One character that faces a lot of boundaries is Gregers. He is stuck in an awkward position when faced with Hjalmar talking about his father, Old Ekdal, and the events that got him arrested. Gregers cuts off Hjalmar when Hjalmar starts elaborating about his dad. “The shame and the scandal, Gregers-
(shaken). Yes, yes. Of course” (123).
By having Gregers cuts off Hjalmar, Ibsen shows that Gregers feels uncomfortable with the subject and doesn’t want Hjalmar to talk about it any more. Another mental boundary for Gregers is when he is talking to Hjalmar about his wife. Gregers thinks his dad had an affair with her and Hjalmar doesn’t know anything about it. “Was it then my father got you to-” (125). Gregers is afraid to say anything about his thoughts of his dad’s affair with Hjalmar. Gregers doesn’t want to hurt his friend so he keeps it to himself. We don’t even know if Gregers is correct about his dad having an affair. Later on in the book Gregers is hesitant to accuse his dad of being an accomplice and being guilty for Old Ekdal’s logging crimes. “Was he really the only guilty one” (131).
Hjalmar also has some mental boundaries. When he sees his dad at Gregers’ dinner party, he turns around and pretends not to know him. When the fat guest asks if he knew who the old man was Hjalmar says, “I didn’t notice” (128). Ibsen portrays how Hjalmar is ashamed of his father by having Hjalmar avert his eyes to not see his father. Right after Hjalmar sees his father, he leaves the party. He tells Gregers “I’m going! When a man’s felt a terrible blow from fate-you understand” (129). Hjalmar’s terrible blow from fate was seeing his dad. Hjalmar describes seeing his dad “terrible” because he feels sorry and ashamed to be with him. He feels ashamed because his dad has hit rock bottom.
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