(SCENE.—A big old-fashioned room in CAPTAIN HORSTER'S house. At the
back folding-doors, which are standing open, lead to an ante-room.
Three windows in the left-hand wall. In the middle of the opposite wall
a platform has been erected. On this is a small table with two candles,
a water-bottle and glass, and a bell. The room is lit by lamps placed
between the windows. In the foreground on the left there is a table
with candles and a chair. To the right is a door and some chairs
standing near it. The room is nearly filled with a crowd of townspeople
of all sorts, a few women and schoolboys being amongst them. People are
still streaming in from the back, and the room is soon filled.)
1st Citizen (meeting another). Hullo, Lamstad! You here too?
2nd Citizen. I go to every public meeting, I do.
3rd Citizen. Brought your whistle too, I expect!
2nd Citizen. I should think so. Haven't you?
3rd Citizen. Rather! And old Evensen said he was going to bring a
cow-horn, he did.
2nd Citizen. Good old Evensen! (Laughter among the crowd.)
4th Citizen (coming up to them). I say, tell me what is going on here
tonight?
2nd Citizen. Dr. Stockmann is going to deliver an address attacking the
Mayor.
4th Citizen. But the Mayor is his brother.
1st Citizen. That doesn't matter; Dr. Stockmann's not the chap to be
afraid.
3rd Citizen. But he is in the wrong; it said so in the “People’s
Messenger.”
2nd Citizen. Yes, I expect he must be in the wrong this time, because neither
the Householders’ Association nor the Citizens’ Club would lend him
their hall for his meeting.
1st Citizen. He couldn’t even get the loan of the hall at the Baths.
2nd Citizen. No, I should think not.
A Man in another part of the crowd. I say—who are we to back up in this?
Another Man, beside him. Watch Aslaksen, and do as he does.
Billing (pushing his way through the crowd, with a writing-case under his arm).
Excuse me, gentlemen—do you mind letting me through? I am reporting for the
“People’s Messenger.” Thank you very much! (He sits down at
the table on the left.)
A Workman. Who was that?
Second Workman. Don’t you know him? It’s Billing, who writes for
Aslaksen’s paper.
(CAPTAIN HORSTER brings in MRS. STOCKMANN and PETRA through the door on the
right. EJLIF and MORTEN follow them in.)
Horster. I thought you might all sit here; you can slip out easily from here,
if things get too lively.
Mrs. Stockmann. Do you think there will be a disturbance?
Horster. One can never tell—with such a crowd. But sit down, and don’t
be uneasy.
Mrs. Stockmann (sitting down). It was extremely kind of you to offer my husband
the room.
Horster. Well, if nobody else would—
Petra (who has sat down beside her mother). And it was a plucky thing to do,
Captain Horster.
Horster. Oh, it is not such a great matter as all that.
(HOVSTAD and ASLAKSEN make their way through the crowd.)
Aslaksen (going up to HORSTER). Has the Doctor not come yet?
Horster. He is waiting in the next room. (Movement in the crowd by the door
at the back.)
Hovstad. Look—here comes the Mayor!
Billing. Yes, I’m damned if he hasn’t come after all!
(PETER STOCKMANN makes his way gradually through the crowd, bows courteously,
and takes up a position by the wall on the left. Shortly afterwards Dr.
STOCKMANN comes in by the right-hand door. He is dressed in a black
frock-coat, with a white tie. There is a little feeble applause, which is
hushed down. Silence is obtained.)
Dr. Stockmann (in an undertone). How do you feel, Katherine?
Mrs. Stockmann. All right, thank you. (Lowering her voice.) Be sure not to lose
your temper, Thomas.
Dr. Stockmann. Oh, I know how to control myself.
(Looks at his watch, steps on to the platform, and bows. It is a quarter
past—so I will begin. (Takes his MS. out of his pocket).
Aslaksen. I think we ought to elect a chairman first.
Dr. Stockmann. No, it is quite unnecessary.
Some of the Crowd. Yes—yes!
Peter Stockmann. I certainly think too that we ought to have a chairman.
Dr. Stockmann. But I have called this meeting to deliver a lecture, Peter.
Peter Stockmann. Dr. Stockmann’s lecture may possibly lead to a
considerable conflict of opinion.
Voices in the Crowd. A chairman! A chairman !
