The Wild Duck Quizzes

The Wild Duck Quiz 1

1 The relationship of Ibsen's mother and father helped to foreground which theme in his mature works?
Secret keeping

The presence of ghosts

Incestuous relationships

Hereditary disease
2 The Ibsen family's move to Venstøp in Henrik's youth allegedly did all of the following EXCEPT:
Solidify Henrik's interest in professionally pursuing theater as a young man, as opposed to medicine

Made the relationship of Henrik's parents quite hostile

Inspire Henrik's creation of the garret in "The Wild Duck"

Further alienate a young Henrik from mainstream society
3 Of the two events below, which is/are alleged to be inspirations for the theme of illegitimate children running throughout Ibsen's later works?
Henrik Ibsen's fathering of his own illegitimate child with Else Jensdatter, a housekeeper

Neither of these

Both of these

Henrik Ibsen's encounters with rumors that he was truly Tormond Knudsen's son
4 Who financially supported Ibsen for much of his time as a young creative in Christiana?
His wife Suzannah Thorsen

His mentor and employer, Ole Bull

His close friend, Ole Schulerud

His father, who had come back into money through trade
5 A turning point in Ibsen's dramatic career came when he moved abroad with his family to:
England

Italy

France

Spain
6 A common feature of "Brand" and "Peer Gynt," two of Ibsen's early successes is that:
They both draw heavily on Finnish mythology.

They are both closet dramas.

They were written when Ibsen was cheating on his wife.

They were both turned into operas by Edvard Grieg.
7 "The Wild Duck" represents a turning point in Ibsen's style for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:
Its foregrounding of tragicomic elements

Its lack of focus on a distinct and discrete social issue

Its focus on the integrity of the family unit

Its turn towards symbolism and psychological realism
8 Ibsen's later plays are primarily read as being:
More comedic than his earlier works

More focused on class than his earlier works

More autobiographical and reflective than his earlier works

More abstract than his earlier works
9 Ibsen's popularity in Britain towards the end of his life was partially due to the influence of which other dramatist?
W. S. Gilbert

J. M. Synge

George Bernard Shaw

Oscar Wilde
10 When writing "The Wild Duck," Ibsen was worried that the play would be drowned out by what?
The growing debate in Norway over parliamentarianism

The aftermath of Krakatoa's eruption

The geopolitical importance of the Berlin Conference

The publication of Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace"
11 Ibsen's writer's block while writing "The Wild Duck" was alleviated when what happened?
Ibsen was introduced to a young woman who inspired the figure of Gina in the play.

Ibsen faced desperate financial hardships.

Ibsen was left alone when Suzannah went away to treat her rheumatism and gout.

A visit from a relative brought news of the family from Skien.
12 The character of Hedvig in "The Wild Duck" was inspired by:
The daughter of an expatriate sculptor that Ibsen met while abroad

Hildur Andersen, Ibsen's mistress

Ibsen's second child with Suzannah, a daughter

One of Ibsen's old, female friends from his intellectual circle in Christiana
13 All of the following are elements in "The Wild Duck" which evoke Ibsen's own personal life EXCEPT:
The name Hedvig also being the name of Ibsen's younger sister, with whom he was close

The play's definitive setting in Skien, the home of Ibsen's family

The name of the Höidal works alluding to an ancestral region where Ibsen's family lived

The resemblance seen by most critics between Old Ekdal and Knud Ibsen, Henrik's father
14 The play's opening lines betwen Pettersen and Jensen most emphasizes:
The stark gender gap between these two men and Mrs. Sörby

The destitute conditions of servants in the society dramatized by the play

The estrangement of Gregers Werle from Hialmar Ekdal

The centrality of rumor and gossip in the society dramatized by the play
15 At the beginning of Act 1, how long has it been since Gregers and Hialmar have seen one another?
20 years

10 years

About 1 year

15 years
16 What image is used—both in Act 1 and throughout the play—to evoke the idea of being an outsider?
Lumber, which is deconstructed and picked apart like a social outsider

Military uniform, which is only worn by characters in the play who are ostracized from society like Ekdal and Molvik

Wine, which turns people into drunken pariahs like Old Ekdal

Being 13 at table, one more than the traditional 12
17 In the time that Gregers has been away, Werle has done all of the following for Hialmar EXCEPT:
Secretly contract his father, Old Ekdal, to do copy work—for which he is paid liberally

Pay for the adoption of Hialmar's daughter, Hedvig

Introduce him to his current wife, Gina Hansen

Pay for his instruction in photography
18 In Act 1, all of the following are ways in which the chamberlains try to condescendingly engage Hialmar EXCEPT:
Talking with him about wine

Encouraging him to bring some of his photographs to dinner

Asking him to cut their cigars for them

Asking him to declaim poetry for the party's entertainment
19 How does Hialmar react to seeing his father emerge with Gråberg from Werle's study?
He leaves immediately, even before his father, out of embarrassment.

He is shocked and dismayed at his father's appearance, and he pretends not to recognize him.

He runs to escort his frail father out of filial piety.

He cordially greets his father, then ignores him.
20 How does Gregers Werle know Hialmar's wife, Gina?
Gina was a servant in the Werle household while his mother was sick, and he had a relationship with Gina himself before going to the Höidal works.

Gina was a servant in the Werle household while his mother was sick, and he believes that Gina and his father had an affair.

Gina is a distant relative of Mrs. Sörby's.

Gina was a school friend of both he and Hialmar in their youth.
21 After Old Ekdal exits through the party, what does Mrs. Sörby do to him?
Gift him a bottle of alcohol as a kind of charity

Embrace him, revealing their secret affair behind Werle's back

Give him a stern chiding

Escort him firmly and aggressively off the premises
22 In Gregers' conversation with his father, all of the following are revealed EXCEPT:
The true paternity of Hialmar's child, Hedvig

That Gregers was invited back to town by Werle because the latter intends to marry Mrs. Sörby and wants his son to voice his public support of the union

That Werle allegedly had an affair with Gina, and that setting her up with Hialmar may have been an attempt to tie off loose ends

That it was really Werle who felled timber illegally and not Ekdal, and that Werle had Ekdal framed
23 At the end of Act 1, Gregers tells his father that he believes Hialmar's mind to be:
Noble and childlike

Complex and scheming

Simple but untrustworthy

Moral but lazy
24 By the end of Act 1, Gregers has resolved to do what for Hialmar?
Expose him to the truth of his family circumstances

Have Werle banished from town, so that Hialmar need not rely on his charity

Have Gina killed off, so that he may marry someone genuine

Teach him how to make a living in an industry other than photography
25 Each of the following details from Act 1 foreshadows Werle's genetic condition, revealed later in the play, EXCEPT:
Mrs. Sörby's warning that Werle ought not to stare at the lights for the health of his eyes

Werle's explicit claim to Gregers that his eyes are troubling hiim

The joke made by Mrs. Sörby to the chamberlains about sunshine

Gregers's final words to his father that the chamberlains are playing blind-man's bluff