and 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 Horster.
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 community
must be an enemy of society!
Dr. Stockmann. It doesn't matter if a lying
community 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
