How are the attitudes of the ironmaster and his daughter different? Support your answer with instances from the text.
The characters of Miss Edla Willmansson and of the ironmaster are exactly opposite to each other. In the beginning, the ironmaster seems to be a sympathetic person when he mistakes the peddler as his old friend from the regiment and tries to persuade him to join him for Christmas Eve. But, his attitude changes when he comes to know that the man is not his friend but someone else.
He even calls him dishonest and threatens to hand him over to the sheriff. He does not want him in his house; only on the insistence of his daughter, Edla, he allows the peddler to stay. But he always remains suspicious about him.
On the contrary, Miss Edla is calmer, more affectionate and understanding. She intervenes to stop her father from ill-treating the stranger and plays the good host. She treats him as if in reality he was a captain and gives him good clothes to wear. She brings the transformation in him by providing the comfortable and most congenial environment. Being there, the peddler, who could not change himself even with the warm hospitality of the old crofter, her generosity and the sympathy brings the change of heart in him.
OR
The ironmaster, father of Edla Wilmansson is completely different from his daughter. When the ironmaster, who owned the Ramsjo Iron works goes for inspection there in the night, he sees the tall, ragged rattrap peddler and considers him as his old comrade. The ironmaster insists on taking the peddler to his home for the Christmas Eve, but the rattrap peddler emphatically refuses to go to his house. He does so when Edla Wilmansson, the daughter of the ironmaster, comes to take him. Edla Wilmansson, the daughter of the ironmaster is a very kind-hearted, compassionate and noble young woman. Though she is not pretty, yet she seems modest and shy. It is only due to her compassionate and friendly manner that she is successful in persuading the peddler to go to their home to celebrate Christmas Eve. But when the rattrap peddler is bathed, shaved and dressed in the ironmaster’s suit, the ironmaster realises that he is not his regimental comrade Captain von Stahle. Although, the ironmaster wants him to leave immediately, Edla requests the peddler to stayback just to enjoy one day of peace with them. She asks the peddler to sit down and eat. She tells him to keep her father’s suit, which he is wearing as ‘a Christmas Gift’. Her behaviour towards him transforms the rattrap peddler and he returns the thirty kronors stolen by him, requesting her to give the money back to the old crofter.