Hovstad. The general wish of the meeting seems to be that a chairman should be
elected.
Dr. Stockmann (restraining himself). Very well—let the meeting have its way.
Aslaksen. Will the Mayor be good enough to undertake the task ?
Three Men (clapping their hands). Bravo! Bravo!
Peter Stockmann. For various reasons, which you will easily understand,
I must beg to be excused. But fortunately we have amongst us a man who
I think will be acceptable to you all. I refer to the President of the
Householders' Association, Mr. Aslaksen.
Several voices. Yes—Aslaksen! Bravo Aslaksen!
(DR. STOCKMANN takes up his MS. and walks up and down the platform.)
Aslaksen. Since my fellow-citizens choose to entrust me with this duty,
I cannot refuse.
(Loud applause. ASLAKSEN mounts the platform.)
Billing (writing), "Mr. Aslaksen was elected with enthusiasm."
Aslaksen. And now, as I am in this position, I should like to say a few
brief words. I am a quiet and peaceable man, who believes in discreet
moderation, and—and—in moderate discretion. All my friends can bear
witness to that.
Several Voices. That's right! That's right, Aslaksen!
Aslaksen. I have learned in the school of life and experience that
moderation is the most valuable virtue a citizen can possess—
Peter Stockmann. Hear, hear!
Aslaksen. —And moreover, that discretion and moderation are what
enable a man to be of most service to the community. I would therefore
suggest to our esteemed fellow-citizen, who has called this meeting,
that he should strive to keep strictly within the bounds of moderation.
A Man by the door. Three cheers for the Moderation Society!
A Voice. Shame!
Several Voices. Sh!-Sh!
Aslaksen. No interruptions, gentlemen, please! Does anyone wish to make
any remarks?
Peter Stockmann. Mr. Chairman.
Aslaksen. The Mayor will address the meeting.
Peter Stockmann. In consideration of the close relationship in which,
as you all know, I stand to the present Medical Officer of the Baths, I
should have preferred not to speak this evening. But my official
position with regard to the Baths and my solicitude for the vital
interests of the town compel me to bring forward a motion. I venture to
presume that there is not a single one of our citizens present who
considers it desirable that unreliable and exaggerated accounts of the
sanitary condition of the Baths and the town should be spread abroad.
Several Voices. No, no! Certainly not! We protest against it!
Peter Stockmann. Therefore, I should like to propose that the meeting
should not permit the Medical Officer either to read or to comment on
his proposed lecture.
Dr. Stockmann (impatiently). Not permit—! What the devil—!
Mrs. Stockmann (coughing). Ahem!-ahem!
Dr. Stockmann (collecting himself). Very well, Go ahead!
Peter Stockmann. In my communication to the "People's Messenger," I
have put the essential facts before the public in such a way that every
fair-minded citizen can easily form his own opinion. From it you will
see that the main result of the Medical Officer's proposals—apart from
their constituting a vote of censure on the leading men of the
town—would be to saddle the ratepayers with an unnecessary expenditure
of at least some thousands of pounds.
(Sounds of disapproval among the audience, and some cat-calls.)
Aslaksen (ringing his bell). Silence, please, gentlemen! I beg to
support the Mayor's motion. I quite agree with him that there is
something behind this agitation started by the Doctor. He talks about
the Baths; but it is a revolution he is aiming at—he wants to get the
administration of the town put into new hands. No one doubts the
honesty of the Doctor's intentions—no one will suggest that there can
be any two opinions as to that, I myself am a believer in
self-government for the people, provided it does not fall too heavily
on the ratepayers. But that would be the case here; and that is why I
will see Dr. Stockmann damned—I beg your pardon—before I go with him
in the matter. You can pay too dearly for a thing sometimes; that is my
opinion.
(Loud applause on all sides.)
Hovstad. I, too, feel called upon to explain my position. Dr.
Stockmann's agitation appeared to be gaining a certain amount of
sympathy at first, so I supported it as impartially as I could. But
presently we had reason to suspect that we had allowed ourselves to be
misled by misrepresentation of the state of affairs—
Dr. Stockmann. Misrepresentation—!
Hovstad. Well, let us say a not entirely trustworthy representation.
