Part 8
[_Flaring up._] Then I shall proclaim the truth at every street corner! I shall write to newspapers in other towns! The whole country shall know how matters stand here!
HOVSTAD.
It almost seems as if the Doctor’s object were to ruin the town.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, so well do I love my native town that I would rather ruin it than see it flourishing upon a lie.
ASLAKSEN.
That’s plain speaking.
[_Noise and whistling._ MRS. STOCKMANN _coughs in vain; the_ DOCTOR _no longer heeds her._
HOVSTAD.
[_Shouting amid the tumult._] The man who would ruin a whole community must be an enemy to his fellow citizens!
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_With growing excitement._] What does it matter if a lying community is ruined! Let it be levelled to the ground, say I! All men who live upon a lie ought to be exterminated like vermin! You’ll end by poisoning the whole country; you’ll bring it to such a pass that the whole country will deserve to perish. And if ever it comes to that, I shall say, from the bottom of my heart: Perish the country! Perish all its people!
A MAN.
[_In the crowd._] Why, he talks like a regular enemy of the people!
BILLING.
Strike me dead but there spoke the people’s voice!
THE WHOLE ASSEMBLY.
[_Shouting._] Yes! yes! yes! He’s an enemy of the people! He hates his country! He hates the whole people!
ASLAKSEN.
Both as a citizen of this town and as a human being, I am deeply shocked at what it has been my lot to hear to-night. Dr. Stockmann has unmasked himself in a manner I should never have dreamt of. I must reluctantly subscribe to the opinion just expressed by some estimable citizens; and I think we ought to formulate this opinion in a resolution. I therefore beg to move, “That this meeting declares the medical officer of the Baths, Dr. Thomas Stockmann, to be an enemy of the people.”
[_Thunders of applause and cheers. Many form a circle round the_ DOCTOR _and hoot at him._ MRS. STOCKMANN _and_ PETRA _have risen._ MORTEN _and_ EILIF _fight the other school-boys, who have also been hooting. Some grown-up persons separate them._
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_To the people hooting._] Ah, fools that you are! I tell you that——
ASLAKSEN.
[_Ringing._] The Doctor is out of order in speaking. A formal vote must be taken; but out of consideration for personal feelings, it will be taken in writing and without names. Have you any blank paper, Mr. Billing?
BILLING.
Here’s both blue and white paper——
ASLAKSEN.
Capital; that will save time. Cut it up into slips. That’s it. [_To the meeting._] Blue means no, white means aye. I myself will go round and collect the votes.
[_The_ BURGOMASTER _leaves the room._ ASLAKSEN _and a few others go round with pieces of paper in hats._
A GENTLEMAN.
[_To HOVSTAD._] What can be the matter with the Doctor? What does it all mean?
HOVSTAD.
Why, you know what a hare-brained creature he is.
ANOTHER GENTLEMAN.
[_To BILLING._] I say, you’re often at his house. Have you ever noticed if the fellow drinks?
BILLING.
Strike me dead if I know what to say. The toddy’s always on the table when any one looks in.
A THIRD GENTLEMAN.
No, I should rather say he went off his head at times.
FIRST GENTLEMAN.
I wonder if there’s madness in the family?
BILLING.
I shouldn’t be surprised.
A FOURTH GENTLEMAN.
No, it’s pure malice. He wants to be revenged for something or other.
BILLING.
He was certainly talking about a rise in his salary the other day; but he didn’t get it.
ALL THE GENTLEMEN.
[_Together._] Aha! That explains everything.
THE DRUNKEN MAN.
[_In the crowd._] I want a blue one, I do! And I'll have a white one too.
SEVERAL PEOPLE.
There’s the tipsy man again! Turn him out.
MORTEN KIIL.
[_Approaching the DOCTOR._] Well, Stockmann, you see now what such monkey-tricks lead to?
DR. STOCKMANN.
I have done my duty.
MORTEN KIIL.
What was that you said about the Mill Dale tanneries?
DR STOCKMANN.
You heard what I said—that all the filth comes from them.
MORTEN KIIL.
From my tannery as well?
DR. STOCKMANN.
I'm sorry to say yours is the worst of all.
MORTEN KIIL.
Are you going to put _that_ in the papers, too?
DR. STOCKMANN.
I can’t gloze anything over.
MORTEN KIIL.
