An Enemy of the People
Hovstad. We are going to stir them up in the paper tomorrow, Aslaksen.
Aslaksen. But not violently, I trust, Mr. Hovstad. Proceed with
moderation, or you will do nothing with them. You may take my advice; I
have gathered my experience in the school of life. Well, I must say
goodbye, Doctor. You know now that we small tradesmen are at your back
at all events, like a solid wall. You have the compact majority on your
side Doctor.
Dr. Stockmann. I am very much obliged, dear Mr. Aslaksen, (Shakes hands
with him.) Goodbye, goodbye.
Aslaksen. Are you going my way, towards the printing-office. Mr.
Hovstad?
Hovstad, I will come later; I have something to settle up first.
Aslaksen. Very well. (Bows and goes out; STOCKMANN follows him into the
hall.)
Hovstad (as STOCKMANN comes in again). Well, what do you think of that,
Doctor? Don't you think it is high time we stirred a little life into
all this slackness and vacillation and cowardice?
Dr. Stockmann. Are you referring to Aslaksen?
Hovstad, Yes, I am. He is one of those who are floundering in a
bog—decent enough fellow though he may be, otherwise. And most of the
people here are in just the same case—see-sawing and edging first to
one side and then to the other, so overcome with caution and scruple
that they never dare to take any decided step.
Dr. Stockmann, Yes, but Aslaksen seemed to me so thoroughly
well-intentioned.
Hovstad. There is one thing I esteem higher than that; and that is for
a man to be self-reliant and sure of himself.
Dr. Stockmann. I think you are perfectly right there.
Hovstad. That is why I want to seize this opportunity, and try if I
cannot manage to put a little virility into these well-intentioned
people for once. The idol of Authority must be shattered in this town.
This gross and inexcusable blunder about the water supply must be
brought home to the mind of every municipal voter.
Dr. Stockmann. Very well; if you are of opinion that it is for the good
of the community, so be it. But not until I have had a talk with my
brother.
Hovstad. Anyway, I will get a leading article ready; and if the Mayor
refuses to take the matter up—
Dr. Stockmann. How can you suppose such a thing possible!
Hovstad. It is conceivable. And in that case—
Dr. Stockmann. In that case I promise you—. Look here, in that case
you may print my report—every word of it.
Hovstad. May I? Have I your word for it?
Dr. Stockmann (giving him the MS.). Here it is; take it with you. It
can do no harm for you to read it through, and you can give it me back
later on.
Hovstad. Good, good! That is what I will do. And now goodbye, Doctor.
Dr. Stockmann. Goodbye, goodbye. You will see everything will run quite
smoothly, Mr. Hovstad—quite smoothly.
Hovstad. Hm!—we shall see. (Bows and goes out.)
Dr. Stockmann (opens the dining-room door and looks in). Katherine! Oh,
you are back, Petra?
Petra (coming in). Yes, I have just come from the school.
Mrs. Stockmann (coming in). Has he not been here yet?
Dr. Stockmann. Peter? No, but I have had a long talk with Hovstad. He
is quite excited about my discovery, I find it has a much wider bearing
than I at first imagined. And he has put his paper at my disposal if
necessity should arise.
Mrs. Stockmann. Do you think it will?
Dr. Stockmann. Not for a moment. But at all events it makes me feel
proud to know that I have the liberal-minded independent press on my
side. Yes, and just imagine—I have had a visit from the Chairman of
the Householders' Association!
Mrs. Stockmann. Oh! What did he want?
Dr. Stockmann. To offer me his support too. They will support me in a
body if it should be necessary. Katherine—do you know what I have got
behind me?
Mrs. Stockmann. Behind you? No, what have you got behind you?
Dr. Stockmann. The compact majority.
Mrs. Stockmann. Really? Is that a good thing for you Thomas?
Dr. Stockmann. I should think it was a good thing. (Walks up and down
rubbing his hands.) By Jove, it's a fine thing to feel this bond of
brotherhood between oneself and one's fellow citizens!
Petra. And to be able to do so much that is good and useful, father!
Dr. Stockmann. And for one's own native town into the bargain, my child!
Mrs. Stockmann. That was a ring at the bell.
Dr. Stockmann. It must be he, then. (A knock is heard at the door.)
Come in!
Peter Stockmann (comes in from the hall). Good morning.
Dr. Stockmann. Glad to see you, Peter!
Mrs. Stockmann. Good morning, Peter, How are you?
Peter Stockmann. So so, thank you. (To DR. STOCKMANN.) I received from
you yesterday, after office hours, a report dealing with the condition
of the water at the Baths.
Dr. Stockmann. Yes. Have you read it?
Peter Stockmann. Yes, I have,
Dr. Stockmann. And what have you to say to it?
Peter Stockmann (with a sidelong glance). Hm!—
Mrs. Stockmann. Come along, Petra. (She and PETRA go into the room on
the left.)
Peter Stockmann (after a pause). Was it necessary to make all these
investigations behind my back?
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, because until I was absolutely certain about it—
Peter Stockmann. Then you mean that you are absolutely certain now?
Dr. Stockmann. Surely you are convinced of that.
Peter Stockmann. Is it your intention to bring this document before the
Baths Committee as a sort of official communication?
Dr. Stockmann. Certainly. Something must be done in the matter—and
that quickly.
