The Wild Duck

Translated by Michael Meyer

A small family, once perhaps quite well-off but now finding it difficult to make both ends meet but still contented enough, are visited by a well-meaning friend from the past, whose family may well have been responsible for their difficult straits.  In an effort to salve his conscience and make amends, he so destroys the calm surface of their present life that he is responsible for causing the ultimate tragedy.

The Wild Duck is a play of infinite compassion in which Ibsen reaches a dramatic power beyond anything he had hitherto revealed.