This may cost you dear, Stockmann!
[_He goes out._
A FAT GENTLEMAN.
[_Goes up to HORSTER, without bowing to the ladies._] Well, Captain, so you lend your house to enemies of the people.
HORSTER.
I suppose I can do as I please with my own property, Sir.
THE GENTLEMAN.
Then of course you can have no objection if I follow your example?
HORSTER.
What do you mean, Sir?
THE GENTLEMAN.
You shall hear from me to-morrow.
[_Turns away and goes out._
PETRA.
Wasn’t that the owner of your ship, Captain Horster?
HORSTER.
Yes, that was Mr. Vik.
ASLAKSEN.
[_With the voting papers in his hands, ascends the platform and rings._] Gentlemen! I have now to announce the result of the vote. All the voters, with one exception——
A YOUNG GENTLEMAN.
That’s the tipsy man!
ASLAKSEN.
With the exception of one intoxicated person, this meeting of citizens unanimously declares the medical officer of the Baths, Dr. Thomas Stockmann, to be an enemy of the people. [_Cheers and applause._] Three cheers for our fine old municipality! [_Cheers._] Three cheers for our able and energetic Burgomaster, who has so loyally set family prejudice aside! [_Cheers._] The meeting is dissolved. [_He descends._]
BILLING.
Three cheers for the Chairman!
ALL.
Hurrah for Aslaksen.
DR. STOCKMANN.
My hat and coat, Petra. Captain, have you room for passengers to the new world?
HORSTER.
For you and yours, Doctor, we’ll make room.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_While PETRA helps him to put on his coat._] Good. Come Katrina, come boys!
[_He gives his wife his arm._
MRS. STOCKMANN.
[_In a low voice._] Thomas, dear, let us go out by the back way.
DR. STOCKMANN.
No back ways, Katrina! [_In a loud voice._] You shall hear from the enemy of the people, before he shakes the dust from his feet! I am not so forbearing as a certain person; I don’t say: I forgive you, for you know not what you do.
ASLAKSEN.
[_Shouts._] That is a blasphemous comparison, Dr. Stockmann!
BILLING.
Strike me——! This is more than a serious man can stand!
A COARSE VOICE.
And he threatens us into the bargain!
ANGRY CRIES.
Let’s smash his windows! Duck him in the fiord!
A MAN.
[_In the crowd._] Blow your horn, Evensen! Blow man, blow!
[_Horn-blowing, whistling, and wild shouting. The_ DOCTOR, _with his family, goes towards the door._ HORSTER _clears the way for them._
ALL.
[_Yelling after them as they go out._] Enemy of the people! Enemy of the people! Enemy of the people!
BILLING.
Strike me dead if I'd care to drink toddy at Stockmann’s to-night!
[_The people throng towards the door; the shouting is taken up by others outside; from the street are heard cries of “Enemy of the people! Enemy of the people!”_
-----
Footnote 12:
Literally, “unprovided-for.”
ACT FIFTH.
DR. STOCKMANN’S _Study. Bookshelves and glass cases with various collections along the walls. In the back, a door leading to the hall; in front, on the left, a door to the sitting-room. In the wall to the right are two windows, all the panes of which are smashed. In the middle of the room is the_ DOCTOR’S _writing-table, covered with books and papers. The room is in disorder. It is forenoon._
DR. STOCKMANN, _in dressing-gown, slippers, and skull-cap, is bending down and raking with an umbrella under one of the cabinets; at last he rakes out a stone._
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Speaking through the sitting-room doorway._] Katrina, I've found another!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
[_In the sitting-room._] Oh, I'm sure you’ll find plenty more.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Placing the stone on a pile of others on the table._] I shall keep these stones as sacred relics. Eilif and Morten shall see them every day, and when I die they shall be heirlooms. [_Raking under the
## bookcase._] Hasn’t—what the devil is her name?—the girl—hasn’t she been
for the glazier yet?
MRS. STOCKMANN.
[_Coming in._] Yes, but he said he didn’t know whether he would be able to come to-day.
DR. STOCKMANN.
I believe, if the truth were told, he daren’t come.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Well, Randina, too, had an idea he was afraid to come, because of the neighbours. [_Speaks through the sitting-room doorway._] What is it, Randina?—Very well. [_Goes out, and returns immediately._] Here is a letter for you, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Let me see. [_Opens the letter and reads._] Aha!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Who is it from?
