Act 4, Part 1 Summary

Gina bids farewell to a client who's just sat for a photo. Hedwig comes in from the kitchen, asking whether Hjalmar is back yet and commenting that it's not like him to miss his dinner. Just then, Hjalmar returns, refuses dinner and after finding out from Gina that there have been no new clients, promises to work harder than ever starting tomorrow. When Hedwig protests that tomorrow's her birthday, Hjalmar says he'll start the day after tomorrow. Gina and Hedwig remind him how tired and frustrated he gets just doing his photographic work and of how much joy and relaxation he gets from the animals in the back room, especially the wild duck. Hjalmar says that he wants nothing more to do with those animals and that he'd like to wring the wild duck's neck, adding that nothing that came from...