 Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
Table of Contents Minor Characters Hakon Werle - the realistic father of Gregers Werle. He and his son do not get along because of their opposite approaches to life. He is a wealthy merchant and manufacturer, who is now going blind. During his youth he was quite a philanderer and allegedly drove his wife to death by having affairs in his own home. He arranges the marriage between Gina, his cast off mistress, and Hialmar. There is a strong suspicion that Hedvig is his daughter. It is also implied that he and Ekdal, his former partner, were equally responsible for the Hoidal Forest swindle even though Ekdal was blamed entirely and sent to prison. In order to assuage his conscience, Werle financially helps Ekdal's son, Hialmar. At present, he intends to marry Mrs. Sorby, his housekeeper. Both have told each other about their past and their relationship is the only truthful one in the play. Old Ekdal - the previous business partner of Werle, known as Lieutenant Ekdal. He alone has served a jail sentence for illegally appropriating lumber from government owned land in the Hoidal Forest even though Werle was also involved. Ekdal is now a broken old man who lives with his son and daughter-in-law and does some minor jobs for Werle. He manages to cope with his altered circumstances by drinking whenever he can arrange for it, by converting the attic into a "forest," and by shooting rabbits. Gina Ekdal - Hialmar's wife, Hedvig's mother, and Werle's cast off mistress. She cooks, washes, sweeps, and carries on the photographic work which is actually her husband's business. She fusses over Hialmar and fosters his illusions to keep him happy. She is the only one in the family who does not enter into the mystery of the wild duck.
Mrs. Sorby - Werle's housekeeper. She has had an immoral past, like Gina; since she tells Werle the truth about her past, he accepts her for what she is and makes her his wife. Werle and Mrs. Sorby have the perfect marriage and achieve happiness. Relling - a realist who fosters the "life illusion" in people to help them cope with life. He knows Gregers is going to ruin the peace and happiness in the Ekdal household and warns him not to carry his "claim of the ideal" on his sleeve. He is unsuccessful in changing Gregers or preventing Hedvig's suicide. Molvik - a student of theology. Relling has invented a "demonic" nature for him so that he does not feel guilty about his excessive drinking. Others - others appear only in the first act to comment on the characters or to complete the impression of a party. Table of Contents | |
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