Dina. A beautiful thing is something great and far away.
Dina is a young girl living under sad and painful conditions. It is psychologically accurate that she should condense all her longing for a new and happy existence in a word of emotional colouring, such as ‘beautiful.’ It is the same with the dialogue between Gregers and Hedwig in The Wild Duck (p. 53):
Gregers. And she [the wild duck] has been down in the depths of the sea.
Hedwig. Why do you say ‘in the depths of the sea’?
Gregers. What else could I say?
Hedwig. You could say ‘the bottom of the sea’ [or ‘at the bottom of the water’].[348]
Gregers. Oh, mayn’t I just as well say the depths of the sea?
Hedwig. Yes; but it sounds so strange to me when other people speak of the depths of the sea.
Gregers. Why so?...