Sickness, illness, etc are used in The Wild Duck to show what happens to certain people if they choose not to reveal the truth. The first case of this "illness" can be seen at the end of act 3, right before Gregers gets the opportunity to get Hjalmar alone and perhaps tell him the truth about his child and marriage. Relling diagnoses him with "moralistic fever"(178). To me, this sounds like poor Gregers is ill because of a violation of his morals. It is within Gregers' moral standards to reveal the truth. Heck, it's his life mission. The conflict he faces between his morals and keeping his buddy happy are causing a battle within in own mind.
In Relling's mind, truth cas cause an illness if one is overexposed. This is why he deems Gregers, and later Hjalmar (and everyone else in the world), as ill. His cure for this illness is a life-lie, "the animating principle of life"(202). This kind of lie "keep[s] life going"(202). Relling believes that, sometimes, the truth can be too hard to bear. This is especially true with Hjalmar, who eventually snaps and indirectly kills his daughter. I think that Ibsen, through using illness and death as symbols, is trying to convey that knowing the truth is not always beneficial. Covering up the truth, much like Gina did for almost 15 years, kept Hjalmar sane because he was in the dark as far as the illegitimacy of his child is concerned.
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