A Master Builder

by Henrik Ibsen, Wallace Shawn (Adapted by)

Internationally renowned actor-playwright adapts Henrik Ibsen's "Master Builder."

"Shawn's plays are everything you dream of theatre being--really smart, stimulating, unsettling, hilarious, and truthful. The quality of his writing places Shawn in the company of heavy-weight playwright-thinkers like Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill."?Don Shewey

Known for his demanding and provocative prose, Wallace Shawn, working with long-time collaborator Andre Gregory, has spent nearly fifteen years adapting one of Ibsen's greatest works. A film adaptation, directed by Jonathan Demme, is set for spring 2013.

Wallace Shawn is the author of OBIE Award-winning plays "Our Late Night," "Aunt Dan and Lemon," and "The Fever." Other works include "Marie and Bruce," "The Designated Mourner," and the screenplay for "My Dinner with Andre," in which he also starred.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, Theatre, Fiction, 19th Century, Literature

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1892

About the author

Henrik Johan Ibsen was a major Norwegian playwright largely responsible for the rise of modern realistic drama. He is often referred to as the "father of modern drama." Ibsen is held to be the greatest of Norwegian authors and one of the most important playwrights of all time, celebrated as a national symbol by Norwegians.

His plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when Victorian values of family life and propriety largely held sway in Europe and any challenge to them was considered immoral and outrageous. Ibsen's work examined the realities that lay behind many facades, possessing a revelatory nature that was disquieting to many contemporaries.

Ibsen largely founded the modern stage by introducing a critical eye and free inquiry into the conditions of life and issues of morality. Victorian-era plays were expected to be moral dramas with noble protagonists pitted against darker forces; every drama was expected to result in a morally appropriate conclusion, meaning that goodness was to bring happiness, and immorality pain. Ibsen challenged this notion and the beliefs of his times and shattered the illusions of his audiences.

Reviews

[Piyangie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another great play by Ibsen. I was drawn to it from the very beginning, even before I understood the thematic references or cared for the characters.

One can think of many possible interpretations to the play. But the foremost of them to me is the clash between the old and young generation for dominance and power as well as of ideas. Solness, the master builder represents the older generation those who love to rule and fear their authority will be challenged. The love for power and fear of losing authority makes him a tyrant who dominates over the talents of his subordinates. Ragner, a subordinate youth, resists this authority of Solness bitterly and seeks to break away and be independent. This clash is for the dominance over power. Hilda is the spirited and visionary youth. She is an idealist and her notions on life clashes with the practical wisdom of Solness. This is the clash of ideas. These clashes are first and foremost psychological, and that is what Ibsen shows us through his amazing skill.

Ibsen brings two strong characters in the story; Solness and Hilda. They represent the opposite sex. One can also argue that since Ibsen was a progressive writer, he may have intended the play to be a psychological portray of male dominance over female and vice versa. Character of Hilda can possibly be seen as a symbol of progress or for those who enjoy a touch of the supernatural, as "fate".

The different and possible interpretations on themes and characters give the play vibrancy. This combined with Ibsen's simple yet witty prosaic dialogue completely absorbs us in to the setting and makes the read a really enjoyable experience.

I really love the modern and realistic touch in Ibsen plays. I'm really glad to have come across him. I've read three Ibsen plays now and have liked them all for different reasons. A Doll's House was my favourite so far, but now I'm not so sure. :)

[Javad Azadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

شاید بگم که استاد سولنس معمار اندازه اخرین اثر چهارگانه‌ی متاخرِ ایبسن تکونم نداد، اما در جای خودش اثر خوندنی‌ای بود.
این دفعه نمیخوام زیاد از خود اثر بگم، به یکم توضیح راجع به ترجمه بسنده میکنم.

حقیقتا که اقای قادری برای ترجمه کارهای ایبسن خیلی مایه گذاشته و خیلی تحقیق و سواد خرجش کرده. مقدمه‌هاشم الحق و الانصاف خیلی مفیده برای فهم عمق کار ایبسن و علارغم خیلی از تحلیل‌های تخصصی‌اش، زبان نسبتا ساده و راحت‌خوانی داره.
اما کاش این مقدمه هارو میذاشت ته کتاب، اونم با این حجمشون و اینکه خط به خط نمایشنانه توشون تحلیل میشه.
و اینکه با بعضی از معادل‌سازی‌های ترجمه‌اشم نمیتونم ارتباط بگیرم. البته خودش میگه که من به روح اثر وفادارم نه به ترجمه خط به خط ولی به نظرم یه ذره تو انتخاب کلمات شاید زیادی فاصله میگیره.