DR. STOCKMANN.
From the landlord. He gives us notice.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Is it possible? He is such a nice man——
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Looking at the letter._] He daren’t do otherwise, he says. He is very unwilling to do it; but he daren’t do otherwise—on account of his fellow citizens—out of respect for public opinion—is in a dependent position—doesn’t dare to offend certain influential men——
MRS. STOCKMANN.
There, you see, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, yes, I see well enough; they are all cowards, every one of them, in this town; no one dares do anything for fear of all the rest. [_Throws the letter on the table._] But it’s all the same to us, Katrina. We will shape our course for the new world, and then——
MRS. STOCKMANN.
But are you sure this idea of going abroad is altogether wise, Thomas?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Would you have me stay here, where they have pilloried me as an enemy of the people, branded me, smashed my windows! And look here, Katrina, they’ve torn a hole in my black trousers, too.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Oh dear; and these are the best you have!
DR. STOCKMANN.
A man should never put on his best trousers when he goes out to battle for freedom and truth. Well, I don’t care so much about the trousers; them you can always patch up for me. But that the mob, the rabble, should dare to attack me as if they were my equals—_that_ is what I can’t, for the life of me, stomach!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Yes, they have behaved abominably to you here, Thomas; but is that any reason for leaving the country altogether?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Do you think the plebeians aren’t just as insolent in other towns? Oh yes, they are, my dear; it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other. Well, never mind; let the curs yelp; _that’s_ not the worst; the worst is that every one, all over the country, is the slave of his party. Not that I suppose—very likely it’s no better in the free West either; the compact majority, and enlightened public opinion, and all the other devil’s trash is rampant there too. But you see the conditions are larger there than here; they may kill you, but they don’t slow-torture you; they don’t screw up a free soul in a vice, as they do at home here. And then, if need be, you can keep out of it all. [_Walks up and down._] If I only knew of any primeval forest, or a little South Sea island to be sold cheap——
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Yes, but the boys, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Comes to a standstill._] What an extraordinary woman you are, Katrina! Would you rather have the boys grow up in such a society as ours? Why, you could see for yourself yesterday evening that one half of the population is stark mad, and if the other half hasn’t lost its wits, that’s only because they are brute beasts who haven’t any wits to lose.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
But really, my dear Thomas, you do say such imprudent things.
DR. STOCKMANN.
What! Isn’t it the truth that I tell them? Don’t they turn all ideas upside down? Don’t they stir up right and wrong into one hotch-potch? Don’t they call lies everything that I know to be the truth? But the maddest thing of all is to see crowds of grown men, calling themselves Liberals, go about persuading themselves and others that they are friends of freedom! Did you ever hear anything like it, Katrina?
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Yes, yes, no doubt. But——
PETRA _enters from the sitting-room._
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Back from school already?
PETRA.
Yes; I have been dismissed.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Dismissed?
DR. STOCKMANN.
You too!
PETRA.
Mrs. Busk gave me notice, and so I thought it best to leave there and then.
DR. STOCKMANN.
You did perfectly right!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Who could have thought Mrs. Busk was such a bad woman!
PETRA.
Oh mother, Mrs. Busk isn’t bad at all; I saw clearly how sorry she was. But she dared not do otherwise, she said; and so I am dismissed.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Laughing and rubbing his hands._] She dared not do otherwise—just like the rest! Oh, it’s delicious.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Oh well, after that frightful scene last night——
PETRA.
It wasn’t only that. What do you think, father——?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well?
PETRA.
Mrs. Busk showed me no fewer than three letters she had received this morning——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Anonymous, of course?
PETRA.
Yes.
DR. STOCKMANN.
They never dare give their names, Katrina!
PETRA.
And two of them stated that a gentleman who is often at our house said at the club last night that I held extremely advanced opinions upon various things——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Of course you didn’t deny it.
PETRA.
Of course not. You know Mrs. Busk herself is pretty advanced in her opinions when we’re alone together; but now that this has come out about me, she dared not keep me on.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Some one that is often at our house, too. There, you see, Thomas, what comes of all your hospitality.
DR. STOCKMANN.
We won’t live any longer in such a pig-sty! Pack up as quickly as you can, Katrina; let’s get away—the sooner the better.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Hush! I think there is some one in the passage. See who it is, Petra.
