Robert Ferguson notes that The Wild Duck did not come easily to Ibsen. During the writing process, Norway was characterized by political turmoil, and from his voluntary exile in Rome, Ibsen was concerned that "the strength of an intimate, personal play such as The Wild Duck might drown in the political debate over the introduction of parliamentarism in Norway". In the spring of 1884 a young relative, Count Christopher Paus, paid Ibsen an extended visit to Rome. Jørgen Haave notes that "Ibsen had not been this close to his own family since he left his hometown over 30 years ago;"[7] it fact it was the only meeting between Ibsen and his family during Ibsen's decades in exile. Ibsen was eager to hear news regarding the family in Skien. Shortly after the meeting Ibsen declared that he had overcome a writer's block and that he "writes with full force."[8] In the summer of 1884 he completed the play in Gossensaß.
As in many of Ibsen's plays, characters are based on or named after his family members to a greater or lesser extent. The character Old Ekdal is regarded by most Ibsen scholars as one of Ibsen's most important literary portraits of his father Knud Ibsen. Ibsen had previously portrayed his father as the characters "Jon Gynt" and "Daniel Hejre", where the son's judgment of his father's wastefulness was both harsh and bitter. In old Ekdal's character, however, the poet looks at his father, "the forlorn Knud Ibsen, in a conciliatory and compassionate way".[4]
According to Ibsen scholar Jon Nygaard, the character Gregers Werle represents the spirit of the Paus family and Upper Telemark, a broader theme that is found in many of Ibsen's plays; Nygaard points out that Høydalsverket, where Werle lived for years, is an obvious reference to Upper Telemark and especially Høydalsmo; Ibsen's ancestor Paul Paus owned Høydalsmo Stave Church.[5]
The character Hedvig is named after the Paus family, where the Hedvig name had been passed on for generations, and more specifically after Ibsen's grandmother Hedevig Paus and sister Hedvig Ibsen.
Ibsen's model for Hedvig, especially her outward appearance, was a 13-year-old Italian-resident German girl he met in Gossensaß in the summer of 1884, Martha Kopf (born 1870), daughter of the sculptor Joseph von Kopf, who lived in Rome.[9] Ibsen wrote in a letter to his son Sigurd Ibsen: "The German sculptor, Professor Kopf from Rome, has with him a 13-year-old daughter, who is the most excellent model for Hedvig that I could wish for; she is beautiful, has a serious face and personality, and is a little greedy."[10][11] There is a bust of Martha Kopf by her later husband Hugo Berwald.
