The Wild Duck (Symbol)
The wild duck is, of course, the most important symbol in the play, almost becoming one of the play's main characters. The wild duck is used as a stand-in for a creature that has been injured and that, instead of plunging to the depths to die with dignity, has been saved to live in an artificial or false freedom. This, then, makes the duck an apt symbolic partner for Hedvig, Hialmar, and Old Ekdal. Each has been injured by Werle in a distinct way but also supported or saved by Werle. In their respective attempts to break free from the sadness laid at their feet by Werle, each encounters a great deal of difficulty—and in the case of Hedvig, death. This is perhaps why Hedvig relates mosts to the wild duck in her attic—she, like the duck, is destined to die, is of unknown provenance, and has few friends to comfort her in life. This is also perhaps why Hialmar's hatred for the wild duck corresponds to his growing revulsion towards his daughter at the play's end.
Rooms (Symbols)
In the first act, the room where Werle holds his party is described in terms suggesting levity, wealth, and happiness. In the second act, then, when we first see Ekdal's apartments, we see that they are less wealthy than Werle, although they are able to maintain something like comfort in the plainness of their setting. Finally, note that Old Ekdal, Hialmar, and Hedvig spend a great deal of their time in the dreary and cramped garret, where they feel safe and at home. In the rooms presented in The Wild Duck, we thus see a direct and symbolic correspondence to the status and family life of each party. In the case of Werle, wealth has been the focus for his entire life, and this is reflected in his home. In the case of the Ekdals, the illusion of stability is maintained while really, the family members are lurking in the darker, deeper parts of their psyches and emotions.
Photographs and Retouching (Symbol)
Gina and Hialmar are both photographers and work together to support themselves and their family with pictures and retouching. Of course, this profession also takes on great symbolic meaning because it is linked with the idea of altering the reality in which a person lives. In many ways, Gina and Hialmar retouch or edit their own realities as well, choosing to live sheltered from both the outside world and the truths which threaten to upset the life that they have built together. In this way, their profession is a symbol for their willingness to lie to engage in deceit and cover-ups.
The Number 13 (Motif)
In the first act, Hialmar goes to a party hosted by the Werle family where he finds that he is the 13th to arrive. This makes him feel out of place, since the table is traditionally set for 12 and because the number 13 evokes a type of Biblical fate (either referencing Judas, who betrayed Jesus after the Last Supper, or Jesus himself, who died after the Last Supper). Later, at the play's conclusion, after Gregers has wreaked his terrible havoc on the Ekdal family, Relling asks Gregers what he believes his fate to be. His answer? "To be the thirteenth at table," a line that recasts the outsider role onto Gregers (87). Together then, the number 13 is used throughout the play not only to portend a betrayal or ill fate, but also to set someone aside as an outsider who will not fit into a given society—either Hialmar on account of his class, or Gregers on account of his bold and extreme ideals.
Nature (Motif)
Nature plays a particularly important role in the play. Of course, it is really nature that has set the whole play into motion—were it not for Werle's illegal timber felling, none of the play's betrayals would have taken place. Moreover, for Old Ekdal, nature is a kind of god: he constantly says that "the woods avenge themselves" and imagines himself to be inside the natural world while living and hunting in the garret. Overall, one learns to see the domesticity of the animals in the Ekdal's home as unnatural—just as Gregers views the family's forced resurfacing into society as unnatural—and also begins to question what the natural state of things truly is. Would it have been more natural for the Ekdals to face the facts and fall into despair, or is it natural that they as humans console themselves with lies and falsehoods? In this way, nature itself penetrates to the heart of the truth/lies dichotomy at the heart of the play.
