it can. This that I am begging of you, Wangel,—this is the chief thing!
Set me free! Give me back my full freedom.
WANGEL.
Ellida—this is a terrible demand you make upon me. Let me at least have
time to collect myself and come to a resolve. Let us discuss the matter
more thoroughly. And do you, too, give yourself time to reflect what you
are doing!
ELLIDA.
But there is no time to waste on all that. You must give me back my
freedom this very day.
WANGEL.
Why to-day?
ELLIDA.
Because it is to-night that he is coming.
WANGEL.
[_Starts._] Coming! He! What has the stranger to do with this?
ELLIDA.
I want to meet him in full freedom.
WANGEL.
And what—what do you intend to do then?
ELLIDA.
I do not want to take refuge in the plea that I am another man’s wife—or
that I have no choice left me. For then my decision would decide
nothing.
WANGEL.
You talk of choice! Choice, Ellida! Choice in this matter!
ELLIDA.
Yes, choose I must—freely choose either course. I must be free to let
him go away alone—or—to go with him.
WANGEL.
Do you understand what you are saying? Go with him! Place your whole
fate in his hands!
ELLIDA.
Did I not place my whole fate in _your_ hands? And that—without thinking
twice.
WANGEL.
That may be. But he! He! A total stranger! A man you know so little
about!
ELLIDA.
I knew perhaps even less of you; and yet I went with you.
WANGEL.
At least you knew pretty well what kind of life you were entering upon.
But now? Now? Reflect! What do you know now? Nothing whatever: not even
who he is—or what he is.
ELLIDA.
[_Looking straight before her._] That is true. But that is just the
terrible thing.
WANGEL.
Yes, terrible indeed——
ELLIDA.
And that is why I feel as if I _must_ give way to it.
WANGEL.
[_Looks at her._] Because it seems to you terrible?
ELLIDA.
Yes, just because of that.
WANGEL.
[_Nearer._] Tell me, Ellida—what do you really mean by “terrible”?
ELLIDA.
[_Reflects._] I call a thing terrible—when it both frightens and
fascinates me.
WANGEL.
Fascinates?
ELLIDA.
Most of all when it fascinates me—I think.
WANGEL.
[_Slowly._] You are akin to the sea.
ELLIDA.
There is terror in that too.
WANGEL.
And in yourself no less. You both frighten and fascinate.[21]
ELLIDA.
Do you think so, Wangel?
WANGEL.
I see that I have never really known you; never thoroughly. I am
beginning to understand that now.
ELLIDA.
And therefore you must set me free! Loose me from every tie to you and
yours! I am not the woman you took me for; you see that now yourself.
Now we can part in mutual understanding—and of our own free will.
WANGEL.
[_Gloomily._] It would perhaps be best for us both—to part. But for all
that, I _cannot_! To me it is you that are “terrible,” Ellida. And
fascinating—that you are above all things.
ELLIDA.
Do you say so?
WANGEL.
Let us try to get through this day with no false step—to act calmly and
collectedly. I _cannot_ release you and let you go to-day. I must
not—for your own sake, Ellida. I assert my right and my duty to protect
you.
ELLIDA.
Protect? What is there to protect me against? It is not any outward
force or violence that threatens me. The terrible thing lies deeper,
Wangel! The terrible thing is—the fascination I feel in my own mind; and
what can you do against that?
WANGEL.
I can strengthen and support you in resisting it.
ELLIDA.
Yes—if I had the _will_ to resist it.
WANGEL.
Have you not the will?
ELLIDA.
Oh, that is just what I don’t know!
WANGEL.
To-night all will be decided, dear Ellida——
ELLIDA.
[_Breaks out._] Yes, think of it——! The decision so near! The decision
for all time!
WANGEL.
——and then to-morrow——
ELLIDA.
Yes, to-morrow! Perhaps I shall have forfeited my true future!
WANGEL.
Your true——?
ELLIDA.
A whole, full life of freedom forfeited—forfeited for me! And
perhaps—for him too.
WANGEL.
[_In a lower tone, seizing her by the wrist._] Ellida,—do you love this
stranger?
ELLIDA.
Do I——? Oh how can I tell! I only know that to me he is terrible, and
that——
WANGEL.
——and that——?
ELLIDA.
[_Tears herself away._]——and that I feel as though my place were with
him.