مثلا توی مقدمه کلمه femme fatale ترجمه شده شهر آشوب (یا شایدم شهر آشوب رو ترجمه کرده femme fatale چونکه مقدمه بیشترش تالیفیه). شاید این معادل توی متن جواب بده اما خداییش به نظرم هیچ وجهی از اصطلاح فم فتال توی کلمه شهرآشوب بازتاب پیدا نمیکنه😂 شایدم من گمراهم و اشتباه میکنم، نمیدونم.

[Olivia-Savannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an interesting reflection on character. When we first meet the master builder he is flirting with other people and cheating on his wife. He is greedy and afraid of losing the top role in his profession, leading him to limit other people’s opportunities to remain on top. But then as we get to see him through other people’s perceptions and opinions… we change how we feel for him. Sometimes as readers/the audience we dislike him, sometimes we love him. This play also shows how grief, self blame, a lack of communication and an accumulation of all of those can really ruin a person as well as their relationships with others. I think this play really does show how family > profession and work. It also has running themes of youth vs age, and how growing up contributes to our ‘fantasies’ of the future fading away and leaving us with the bleak reality of the world around us. I admire the complex character building and it hits its message home.

[Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows❈ · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was third up on my "Read more classic plays" adventure I assigned myself at the beginning of the year. And by a mile, this was my favorite of the three. I love Ibsen's voice and his dynamic characters. I cannot believe that it has taken me this long to read Ibsen, since anytime one studies theatre, his works are always listed among the classics. This play centers around Halvard Solness, a master builder who is just starting to come down from his career peak. Solness is a modern romantic and I could tell almost immediately that he loves to live in that place where ideals, dreams, and fantasies do not yet touch reality. Almost as if he is the hero in a theatrical production of his own life, and he does everything he can to make the story progress the way he believes it should. The way a play about a hero should progress. He loves to get caught up in whims and romantic ideals, but doesn't pay much credence to how they actually play out in real life. He flirts with his young bookkeeper, but then doesn't know what to do when she begins to love him. He doesn't love her back, but loves the whole idea of her being in love with him, that he continues the charade. This is just one example of many. He longs to reconnect with his wife who suffered a major tragedy that has impacted her life and their marriage immensely. He believes so fiercely that if he builds her a new house that is exactly like the one she grew up in, she will instantly be cured of all her ills, and then can go back to how they were before.

At first, I didn't like Solness's character and found him too idealistic, but as the plot begins to peel away layers of his character, I started to become invested in his story. Ibsen does an amazing job of creating a believable antihero who chooses not to accept reality, and it is at times a very emotional story. When the story of what happened between him and his wife started to unfold, I was really affected by it, and hungrily read the last half of the play wanting desperately to know the outcome. I think I always knew how the play would end, but it doesn't change the fact, that I yearned for it to be different. I think I took half a star away because it was just so sad. Like the protagonist, I wanted to escape reality for the ending that I knew wouldn't fit in with the theme of the play. But ultimately, I enjoyed this one a lot and would love to see it performed live.

3.5 stars

[Haaze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ibsen comes as a surprise to me as he eloquently weaves conversations between people in his plays. Somehow he manages to unfold intricate psychological relationships between people with an incredible force and at a rapid pace. He also has an ability to add dramatic elements in his acts that rapidly changes the direction of the play as it progresses. I did not have any great expectations approaching a play focused on an architect and his married life, but Ibsen surprised me. I can see how one can spend many hours discussing the characters and their psychological layers. In addition, it is a wonderful gateway to late 19th century society and its issues. Ibsen certainly deserves his reputation as one of the master playwrights of our time. (Translated as "The Master Builder").

[Henk · Rating 3 out of 5]

The need for control destroys a seemingly happy and successful architect. In trying to stay ahead, and ignoring his own boundaries, he sows the seeds of his downfall.
Have you never noticed, Hilda, how the impossible—how it seems to beckon and cry aloud to one?

Having seen, and being disappointed in the Ewan McGregor and Kate Fleetwood (who acted superbly, but on her own was not enough not to save the play) headed Lila Riacek rendition in London, I was curious to the source material.
Ibsen his play is more opaque and complex than the starchitect in a midlife crisis is attracted to his student 2025 rendition. A lot remains unsaid or is just hinted at.
Main theme seems a Faustian pact, sacrificing marital happiness for professional success and en passant leading to the end of a woman’s “career”. Quite modern in a sense. Also the independence of apprentice Ragnar and his fiancé Kaia is laid down on the altar of ambitions master builder Halvard Solness has.

