How long is enemy of the people

I am very much obliged, dear Mr. Aslaksen, Shakes hands with him. Goodbye, goodbye. 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? 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. There is one thing I esteem higher than that; and that is for a man to be self-reliant and sure of himself.

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.

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. Anyway, I will get a leading article ready; and if the Mayor refuses to take the matter up—. In that case I promise you—. Look here, in that case you may print my report—every word of it. 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. You will see everything will run quite smoothly, Mr. Hovstad—quite smoothly. Stockmann opens the dining-room door and looks in. Oh, you are back, Petra? 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. 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!

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?

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! So so, thank you.

To DR. I received from you yesterday, after office hours, a report dealing with the condition of the water at the Baths. Come along, Petra. Peter Stockmann after a pause. Was it necessary to make all these investigations behind my back? Is it your intention to bring this document before the Baths Committee as a sort of official communication? Something must be done in the matter—and that quickly. 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.

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! 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.

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. 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.

Yes; and the worst part of it would be that the work would take at least two years. 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? 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. 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.

Your report has not convinced me that the condition of the water at the Baths is as bad as you represent it to be. I tell you it is even worse!

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.

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.

And do you suppose that I will have anything to do with such a piece of trickery as that? Yes, it would be a trick—a fraud, a lie, a downright crime towards the public, towards the whole community!

I have not, as I remarked before, been able to convince myself that there is actually any imminent danger. 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.

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.

I am afraid you will not be able to prevent that now, my dear Peter. It is no use, I tell you. There are too many people that know about it. That know about it? Surely you don't mean those fellows on the "People's Messenger"? 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? I believe I have always behaved in a brotherly way to you—haven't I always been ready to oblige or to help you? 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. 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. Yes, unfortunately, you do, without even being aware of it. You have a restless, pugnacious, rebellious disposition. And then there is that disastrous propensity of yours to want to write about every sort of possible and impossible thing.

The moment an idea comes into your head, you must needs go and write a newspaper article or a whole pamphlet about it. Well, but is it not the duty of a citizen to let the public share in any new ideas he may have? Oh, the public doesn't require any new ideas. The public is best served by the good, old established ideas it already has. Yes, and for once I must talk frankly to you. Hitherto I have tried to avoid doing so, because I know how irritable you are; but now I must tell you the truth, Thomas.

You have no conception what an amount of harm you do yourself by your impetuosity. You complain of the authorities, you even complain of the government—you are always pulling them to pieces; you insist that you have been neglected and persecuted. But what else can such a cantankerous man as you expect? Yes, Thomas, you are an extremely cantankerous man to work with—I know that to my cost.

You disregard everything that you ought to have consideration for. You seem completely to forget that it is me you have to thank for your appointment here as medical officer to the Baths. I was entitled to it as a matter of course! I was the first person to see that the town could be made into a flourishing watering-place, and I was the only one who saw it at that time. I had to fight single-handed in support of the idea for many years; and I wrote and wrote—.

But things were not ripe for the scheme then—though, of course, you could not judge of that in your out-of-the-way corner up north.

But as soon as the opportune moment came I—and the others—took the matter into our hands. Yes, and made this mess of all my beautiful plan. It is pretty obvious now what clever fellows you were! To my mind the whole thing only seems to mean that you are seeking another outlet for your combativeness. You want to pick a quarrel with your superiors—an old habit of yours. You cannot put up with any authority over you. You look askance at anyone who occupies a superior official position; you regard him as a personal enemy, and then any stick is good enough to beat him with.

But now I have called your attention to the fact that the town's interests are at stake—and, incidentally, my own too. And therefore, I must tell you, Thomas, that you will find me inexorable with regard to what I am about to require you to do. As you have been so indiscreet as to speak of this delicate matter to outsiders, despite the fact that you ought to have treated it as entirely official and confidential, it is obviously impossible to hush it up now.

All sorts of rumours will get about directly, and everybody who has a grudge against us will take care to embellish these rumours. So it will be necessary for you to refute them publicly. What we shall expect is that, after making further investigations, you will come to the conclusion that the matter is not by any means as dangerous or as critical as you imagined in the first instance.

And, what is more, we shall expect you to make public profession of your confidence in the Committee and in their readiness to consider fully and conscientiously what steps may be necessary to remedy any possible defects.

But you will never be able to do that by patching and tinkering at it—never! Take my word for it, Peter; I mean what I say, as deliberately and emphatically as possible. As an officer under the Committee, you have no right to any individual opinion.

In your official capacity, no. As a private person, it is quite another matter. But as a subordinate member of the staff of the Baths, you have no right to express any opinion which runs contrary to that of your superiors. This is too much! I, a doctor, a man of science, have no right to—! The matter in hand is not simply a scientific one.

It is a complicated matter, and has its economic as well as its technical side. I don't care what it is! I intend to be free to express my opinion on any subject under the sun.

As you please—but not on any subject concerning the Baths. That we forbid. I forbid it—I, your chief; and if I forbid it, you have to obey. Stockmann controlling himself. Peter—if you were not my brother—. Stockmann going up to him. You were saying something about forbidding and obeying? We consider it absolutely necessary that you should make some such public statement as I have asked for.

