In Dr. E.O Wilson’s presentation on Thursday, Dr. Wilson stated that all of man’s troubles arise from not knowing who we are, where we come from, and where we are going with the focus of the discussion being on the future of “where are we going?” As I digested the ideas Wilson was raising I realized that many of the topics introduced seemed to relate perfectly to concepts in Ibsen’s plays. While Dr. Wilson addressed belief vs. knowledge he stated that “we are a nation of Peter Pans that live in a fantasy world” as it pertains to recognizing the necessity of preserving biodiversity to maintain the existence of our world. A nation of Peter Pan’s I believe parallels perfectly with our dialogue on Thursday of The Wild Duck and keeping the life lie alive.
At the end of our examination of The Wild Duck we were asked to place our vote on truth or lies but for some reason that I could not identify, I had trouble choosing a standpoint.
(As a side note I later considered the different situations that truth and lies could pertain to. The first image that popped into my mind was the concepts displayed in The Matrix and envisioning how Neo must have felt discovering the truth about the Matrix after entering reality from the dream world all human being were entrapped in. My next thought was what my ideal dream world would be if I could choose. I came to the conclusion that I would like to be a Jedi Master in Neverland (random I know but I believe that it would be awesome!) I then contemplated what my choice would be; would I choose the blue pill to let me continue being a Jedi or would I choose the red pill and have my eyes opened to the Matrix. Further, if the tables were turned would I want to or do I have the right to unveil the reality in another person’s dream world? It seems to me that this all depends on circumstances and the individual)
The idealism posed by Gregers to open Hjalmar Ekdal’s eyes to the truth of certain situations in his marriage were founded upon the belief that Hjalmar’s illusion was identical to a wild duck dying in the depths of a “poisoned swamp” (250). The bringing to light of the past transgressions of the Ekdal family however ultimately led to the tragic suicide of the Ekdal’s precious daughter Hedvig. The outcome of the destruction of the life lie I feel did not solely result from the truth being revealed, but by weakness in character of Hjalmer in response to the revelation and various other elements that influenced the situation such as the method in which Gregers chose to expose the past relationship between Gina and Mr. Werle.
I still feel as if it is too difficult to choose between the notions of truth and lies. I find truth and lies to not be a solid black or white and in reality truth and lies (or illusions) are bizarrely interwoven. An example of this is when Maria pointed out in class of the meaning of language being founded upon the mind’s tendency to tie a word with an illusion. This can be represented through a number of different aspects as well. Dr. E.O Wilson discussed “true science” be the collective knowledge we have of the “real world” that can be determined using “magical formulas” such as the scientific method to break it down into its most rudimentary components. This explanation however I feel does not exemplify a concrete illustration of truth. Dr. Wilson emphasized in his conference that knowledge is obtained through the connection of the various disciplines of social science, natural science, and the humanities that causes the methods in which the world is examined to be more transparent. With transparency how can we choose between truth and lies? I am not sure if either absolutely exists. I hypothesize that no one can escape truth that is away from illusion because there is always more depth to any story than meets the eye. This can be proven through each of Ibsen’s plays that we have dissected so far. The art of Ibsen’s plays go far beyond what we have uncovered and embody natural science, social science, and the humanities. However, we have not even scratched the surface of the psyche of Ibsen during the creation of these plays and other aspects that could be of influence.
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