“Wild Duck” Ibsen in brief summary
80-ies. XIX century. A festive table in the office of the rich Norwegian businessman Verle. Among the guests – the son of merchant Greghers and old school friend Gregers Yalmar Ekdal, summoned from the plant in the Mountain Valley. Friends have not seen each other for fifteen years. During this time, Yalmar married, he had a daughter, Hedwig, he started his own business – a photo studio. And, it would seem, everything is fine with him. The only thing, Hjalmar did not finish his education because of a lack of money for his family – his father, a former companion of Verla, then they put him in jail. True, Verle helped the son of a former friend: he gave Yalmar money for a photo studio and advised him to rent an apartment from a familiar hostess whose daughter Yalmar had married. All this seems suspicious to Gregers: he knows his father. How is the maiden name of his wife Yalmar? Incidentally, not Hansen? After receiving an affirmative answer, Gregers has little doubt
Which one, it becomes soon clear. Gregers decided to open Yalmar’s eyes to the “quagmire of lies” into which he was plunged, because Yalmar, a “naive and great soul,” does not suspect anything of this and believes in the kindness of the merchant. Defeated, according to his father, “fever of honesty,” Gregers believes that by revealing Yalmar’s truth, he will give impetus to “great calculation with the past” and help him “erect on the ruins of the past a new solid building, start a new life, create a conjugal union in the spirit of truth, without lies and concealment. “
To this end, Gregers visits the Ekdalei family apartment on the same day, which is located on the attic floor and serves simultaneously as a pavilion for a photo studio. The apartment communicates with the attic, large enough to hold the rabbits and chickens that old Ekdal, the father of Yalmar, from time to time shoots from the gun, imagining that he is, like in the old days in the Mountain Valley, hunting bears and partridges. The highest and worst experiences of the elder Ekdal are connected with the Mountain valley: after all, for the felling of the forest, it was there, in the vicinity of their common with the Verla plant, that he was put in jail.
Gregers does not immediately put before Yalmar a bitter truth. He looks at the family-the simple and eternally burdened care of Guinea, the old man Ekdal, who has died out of his mind and obviously broken by prison, to the fourteen-year-old Hedwig-an enthusiastic and exalted girl who adores her father, finally, to Hjalmar himself, who hides his parasitism under the guise of tireless work over the invention, which, he said, should restore the well-being and honest name of his family.
Since Gregers left the Mountain Valley, and now also left his father’s house, he needs an apartment. Just such a suitable room with a separate move for the Ekdaly in the house is available, and they – however, not without the resistance of Gina – hand it over to the son of his benefactor. The next day, Werle, concerned about the hostile mood of his son, calls on him, he wants to find out what his son is up against. Having learned the “goal” of Gregers, the businessman ridicules him and warns – how would he, in his new idol, Yalmar, not be disappointed. The same, albeit in sharper terms, Gregers is being interpreted by his neighbor on the floor, drunkard and reveler Dr. Relling, a frequent visitor to the Ekdal family. The truth, according to the theory of Relling, is not needed by anyone, and one should not be worried about it as with a written baggage. Opening the eyes of Yalmar, Gregers is nothing but trouble, or even trouble for the Ekdal family will not achieve. According to the doctor, “taking away the average person’s everyday lies is like taking away his happiness.” Events confirm the validity of his dictum.
Gregers goes with Yalmar for a walk and puts him all the details of his family life the way he sees her. Returning, Yalmar loudly announces to his wife that from now on, he will conduct all the work of the studio and household bills himself – she does not trust him any more. Is it true that she was close to the businessman Verle when he worked as a housekeeper? Gina does not deny the past connection. True, before the sick wife Verla, she was not to blame – in fact, Verlea pestered her, but everything that happened between them happened after the death of his wife, when Gina did not work more at Verla. However, all this – such old, in the words of Gina, “intrigues”, which she forgot about them.
Hjalmar somewhat calms down. Present at the conjugal explanation, Dr. Relling, from the bottom of his heart, sends Gregers to the devil and expresses his sincere wish that he, “this healer, this healer of souls was going to leave home, or else he will confuse everyone!” Unexpectedly, Gina is visited by the Fru Serbu, the housekeeper Verle. She came to her to say goodbye, because she marries the owner, and they immediately leave for their plant in the Mountain Valley. Dr. Rolling, this news casts discouragement – once his and Fru Serbu connected a serious feeling. Gregers asks, but is Frau Serba afraid that he will report on their past communication to his father? The answer is negative: no, they told Verla each other about the past everything – their marriage is based on honesty. Frou Serbu will not leave her husband under any circumstances, even when he becomes completely helpless.
This news, and also handed over by the housekeeper Hedwig darstvennaya from Verle deduce Yalmar Ekdal from his usual benevolent mood. If he had a vague idea of the connection between Gina’s past and Werle’s blessings, the news of the same eye disease in Verla and his daughter, as well as about the gifted one, caught him unawares and wounded in his heart. Is it possible that Hedwig is not his daughter, but Verle? Gina honestly admits that this question can not answer. Then she, maybe, knows how much the accountant Verle paid to the old man Ekdal for copying business papers? Approximately the same as the amount spent on its maintenance, meets Gina. Well, tomorrow morning, Yalmar will leave this house, but first he will go to the accountant and ask him to count their debt for all the past years. They will all give!
But, having slept in a neighbor, Yalmar returns the next day. He can not leave home at once – in night walks he lost his hat. Gradually, Gina calms him down and persuades him to stay. Yalmar even glues together the gift he has torn apart from the heat. But he persistently fails to notice his beloved Hedwig. The girl is in despair. The night before, Gregers had advised her how to return her father’s love. You need to bring him your “child sacrifice,” to do something to make his father see how she loves him. Hjalmar now very much disliked the wild duck, the very one that lives in their drawer in the attic – after all, she got to the Ekdaly from Verle. Kommersant wounded her during the hunt on the lake, and then his servant gave the duck to the old man Ekdal. Hedwig will prove his love to his father if he sacrifices for his sake a wild duck, which she also loves. Well, Hedwig agrees,
A tragic denouement is approaching. The next day, Yalmar, not wanting to see his daughter, drives her from everywhere. Hedwig is hiding in the attic. At the time of the conversation, when Yalmar convinces Gregers that Hedwig can change it, it is worth only Verla, perhaps her real father, to entice her with her wealth, a shot is heard in the attic. Gregers rejoices – it’s the old man Ekdal shot the wild duck at the request of Hedwig. But the grandfather runs into the pavilion on the other side. There was an accident: Hedwig unintentionally discharged the pistol. Dr. Relling does not believe this: the girl’s blouse is scorched, she deliberately shot herself. And guilty in her death Gregers with his mere mortal “ideal requirements.” Without them, these “ideal requirements”, life on earth could be bearable.
In this case, says Gregers, he is happy with his destiny. The doctor asks, what is it? Be the thirteenth at the table!
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