An Enemy of the People
Petra. Father is splendid! He will not give in.
(The boys look on in amazement; PETRA signs to them not to speak.)
ACT III
(SCENE.—The editorial office of the "People's Messenger." The entrance
door is on the left-hand side of the back wall; on the right-hand side
is another door with glass panels through which the printing room can
be seen. Another door in the right-hand wall. In the middle of the room
is a large table covered with papers, newspapers and books. In the
foreground on the left a window, before which stands a desk and a high
stool. There are a couple of easy chairs by the table, and other chairs
standing along the wall. The room is dingy and uncomfortable; the
furniture is old, the chairs stained and torn. In the printing room the
compositors are seen at work, and a printer is working a handpress.
HOVSTAD is sitting at the desk, writing. BILLING comes in from the
right with DR. STOCKMANN'S manuscript in his hand.)
Billing. Well, I must say!
Hovstad (still writing). Have you read it through?
Billing (laying the MS. on the desk). Yes, indeed I have.
Hovstad. Don't you think the Doctor hits them pretty hard?
Billing. Hard? Bless my soul, he's crushing! Every word falls like—how
shall I put it?—like the blow of a sledgehammer.
Hovstad. Yes, but they are not the people to throw up the sponge at the
first blow.
Billing. That is true; and for that reason we must strike blow upon
blow until the whole of this aristocracy tumbles to pieces. As I sat in
there reading this, I almost seemed to see a revolution in being.
Hovstad (turning round). Hush!—Speak so that Aslaksen cannot hear you.
Billing (lowering his voice). Aslaksen is a chicken-hearted chap, a
coward; there is nothing of the man in him. But this time you will
insist on your own way, won't you? You will put the Doctor's article in?
Hovstad. Yes, and if the Mayor doesn't like it—
Billing. That will be the devil of a nuisance.
Hovstad. Well, fortunately we can turn the situation to good account,
whatever happens. If the Mayor will not fall in with the Doctor's
project, he will have all the small tradesmen down on him—the whole of
the Householders' Association and the rest of them. And if he does fall
in with it, he will fall out with the whole crowd of large shareholders
in the Baths, who up to now have been his most valuable supporters—
Billing. Yes, because they will certainly have to fork out a pretty
penny—
Hovstad. Yes, you may be sure they will. And in this way the ring will
be broken up, you see, and then in every issue of the paper we will
enlighten the public on the Mayor's incapability on one point and
another, and make it clear that all the positions of trust in the town,
the whole control of municipal affairs, ought to be put in the hands of
the Liberals.
Billing. That is perfectly true! I see it coming—I see it coming; we
are on the threshold of a revolution!
(A knock is heard at the door.)
Hovstad. Hush! (Calls out.) Come in! (DR. STOCKMANN comes in by the
street door. HOVSTAD goes to meet him.) Ah, it is you, Doctor! Well?
Dr. Stockmann. You may set to work and print it, Mr. Hovstad!
Hovstad. Has it come to that, then?
Billing. Hurrah!
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, print away. Undoubtedly it has come to that. Now
they must take what they get. There is going to be a fight in the town,
Mr. Billing!
Billing. War to the knife, I hope! We will get our knives to their
throats, Doctor!
Dr. Stockmann. This article is only a beginning. I have already got
four or five more sketched out in my head. Where is Aslaksen?
Billing (calls into the printing-room). Aslaksen, just come here for a
minute!
Hovstad. Four or five more articles, did you say? On the same subject?
Dr. Stockmann. No—far from it, my dear fellow. No, they are about
quite another matter. But they all spring from the question of the
water supply and the drainage. One thing leads to another, you know. It
is like beginning to pull down an old house, exactly.
Billing. Upon my soul, it's true; you find you are not done till you
have pulled all the old rubbish down.
Aslaksen (coming in). Pulled down? You are not thinking of pulling down
the Baths surely, Doctor?
Hovstad. Far from it, don't be afraid.
Dr. Stockmann. No, we meant something quite different. Well, what do
you think of my article, Mr. Hovstad?
Hovstad. I think it is simply a masterpiece.
Dr. Stockmann. Do you really think so? Well, I am very pleased, very
pleased.
Hovstad. It is so clear and intelligible. One need have no special
knowledge to understand the bearing of it. You will have every
enlightened man on your side.
Aslaksen. And every prudent man too, I hope?
Billing. The prudent and the imprudent—almost the whole town.
Aslaksen. In that case we may venture to print it.
Dr. Stockmann. I should think so!
Hovstad. We will put it in tomorrow morning.
Dr. Stockmann. Of course—you must not lose a single day. What I wanted
to ask you, Mr. Aslaksen, was if you would supervise the printing of it
yourself.
Aslaksen. With pleasure.
Dr. Stockmann. Take care of it as if it were a treasure! No
misprints—every word is important. I will look in again a little
later; perhaps you will be able to let me see a proof. I can't tell you
how eager I am to see it in print, and see it burst upon the public—
Billing. Burst upon them—yes, like a flash of lightning!
Dr. Stockmann. —and to have it submitted to the judgment of my
intelligent fellow townsmen. You cannot imagine what I have gone
through today. I have been threatened first with one thing and then
with another; they have tried to rob me of my most elementary rights as
a man—
Billing. What! Your rights as a man!
Dr. Stockmann. —they have tried to degrade me, to make a coward of me,
to force me to put personal interests before my most sacred convictions.
