THE WILD DUCK

By
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)

Characters Chart
1. Old Werle (Hakon Werle)
2. Gregers Werle
3. Old Ekdal
4. Hialmer Ekdal
5. Gina Ekdal
6. Hedvig Ekdal
7. Mrs. Sorby
8. Dr. Relling
9. Molvik

Characters Description

Old Werle: Father of Gregers Werle and used to

be friend and business partner of Old Ekdal. Later
the business went wrong and only Old Ekdal was
apprehended for it while Werle was acquitted. He
cheats on his wife and impregantes Gina who is
going to be the wife of Hialmer later.
Gregers Werle: Son of Old Werle and a close
friend of Hialmer Ekdal. He is not in good terms
with his father because his father cheater on
Gregers mother (Old Werles wife). He is
committed to reveal the truth to Hialmer about
his fathers past.

Characters Description:
3. Old Ekdal: A former lieutenant in army and father of
Hialmer Ekdal. After his apprehension he is not mentally
stable and provides comic relief in the play.
4. Hialmer Ekdal: The protagonist of the play (or an antihero as well), self-centered, lazy, and laughably
mediocre. As a family man and provider, he relies on
the benefactions of Werle, the hard work of Gina, and
the quixotic dream of a revolutionary invention to get
from one day to the next.
5. Gina Ekdal: Wife of Hialmar Ekdal. She is practical,
hard-working, down-to-earth, and forgiving. Although
homespun and unsophisticated, she has common sense
and a firm grasp on reality. She is several years older
than Hjalmar.

Characters Description:
6. Hedvig Ekdal: Daughter of Hialmar and
Gina Ekdal. Hedvig is about to turn
fourteen.
7. Mrs. Sorby: Old Werle's housekeeper and
wife-to-be.
8. Dr. Relling: Physician who lives in an
apartment on the floor below Hialmar
Ekdal's apartment. He is the total
opposite of Gregers Werle in personality.
9. Molvik: Alcoholic and failed theology
student who lives with Relling.

Themes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Self-Delusion.
Concealing vs. Revealing the Truth.
Revenge.
Extremism.
Shame

Symbols
1.

Gregers Werle's Smoky Room: After

renting a room from Hialmar Ekdal, Werle
builds a fire in the stove and smokes up
the room. Then he throws water on the
fire, leaving a puddle on the floor. The
mess he has made of the room appears
to symbolize and foreshadow the mess
he will make of the Ekdal family's life.

Symbols
2. The Wild Duck: The duck symbolizes Hedvig, an
innocent victim of the strife in her home, as well as
others in the play wholike the duckhave been
wounded by the circumstances of their lives. Hkon
Werle alludes to the duck when he tells his son,
Gregers, "There are people in the world who dive to the
bottom the moment they get a couple of slugs in their
body, and never come to the surface again" (Act I). An
observation of Hedvig in Act III indicates that the duck
also symbolizes Hedvig's parentagethat is, whether
she is the daughter of Hkon Werle or Hialmar. Hedvig
tells Gregers Werle: "[T]here is so much that is strange
about the wild duck. Nobody knows her, and nobody
knows where she came from either.

Symbols
3. Borrowed Overcoat: The coat appears
to symbolize Hialmar's use of others to
advance his goals or enhance his image.
For example, in his photography
business, he uses Hkon Werle's money
and the talents of his wife to make his
modest living. When he was in college,
Doctor Relling notes, he had a "talent for
declaiming other people's verses and
other people's thoughts" (Act V).

Symbols
4. Garret: The garret symbolizes Old
Ekdal's illusion of himself as a great
hunter.
5. The Invention: Hialmar's unfinished
invention symbolizes his illusion of
himself as a great man. Working on it
enables him to entertain his heroic vision
of himself; finishing it would force him to
expose to the world the mediocre quality
of his ideas.

Philosophical Interpretations in
the Play.
1.

2.

The Existential Crisis:

a. Hialmer Ekdal
b. Gregers Werle
c. Old Ekdal
The Nietzschean post-moral Interpretation
a. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed
him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all
murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the
world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives:
who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us
to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what
sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness
of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not
become gods simply to appear worthy of it?

Philosophical Interpretations in
the Play.
3.

4.

5.

Nietzsches difference between Faith

and Truth.
Albert Camus Inconsequentiality of
Gods Presence and the character of
Hedvigs similarity with The Myth of
Sysiphus. Not suicide but absurdity of
life.
The Play as Symbol of Sartres version of
Existentialism.

Philosophical Interpretations in
the Play.
6. Religion as a Tool not worth using.