WANGEL.
[_Bows his head._] I begin to understand.
ELLIDA.
And what help, what remedy have you to offer me?
WANGEL.
[_Looks sorrowfully at her._] To-morrow—he will be gone. Then you will
be safe from disaster; and then I promise to release you and let you go.
We will cancel the bargain, Ellida.
ELLIDA.
Oh Wangel——! To-morrow—it will be too late——!
WANGEL.
[_Looks out towards the garden.]_] The children! The children——! Let us
at least spare them—for the present.
ARNHOLM, BOLETTA, HILDA, _and_ LYNGSTRAND _appear in the
garden._ LYNGSTRAND _takes leave without entering the house,
and goes out to the left. The others come into the room._
ARNHOLM.
Ah, I can tell you we have been laying great plans——
HILDA.
We want to go out on the fiord this evening, and——
BOLETTA.
No, no, don’t tell!
WANGEL.
We two have also been laying plans.
ARNHOLM.
Ah—really?
WANGEL.
To-morrow Ellida is going to Skioldvik—for a time.
BOLETTA.
Going away——?
ARNHOLM.
That is very wise, Mrs. Wangel.
WANGEL.
Ellida wants to go home again; home to the sea.
HILDA.
[_With a little rush towards_ ELLIDA.] Are you going away? Going away
from us!
ELLIDA.
[_Startled._] Why, Hilda! What is the matter with you?
HILDA.
[_Restraining herself._] Oh, nothing at all. [_In a low tone, turning
from her.]_ Go by all means!
BOLETTA.
[_Anxiously._] Father, I can see—you are going away too—to Skioldvik!
WANGEL.
No, certainly not! I shall perhaps run out now and then——
BOLETTA.
And home again——?
WANGEL.
Yes, home——
BOLETTA.
——now and then, I suppose!
WANGEL.
My dear child, it _must_ be so. [_He walks away._
ARNHOLM.
[_Whispers._] I have something to say to you by-and-by, Boletta.
[_He goes over to_ WANGEL. _They converse in a low tone by the
door._
ELLIDA.
[_Softly to_ BOLETTA.] What was the matter with Hilda? She seemed quite
beside herself!
BOLETTA.
Have you never seen what Hilda has been thirsting for, day after day?
ELLIDA.
Thirsting for?
BOLETTA.
Ever since you came into the house!
ELLIDA.
No, no,—what is it?
BOLETTA.
One word of affection from you.
ELLIDA.
Ah——! What if there were work for me to do _here_!
[_She clasps her hands above her head and looks immovably before
her, as if a prey to conflicting thoughts and moods._
[WANGEL _and_ ARNHOLM _come forward conversing in whispers._
[BOLETTA _goes and looks into the side room on the right.
Then she throws the door wide open._
BOLETTA.
Well, father dear—dinner is on the table,——
WANGEL.
[_With forced composure._] Is it, child? That’s right. Come along,
Arnholm! We will drink a parting cup with—with “the lady from the sea.”
[_They go towards the door on the right._
-----
Footnote 21:
For another rendering of the foregoing very difficult
passage—especially difficult because of the frequent occurrence of
“det grufulde” “the terrible” in other contexts—the reader who is
curious in such matters may consult the five-volume edition of Ibsen’s
_Prose Dramas_ (vol. v. p. 210), where he will find it discussed in a
footnote.
-----
ACT FIFTH.
_The remote corner of_ DR. WANGEL’S _garden, by the carp-pond. Deepening
summer twilight._
ARNHOLM, BOLETTA, LYNGSTRAND, _and_ HILDA, _in a boat on the fiord, are
punting along the shore from the left._
HILDA.
Look, we can easily jump ashore here!
ARNHOLM.
No no, don’t do it!
LYNGSTRAND.
I can’t jump, Miss Hilda.
HILDA.
Can’t you jump either, Mr. Arnholm?
ARNHOLM.
I would rather not.
BOLETTA.
Let us land at the bathing-house steps.
[_They punt the boat out to the right._
_At that moment_ BALLESTED _appears from the right, on the footpath,
carrying music and a French horn. He greets those in the boat,
turns, and talks to them. Their answers are heard farther and
farther off._
BALLESTED.
What do you say?—Yes of course it’s in honour of the English steamer.
