Wild Duck Journal #5: Ending in relation to the whole

In both Oedipus and Wild Duck, Sophocles and Ibsen create characters that cannot handle what has happened to them throughout the play and then take drastic measures in the end to escape from their troubles. Specifically, in Oedipus, Oedipus can not cope with the fact that he has murdered his father and married his mother and he also has a difficult time when Jocasta dies. In response to all this, Oedipus jabs his eyes out because he feels that it is better to live being blind than have to confront his parents when he dies. "I, with my eyes, how could I look my father in the eyes when I go down to death? Or mother, so abused..." (1500-1502). This reveals the difficulty that Oedipus has in coping with the hardships that occur throughout the play because he feels that it is necessary to inflict pain and suffering on himself and he allows his extreme, upset emotions to take over and his actions are a direct result of that. With the build up of these upsetting occurrences, Oedipus can no longer stand himself and feels that if he stays in Thebes any longer, his daughters especially will be affected because he feels he would have left a bad image and prevented them from ever having an auspicious future and someday getting married. "Such disgrace, and you must bear it all! Who will marry you then? Not a man on earth" (1642-1643). Sophocles decided to create a character whose primary way of coping with things is escaping what is painful to show how the story can build up throughout it and a character's emotions can eventually get the best of them in the end and force them to make drastic decisions in response. In Wild Duck, Hedvig takes similar action in order to escape the pain that has been forced upon her. When Hjalmar finds out that Hedvig is most likely Werle's child instead of his, he becomes extremely angered and storms out of the house. Seeing Hedvig and her poor eyesight just reminds him of Werle, the man the fathered the child he thought was his and he prefers not to be around Hedvig at all. Hedvig had always referred to Hjalmar as "Daddy," which shows her childlike attachment to her father and reveals how much he really meant to her. However, he is reminded of Gina's affair every time he sees Hedvig and does not want anything to do with her.

HEDVIG: Mother, should I - (Seeing Hjalmar, giving a squeal of delight, and running toward him.) Oh, Daddy, Daddy!

HJALMAR: (turning from her and waving her off). Get away! Get away! (To Gina) Make her get away from me, will you!

In response to Hjalmar's reaction to Hedvig, Hedvig grabs the pistol, goes up to the attic, and kills herself. This severe response to her Dad's lack of compassion reveals how much damage one could do if there are extremely heightened emotions that take over when one is faced with a challenging situation. Isben is also able to create a character that has a build up of emotions throughout the story because Hedvig has so much love for her dad, but is then forced to give that up. When this father-daughter relationship comes across an obstacle like the one that Hedvig and Hjalmar do in the end, Hedvig's emotions take over and she must escape her troubles through death.

Wild Duck Journal #3: Exploring themes of judgment and punishment

In both Oedipus and Wild Duck, characters experience some form of judgment and punishment at some point in the story. In Wild Duck, this idea of judging someone and then suffering because of it is shown. When Gregers is speaking to his father, Werle, he says, "You've spoiled my entire life. I'm not thinking of all that with Mother. But you're the one I can thank for my going around, whipped and driven by this guilt-ridden conscience" (175). Gregers is placing this judgment and blame on his father and is holding his father responsible for his guilty conscience when he did not have the courage to speak up against the trap that was laid for Lieutenant Ekdal. We can see how according to Gregers, Werle is the one who is responsible for Gregers' internal harm, but Gregers is the one who must suffer the punishment because of his father's actions. Gregers made it come across as Werle completely destroying his life when he says that Werle "spoiled" it, and the effect of this shifting of judgment and blame shows how the characters do not necessarily accept the responsibility for the punishments, like a guilty conscience, they receive- it is given to someone else. However, in Oedipus, when he says, "What love, what call of heart can touch my ears with joy? Nothing, friends. Take me away, far, far from Thebes, quickly, cast me away, my friends- this great murderous ruin, this man cursed to heaven, the man the deathless gods hate most of all!" (1475-1480), Oedipus places more of a judgment on himself. He reveals that he does not deserve joy ever again and feels that he does not even deserve to stay in Thebes because he has just realized he murdered his own father and married his mother. The punishment he faces because of this realization and judgment of himself is definitely an internal one. He loses any pride he had initially and therefore the punishment he faces is just the fact that it is unlikely that he will regain any sense of dignity because of the unknown actions he has taken. This contrasts with Wild Duck and has the effect of revealing how in Oedipus the characters' judgment and punishment are more internal and they are completely stripped of what was initially high self-regard. They do not pass the blame onto someone else for their suffering, they suffer the consequences as if they should be held responsible.

Wild Duck Journal #2: Gap between audience and characters

In the play Oedipus, the chorus acts as the connection between the audience and what is going on on the stage. There is dramatic irony created because the audience knows Oedipus' story, but the characters have no idea of what to expect in the future. The chorus permits the audience to be more connected and included in the play because there is more of an interaction between the chorus and Oedipus and the chorus and the audience. When the chorus says, "I pity you but I can't bear to look. I've much to ask, so much to learn, so much fascinates my eyes, but you...I shudder at the sight" (239), it shows how they sympathize with Oedipus when he is in such agony and the audience does the same thing because they can see how this once-mighty character has torn himself down and is now so miserable. In Wild Duck, there is no 'chorus' that the audience can connect to. Instead, it is as if the detailed stage directions make up for it and the setting and backdrops help inform the audience instead of the chorus doing so. However, because the audience is supposedly viewing into this private setting through a "fourth wall," the audience is more disconnected and there is no chorus to add input throughout the play. There is a wider gap between the characters and the audience in Wild Duck than there is in Oedipus because of this lack of dramatic irony.

Wild Duck Journal #1: "Visual action can be as important on the stage as speech."

In plays such as Wild Duck and Oedipus, visual action is just as, if not more important than speech. Without the visual action of the characters, there is much less of an effect of the lines given. The reader can analyze the text of the play to a certain extent, but without witnessing the mannerisms of the characters, the emotions that the writer initially wanted portrayed are not as strong. In Wild Duck, when Werle is accused by Gregers of being interested in a former housemaid, he says, "And you dare--! You have the insolence--! How could he, that ungrateful dog, that--photographer; how could he have the gall to make such insinuations?" (132). The reader can get the sense that Werle is angry through his harsh use of words, but by seeing the actions that would go along with how he is feeling at this point would make his emotions more convincing. By possibly hearing his raised voice or seeing the defensive look on his face would show that it is not just what he says, it is also what he does while he is saying it that would allow the audience to completely understand the meaning of his words. Similarly, in Oedipus, he says, "You, you'll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind from this hour on! Blind in the darkness-blind" and it is clear how much pain Oedipus is in because of how much pain is mentioned. However, by actually hearing the desperation in his voice and seeing his pain displayed on his face would make the audience believe the words that come out of his mouth. Overall, speech is important because it is what allows the plot and the story to get across to the audience. However, the visual actions are what make those words and emotions believable.