Then we shall publish a statement ourselves to reassure the public. Very well; but in that case I shall use my pen against you. I stick to what I have said; I will show that I am right and that you are wrong. And what will you do then? Dismissed from the staff of the Baths. I shall be obliged to propose that you shall immediately be given notice, and shall not be allowed any further participation in the Baths' affairs. Oh, so we volunteer our opinions already, do we? Of course. To MRS. Katherine, I imagine you are the most sensible person in this house.

Use any influence you may have over your husband, and make him see what this will entail for his family as well as—. It is I who have the real good of the town at heart! I want to lay bare the defects that sooner or later must come to the light of day. I will show whether I love my native town. You, who in your blind obstinacy want to cut off the most important source of the town's welfare? The source is poisoned, man! Are you mad? We are making our living by retailing filth and corruption!

The whole of our flourishing municipal life derives its sustenance from a lie! All imagination—or something even worse. The man who can throw out such offensive insinuations about his native town must be an enemy to our community.

I will not expose myself to violence. Now you have had a warning; so reflect on what you owe to yourself and your family. Stockmann walking up and down. Am I to put up with such treatment as this? In my own house, Katherine! What do you think of that! It is my own fault.

I ought to have flown out at him long ago! To hear him call me an enemy to our community! I shall not take that lying down, upon my soul! Oh yes, right—right. What is the use of having right on your side if you have not got might? Do you imagine that in a free country it is no use having right on your side? You are absurd, Katherine.

Besides, haven't I got the liberal-minded, independent press to lead the way, and the compact majority behind me? That is might enough, I should think!

In God's name, what else do you suppose I should do but take my stand on right and truth? But it won't do you any earthly good. If they won't do it, they won't. Oho, Katherine! Just give me time, and you will see how I will carry the war into their camp.

Yes, you carry the war into their camp, and you get your dismissal—that is what you will do. In any case I shall have done my duty towards the public—towards the community, I, who am called its enemy! But towards your family, Thomas? Towards your own home! Do you think that is doing your duty towards those you have to provide for? Oh, it is easy for you to talk; you are able to shift for yourself, if need be. But remember the boys, Thomas; and think a little of yourself too, and of me—.

I think you are out of your senses, Katherine! If I were to be such a miserable coward as to go on my knees to Peter and his damned crew, do you suppose I should ever know an hour's peace of mind all my life afterwards?

I don't know anything about that; but God preserve us from the peace of mind we shall have, all the same, if you go on defying him! You will find yourself again without the means of subsistence, with no income to count upon.

I should think we had had enough of that in the old days. Remember that, Thomas; think what that means. Stockmann collecting himself with a struggle and clenching his fists.

And this is what this slavery can bring upon a free, honourable man! Isn't it horrible, Katherine? Yes, it is sinful to treat you so, it is perfectly true. But, good heavens, one has to put up with so much injustice in this world. There are the boys, Thomas! Look at them!

What is to become of them? Oh, no, no, you can never have the heart—. The boys— I Recovers himself suddenly. No, even if the whole world goes to pieces, I will never bow my neck to this yokel Goes towards his room. Stockmann at his door. I mean to have the right to look my sons in the face when they are grown men.

Goes into his room. 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. Bless my soul, he's crushing! Every word falls like—how shall I put it? Yes, but they are not the people to throw up the sponge at the first blow.

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. 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? 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—.

Yes, because they will certainly have to fork out a pretty penny—. 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. That is perfectly true! I see it coming—I see it coming; we are on the threshold of a revolution!

Ah, it is you, Doctor! 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. War to the knife, I hope! We will get our knives to their throats, Doctor! This article is only a beginning. I have already got four or five more sketched out in my head. Where is Aslaksen? 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. 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? No, we meant something quite different. Well, what do you think of my article, Mr. 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. 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. 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—. 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—.

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—.

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! 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—.

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. 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.

For my part I think we have now a prospect of getting the municipal authority into the hands where it should lie. And if only we proceed with moderation, I cannot imagine that there will be any risk. 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.

Yes, there is no denying that the Doctor is a true friend to the town—a real friend to the community, that he is. Take my word for it, Aslaksen, Dr. Stockmann is a friend of the people. I fancy the Householders' Association will make use of that expression before long.

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. 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. 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.

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. But what of the education of citizens by self government—don't you attach any importance to that? When a man has interests of his own to protect, he cannot think of everything, Mr.

Aslaksen with a smile. Points to the desk. Sheriff Stensgaard was your predecessor at that editorial desk. A politician should never be too certain of anything, Mr. 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.

Well, yes—but you must clearly understand I am only doing it to annoy the bigwigs. 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. Stockmann's findings. The brothers have a fierce argument, but Dr.

Stockmann hopes that at least Hovstad's newspaper will support him. However, the mayor convinces Hovstad and Aslaksen to oppose Dr. The doctor holds a town meeting to give a lecture on the baths, but Aslaksen and the mayor try to keep him from speaking. Stockmann then begins a long tirade in which he condemns the foundations of the town and the tyranny of the majority.

The audience finds his speech incredibly offensive, and the next morning the doctor's home is vandalized. Next Character List. Removing book from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title. Are you sure you want to remove bookConfirmation and any corresponding bookmarks? My Preferences My Reading List.