The Mayor's statement has proved that. I hope no one here has any doubt
as to my liberal principles; the attitude of the "People's Messenger"
towards important political questions is well known to everyone. But
the advice of experienced and thoughtful men has convinced me that in
purely local matters a newspaper ought to proceed with a certain
caution.
Aslaksen. I entirely agree with the speaker.
Hovstad. And, in the matter before us, it is now an undoubted fact that
Dr. Stockmann has public opinion against him. Now, what is an editor's
first and most obvious duty, gentlemen? Is it not to work in harmony
with his readers? Has he not received a sort of tacit mandate to work
persistently and assiduously for the welfare of those whose opinions he
represents? Or is it possible I am mistaken in that?
Voices from the crowd. No, no! You are quite right!
Hovstad. It has cost me a severe struggle to break with a man in whose
house I have been lately a frequent guest—a man who till today has
been able to pride himself on the undivided goodwill of his
fellow-citizens—a man whose only, or at all events whose essential,
failing is that he is swayed by his heart rather than his head.
A few scattered voices. That is true! Bravo, Stockmann!
Hovstad. But my duty to the community obliged me to break with him. And
there is another consideration that impels me to oppose him, and, as
far as possible, to arrest him on the perilous course he has adopted;
that is, consideration for his family—
Dr. Stockmann. Please stick to the water-supply and drainage!
Hovstad. —consideration, I repeat, for his wife and his children for
whom he has made no provision.
Morten. Is that us, mother?
Mrs. Stockmann. Hush!
Aslaksen. I will now put the Mayor's proposition to the vote.
Dr. Stockmann. There is no necessity! Tonight I have no intention of
dealing with all that filth down at the Baths. No; I have something
quite different to say to you.
Peter Stockmann (aside). What is coming now?
A Drunken Man (by the entrance door). I am a ratepayer! And therefore,
I have a right to speak too! And my entire—firm—inconceivable opinion
is—
A number of voices. Be quiet, at the back there!
Others. He is drunk! Turn him out! (They turn him out.)
Dr. Stockmann. Am I allowed to speak?
Aslaksen (ringing his bell). Dr. Stockmann will address the meeting.
Dr. Stockmann. I should like to have seen anyone, a few days ago, dare
to attempt to silence me as has been done tonight! I would have
defended my sacred rights as a man, like a lion! But now it is all one
to me; I have something of even weightier importance to say to you.
(The crowd presses nearer to him, MORTEN Kiil conspicuous among them.)
Dr. Stockmann (continuing). I have thought and pondered a great deal,
these last few days—pondered over such a variety of things that in the
end my head seemed too full to hold them—
Peter Stockmann (with a cough). Ahem!
Dr. Stockmann. —but I got them clear in my mind at last, and then I
saw the whole situation lucidly. And that is why I am standing here
to-night. I have a great revelation to make to you, my fellow-citizens!
I will impart to you a discovery of a far wider scope than the trifling
matter that our water supply is poisoned and our medicinal Baths are
standing on pestiferous soil.
A number of voices (shouting). Don't talk about the Baths! We won't
hear you! None of that!
Dr. Stockmann. I have already told you that what I want to speak about
is the great discovery I have made lately—the discovery that all the
sources of our moral life are poisoned and that the whole fabric of our
civic community is founded on the pestiferous soil of falsehood.
Voices of disconcerted Citizens. What is that he says?
Peter Stockmann. Such an insinuation—!
Aslaksen (with his hand on his bell). I call upon the speaker to
moderate his language.
Dr. Stockmann. I have always loved my native town as a man only can
love the home of his youthful days. I was not old when I went away from
here; and exile, longing and memories cast as it were an additional
halo over both the town and its inhabitants. (Some clapping and
applause.) And there I stayed, for many years, in a horrible hole far
away up north. When I came into contact with some of the people that
lived scattered about among the rocks, I often thought it would of been
more service to the poor half-starved creatures if a veterinary doctor
had been sent up there, instead of a man like me. (Murmurs among the
crowd.)
Billing (laying down his pen). I'm damned if I have ever heard—!
Hovstad. It is an insult to a respectable population!
Dr. Stockmann. Wait a bit! I do not think anyone will charge me with
having forgotten my native town up there. I was like one of the
eider-ducks brooding on its nest, and what I hatched was the plans for
these Baths. (Applause and protests.) And then when fate at last
decreed for me the great happiness of coming home again—I assure you,
gentlemen, I thought I had nothing more in the world to wish for. Or
rather, there was one thing I wished for—eagerly, untiringly,
ardently—and that was to be able to be of service to my native town
and the good of the community.
