Wild Duck 2

Point of view/characters: There is no point of view. The story is just a glimpse into a scene, with no activity with the audience, which was the way theater was during that time period. The reader gets to know the characters fairly well, but Ibsen never really outright describes a character. They are described over time, usually behind the character's back, although the reader gets an idea about their personality by how they talk and to who they talk. The characters' credibility differs from character to character, although most of the information the reader knows is not very reliable. Most of the characterization is from gossip, so the reader's opinion is manipulated. Most of the gossiping is negative, which puts the characters in a bad light, all except Hedvig, who is shown to be innocent and carefree. She is going blind, but does not know it, and her parents are keeping it from her. Ibsen makes it this way to bring up the question whether or not it is good to know the truth, even if it is bad.