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Who is the Wild Duck

            In Ibsen's metaphorical play, "The Wild Duck",Hjalmar lives under an illusion which his his boyhood friend, Gregers, the idealistic crusader enlightens him on how he has been maneuvered into marriage with Werle's father's former servant. Gregers manages to shatter Hjalmar's illusions, but succeeds only because he drives the impressionable fourteen-year-old Hedvig to commit suicide. Ibsen names this drama as "The Wild Duck" but it is difficult to say confidently which character actually represents this bird because the hints the author provides can be applied to several characters. I would like to suggest that Ibsen does not provide us with sufficient information to conclude who actually represents the wild duck. .
             An analogy can be drawn between Hedvic and the wild duck because just as the duck does not belong to this house or the environment created for it, Hedvic also is not the legitimate daughter of Hjalmar but of Werle. Yet the bird far from its natural habitat has adapts comfortably to a new surrounding as if it is its original home. Similarly Hedvic, unaware of her actual home considers Hjalmar's house as her own. Another similarity can be observed between the girl and the bird is that the duck remained in the attic where it is mostly "dark" except for the little light permitted through a narrow window. Likewise Hedvic's eyesight is deterorating which will also like the Duck, leave her in a world of darkness. but these three points cannot allow the reader to confidently conclude that Hedvic is the wild duck because a parallel analysis between Ekdal and the duck proves more convincing than the previous interpretation. Once Ekdal too like the bird was free and happy because he was a partner in a flourishing firm and lived at Hoidal Works where he shot game in the hunting ground. But imprisoned for criminal transaction that his partner Werlehad set up, Ekdal lost his freedom and with it his happiness.

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