This main character is quite unlikeable, including some opaque references of him having a large impact on a 13 year old girl, Hilda, who reappears. She notes, even though in thralls of a decade long influence, that Solness is far from perfect: Yes, it was horribly ugly—and hard and bad and cruel as well.
He is full of self importance:
Don't you agree with me, Hilda, that there exist special, chosen people who have been endowed with the power and faculty if desiring a thing, craving for a thing, willing a thing—so persistently and so—so inexorably—that at last it has to happen? Don't you believe that?
Despite this he is also attractive to many women in his immediate circle: Good heavens, you know very well one can't choose whom one is going to love.

All is not well however. Fear of being replaced, having reached the heights of one’s capabilities, and being surpassed by the new generation. As Seneca said: No matter how many men you kill, you can't kill your successor.
The efforts that Solness turns to, incited by Hilda who seems to offer a second youth to him, lead to an undoing of all the control he had on his day to day life. Control illicit ever greater need for control ad infinitem and to destruction, is what Ibsen seems to say.

Nine burned dolls as a symbol for lost opportunities one had during childhood and adolescence, with Mrs Aline Solness mentioning her duty in every sentence. She is a complex character as well, full of guilt and in the shadow of her husband, who she seems to desperately love despite all the things he does to her.

Castles in the Sky at times are best left being just that, instead of things to be realised in life. Rejection of reality and contentment leads to doom in a sense, an interesting dichotomy of safety versus greatness. The outcome in this late 19 century play is different than we would expect it to be from our 21 century perspective, that believes in self actualisation and the individual. Interesting and rich, and definitely more intriguing than the 2025 West End version.

[Connie G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Halvard Solness is an important architect in Norway. Part of his success is due to the misfortunes of others, and his former rival, Knut Brovik, now works for Solness. Knut's son, Ragnar, is working as Solness' draftsman, and has not been given the opportunity to use his talents as an architect. Solness is also having an affair with Ragnar's fiance, giving Solness a controlling position. It seems like a fable when Solness is convinced that if he wants something badly, he only has to wish for it and it will be given to him. He finds that other people and property may be destroyed as his wishes come to fruition.

Solness and his wife have not been happy together since their young children died. His wife's life revolves around "doing her duty." When Hilde, a young temptress described as a "bird of prey," arrives on the scene, Solness takes her into his home. He had promised her "castles in the sky" years ago. Hilde acts as his muse as he designs a building with a tall spire. Although he is an older man who has a terrible fear of heights, Solness wants to impress Hilde by placing a wreath at the top of the spire when the building is completed. Will his special gift protect him so his wish to climb safely comes true, or it is a coincidence that his wishes have been granted in the past?

There are autobiographical elements in "The Master Builder" since Ibsen also met a woman similar to Hilde. Ibsen was also the elder master in his field just as Solness was the master builder.

Solness is certainly a tragic flawed man. Although he has been successful professionally, he is totally self-centered, manipulative, afraid of aging, and has no real love in his life.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

With ibsen i have found its either a huge hit or a bit of a miss. I really enjoyed the overall meaning here as i always do with his playwriting but i found it still a little flat in comparison to some of his other work.
This story of a man nearing the end of his working career paranoid about a younger man taking his place in the world may ring true in ways to some.
The characters themselves lacked the same impact as some of ibsens better work and i felt myself drifting from this short story. Still i am glad that i read this and i will read others in the future

[Talie · Rating 3 out of 5]

به نظرم مشکل اصلی نمایشنامه  مبهم بودن انگیزه‌های "بنای اعظم" است. ابتدا به نظر می‌رسد که دلیل آشفتگی سولنس نسل جدید است. نسل جدیدی می‌خواهد جایش را در دنیا پیدا کند و او را به زیر بکشد. از اعظمی خلع کند. بعد مثل سریال‌های آبکی شخصیت جدیدی وارد می‌شود. یک دختر جوان ترگل ورگل. ایا مشکل سولنس سرخورگی جنسی‌اش از زن همیشه سیاهپوش مریض‌اش است؟ شاید. اما او نسبت به زنش احساس گناه می‌کند.  اینجا هم مانند سریال‌های آبکی داستان جدیدی رو می‌شود. گویا سولنس به طور غیرمستقیم و با یاری گرفتن از شیاطین درونش باعث آتش گرفتن خانه‌ی پدری زنش و کشته شدن نوزادانش شده. این آتش سوزی زمینی در اختیار او گذاشته و انجا ساخت و ساز کرده و کارش گرفته. بعد باز هم به شیوه‌ی سریال‌های ابکی راز جدیدی رو می‌شود. سولنس تنها باری که از برج کلیسایی بالا رفته که تمام شدن ساختنش را جشن بگیرد با خدا عهد کرده که دیگر کلیسا نسازد و فقط خانه بسازد. در هرصورت، کلیسا یا خانه، همسر سرد سیاهپوش یا معشوقه‌ی ترگل ورگل، ایبسن می‌خواست سولنس اعظم را از برج به پایین پرت کند. ایبسن یک سقوط باشکوه می‌خواست.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

The rating, any status updates, and bookshelves, indicate my feelings for this book.

