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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.)
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