PETRA.
[_Opening the door._] Oh, is it you, Captain Horster? Please come in.
HORSTER.
[_From the hall._] Good morning. I thought I might just look in and ask how you are.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Shaking his hand._] Thanks; that’s very good of you.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
And thank you for helping us through the crowd last night, Captain Horster.
PETRA.
How did you ever get home again?
HORSTER.
Oh, that was all right. I am tolerably able-bodied, you know; and those fellows' bark is worse than their bite.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, isn’t it extraordinary, this piggish cowardice? Come here, and let me show you something! Look, here are all the stones they threw in at us. Only look at them? Upon my soul there aren’t more than two decent-sized lumps in the whole heap; the rest are nothing but pebbles—mere gravel. They stood down there, and yelled, and swore they’d half kill me;—but as for really doing it—no, there’s mighty little fear of _that_ in this town!
HORSTER.
You may thank your stars for that this time, Doctor.
DR. STOCKMANN.
So I do, of course. But it’s depressing all the same; for if ever it should come to a serious national struggle, you may be sure public opinion would be for taking to its heels, and the compact majority would scamper for their lives like a flock of sheep, Captain Horster. _That_ is what’s so melancholy to think of; it grieves me to the heart.—But deuce take it—it’s foolish of me to feel anything of the sort! They have called me an enemy of the people; well then, let me be an enemy of the people!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
That you’ll never be, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
You’d better not take your oath of it, Katrina. A bad name may act like a pin-scratch in the lung. And that confounded word—I can’t get rid of it; it has sunk deep into my heart; and there it lies gnawing and sucking like an acid. And no magnesia can cure me.
PETRA.
Pooh; you should only laugh at them, father.
HORSTER.
People will think differently yet, Doctor.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Yes, Thomas, that’s as certain as that you are standing here.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, perhaps, when it is too late. Well, as they make their bed so they must lie! Let them go on wallowing here in their pig-sty, and learn to repent having driven a patriot into exile. When do you sail, Captain Horster?
HORSTER.
Well—that’s really what I came to speak to you about——
DR. STOCKMANN.
What? Anything wrong with the ship?
HORSTER.
No; but the fact is, I shan’t be sailing in her.
PETRA.
Surely you have not been dismissed?
HORSTER.
[_Smiling_.] Yes, I have.
PETRA.
You too!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
There, you see, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
And for the truth’s sake! Oh, if I could possibly have imagined such a thing——
HORSTER.
You mustn’t be troubled about this; I shall soon find a berth with some other company, elsewhere.
DR. STOCKMANN.
And this is that man Vik! A wealthy man, independent of every one! Faugh!
HORSTER.
Oh, for that matter, he’s a very well-meaning man. He said himself he would gladly have kept me on if only he dared——
DR. STOCKMANN.
But he didn’t dare? Of course not!
HORSTER.
It’s not so easy, he said, when you belong to a party——
DR. STOCKMANN.
My gentleman has hit it there! A party is like a sausage-machine; it grinds all the brains together in one mash; and that’s why we see nothing but porridge-heads and pulp-heads all around!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Now really, Thomas!
PETRA.
[_To HORSTER._] If only you hadn’t seen us home, perhaps it would not have come to this.
HORSTER.
I don’t regret it.
PETRA.
[_Gives him her hand._] Thank you for that!
HORSTER.
[_To DR. STOCKMANN._] And then, too, I wanted to tell you this: if you are really determined to go abroad, I've thought of another way——
DR. STOCKMANN.
That’s good—if only we can get off quickly——
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Hush! Isn’t that a knock?
PETRA.
I believe it is uncle.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Aha! [_Calls._] Come in!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
My dear Thomas, now do promise me——
_The BURGOMASTER enters from the hall._
BURGOMASTER.
[_In the doorway._] Oh, you are engaged. Then I'd better——
DR. STOCKMANN.
No no; come in.
BURGOMASTER.
But I wanted to speak to you alone.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
We can go into the sitting-room.
HORSTER.
And I shall look in again presently.
DR. STOCKMANN.
No no; go with the ladies, Captain Horster; I must hear more about——
HORSTER.
All right, then I'll wait.
[_He follows_ MRS. STOCKMANN _and_ PETRA _into the sitting-room. The_ BURGOMASTER _says nothing, but casts glances at the windows._
DR. STOCKMANN.
