamar and Gina Relling: doctor acquaintance of Hialmar and Gregers

Key Concepts
The Claim of the Ideal: duty to truth; truth as basis for freedom and reinvention The Life-illusion (sometimes translated lifelie): hidden truth, abetted by willful selfdeception, that provides a veneer of happiness and/or makes life worth living

Topics to Consider
The risk and consequences of telling the truth Self-delusion vs. communion founded on truth (170) Conscious and unconscious motivation for action Class distinctions/class consciousness Vulnerability of children (innocence vs. experience) Gender/family roles (complicity of; stabilizing force) Language: plain-speaking vs. coded language; what is spoken vs. what is unspoken; words and actions Forgiveness and resentment