how dare you say that about hjalmar ekdal? we can discuss it again when the first grass starts showing on her grave. then he'll bring it all up, all about the child so untimely torn from a loving father's heart. then you'll see him wallowing deeper and deeper in sentimentality and self-pity. just you watch. if you're right and i'm wrong, life will no longer be worth living. oh, life wouldn't be too bad if only these blessed people who come canvassing their ideals round everybody's door would leave us poor souls in peace. in that case, i'm glad my destiny is what it is. if i may ask, what is your destiny? to be 13th at table. the devil it is. it's interesting that ibsen, who is known for his masterful treatment of the well-made play, can still leave unanswered questions as the curtain falls-- whether hedvig considers herself to be the wild duck, or that hjalmar has felt any remorse or will fulfill the doctor's prophecy and rework these tragic events in his own memory, whether most of us need the life lie, what kind of idealism

gregers' father had cheated hjalmar's father, old ekdal, years ago in a shady deal for which old ekdal took the blame. and gregers' father had apparently had a romantic affair with the very gina who is now such a devoted wife to hjalmar. there is the possibility that hedvig's poor eyesight may have been inherited from her actual father if werle is indeed her father. the wild duck deals with certain questions. should the truth be told? can the family endure truth, or must they continue to live according to the life lie which the doctor maintains most people require? ibsen might have stopped there with an interesting play about people the audience would learn to understand, but he wanted more, a larger theme. and for that, he needed a symbol, the wild duck of the play title. he allows for the realistic use of the creature by making it part of a menagerie living in an attic within the ekdal house. apparently, hjalmar's father was once a man able to indulge his hobby of hunting in the forest. now his hunting is confined to shooting tame animals in this collection of which the duck is a pri