- click for larger image - From Act II
LONA.
(..) You are the richest and most influential man in the town; nobody in it dares do
otherwise than defer to you will, because you are looked upon as a man without spot or
blemish; your home is regarded as a model home, and your conduct as a model of conduct.
But all this grandeur, and you with it, is founded on a treacherous morass.
Transl. by R. Farquharson-Sharp. |
|
Consul Bernick is
a businessman and respected leader in a small Norwegian town. From his youth he has a
child outside marriage, a love he betrayed and a brother-in-law that he has lied to and
slandered to his own advantage. When the love of his youth, Lona Hessel, and his
brother-in-law Johan Tønnessen return after many years in America, there is a
confrontation between them and Bernick. Later Bernick, for economic reasons, launched a
ship that is not seaworthy. When he learns that his son Olaf has fled on this ship, he
becomes desperate, but the ship is stopped in time. Bernick confesses his shame and guilt
in a speech to the people of the town, and he asks them all to learn from his mistakes. |
1877