[Amirsaman · Rating 3 out of 5]

آدم‌های ایبسن می‌خواهند خدا باشند؛ شهوت سیری‌ناپذیری دارند برای رسیدن به کاخ موفقیت - اما که انسان واجد نقص است. استادبنا سول‌نس، آنقدری به خدایی خود ایمان ندارد که تحدی کند، بگوید هرکه می‌تواند روی دست من بلند شود بیاید جلو. نه، او از نسل جوان و ایده‌های خلاقانه‌اش می‌ترسد. استادبنا سول‌نس به خدا رودست زده است، و اینک می‌ترسد نسل جدید به او رودست بزند. و دقیقا همین شور جوانانه است که نهایتا او را به پایین می‌کشاند، پیش کسانی که خود پایین نگه داشته بودشان.
این یکی از الهیاتی‌ترین نمایشنامه‌های ایبسن است‌. سول‌نس کیفر بلندپروزی‌اش را می‌دهد. خدا بچه‌های سول‌نس را از او گرفت تا سول‌نسْ خود را وقف هنر کند - و دست آخر، برای رسیدن به اوج هنر، این زندگی خود سول‌نس است که باید گرفته شود.

[Sara Bakhshiani · Rating 4 out of 5]

نمایشنامه خوندن هم دنیای زیبا و جدابی داره که من خودمو ازش محروم کرده بودم.
هنریک ایبسن چقدر این اثرشو ظریف و تمیز نوشته بود(البته من همین یکی رو فقط خوندم ازش :دی)
حالم جا اومد با خوندنش
مخصوصا مقدمه ی مترجم که واقعا بجا و مفید بود فقط حیف که
بقیه نمایشنامه هایی که ازشون اسم برده شده بود رو نخونده بودم برای همین
یه جاهایی یکم گیرایی به شدت میومد پایین :دی
احتمالا نمایشنامه های د یگه این بزرگوار هم قراره به لیست خونده هام اضافه شه
چون بسی زیاد مطابق خواسته هام بود اونی که نوشته بود.

[Narjes Dorzade · Rating 4 out of 5]

استاد معمار،شروع نثر ایبسن از رئالیسم به رمانتیسم،تکرار رخداد مرگ هربار از سولنس تا روبک,تا رسیدن ایبسن به واژه‌ی مرگ

[Maryam Shahriari · Rating 4 out of 5]

خوشحالم که در سرچ کتاب‌های معماری به این نمایشنامه برخوردم و بعد هم توانستم در کتابخانه‌ای که عضوش هستم پیدا کنم و بخوانمش.‏
‏
معماری از آن دسته شغل‌هاست که چون با آدمی و خواسته‌هایش سر و کار دارد، می‌تواند توسط همه قشر از افراد جامعه با تخصص‌های مختلف مورد بحث قرار بگیرد. این که به دنیای تفکرات معمارانه و آن چه که باعث خالق و ساختشان می‌شود از دید یک نمایشنامه‌نویس نگاه شده باشد، برای من جذاب و لذت‌بخش بود.‏

هالوارد سولنس شخصیت اول این نمایشنامه استاد معماری است که در سنین میانسالی به سر می‌برد و ترس بزرگش نسل جوانی است که قرار است به زودی جای او را بگیرند. نحوه‌ی برخورد او با این ترس که اتفاقاً توسط دختر جوانی که ستایشگر کارهای او هم بوده است صورت می‌گیرد، داستان اصلی این نمایشنامه را تشکیل می‌دهد.‏



جمعه - 22 شهریور 92
تهران

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

البته بخش اول کتاب که تحلیل مترجمه رو گذاشتم برای بعد.

[David Sarkies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Castles in the Sky
10 February 2020

I’m glad I spent a bit more time looking into this play instead of just rushing out a review as I normally do because Ibsen certainly does deserve to be explored somewhat deeper than most other books and plays (well, not quite, because plays, especially these days, seem to fall into the realm of art and literature). I do actually appreciate that Ibsen’s plays don’t tend to end all that pleasantly since it does set them apart from most of the stuff that seems to be floating around these days – like, everything has to have a happy ending for some reason, but I guess that is what the audience expects – oh, and gratuitous sex scenes, if what my author friends indicate.

Anyway, as you can probably guess from the title this play is about a master builder. Well, I probably should say architect because tradies don’t seem to regularly, if ever, form the basis of a theatrical production, and when they do, they tend to be portrayed as rather crude, and comical. Well, being a middle-class professional myself, I guess it is difficult to relate to tradies in that way, though I suspect that there aren’t all that many tradies out there that would go and visit the theatre (though I hope I’m wrong on that account).

