Tragedy Journal 6 (Wild Duck Act 3)

"Visual action can be as important on the stage as speech."

From the works that I have studied, I believe that this statement is true. Sophocles' Oedipus only occasionally uses stage directions, while Ibsen's Wild Duck makes stage directions pronounced and detailed, allowing script readers to understand more fully the physical actions that the characters carry out. Ibsen uses more detailed stage directions in order to clarify the characters' emotions. Also because of the time that Ibsen wrote the play, it fits the context of modernism and realism where stage directions made the actors act in a more realistic manner.

Ibsen expresses the extent of Old Ekdal's age in these stage directions "(Old Ekdal enters from his room, without his pipe, but with his old military cap on his head; his walk is a bit unsteady)" (Ibsen 149). "(Ekdal stumbles, muttering, over to the sofa." (Ibsen 149). These stage directions make it easier to see what the playwright is attempting to express.

Sophocles expresses very little of the characters through his stage directions as demonstrated in this passage, "Children, where are you? Here come quickly - Groping for ANTIGONE and ISMENE, who approach their father cautiously, then embrace him" (Sophocles 1620-1621). Sophocles only explains what is happening, without providing much detail about character's facial expressions or actions. Because of the extent of which the characters express their emotions through dialogue, Sophocles allows some interpretation to be made by the actor through the words in the script instead of the stage directions.