Peter Stockmann. As usual, you employ violent expressions in your
report. You say, amongst other things, that what we offer visitors in
our Baths is a permanent supply of poison.
Dr. Stockmann. Well, can you describe it any other way, Peter? Just
think—water that is poisonous, whether you drink it or bathe in it!
And this we offer to the poor sick folk who come to us trustfully and
pay us at an exorbitant rate to be made well again!
Peter Stockmann. And your reasoning leads you to this conclusion, that
we must build a sewer to draw off the alleged impurities from Molledal
and must relay the water conduits.
Dr. Stockmann. Yes. Do you see any other way out of it? I don't.
Peter Stockmann. I made a pretext this morning to go and see the town
engineer, and, as if only half seriously, broached the subject of these
proposals as a thing we might perhaps have to take under consideration
some time later on.
Dr. Stockmann. Some time later on!
Peter Stockmann. He smiled at what he considered to be my extravagance,
naturally. Have you taken the trouble to consider what your proposed
alterations would cost? According to the information I obtained, the
expenses would probably mount up to fifteen or twenty thousand pounds.
Dr. Stockmann. Would it cost so much?
Peter Stockmann. Yes; and the worst part of it would be that the work
would take at least two years.
Dr. Stockmann. Two years? Two whole years?
Peter Stockmann. At least. And what are we to do with the Baths in the
meantime? Close them? Indeed we should be obliged to. And do you
suppose anyone would come near the place after it had got out that the
water was dangerous?
Dr. Stockmann. Yes but, Peter, that is what it is.
Peter Stockmann. And all this at this juncture—just as the Baths are
beginning to be known. There are other towns in the neighbourhood with
qualifications to attract visitors for bathing purposes. Don't you
suppose they would immediately strain every nerve to divert the entire
stream of strangers to themselves? Unquestionably they would; and then
where should we be? We should probably have to abandon the whole thing,
which has cost us so much money-and then you would have ruined your
native town.
Dr. Stockmann. I—should have ruined—!
Peter Stockmann. It is simply and solely through the Baths that the
town has before it any future worth mentioning. You know that just as
well as I.
Dr. Stockmann. But what do you think ought to be done, then?
Peter Stockmann. Your report has not convinced me that the condition of
the water at the Baths is as bad as you represent it to be.
Dr. Stockmann. I tell you it is even worse!—or at all events it will
be in summer, when the warm weather comes.
Peter Stockmann. As I said, I believe you exaggerate the matter
considerably. A capable physician ought to know what measures to
take—he ought to be capable of preventing injurious influences or of
remedying them if they become obviously persistent.
Dr. Stockmann. Well? What more?
Peter Stockmann. The water supply for the Baths is now an established
fact, and in consequence must be treated as such. But probably the
Committee, at its discretion, will not be disinclined to consider the
question of how far it might be possible to introduce certain
improvements consistently with a reasonable expenditure.
Dr. Stockmann. And do you suppose that I will have anything to do with
such a piece of trickery as that?
Peter Stockmann. Trickery!!
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, it would be a trick—a fraud, a lie, a downright
crime towards the public, towards the whole community!
Peter Stockmann. I have not, as I remarked before, been able to
convince myself that there is actually any imminent danger.
Dr. Stockmann. You have! It is impossible that you should not be
convinced. I know I have represented the facts absolutely truthfully
and fairly. And you know it very well, Peter, only you won't
acknowledge it. It was owing to your action that both the Baths and the
water conduits were built where they are; and that is what you won't
acknowledge—that damnable blunder of yours. Pooh!—do you suppose I
don't see through you?
Peter Stockmann. And even if that were true? If I perhaps guard my
reputation somewhat anxiously, it is in the interests of the town.
Without moral authority I am powerless to direct public affairs as
seems, to my judgment, to be best for the common good. And on that
account—and for various other reasons too—it appears to me to be a
matter of importance that your report should not be delivered to the
Committee. In the interests of the public, you must withhold it. Then,
later on, I will raise the question and we will do our best, privately;
but nothing of this unfortunate affair not a single word of it—must
come to the ears of the public.
Dr. Stockmann. I am afraid you will not be able to prevent that now, my
dear Peter.
Peter Stockmann. It must and shall be prevented.
Dr. Stockmann. It is no use, I tell you. There are too many people that
know about it.
Peter Stockmann. That know about it? Who? Surely you don't mean those
fellows on the "People's Messenger"?
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, they know. The liberal-minded independent press is
going to see that you do your duty.
Peter Stockmann (after a short pause). You are an extraordinarily
independent man, Thomas. Have you given no thought to the consequences
this may have for yourself?
Dr. Stockmann. Consequences?—for me?
Peter Stockmann. For you and yours, yes.
Dr. Stockmann. What the deuce do you mean?
Peter Stockmann. I believe I have always behaved in a brotherly way to
you—haven't I always been ready to oblige or to help you?
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, you have, and I am grateful to you for it.
Peter Stockmann. There is no need. Indeed, to some extent I was forced
to do so—for my own sake. I always hoped that, if I helped to improve
your financial position, I should be able to keep some check on you.
Dr. Stockmann. What! Then it was only for your own sake—!
Peter Stockmann. Up to a certain point, yes. It is painful for a man in
an official position to have his nearest relative compromising himself
time after time.
Dr. Stockmann. And do you consider that I do that?
Peter Stockmann. Yes, unfortunately, you do, without even being aware