Peter Stockmann (looking at the ceiling). You chose a strange way of
doing it—ahem!
Dr. Stockmann. And so, with my eyes blinded to the real facts, I
revelled in happiness. But yesterday morning—no, to be precise, it was
yesterday afternoon—the eyes of my mind were opened wide, and the
first thing I realised was the colossal stupidity of the authorities—.
(Uproar, shouts and laughter, MRS. STOCKMANN coughs persistently.)
Peter Stockmann. Mr. Chairman!
Aslaksen (ringing his bell). By virtue of my authority—!
Dr. Stockmann. It is a petty thing to catch me up on a word, Mr.
Aslaksen. What I mean is only that I got scent of the unbelievable
piggishness our leading men had been responsible for down at the Baths.
I can't stand leading men at any price!—I have had enough of such
people in my time. They are like billy-goats on a young plantation;
they do mischief everywhere. They stand in a free man's way, whichever
way he turns, and what I should like best would be to see them
exterminated like any other vermin—. (Uproar.)
Peter Stockmann. Mr. Chairman, can we allow such expressions to pass?
Aslaksen (with his hand on his bell). Doctor—!
Dr. Stockmann. I cannot understand how it is that I have only now
acquired a clear conception of what these gentry are, when I had almost
daily before my eyes in this town such an excellent specimen of
them—my brother Peter—slow-witted and hide-bound in prejudice—.
(Laughter, uproar and hisses. MRS. STOCKMANN Sits coughing assiduously.
ASLAKSEN rings his bell violently.)
The Drunken Man (who has got in again). Is it me he is talking about?
My name's Petersen, all right—but devil take me if I—
Angry Voices. Turn out that drunken man! Turn him out. (He is turned
out again.)
Peter Stockmann. Who was that person?
1st Citizen. I don't know who he is, Mr. Mayor.
2nd Citizen. He doesn't belong here.
3rd Citizen. I expect he is a navvy from over at—(the rest is
inaudible).
Aslaksen. He had obviously had too much beer. Proceed, Doctor; but
please strive to be moderate in your language.
Dr. Stockmann. Very well, gentlemen, I will say no more about our
leading men. And if anyone imagines, from what I have just said, that
my object is to attack these people this evening, he is
wrong—absolutely wide of the mark. For I cherish the comforting
conviction that these parasites—all these venerable relics of a dying
school of thought—are most admirably paving the way for their own
extinction; they need no doctor's help to hasten their end. Nor is it
folk of that kind who constitute the most pressing danger to the
community. It is not they who are most instrumental in poisoning the
sources of our moral life and infecting the ground on which we stand.
It is not they who are the most dangerous enemies of truth and freedom
amongst us.
Shouts from all sides. Who then? Who is it? Name! Name!
Dr. Stockmann. You may depend upon it—I shall name them! That is
precisely the great discovery I made yesterday. (Raises his voice.) The
most dangerous enemy of truth and freedom amongst us is the compact
majority—yes, the damned compact Liberal majority—that is it! Now you
know! (Tremendous uproar. Most of the crowd are shouting, stamping and
hissing. Some of the older men among them exchange stolen glances and
seem to be enjoying themselves. MRS. STOCKMANN gets up, looking
anxious. EJLIF and MORTEN advance threateningly upon some schoolboys
who are playing pranks. ASLAKSEN rings his bell and begs for silence.
HOVSTAD and BILLING both talk at once, but are inaudible. At last quiet
is restored.)
Aslaksen. As Chairman, I call upon the speaker to withdraw the
ill-considered expressions he has just used.
Dr. Stockmann. Never, Mr. Aslaksen! It is the majority in our community
that denies me my freedom and seeks to prevent my speaking the truth.
Hovstad. The majority always has right on its side.
Billing. And truth too, by God!
Dr. Stockmann. The majority never has right on its side. Never, I say!
That is one of these social lies against which an independent,
intelligent man must wage war. Who is it that constitute the majority
of the population in a country? Is it the clever folk, or the stupid? I
don't imagine you will dispute the fact that at present the stupid
people are in an absolutely overwhelming majority all the world over.