Another thing that I’ve noticed about these couple of plays in particular is that the main character seems to have a haunted past. Well, not so much in this piece since our master builder seems to have in part lived a charmed life. Not quite, because his wife’s ancestral house burnt down killing their children. Yet, he also seemed to have luck go his way as well, having pushed all competition out of his town so that not only is he a master builder, but he is the only builder.

The thing is that this woman suddenly rocks up and claims that ten years previously he had visited their town, built a grandiose church, and promised this girl that in ten years he would give her a kingdom. Well, this particular girl has decided that she will hold him to his word and claim that kingdom, though this does sort of seem to be something that he said on the fly to a little girl. Yeah, I guess the moral here is that one needs to be careful what they say to people, least they be held to it.

But our master builder is an interesting character because while it seemed as if the fire was an accident, he sort of indicates that he saw some flaws in the building, but didn’t act on them. Though it turned out that the fire didn’t come about because of the flaws, but elsewhere. However, what he did do was subdivide the land and sell off a number of dwellings for a substantial profit – so it seemed as if everything worked out well for himself.

Yet it also seems as if he has moved away from building grandiose structures to simply building houses. I guess the money is a lot better, as well as the demand. The other interesting thing is that he has some employees, and one of them really wants to take over the business, but of course our Master Builder has a reputation to uphold, and he is simply not going to just let anybody take over the business. In fact, he ends up looking for an excuse to get rid of them.

Personally, I don’t find him to be all that sympathetic, nor do I find him all that repulsive either. In a way he seems to be this character that has been caught up in his own delusion that he can will what he wants to happen. In a way, he dwells in a castle in the sky (a term that is thrown about throughout the play). Because things have gone right for him, and have also positioned himself in such a good position, he has been caught up in that delusion – God loves him and has rewarded him for his service. Woah, that certainly can open up a whole can of worms, which is a rabbit hole that I certainly won’t be diving down at this time (as I believe I have dived down there a number of times in the past, and no doubt will do so again in the future).

So, this seems to be a play focused on a person nearing the end of his life, caught up in a delusional world where everything seems to go right for him. I guess one could claim that this is also partly autobiographical, but one also wonders whether it is possible to change the opinions or outlook of a person that has reached that point in their life. Usually, by this time we are pretty much set in our ways, and also somewhat caught up in our delusions. Still, this is a pretty good play, and maybe it is not so much an exhortation to the elderly, but to those of us who don’t want to think about this stage of life just yet.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Master Builder is a drama about a man trapped between duty and desire, as symbolized by his wife and Hilda, respectively. But he is also trapped between the dreams of his past as a young man and his reality in the present. He stifles the success of his apprentice due to his ego's inability to grapple with his own failings. When Hilda arrives, promising to deliver the "castles in the air" he desires--success, youthful vitality, strength to climb the tower (metaphorically, but also literally), and the possibility of children (either with Hilda, or represented by Hilda herself as his "princess")--his fantasy overwhelms reality, leading to his inevitable downfall.

As with just about every other Ibsen drama, I feel a strong sense of connection to the protagonist. Ibsen dramatizes the psychological struggle of coming to terms with one's life in middle age, when we realize that our lives will never fulfill the potential we possessed (or imagined we possessed) in youth.

And how do we escape? Do we simply repress the failure, like the builder's wife does when the house burns down and everything goes to hell? Do we never again even try to climb up to the top, displacing our aggression onto others, as the builder does with Ragnar and Kaja? Or do we foolishly try to construct our castles in the air? Ibsen doesn't offer any answers because we can't really escape the existential crisis of a conflicted psyche. We will either keep climbing or fall, no matter which path we take.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have an IGCSE exam on this play tomorrow, and WOW I LOVED IT. I'm so invested now!

[Anne-Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!!

"SOLNESS: Men si meg så hva det er for noe! Det som er det deiligste i verden. Og som vi to skal bygge sammen?
HILDE: Luftslotte.
SOLNESS: Luftslotte?
HILDE: Luftslotte, ja! Vet De hva sånt et luftslott er for noe?
SOLNESS: Det er jo det deiligste i verden, sier De.
HILDE: Ja visst så, ja! Luftslotte, - de er så nemme å ty inn i, de. Og nemme å bygge også - (ser hånlig på ham) - aller helst for de byggmesterne som har en - en svimmel samvittighet."