Billing. That is too much—I'm damned if it isn't.
Hovstad. Oh, you mustn't be surprised at anything from that quarter.
Dr. Stockmann. Well, they will get the worst of it with me; they may
assure themselves of that. I shall consider the "People's Messenger" my
sheet-anchor now, and every single day I will bombard them with one
article after another, like bombshells—
Aslaksen. Yes, but
Billing. Hurrah!—it is war, it is war!
Dr. Stockmann. I shall smite them to the ground—I shall crush them—I
shall break down all their defenses, before the eyes of the honest
public! That is what I shall do!
Aslaksen, Yes, but in moderation, Doctor—proceed with moderation.
Billing. Not a bit of it, not a bit of it! Don't spare the dynamite!
Dr. Stockmann. Because it is not merely a question of water-supply and
drains now, you know. No—it is the whole of our social life that we
have got to purify and disinfect—
Billing. Spoken like a deliverer!
Dr. Stockmann. All the incapables must be turned out, you
understand—and that in every walk of life! Endless vistas have opened
themselves to my mind's eye today. I cannot see it all quite clearly
yet, but I shall in time. Young and vigorous standard-bearers—those
are what we need and must seek, my friends; we must have new men in
command at all our outposts.
Billing. Hear hear!
Dr. Stockmann. We only need to stand by one another, and it will all be
perfectly easy. The revolution will be launched like a ship that runs
smoothly off the stocks. Don't you think so?
Hovstad. For my part I think we have now a prospect of getting the
municipal authority into the hands where it should lie.
Aslaksen. And if only we proceed with moderation, I cannot imagine that
there will be any risk.
Dr. Stockmann. Who the devil cares whether there is any risk or not!
What I am doing, I am doing in the name of truth and for the sake of my
conscience.
Hovstad. You are a man who deserves to be supported, Doctor.
Aslaksen. Yes, there is no denying that the Doctor is a true friend to
the town—a real friend to the community, that he is.
Billing. Take my word for it, Aslaksen, Dr. Stockmann is a friend of
the people.
Aslaksen. I fancy the Householders' Association will make use of that
expression before long.
Dr. Stockmann (affected, grasps their hands). Thank you, thank you, my
dear staunch friends. It is very refreshing to me to hear you say that;
my brother called me something quite different. By Jove, he shall have
it back, with interest! But now I must be off to see a poor devil—I
will come back, as I said. Keep a very careful eye on the manuscript,
Aslaksen, and don't for worlds leave out any of my notes of
exclamation! Rather put one or two more in! Capital, capital! Well,
good-bye for the present—goodbye, goodbye! (They show him to the door,
and bow him out.)
Hovstad. He may prove an invaluably useful man to us.
Aslaksen. Yes, so long as he confines himself to this matter of the
Baths. But if he goes farther afield, I don't think it would be
advisable to follow him.
Hovstad. Hm!—that all depends—
Billing. You are so infernally timid, Aslaksen!
Aslaksen. Timid? Yes, when it is a question of the local authorities, I
am timid, Mr. Billing; it is a lesson I have learned in the school of
experience, let me tell you. But try me in higher politics, in matters
that concern the government itself, and then see if I am timid.
Billing. No, you aren't, I admit. But this is simply contradicting
yourself.
Aslaksen. I am a man with a conscience, and that is the whole matter.
If you attack the government, you don't do the community any harm,
anyway; those fellows pay no attention to attacks, you see—they go on
just as they are, in spite of them. But local authorities are
different; they can be turned out, and then perhaps you may get an
ignorant lot into office who may do irreparable harm to the
householders and everybody else.
Hovstad. But what of the education of citizens by self
government—don't you attach any importance to that?
Aslaksen. When a man has interests of his own to protect, he cannot
think of everything, Mr. Hovstad.
Hovstad. Then I hope I shall never have interests of my own to protect!
Billing. Hear, hear!
Aslaksen (with a smile). Hm! (Points to the desk.) Mr. Sheriff
Stensgaard was your predecessor at that editorial desk.
Billing (spitting). Bah! That turncoat.
Hovstad. I am not a weathercock—and never will be.
Aslaksen. A politician should never be too certain of anything, Mr.
Hovstad. And as for you, Mr. Billing, I should think it is time for you
to be taking in a reef or two in your sails, seeing that you are
applying for the post of secretary to the Bench.
Billing. I—!
Hovstad. Are you, Billing?
Billing. Well, yes—but you must clearly understand I am only doing it
to annoy the bigwigs.
Aslaksen. Anyhow, it is no business of mine. But if I am to be accused
of timidity and of inconsistency in my principles, this is what I want
to point out: my political past is an open book. I have never changed,
except perhaps to become a little more moderate, you see. My heart is
still with the people; but I don't deny that my reason has a certain
bias towards the authorities—the local ones, I mean. (Goes into the
printing room.)
Billing. Oughtn't we to try and get rid of him, Hovstad?
Hovstad. Do you know anyone else who will advance the money for our
paper and printing bill?
Billing. It is an infernal nuisance that we don't possess some capital
to trade on.
Hovstad (sitting down at his desk). Yes, if we only had that, then—
Billing. Suppose you were to apply to Dr. Stockmann?
Hovstad (turning over some papers). What is the use? He has got nothing.
Billing. No, but he has got a warm man in the background, old Morten
Kiil—"the Badger," as they call him.
Hovstad (writing). Are you so sure he has got anything?