It’s her last trip this year. But if you want to enjoy the music you
mustn’t put off too long. [_Calls out._] What? [_Shakes his head._]
Can’t hear what you say!
[ELLIDA, _with a shawl over her head, comes in from the left,
followed by_ DR. WANGEL.
WANGEL.
But, my dear Ellida, I assure you there is ample time.
ELLIDA.
No, no,—there is not! He may come at any moment.
BALLESTED.
[_Outside, by the garden fence._] Ah, good evening, Doctor! Good
evening, Mrs. Wangel!
WANGEL.
[_Notices him._] Oh, are you there? Is there to be music to-night again?
BALLESTED.
Yes. The Musical Society proposes to show what it can do. There’s no
lack of festive occasions at this season. To-night it’s in honour of the
Englishman.
ELLIDA.
The English steamer! Is it in sight already?
BALLESTED.
Not yet; but you see it comes down the fiord among the islands. It is on
you before you know where you are.
ELLIDA.
Yes,—that is true.
WANGEL.
[_Partly to_ ELLIDA.] This is the last trip. After to-night we shall see
no more of it.
BALLESTED.
A melancholy thought, Doctor. But that’s why we are turning out in its
honour, as I said before. Ah yes, ah yes! The happy summer-time is
drawing to a close. “Soon will all the straits be ice-bound,” as they
say in the tragedy.[22]
ELLIDA.
All the straits ice-bound,—yes.
BALLESTED.
Mournful reflection! For weeks and months now we have been joyful
children of the summer; it is hard to reconcile oneself to the dark
days. At first, that is to say; for people _can_ alcli—ac—climatise
themselves, Mrs. Wangel. Yes they can indeed.
[_He bows and goes out to the left._
ELLIDA.
[_Looks out across the fiord._] Oh this torturing suspense! This
intolerable last half-hour before the decision!
WANGEL.
Then you are still bent on speaking with him yourself?
ELLIDA.
I _must_ speak with him myself; for I must make my choice of my own free
will.
WANGEL.
You have no choice, Ellida. You cannot be allowed to choose—_I_ will not
allow you.
ELLIDA.
You can never prevent my choosing; neither you nor any one else. You can
forbid me to go away with him—to cast in my lot with him—if I should
choose that. You can forcibly detain me here, against my will. That you
can do. But the choice in my innermost soul—my choice of him and not of
you,—in case I should and must choose so,—that you cannot prevent.
WANGEL.
No, you are right; I cannot prevent that.
ELLIDA.
And then I have nothing to help me to resist! At home here there is
nothing whatever to attach and bind me. I am utterly without root in
your house, Wangel. The children are not mine—their hearts, I mean. They
have never been mine.—When I go away—if I do go away—either with him
to-night or out to Skioldvik to-morrow,—I have not a key to give up, not
a direction to leave behind me, about anything in the world. You see how
utterly without root I am in your house; how I have stood entirely
outside of everything from the very first moment.
WANGEL.
You yourself willed it so.
ELLIDA.
No, I did not. I had no will one way or the other. I have merely let
everything remain as I found it the day I came. It is you—and no one
else—who have willed it so.
WANGEL.
I meant to do what was best for you.
ELLIDA.
Oh yes, Wangel, I know that so well! But now all this must be paid for;
it will have its revenge. There is nothing here now that has any binding
power over me—nothing to support—nothing to help me. There is no
counter-fascination for me in what should have been the dearest treasure
of our common life.
WANGEL.
I see that well enough, Ellida; and so from to-morrow you shall have
your freedom again. Hereafter you shall live your own life.
ELLIDA.
You call that my own life! Oh no, my own true life slid into a wrong
groove when I joined it to yours. [_Clenches her hands together in fear
and agitation._] And now—to-night—in half an hour—the man I have
forsaken will be here—the man to whom my faith should have been
inviolable, as his has been to me! Now he is coming to offer me—for the
last and only time—a chance of beginning life afresh—of living my own
real life—the life that at once frightens and fascinates me—and that I
_cannot_ forgo. Not of my own free will!
WANGEL.
That is just why you require your husband—and your physician also—to
take the power out of your hands, and to act on your behalf.
ELLIDA.