But, good Lord!—you can never pretend that it is right that the stupid
folk should govern the clever ones! (Uproar and cries.) Oh, yes—you
can shout me down, I know! But you cannot answer me. The majority has
might on its side—unfortunately; but right it has not. I am in the
right—I and a few other scattered individuals. The minority is always
in the right. (Renewed uproar.)
Hovstad. Aha!—so Dr. Stockmann has become an aristocrat since the day
before yesterday!
Dr. Stockmann. I have already said that I don't intend to waste a word
on the puny, narrow-chested, short-winded crew whom we are leaving
astern. Pulsating life no longer concerns itself with them. I am
thinking of the few, the scattered few amongst us, who have absorbed
new and vigorous truths. Such men stand, as it were, at the outposts,
so far ahead that the compact majority has not yet been able to come up
with them; and there they are fighting for truths that are too
newly-born into the world of consciousness to have any considerable
number of people on their side as yet.
Hovstad. So the Doctor is a revolutionary now!
Dr. Stockmann. Good heavens—of course I am, Mr. Hovstad! I propose to
raise a revolution against the lie that the majority has the monopoly
of the truth. What sort of truths are they that the majority usually
supports? They are truths that are of such advanced age that they are
beginning to break up. And if a truth is as old as that, it is also in
a fair way to become a lie, gentlemen. (Laughter and mocking cries.)
Yes, believe me or not, as you like; but truths are by no means as
long-lived at Methuselah—as some folk imagine. A normally constituted
truth lives, let us say, as a rule seventeen or eighteen, or at most
twenty years—seldom longer. But truths as aged as that are always worn
frightfully thin, and nevertheless it is only then that the majority
recognises them and recommends them to the community as wholesome moral
nourishment. There is no great nutritive value in that sort of fare, I
can assure you; and, as a doctor, I ought to know. These "majority
truths" are like last year's cured meat—like rancid, tainted ham; and
they are the origin of the moral scurvy that is rampant in our
communities.
Aslaksen. It appears to me that the speaker is wandering a long way
from his subject.
Peter Stockmann. I quite agree with the Chairman.
Dr. Stockmann. Have you gone clean out of your senses, Peter? I am
sticking as closely to my subject as I can; for my subject is precisely
this, that it is the masses, the majority—this infernal compact
majority—that poisons the sources of our moral life and infects the
ground we stand on.
Hovstad. And all this because the great, broadminded majority of the
people is prudent enough to show deference only to well-ascertained and
well-approved truths?
Dr. Stockmann. Ah, my good Mr. Hovstad, don't talk nonsense about
well-ascertained truths! The truths of which the masses now approve are
the very truths that the fighters at the outposts held to in the days
of our grandfathers. We fighters at the outposts nowadays no longer
approve of them; and I do not believe there is any other
well-ascertained truth except this, that no community can live a
healthy life if it is nourished only on such old marrowless truths.
Hovstad. But, instead of standing there using vague generalities, it
would be interesting if you would tell us what these old marrowless
truths are, that we are nourished on.
(Applause from many quarters.)
Dr. Stockmann. Oh, I could give you a whole string of such
abominations; but to begin with I will confine myself to one
well-approved truth, which at bottom is a foul lie, but upon which
nevertheless Mr. Hovstad and the "People's Messenger" and all the
"Messenger's" supporters are nourished.
Hovstad. And that is—?
Dr. Stockmann. That is, the doctrine you have inherited from your
forefathers and proclaim thoughtlessly far and wide—the doctrine that
the public, the crowd, the masses, are the essential part of the
population—that they constitute the People—that the common folk, the
ignorant and incomplete element in the community, have the same right
to pronounce judgment and to approve, to direct and to govern, as the
isolated, intellectually superior personalities in it.
Billing. Well, damn me if ever I—
Hovstad (at the same time, shouting out). Fellow-citizens, take good
note of that!
A number of voices (angrily). Oho!—we are not the People! Only the
superior folk are to govern, are they!
A Workman. Turn the fellow out for talking such rubbish!
Another. Out with him!
Another (calling out). Blow your horn, Evensen!
(A horn is blown loudly, amidst hisses and an angry uproar.)
Dr. Stockmann (when the noise has somewhat abated). Be reasonable!
