Ibsen uses the motif of decay, he uses eyes. Eyes are well know to be one of the things in your body that fails first and tend to get worse as you age. Ibsen uses eyes in his play to show use how similar the characters are to one another. The thing that seems very wired is that Hjalmar is preventing Hedvig to go to school because he is afraid that she will loose her eye sight. Now knowing that Hedvig is Werle's child, it is very coincidental that Hjalmar is doesn't want her eyes to go.
"Werle: I have to spare my eyes, Gregers; they're beginning to fail me" (Ibsen 133).
Werle knows his eyes are failing him and they are beginning to go on him so he wants to settle down and live his life without having to risk loosing all his sight.
"Werle: You've seen me with your mother's eyes. (Drop-ping his voice.) But you should remember that those eyes were-clouded at times" (Ibsen 135).
"Hedvig: No, not anymore. Daddy's afraid I'll hurt my eyes" (Ibsen 162).
These quotes effect the way you look at the characters and you are able to better understand what they are going through or what they are seeing through there eyes.
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