[Diana · Rating 1 out of 5]

داداشی

+یادم افتاد میخواستم بگم این نمایشنامه خیلی به گرفته شدن جا از آدمای جاافتاده و مسن توسط جوونای تازه‌کار اشاره کرد و مقدمه‌ی اولش هم راجع‌به ترس ایبسن از جوونا گفت.
این اطلاعات وقتی میفهمی ایبسن از چخوف و استریندبرگ بدش میومده، هنوزم چیز خاصی نیست. ولی وقتی توی گوگل سال تولد چخوف جون رو سرچ میکنی و میبینی 32 سال از آقا هنریک کوچیکتره، اینجاست که قضیه جالب میشه

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the center of The Master Builder is a man who wishes to become a god, something that Ibsen doesn't make difficult to notice through his heavy use of Christian imagery and Norse mythology. Soleness, titled Master Builder, is the aforementioned man who is terribly afraid of the generation to come. His hatred of the material is seen early on in his feeling of helplessness stemming from his belief that he can't change his nature, and it is this hatred of the material that leads to his fixation on the world of thought. He builds homes instead of houses; he builds for human beings instead of people; he's an artist instead of an architect. He stresses over this insistence on abstract mental concepts rather than their real material counterparts throughout the play. His obsession with the mental comes with a denial of the material. He refuses to accept that his actions have consequences and instead credits their consequences to his intentions: his will. From the fire that destroyed his old home, to the advances that he made towards the young Hilda, to his insistence on all his ills being mental rather than physical, and to even his success, all this he credits to his will rather than his actions.
His vanity is his downfall. Early in his life he hopes for his home to be consumed by fire so he may make his name as a builder by using the home's garden as a lot. It is Adam, and not Eve, who separates them from the joyful garden for eternity, but here the forbidden fruit is present as Promethean fire. His spite towards the material doesn't end with the physical world but extends even towards its creator: God. At the top of the church tower, closest to heaven, is where he commits the sin of vanity once more. He renounces God and swears to never build a church again, almost culminating in a Satanic fall. From then on he attempts "the Impossible": becoming a god. He fails and here again can Christian inversion be found. Rather than being like the kind and loving god which he used to revere, with his success he became a tyrant to those below him. Rather than being Christ-figures at the right hand of the father, his sons died young. Rather than being able to create the Holy Spirit of a home, he creates an empty husk of a house as his church complete with a church tower. The three empty nurseries are the tombs of his failed trinity.
His fear of the younger generation comes from his fear of his own mortality. He cannot come to terms with death due to his vanity which demands that he be the center of attention. He believes that the voices of past generations, books, are no long relevant, and it is this relevance that his vanity demands. From the ashes of his youth, now dead and mourned by his wife in black, rose the ashes the new generation though he refuses to admit it. Brovik's passing away keeps this in mind. He ends up being correct in his prediction that "the younger generation will come knocking at my door" and that it "will be the end of Master Builder". It is Hilda who comes knocking at his door immediately after, his Eve who feeds him the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, making him aware of his own mortality. Ragnar, the youth set to succeed him, arrives shortly after this epiphany and signaling the commencement of Ragnarök. There is no need for repopulation after the death of the god, the younger generation is already waiting for their turn, which is fortunate as the two foremen who were to survive the event had died before. Soleness climbs up his tower of Babylon to face God one last time. Up to that point he had refused to be up high again out of fear of seeing the material world not of his creation before him, but his adherence to the old customs of the old generation is partly what dooms him (which likewise caused the end of his children through his wife's adherence to "duty"). With the awareness of his mortality he begins to see the implication of his acts, and not solely his intentions, had on holding Ragnarok back, driving Brovik out of business, destroying his wife's home, and his failure to build a kingdom of heaven on a stable mental foundation for Hilda. With newfound awareness, sense of duty, and vanity, he has his fall with a group of valkyries present collecting the last bit of his soul left, his wife, ending in the destruction of his mental world, leaving only his corporeal corpse behind.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had not read any of Henrik Ibsen's plays since I was in college during the Cretaceous era. After reading George Bernard Shaw's The Quintessence of Ibsenism, I decided to re-read him. The Master Builder is the first play I have re-tackled. And it is nothing short of great in a way I would not have recognized when I was much younger. It is a story about the ghosts inherent in success in this life, or as Hilde Wangel would say, trolls.

As Solness the Master Builder confesses to Hilde in Act Two:

SOLNESS (in a low voice, with inward emotion): Listen to this carefully, Hilde: All that I have been able to achieve—everything I've built and created—all the beauty, security, comfort—magnificence, too, if you like—(Clenches his hands) Oh, it's too terrible to think of—!

There is a direct line connecting Solness to Jay Gatsby in F Scott Fitzgerald's novel. In both cases, a successful career turns out to have been illusory, even haunted.

