The Wild Duck: Symbolism
Symbolism means a veiled or oblique mode of communication.' A play may have deeper meaning which is understood only by interpreting the deeper significance of the words and phrases used. In "The Wild Duck" Ibsen made use of symbolism on an elaborate scale than in his earlier plays. The chief symbol in this play is the wild duck. The play dependant on and held together by a symbol as if the wild duck were a magnet and all the characters are iron filings held together by the centripetal force. For the first time in Ibsenian drama, the symbol is a physical reality or near enough to it to suggest an actual presence. Though the wild duck is not the only symbol in the play yet it is an all-important symbol. The wild duck symbolizes the kind of life which Hjalmar, his father and Hedvig is leading and besides, it symbolizes Ibsen's own life at the time he wrote this play. All this symbolizes is the hub and heart of the play. Mr. Werle while hunting saw a wild duck and shot i...