Yes, Wangel, I understand that very well. Oh, there are times, you may
be sure, when I feel as though there would be safety and peace in
clinging close to you, and trying to defy all the powers that frighten
and fascinate me. But I cannot do it. No, no,—I cannot do it!
WANGEL.
Come, Ellida—let us walk up and down a little.
ELLIDA.
I should like to; but I dare not. You know he said that I was to wait
for him here.
WANGEL.
Do come. You have plenty of time yet.
ELLIDA.
Do you think so?
WANGEL.
Ample time, I assure you.
ELLIDA.
Let us walk a little then.
[_They go out in front, to the right. At the same moment_
ARNHOLM _and_ BOLETTA _appear by the upper bank of the
pond._
BOLETTA.
[_Catching sight of the retreating figures._] Look there——!
ARNHOLM.
[_Softly._] Hush! Let them go.
BOLETTA.
Can you understand what has been passing between them these last few
days?
ARNHOLM.
Have you noticed anything?
BOLETTA.
_Have_ I noticed——!
ARNHOLM.
Anything particular?
BOLETTA.
Oh yes; many things. Have you not?
ARNHOLM.
Well, I don’t quite know——
BOLETTA.
Yes, I am sure you have; only you won’t admit it.
ARNHOLM.
I think it will do your stepmother good to take this little trip.
BOLETTA.
Do you?
ARNHOLM.
Yes; I fancy it would be a good thing for every one if she were to get
away a little now and then.
BOLETTA.
If she goes home to Skioldvik to-morrow, she will certainly never come
back again.
ARNHOLM.
Why, my dear Boletta, what have you got into your head?
BOLETTA.
I am perfectly convinced of it. Just you wait! You shall see—she won’t
return. Not while Hilda and I are at home, at any rate.
ARNHOLM.
Hilda too?
BOLETTA.
Well, perhaps Hilda might not matter so much. She is hardly more than a
child yet; and I believe in her heart she worships Ellida. But with me
it is different, you see; a stepmother who is not so very much older
than oneself——
ARNHOLM.
My dear Boletta—you may not have so very long to wait before leaving
home.
BOLETTA.
[_Eagerly._] Do you think so? Have you spoken to father about it?
ARNHOLM.
Yes, I have done that too.
BOLETTA.
Well—and what did he say?
ARNHOLM.
H’m—your father is so absorbed in other thoughts just now—-
BOLETTA.
Yes, yes, that is just what I told you.
ARNHOLM.
But so much I ascertained from him, that you must not count upon any
help from that quarter.
BOLETTA.
Not——?
ARNHOLM.
He put his position quite clearly before me, and showed that anything of
the kind was a sheer impossibility for him.
BOLETTA.
[_Reproachfully._] Then how could you have the heart to stand there and
make game of me?
ARNHOLM.
Indeed I did not, dear Boletta. It depends entirely upon yourself
whether you will leave home or not.
BOLETTA.
Depends upon me, you say?
ARNHOLM.
Whether you will go out into the world and learn all that your heart
desires. Whether you will take part in all that, at home here, you so
long for. Whether you will live your life under happier conditions,
Boletta. What do you say?
BOLETTA.
[_Clasping her hands._] Oh how glorious——! But all this is utterly
impossible. If father neither will nor can——There is no one else in the
whole world that I can turn to.
ARNHOLM.
Could you not let your old—your former tutor come to your aid?
BOLETTA.
You, Mr. Arnholm? Would you really——?
ARNHOLM.
Stand by you? Yes, with the greatest of pleasure, both in word and deed;
that you may rely upon. Do you accept my offer then? Tell me! Do you
consent?
BOLETTA.
Do I consent? To leave home—to see the world—to learn something really
worth knowing—to do everything that has seemed to me most delightful and
impossible——?
ARNHOLM.
Yes, all this is now within your reach, if only you will.
BOLETTA.
And you will help me to this unspeakable happiness. Oh—but tell me—_can_
I accept so great a gift from a stranger?
ARNHOLM.
You can quite well accept it from me, Boletta. From me you may accept
anything.
BOLETTA.
[_Seizes his hands._] Yes, I really think I may. I don’t know how it is,
but——[_With an outburst of emotion._] Oh—I could both laugh and cry for
joy!—for sheer happiness! Oh—to think that I shall learn what life is,
after all; I was beginning to be so afraid that it would slip away from
me.