Can't you stand hearing the voice of truth for once? I don't in the
least expect you to agree with me all at once; but I must say I did
expect Mr. Hovstad to admit I was right, when he had recovered his
composure a little. He claims to be a freethinker—
Voices (in murmurs of astonishment). Freethinker, did he say? Is
Hovstad a freethinker?
Hovstad (shouting). Prove it, Dr. Stockmann! When have I said so in
print?
Dr. Stockmann (reflecting). No, confound it, you are right!—you have
never had the courage to. Well, I won't put you in a hole, Mr. Hovstad.
Let us say it is I that am the freethinker, then. I am going to prove
to you, scientifically, that the "People's Messenger" leads you by the
nose in a shameful manner when it tells you that you—that the common
people, the crowd, the masses, are the real essence of the People. That
is only a newspaper lie, I tell you! The common people are nothing more
than the raw material of which a People is made. (Groans, laughter and
uproar.) Well, isn't that the case? Isn't there an enormous difference
between a well-bred and an ill-bred strain of animals? Take, for
instance, a common barn-door hen. What sort of eating do you get from a
shrivelled up old scrag of a fowl like that? Not much, do you! And what
sort of eggs does it lay? A fairly good crow or a raven can lay pretty
nearly as good an egg. But take a well-bred Spanish or Japanese hen, or
a good pheasant or a turkey—then you will see the difference. Or take
the case of dogs, with whom we humans are on such intimate terms. Think
first of an ordinary common cur—I mean one of the horrible,
coarse-haired, low-bred curs that do nothing but run about the streets
and befoul the walls of the houses. Compare one of these curs with a
poodle whose sires for many generations have been bred in a gentleman's
house, where they have had the best of food and had the opportunity of
hearing soft voices and music. Do you not think that the poodle's brain
is developed to quite a different degree from that of the cur? Of
course it is. It is puppies of well-bred poodles like that, that
showmen train to do incredibly clever tricks—things that a common cur
could never learn to do even if it stood on its head. (Uproar and
mocking cries.)
A Citizen (calls out). Are you going to make out we are dogs, now?
Another Citizen. We are not animals, Doctor!
Dr. Stockmann. Yes but, bless my soul, we are, my friend! It is true we
are the finest animals anyone could wish for; but, even among us,
exceptionally fine animals are rare. There is a tremendous difference
between poodle-men and cur-men. And the amusing part of it is, that Mr.
Hovstad quite agrees with me as long as it is a question of four-footed
animals—
Hovstad. Yes, it is true enough as far as they are concerned.
Dr. Stockmann. Very well. But as soon as I extend the principle and
apply it to two-legged animals, Mr. Hovstad stops short. He no longer
dares to think independently, or to pursue his ideas to their logical
conclusion; so, he turns the whole theory upside down and proclaims in
the "People's Messenger" that it is the barn-door hens and street curs
that are the finest specimens in the menagerie. But that is always the
way, as long as a man retains the traces of common origin and has not
worked his way up to intellectual distinction.
Hovstad. I lay no claim to any sort of distinction, I am the son of
humble country-folk, and I am proud that the stock I come from is
rooted deep among the common people he insults.
Voices. Bravo, Hovstad! Bravo! Bravo!
Dr. Stockmann. The kind of common people I mean are not only to be
found low down in the social scale; they crawl and swarm all around
us—even in the highest social positions. You have only to look at your
own fine, distinguished Mayor! My brother Peter is every bit as
plebeian as anyone that walks in two shoes— (laughter and hisses)
Peter Stockmann. I protest against personal allusions of this kind.
Dr. Stockmann (imperturbably).—and that, not because he is like
myself, descended from some old rascal of a pirate from Pomerania or
thereabouts—because that is who we are descended from—
Peter Stockmann. An absurd legend. I deny it!
Dr. Stockmann. —but because he thinks what his superiors think, and
holds the same opinions as they, People who do that are, intellectually
speaking, common people; and, that is why my magnificent brother Peter
is in reality so very far from any distinction—and consequently also
so far from being liberal-minded.
Peter Stockmann. Mr. Chairman—!
Hovstad. So it is only the distinguished men that are liberal-minded in
this country? We are learning something quite new! (Laughter.)