[Roula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο αρχιμαστορας Σολνες ειναι σιγουρα το πιο συμβολικο αλλα και ψυχογραφικο εργο του Ιψεν (τουλαχιστον απο αυτα που εγω εχω διαβασει ). Ειναι ενα εργο που περιγραφει πως ενα ζευγαρι συνεχιζει να ζει μετα απο μια ανειπωτη τραγωδια, αλλα παραδοξως αυτο δε δειχνει να απασχολει ιδιαιτερα ουτε τους ιδιους, ουτε καν τον αναγνωστη. Σε πρωτο πλανο βρισκεται ο χαρακτηρας του Σολνες, ο οποιος ειναι ενας ανθρωπος βαθια πληγωμενος και με πολλες φοβιες που αναζητα τον δαιμονα μεσα του και γυρω του, προσπαθει να κατανοησει τη θεση του θεου και της μοιρας στη ζωη του και ολα αυτα υπο το αγρυπνο βλεμμα της Χιλντε, μιας νεαρης που γυρισε στη ζωη του 10 χρονια μετα για να απαιτησει το βασιλειο που της εταξε. Ο Σολνες θελει να ανεβει στο ψηλοτερο σημειο του δημιουργηματος του και απο κει να φωναξει την αγαπη του, τη γενναιοτητα του, την επικρατηση του απεναντι στον ιδιο το θεο, προσπερνωντας φοβιες και προβλεψεις. Δυστυχώς ομως, η αλαζονεια παντα τιμωρείται...

[Andrea Lakly · Rating 5 out of 5]

From "A Doll's House" and "Enemy of the People" I thought Ibsen was a trail blazer for creating straightforward (maybe simplistic) works about topics people didn't talk about honestly. This fascinating play complicates and deepens my vision of him. It's about art, yes, but also about youth, age, desire, and knowing yourself. Hilda is fascinating -- an expression of Solness' ego made seductive feminine flesh.

[Melika Khoshnezhad · Rating 3 out of 5]

ایبسن در انتخاب حرفه‌ی کاراکترهایش واقعاً دقت نظری ستودنی دارد. انتخاب شغلِ معماری برای سولنس هم یکی از بی‌نظیرترین انتخاب‌هایش بود. به‌عنوان کسی که سال‌ها پیش لیسانس معماری‌اش را بوسید و گذاشت کنار و چیزهای اندکی از ماهیت معمار بودن را هنوز به‌خاطر می‌آورد می‌توانم به‌ جرئت بگویم که در معماری و پیکرتراشی نوعی احساس خلق بودن نهفته است که کمتر در هنرهای تجسمی و غیرتجسمی دیگر نظیر دارد. حتی خدای افلاطون - دمیورژ - هم صانع است و شبیه یک معمار. گویی چون آن‌چه خلق می‌کنند عظیم و بسی عینی است، حسِ خالق بودن را به سازنده بیشتر القا می‌کند. سولنس از هر نظر یک معمار بود و همسرش که حال و هوای عروسک‌خانه را تداعی می‌کرد، نمی‌توانست آن‌طور که باید و شاید به سوی خلق رهنمودش کند. هیلده انگار ادامه‌ی هدا گابلر بود اما. هدا گابلری که بالاخره توانست به خواسته‌ی بزرگ قلبی‌اش - در آغوش کشیدن مرگ باشکوه دیگری به‌تشویقِ خودش - دست یابد. واقعاً حیف است آدم آثار ایبسن را پشت سر هم نخواند تا متوجه این تداوم‌های روایی شگفت‌انگیز که در عین حال با هم متفاوت‌اند نشود.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

With The Master Builder, we have a play that hardly justifies its place in the canon of Ibsen's 'realist' plays. True, the characters have motivations based in psychology, and there are no magical elements to the play. Indeed, even the hero's suggestion that he achieves things by willing them could be his imagination, or a symptom of madness, as his wife fears.

However, the behaviour of the characters and the meaning of their action seem to have little basis in reality. Also the play seems to strive at allegory and metaphor, though as ever in Ibsen it is best not to tie the meaning down too tightly.

The story centres on Halvard Solness, a talented architect. He has overstepped his onetime rival, Knut Brovik, who now works for him. However, there is a price for his success. His chance to build came about when his house burned down. This led to the deaths of his children, and his wife has never recovered from these losses, leaving him in a guilt-ridden painful marriage.

Halvard also fears youth, especially the son of Knut, Ragnar Brovik, who, Halvard fears, may one day overstep him, as he did Knut. For this reason, he is having an affair with Ragnar's fiancé in the hope that this will keep Ragnar in a position of subservience to him.