ARNHOLM.
You need not be afraid of that, dear Boletta. But now you must tell me
quite frankly whether there is anything—any tie that binds you here?
BOLETTA.
Any tie? No, none.
ARNHOLM.
None at all?
BOLETTA.
No, none whatever. That is,—of course father is a tie—in a way. And
Hilda too. But——
ARNHOLM.
Well—your father you will have to leave sooner or later; and Hilda too
will one day take her own path in life; that is only a question of time.
But otherwise there is nothing to bind you, Boletta? No engagement of
any sort?
BOLETTA.
No, nothing of the kind. So far as that is concerned, I can quite well
go wherever I please.
ARNHOLM.
Well then, if that is the case, my dear Boletta—you shall come away with
me.
BOLETTA.
[_Claps her hands._] Oh great heavens—what a joy to think of!
ARNHOLM.
I hope you have full confidence in me?
BOLETTA.
Yes, indeed I have.
ARNHOLM.
And you can place yourself and your future fully and fearlessly in my
hands, Boletta? You feel you can, do you not?
BOLETTA.
Oh yes, certainly! Why should I not? Can you doubt it? You, my old
tutor—my tutor in the old days, I mean.
ARNHOLM.
Not only because of that. I do not lay so much stress on that side of
the matter. But—well—since you are free then, Boletta—since there is no
tie that binds you,—I ask you—if you would be willing—willing to unite
yourself to me—for life?
BOLETTA.
[_Starts back in fear._] Oh—what are you saying?
ARNHOLM.
For your whole life, Boletta. Will you be my wife?
BOLETTA.
[_Half to herself._] No, no, no! This is impossible! Utterly impossible!
ARNHOLM.
Is it so utterly impossible for you to——?
BOLETTA.
You surely cannot mean what you are saying, Mr. Arnholm? [_Looks at
him._] Or——Perhaps——Was this what you had in mind when—when you proposed
to do so much for me?
ARNHOLM.
Now you must listen to me a little, Boletta. It appears I have taken you
quite by surprise.
BOLETTA.
Oh, how could such an offer—from you,—how could it fail to—to surprise
me?
ARNHOLM.
No doubt you are right. You did not know, of course,—you could not know,
that it was for your sake I came here just now.
BOLETTA.
Did you come here for—for my sake?
ARNHOLM.
Yes, I did, Boletta. I got a letter from your father this spring—and in
it was a phrase which led me to believe—h’m—that you had kept your
former tutor in—in a little more than friendly remembrance.
BOLETTA.
How could father say such a thing?
ARNHOLM.
It appears that was not what he meant at all. But in the meantime I had
accustomed myself to the thought that here was a young girl waiting and
longing for me to come again.—No, you mustn’t interrupt me, dear
Boletta! And, you see,—when a man, like myself, is no longer in the
first flush of youth, such a belief—or illusion—makes an exceedingly
strong impression. A vivid—a grateful affection for you grew up within
me. I felt I must come to you; see you again; tell you that I shared the
feelings which I imagined you entertained for me.
BOLETTA.
But now, when you know that it was not so! That it was a mistake!
ARNHOLM.
That makes no difference, Boletta. Your image—as it dwells in my
heart—will always remain coloured and thrown into relief by the feeling
that mistake aroused in me. Perhaps you cannot understand this; but so
it is.
BOLETTA.
I never dreamed that anything of the kind was possible.
ARNHOLM.
But now that you see it is——? What do you say, Boletta? Can you not make
up your mind to—to be my wife?
BOLETTA.
Oh, it seems so utterly impossible, Mr. Arnholm. You, who have been my
teacher! I cannot imagine myself standing in any other kind of relation
to you.
ARNHOLM.
Well, well—if you feel absolutely sure that you cannot—then the relation
between us remains unaltered, my dear Boletta.
BOLETTA.
How do you mean?
ARNHOLM.
Of course I stand to my proposition, none the less. I will take care
that you get away from home and see something of the world. I will
enable you to learn what you really want to, and live in security and
independence. Your more distant future, too, I will provide for,
Boletta. In me you will always have a firm, steadfast friend to rely
upon. Be sure of that!
BOLETTA.
Oh dear—Mr. Arnholm—all this has become quite impossible now.
ARNHOLM.
