Ibsen - The Wild Duck: Journal #3

Prompt: Readers are attracted to moments of intensity in a writer's work. By what means and with what effect have writers in your study offered heightened emotional moments designed to arrest the reader's attention?

In both the plays Wild Duck and Oedipus, both Ibsen and Sophocles use similar techniques in order to draw the reader's attention during heightened emotional moments. Both authors use repetition of phrases to amplify the characters' feelings of despair. Gina says, "Hedvig! No, no, no!" and "Relling! Relling! Dr. Relling, come up as quick as you can!" to better show Gina's sense of panic and to provide a distinct reaction during this heightened emotional moment. (Ibsen 213-214) This anguish that Gina feels draws the reader's attention by establishing a connection or a sense of similarity with the reader.

Similarly, Sophocles has Oedipus repeat phrases to convey a similar message. Oedipus says "Oh, Ohh / the agony! I am agony / [...] where does all this agony hurl me?" and "No / don't take them away from me, not now! No no no!" as he finds out the truth about his life and as his daughters are taken away from him. Like Gina, Oedipus repeats specific words in order to better show the emotion that Oedipus is feeling. He feels pain and sorrow as he finds out about the truth, and in conjunction with the actor's movements, the dialogue provides a strong sense of emotion. Similarly, when he repeats the word "no," Oedipus shows his vehement desire to keep his children.

Both authors use repetition at least once in their plays to amplify the feeling of a character as they lose a child of theirs. This amplification affects the reader in the sense that they gain an idea of how society would have reacted to a certain situation; this also ties into our current society because people still act the same way if they lose their children.