Into this atmosphere of guilt and angst steps Hilde Wangel, the younger daughter from Ibsen's earlier play, The Lady From The Sea. Hilde is in love with Halvard and wishes to inspire him to great deeds. Under her influence, Halvard begins to revive and dream again. He agrees to mount the high tower he is building, but his vertigo returns and he plunges to his death.

Described in these terms, the story sounds straightforward, but a reading of the play suggests that it is somehow about other things than the mere narrative would suggest. Ibsen's biographer, Michael Meyer, has called the play, Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man, and certainly the play does seem to reflect Ibsen's sense of himself as a writer.

To note the parallels. Like Halvard and Knut, Ibsen had overtaken Bjoernson as the prominent writer of Norway. However, Ibsen had felt threatened by a younger writer, Knut Hamsun, who criticised Ibsen's 'old-fashioned' style. This is echoed in the relationship between Halvard and the young Ragnar. (Ibsen's fears, incidentally, were unjustified - Hamsun's works are nowhere near as great as Ibsen's.)

We may also trace something in the progress of Halvard's buildings. He began by building churches with spires until his disillusion with god. Later, he built homes for people to live in, but felt that these carried an echo of his own unhappy home and that people were not happy in them. Finally, he seeks to build castles in the air with solid foundations beneath. We can see an echo in Ibsen's plays - the earlier fantasy plays, the realistic prose plays and finally the return to something more fantastic, but with a realist base.

We can also detect something phallic in the obsession with spires. Certainly, Hilde is fascinated with Halvard's building of tall towers, and her ecstasy at the end (she hears the sound of singing and harps) might suggest an orgasm.

However, the play is more than allegory, and we deal with actual characters - not realistic, perhaps, but built on solid motivations that we can care about. We feel compassion for Halvard's weight of guilt and the sadness of his marriage to a colder wife, obsessed with duty. Notably, it is her commitment to the dead weight of duty (rather than love) that kills her babies (appropriately it is her mother's milk that poisons them) and prevents her from being around to persuade Halvard from climbing the tower.

There is an interesting moment in The Wild Duck where the realist, Relling tells the foolish idealist, Gregers Werle (a rather more self-deprecating self-portrait by Ibsen) that he is too obsessed with hero worship, rather than believing in himself. Notably, Ibsen seems to occasionally have this hero worship for his characters.

Hence Halvard's ill-treatment of Knut, Ragnar, Kaja (Ragnar's fiancé) and perhaps his wife is treated more as a part of Halvard's weight of guilt and a reason we should feel sorry for him. We are never encouraged to spend too much time worrying about the weaker characters who are cast aside by the hero.

It is also notable that some of Ibsen's lack of self-belief comes across in Halvard. He build perfect homes at a time when his own home life is in ruins. He aims once more to confront god and set himself free, but he proves not up to the task of building those castles in the air with solid foundations and so he falls to his death. The portrait of this artist is of one who is talented, but plagued by self-doubt.

Overall, the play is ambitious and original, full of rich and obtuse dialogue that keeps us interested in the fate of its conflicted hero.

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The architect protagonist of this rather laboured play is pretty clearly a stand-in for Ibsen himself, which would probably have been evident anyway but which is clearly demonstrated by Meyer's insightful introduction. Architecture functions clearly as a metaphor for literary art, most notably perhaps through the "Castles in the air" conceit that is repeated. The eponymous character is, unsurprisingly, perhaps, rather a prick, a user of others to advance himself. Somewhat daring to paint such an unflattering self-portrait, I guess, and it would be a dandy part to play. However, the other characters are pretty pallid, and Hilde Wangel, the young love (or infatuation) interest is not terribly plausible.

[Daria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this play and Hedda Gabler are my two Ibsen faves so far. I'm getting the impression that his two beloved drama topics are a) spouses lying to each other and b) crazy people. Give him one, two, three insane characters - heck, let's make the whole cast slightly deranged, why not? - and he can give you a strange and disturbing play which is nevertheless very realistic.

I get it, Ibsen. You're trying to prove we're all mad people at heart. *Hides face in hands*

[Hadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

نگاهی سمبولیستی از ایبسن و جایگاه زن در نمایش نامه های او. زنی که نماد جوانیِ از دست رفته است، زنی که نمادی از زندگی روزمره و احباری یک انسان هنرمند و خلاق می باشد و همچنین زوالی که مستتر در یک زندگیِ ایده آل می تواند وجود داشته باشد. این نمایشنامه مرا به یاد فیلم (great beauty( اثر پائلو سورنتینوی ایتالیایی انداخت.

[Thing Two · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Henrik Ibsen, and this is one of his best. I like the interplay between men/women; between expectation/reality; between husbands/wives/lovers. He captures it all—in a short play I look forward to watching on stage someday soon.