Extremely amusing
is the scene in which Karen Riis (who loves Hans and is beloved by him)
goes rowing with her friends Nora and Lisa, taking with her a stock of
high-strung novels, and when a drowning man cries to them for help they
row away posthaste, because the man is naked.
The second act shows us the type of the successful man of compromise,
who takes the world as he finds it, and cleverly utilizes the foibles of
his fellow-men. The supervisor-general is a sort of personification of
public opinion. He is always correct, professes to believe what others
believe, and conforms from prudent calculation to the religious customs
of the community. He demands of his son Frederic that he shall abandon a
young girl whom he loves and has seduced, and he requires of his
daughter Karen that she shall, out of regard for her family, renounce
her lover. He feigns all proper sentiments and emotions, while under
the smooth, agreeable mask lurk malice and cunning. When Hans Kampe's
book reaches him, it never occurs to him to examine it on its merits;
his only thought is to make it harmless by inventing a scandalous
motive.
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