The Wild Duck - Journal #3

Journal Prompt #6:
 Narrative structure: How has the plot (not the story) been constructed? Are there parts? Is the plot circular? Subplots? How important/effective is the ending? Has everything been revealed by the end or are there unanswered questions? Does this matter? What period of time has been covered? Is time important?

Response:
The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen has been constructed in an interesting manner. The plot seems to focus directly on the Ekdal family, but it breaks off into separate parts, such as Hedvig's perspective as well as Hjalmar's point of view. By doing this Ibsen creates dramatic irony, such as in the scene where Hjalmar finds out Gina's past relations and Hedvig is not around. Hedvig is confused to why her father does not want to speak with her and only knows what has been shared when he is around her, which is the wild duck. The dramatic irony caused by the division of plots leads to conflict, and ultimately the tragedy of the story.

The only subplots explored in the story deals with Gregers and Old Werle, and Old Ekdal and Old Werle. The significance of the conflicts involved with these are that they eventually tie together and cause conflict for the rest of the play. The smaller conflicts actually snowball into a larger one later on.

The ending of the play is essential to tying everything together, but at the same time I feel it did not effectively close the story. The denouement as they find Hedvig dead shows the tragedy that has occurred by the breaking apart of families, but at the same time nothing is resolved. The story leaves the families still in conflict, which might be to show the importance of the tragic aspects of the play. Questions are still unanswered, such as: Whose child is Hedvig? Will Gregers make up with his father? Do Mrs. Sorby and Gina have the same future lay ahead of them from that point? All of the questions are left unanswered, though they do not have great significance to the themes of the story. The main aspect of the story if the relationship between the Ekdals, which means that questions can not be answered and still have a semi-fulfilling ending.

The time covered seems to only be a few days, and I feel it does not have a strong effect on the story. The only thing it shows is that chaos was able to release itself in a very short amount of time.