Wild Duck-Journal #5

The Wild Duck
Ibsen uses techniques that I had previously been unaware of.  However, this journal has forced me to retract my reading and dissect the literature.  I’ve found that Ibsen uses the motifs of light and dark throughout the play to create a contrast, complementing the characters’ dialogue.  For instance, the colors contrast such ideas as truth and illusion -- the struggle Greggers has to reveal the truth of his father’s doings and the illusory reality that exists.  Another technique Ibsen uses is the symbolism of the duck.  Ekdal symbolizes the “wounded duck” having been shot and submerged deep enough to never return.  Hedvig’s blindness accentuates the theme of illusion; she is unaware (“cannot see”) the wrongdoings of the past.
Sickness and death are recurring themes in the play.  Ibsen uses sickness throughout the Ekdal family; Hiajlmer suffers from physical illness, Hedvig is slowly going blind, and Old Ekdal is near death.  These remind us of the human condition - how death is unavoidable, unbiased, and often appears cruel.  The sicknesses the characters suffer from perpetuate their actions - they cause them to take place.  So then, it is not a stretch to say  death itself is the  most influential puppetmaster in the play, not  Hakon Werle.