Is this impossible too?
BOLETTA.
Yes, surely you can see it is! After what you have said to me—and after
the answer I have given you——. Oh, you must surely understand that I
cannot accept such great favours from you! I can accept nothing in the
world from you; never after this!
ARNHOLM.
Then would you rather stay at home here and let life slip away from you?
BOLETTA.
Oh, it is torture to think of it!
ARNHOLM.
Will you renounce all hope of seeing something of the outer world?
Renounce your chance of taking part in all that you say you are
thirsting for? Can you know that life has such infinite
possibilities—and yet be content to realise no single one of them? Think
well, Boletta.
BOLETTA.
Yes, yes—you are quite right, Mr. Arnholm.
ARNHOLM.
And then—when your father is no longer with you—you might find yourself
helpless and alone in the world. Or you might have to give yourself to
another man—whom you—possibly—might not be able to care for, any more
than for me.
BOLETTA.
Oh yes,—I see quite well how true it is—all that you say. But
still—!——Or perhaps, after all——
ARNHOLM.
[_Quickly._] Well!
BOLETTA.
[_Looks at him, undecided._] Perhaps it might not be utterly impossible
after all——
ARNHOLM.
What, Boletta?
BOLETTA.
That I might—perhaps agree to—what—what you proposed to me.
ARNHOLM.
Do you mean that perhaps you might——? That at least you would grant me
the happiness of coming to your aid as a faithful friend?
BOLETTA.
No, no, no! Never that! _That_ would be absolutely impossible now.
No—Mr. Arnholm—I had rather you should take me——
ARNHOLM.
Boletta! Will you——!
BOLETTA.
Yes,—I think—I will.
ARNHOLM.
You will be my wife?
BOLETTA.
Yes; if you still think you—ought to take me.
ARNHOLM.
If I think——! [_Seizes her hand._] Oh thanks, thanks, Boletta! What you
have been saying—your hesitation at first—that does not alarm me. If I
do not fully possess your heart as yet, I shall know how to win it. Oh
Boletta, how I will treasure you!
BOLETTA.
And I am to see the world; to take part in its life; you have promised
me that.
ARNHOLM.
And I hold to it.
BOLETTA.
And I am to learn everything I want to.
ARNHOLM.
I myself will be your teacher, as in the old days, Boletta. Think of the
last year you were my pupil——
BOLETTA.
[_In quiet self-absorption._] Fancy,—to know oneself free—to go out into
the unknown world! And then to have no care for the future; no constant
fears about miserable money——
ARNHOLM.
No, you shall never have to waste a thought on such things. And, my dear
Boletta, that is a good thing too, in its way—isn’t it now?
BOLETTA.
Yes, it is indeed. I know it is.
ARNHOLM.
[_Putting his arm round her waist._] Oh you shall see how cosily and
comfortably we will arrange our life! And what peace and confidence
there will be between us, Boletta!
BOLETTA.
Yes, I begin to——. I really think—that we ought to get on together.
[_Looks out to the right, and hurriedly disengages herself._] Ah! Please
don’t say anything about it!
ARNHOLM.
What is the matter, dear?
BOLETTA.
Oh, it’s that poor——[_Points._] Over there.
ARNHOLM.
Is it your father——?
BOLETTA.
No, it’s the young sculptor. He is walking over there with Hilda.
ARNHOLM.
Oh, Lyngstrand. Why should you trouble about him?
BOLETTA.
Oh you know how delicate and ill he is.
ARNHOLM.
Yes, if it isn’t all his imagination.
BOLETTA.
No, it is real; he cannot live long. But perhaps it is best for him.
ARNHOLM.
How best for him, my dear?
BOLETTA.
Well because,—because I don’t think much would come of his art in any
case.—Let us go before they come.
ARNHOLM.
By all means, my dear Boletta.
[HILDA _and_ LYNGSTRAND _appear beside the pond._
HILDA.
Hi! Hi! Won’t you condescend to wait for us?
ARNHOLM.
Boletta and I would rather go on ahead.
[_He and_ BOLETTA _go out to the left._
LYNGSTRAND.
[_Laughs quietly._] It is quite amusing here just now; everybody goes in
couples; always two and two together.
HILDA.
[_Looks after them._] I could almost swear that he is making love to
her.
LYNGSTRAND.