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, that is part of my new discovery too. And another
part of it is that broad-mindedness is almost precisely the same thing
as morality. That is why I maintain that it is absolutely inexcusable
in the "People's Messenger" to proclaim, day in and day out, the false
doctrine that it is the masses, the crowd, the compact majority, that
have the monopoly of broad-mindedness and morality—and that vice and
corruption and every kind of intellectual depravity are the result of
culture, just as all the filth that is draining into our Baths is the
result of the tanneries up at Molledal! (Uproar and interruptions. DR.
STOCKMANN is undisturbed, and goes on, carried away by his ardour, with
a smile.) And yet this same "People's Messenger" can go on preaching
that the masses ought to be elevated to higher conditions of life! But,
bless my soul, if the "Messenger's" teaching is to be depended upon,
this very raising up the masses would mean nothing more or less than
setting them straightway upon the paths of depravity! Happily the
theory that culture demoralises is only an old falsehood that our
forefathers believed in and we have inherited. No, it is ignorance,
poverty, ugly conditions of life, that do the devil's work! In a house
which does not get aired and swept every day—my wife Katherine
maintains that the floor ought to be scrubbed as well, but that is a
debatable question—in such a house, let me tell you, people will lose
within two or three years the power of thinking or acting in a moral
manner. Lack of oxygen weakens the conscience. And there must be a
plentiful lack of oxygen in very many houses in this town, I should
think, judging from the fact that the whole compact majority can be
unconscientious enough to wish to build the town's prosperity on a
quagmire of falsehood and deceit.
Aslaksen. We cannot allow such a grave accusation to be flung at a
citizen community.
A Citizen. I move that the Chairman direct the speaker to sit down.
Voices (angrily). Hear, hear! Quite right! Make him sit down!
Dr. Stockmann (losing his self-control). Then I will go and shout the
truth at every street corner! I will write it in other towns'
newspapers! The whole country shall know what is going on here!
Hovstad. It almost seems as if Dr. Stockmann's intention were to ruin
the town.
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, my native town is so dear to me that I would rather
ruin it than see it flourishing upon a lie.
Aslaksen. This is really serious. (Uproar and cat-calls MRS. STOCKMANN
coughs, but to no purpose; her husband does not listen to her any
longer.)
Hovstad (shouting above the din). A man must be a public enemy to wish
to ruin a whole community!
Dr. Stockmann (with growing fervor). What does the destruction of a
community matter, if it lives on lies? It ought to be razed to the
ground. I tell you— All who live by lies ought to be exterminated like
vermin! You will end by infecting the whole country; you will bring
about such a state of things that the whole country will deserve to be
ruined. And if things come to that pass, I shall say from the bottom of
my heart: Let the whole country perish, let all these people be
exterminated!
Voices from the crowd. That is talking like an out-and-out enemy of the
people!
Billing. There sounded the voice of the people, by all that's holy!
The whole crowd (shouting). Yes, yes! He is an enemy of the people! He
hates his country! He hates his own people!
Aslaksen. Both as a citizen and as an individual, I am profoundly
disturbed by what we have had to listen to. Dr. Stockmann has shown
himself in a light I should never have dreamed of. I am unhappily
obliged to subscribe to the opinion which I have just heard my
estimable fellow-citizens utter; and I propose that we should give
expression to that opinion in a resolution. I propose a resolution as
follows: "This meeting declares that it considers Dr. Thomas Stockmann,
Medical Officer of the Baths, to be an enemy of the people." (A storm
of cheers and applause. A number of men surround the DOCTOR and hiss
him. MRS. STOCKMANN and PETRA have got up from their seats. MORTEN and
EJLIF are fighting the other schoolboys for hissing; some of their
elders separate them.)
Dr. Stockmann (to the men who are hissing him). Oh, you fools! I tell
you that—
Aslaksen (ringing his bell). We cannot hear you now, Doctor. A formal
vote is about to be taken; but, out of regard for personal feelings, it
shall be by ballot and not verbal. Have you any clean paper, Mr.
Billing?
Billing. I have both blue and white here.
Aslaksen (going to him). That will do nicely; we shall get on more
quickly that way. Cut it up into small strips—yes, that's it. (To the
meeting.) Blue means no; white means yes. I will come round myself and
collect votes. (PETER STOCKMANN leaves the hall. ASLAKSEN and one or
two others go round the room with the slips of paper in their hats.)