I daresay you find it rather draughty here today? Put on your cap.
BURGOMASTER.
Thanks, if I may. [_Does so._] I fancy I caught cold yesterday evening. I stood there shivering——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Really. On my soul, now, I found it quite warm enough.
BURGOMASTER.
I regret that it was not in my power to prevent these nocturnal excesses.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Have you anything else in particular to say to me?
BURGOMASTER.
[_Producing a large letter._] I have this document for you from the Directors of the Baths.
DR. STOCKMANN.
My dismissal?
BURGOMASTER.
Yes; dated from to-day. [_Places the letter on the table._] We are very sorry—but frankly, we dared not do otherwise, on account of public opinion.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Smiling._] Dared not? I've heard that phrase already to-day.
BURGOMASTER.
I beg you to realise your position clearly. For the future, you cannot count upon any sort of practice in the town.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Devil take the practice! But how can you be so sure of that?
BURGOMASTER.
The House-owners' Association is sending round a circular from house to house, in which all well-disposed citizens are called upon not to employ you; and I dare swear that not a single head of a family will venture to refuse his signature; he simply _dare_ not.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well well; I don’t doubt that. But what then?
BURGOMASTER.
If I might advise, I would suggest that you should leave the town for a time——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, I've had some such idea in my mind already.
BURGOMASTER.
Good. And when you have had six months or so for mature deliberation, if you could make up your mind to acknowledge your error, with a few words of regret——
DR. STOCKMANN.
I might perhaps be reinstated, you think?
BURGOMASTER.
Perhaps it’s not quite out of the question.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, but how about public opinion? You daren’t, on account of public opinion.
BURGOMASTER.
Opinion is extremely variable. And, to speak candidly, it is of the greatest importance for us to have such an admission under your own hand.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, I daresay it would be mightily convenient for you! But you remember what I've said to you before about such foxes' tricks!
BURGOMASTER.
At that time your position was infinitely more favourable; at that time you thought you had the whole town at your back——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, and now I have the whole town on my back——[_Flaring up._] But no—not if I had the devil and his dam on my back—! Never—never, I tell you!
BURGOMASTER.
The father of a family has no right[13] to act as you are doing. You have no right to do it, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
I have no right! There’s only one thing in the world that a free man has no right to do; and do you know what that is?
BURGOMASTER.
No.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Of course not; but _I_ will tell you. A free man has no right to wallow in filth like a cur; he has no right to act so that he ought to spit in his own face!
BURGOMASTER.
That sounds extremely plausible; and if there were not another explanation of your obstinacy—but we all know there is——
DR. STOCKMANN.
What do you mean by that?
BURGOMASTER.
You understand well enough. But as your brother, and as a man who knows the world, I warn you not to build too confidently upon prospects and expectations that may very likely come to nothing.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Why, what on earth are you driving at?
BURGOMASTER.
Do you really want me to believe that you are ignorant of the terms of old Morten Kiil’s will?
DR. STOCKMANN.
I know that the little he has is to go to a home for old and needy artizans. But what has that got to do with me?
BURGOMASTER.
To begin with, “the little he has” is no trifle. Morten Kiil is a tolerably wealthy man.
DR. STOCKMANN.
I have never had the least notion of that!
BURGOMASTER.
H'm—really? Then I suppose you have no notion that a not inconsiderable part of his fortune is to go to your children, you and your wife having a life-interest in it. Has he not told you that?
DR. STOCKMANN.
No, I'll be hanged if he has! On the contrary, he has done nothing but grumble about being so preposterously over-taxed, But are you really sure of this, Peter?
BURGOMASTER.
I have it from a thoroughly trustworthy source.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Why, good heavens, then Katrina’s provided for—and the children too! Oh, I must tell her——[_Calls._] Katrina, Katrina!
BURGOMASTER.
[_Holding him back._] Hush! don’t say anything about it yet.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
[_Opening the door._] What is it?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Nothing my dear; go in again.
[MRS. STOCKMANN _closes the door._
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Pacing up and down._] Provided for! Only think—all of them provided for! And for life! After all, it’s a grand thing to feel yourself secure!
BURGOMASTER.
Yes, but that is just what you are not. Morten Kiil can revoke his will any day or hour he chooses.
DR. STOCKMANN.