Status Updates From John Gabriel Borkman

BORKMAN.
[Carelessly and gaily.] It is high time I should come out
into the open air again, don't you see? Nearly three years in
detention--five years in prison--eight years in the gallery up
there----

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Distressed.] Borkman, I beg you----

On the left are small scattered trees, forming the margin of a wood. The snowstorm has ceased; but the newly fallen snow lies deep around. The fir-branches droop under heavy loads of snow. The night is dark, with drifting clouds. Now and then the moon gleams out faintly. Only a dim light is reflected from the snow.

MRS. WILTON.
[Firmly and earnestly.] You must not think, Mrs. Borkman,
that I haven't said the same to him. I have laid my whole life
before him. Again and again I have reminded him that I am seven
years older than he----

MRS. BORKMAN.
[With a gesture of repulsion.] You have never loved anything
outside yourself; that is the secret of the whole matter.