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40 Henrik Ibsen
free speech, Dr. Stockmann inevitably has to pay
the penalty of his credulity. He finds every hall
in town closed against him. Only one solitary
citizen has the courage to open his doors to the
persecuted Doctor, his old friend Horsier.
But the mob follows him even there and howls
him down as an enemy of society. Thomas
Stockmann makes the discovery in his battle with
ignorance, stupidity, and vested interests that
"
the
most dangerous enemies of truth and freedom in
our midst are the compact majority, the damned
compact liberal majority." His experiences lead
him to the conclusion that
"
the majority is never
right. . . . That is one of those conventional lies
against which a free, thoughtful man must rebel.
. . . The majority has might unhappily but
right it has not."
Hovstad. The man who would ruin a whole com
munity must be an enemy of society!
Dr. Stockmann. It doesn t matter if a lying com
munity is ruined! . . . You ll poison the whole country
in time; you will bring it to such a pass that the whole
country will deserve to perish. And should it come to
this, I say, from the bottom of my heart: Perish the
country! Perish all its people!
Driven out of the place, hooted and jeered by
the mob, Dr. Stockmann barely escapes with his
life, and seeks safety in his home, only to find
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