THE WILD DUCK
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The head of the Werle family is a prosperous and well-respected businessman, but 15 years earlier he and his partner Ekdal were tried for illegally harvesting government-owned timber. Werle was acquitted, but Ekdal went to prison and his reputation and then his health were ruined. There was also the matter of Gina Hansen, the Werles’ housekeeper who left under suspicion of having been Werle’s mistress after, or perhaps before, the death of Mrs. Werle. Since Ekdal’s release from prison Werle has tried to make amends–overpaying Ekdal for odd jobs, setting up his son Hjalmer in business as a society photographer, even contriving to have Hjalmer marry Gina. She now manages her infantile husband, who has an exaggerated sense of his own worth, and the family business–assisted by an occasional covert subsidy from Werle, who may or may not be the father of her daughter Hedvig.
At the time of the play, those who have suffered most have put past scandals behind them–except Werle’s embittered son, Gregers. Unable to tolerate the hypocrisy upon which the status quo is based–particularly after learning that his father intends to marry his current housekeeper, the practical widow Mrs. Sorby–Gregers reveals to Hjalmer the family secrets, naively thinking that the truth will somehow free them. Instead it brings only unhappiness and destruction.