1st Citizen (to HOVSTAD). I say, what has come to the Doctor? What are
we to think of it?
Hovstad. Oh, you know how headstrong he is.
2nd Citizen (to BILLING). Billing, you go to their house—have you ever
noticed if the fellow drinks?
Billing. Well I'm hanged if I know what to say. There are always
spirits on the table when you go.
3rd Citizen. I rather think he goes quite off his head sometimes.
1st Citizen. I wonder if there is any madness in his family?
Billing. I shouldn't wonder if there were.
4th Citizen. No, it is nothing more than sheer malice; he wants to get
even with somebody for something or other.
Billing. Well certainly he suggested a rise in his salary on one
occasion lately, and did not get it.
The Citizens (together). Ah!—then it is easy to understand how it is!
The Drunken Man (who has got among the audience again). I want a blue
one, I do! And I want a white one too!
Voices. It's that drunken chap again! Turn him out!
Morten Kiil. (going up to DR. STOCKMANN). Well, Stockmann, do you see
what these monkey tricks of yours lead to?
Dr. Stockmann. I have done my duty.
Morten Kiil. What was that you said about the tanneries at Molledal?
Dr. Stockmann. You heard well enough. I said they were the source of
all the filth.
Morten Kiil. My tannery too?
Dr. Stockmann. Unfortunately your tannery is by far the worst.
Morten Kiil. Are you going to put that in the papers?
Dr. Stockmann. I shall conceal nothing.
Morten Kiil. That may cost you dearly, Stockmann. (Goes out.)
A Stout Man (going UP to CAPTAIN HORSTER, Without taking any notice of
the ladies). Well, Captain, so you lend your house to enemies of the
people?
Horster. I imagine I can do what I like with my own possessions, Mr.
Vik.
The Stout Man. Then you can have no objection to my doing the same with
mine.
Horster. What do you mean, sir?
The Stout Man. You shall hear from me in the morning. (Turns his back
on him and moves off.)
Petra. Was that not your owner, Captain Horster?
Horster. Yes, that was Mr. Vik the shipowner.
Aslaksen (with the voting-papers in his hands, gets up on to the
platform and rings his bell). Gentlemen, allow me to announce the
result. By the votes of every one here except one person—
A Young Man. That is the drunk chap!
Aslaksen. By the votes of everyone here except a tipsy man, this
meeting of citizens declares Dr. Thomas Stockmann to be an enemy of the
people. (Shouts and applause.) Three cheers for our ancient and
honourable citizen community! (Renewed applause.) Three cheers for our
able and energetic Mayor, who has so loyally suppressed the promptings
of family feeling! (Cheers.) The meeting is dissolved. (Gets down.)
Billing. Three cheers for the Chairman!
The whole crowd. Three cheers for Aslaksen! Hurrah!
Dr. Stockmann. My hat and coat, Petra! Captain, have you room on your
ship for passengers to the New World?
Horster. For you and yours we will make room, Doctor.
Dr. Stockmann (as PETRA helps him into his coat), Good. Come,
Katherine! Come, boys!
Mrs. Stockmann (in an undertone). Thomas, dear, let us go out by the
back way.
Dr. Stockmann. No back ways for me, Katherine, (Raising his voice.) You
will hear more of this enemy of the people, before he shakes the dust
off his shoes upon you! I am not so forgiving as a certain Person; I do
not say: "I forgive you, for ye know not what ye do."
Aslaksen (shouting). That is a blasphemous comparison, Dr. Stockmann!
Billing. It is, by God! It's dreadful for an earnest man to listen to.
A Coarse Voice. Threatens us now, does he!
Other Voices (excitedly). Let's go and break his windows! Duck him in
the fjord!
Another Voice. Blow your horn, Evensen! Pip, pip!
(Horn-blowing, hisses, and wild cries. DR. STOCKMANN goes out through
the hall with his family, HORSTER elbowing a way for them.)
The Whole Crowd (howling after them as they go). Enemy of the People!
Enemy of the People!
Billing (as he puts his papers together). Well, I'm damned if I go and
drink toddy with the Stockmanns tonight!
(The crowd press towards the exit. The uproar continues outside; shouts
of "Enemy of the People!" are heard from without.)