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Four Major Plays: A Doll's House/The Wild Duck/Hedda Gabler/Master Builder
Four dramas by the nineteenth-century Norwegian playwright probe the hypocrisies and peccadilloes of society, the role of women, and the ways in which individuals seek to assert dominance and control over others.
286 pages, paper
First published January 1, 1940
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About the author
Henrik Ibsen
2,229 books2,099 followersHenrik 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
December 21, 2025
I enjoyed reading/performing Ibsen more than I did Chekhov. Hot take, sorry, send me to jail!!!
My ranking-
1. Dolls house
2. Hedda gabler
3. The wild duck
4. Master builder
My ranking-
1. Dolls house
2. Hedda gabler
3. The wild duck
4. Master builder
November 22, 2023
Social status, deep secrets and what people think about themselves and others are at the heart of these four celebrated plays. Ibsen peels away the layers of personas people choose to create about themselves to reveal the essence of motives and the eternal truths that mold us. Although these plays are set in nineteenth century Norwegian society, their subjects and themes are at home today. Rather than describe the plays in this volume, I’d rather sum them up with a quote taken from each:
A Doll House: “But there’s no one who gives up honor for love.”
The Wild Duck: “There are people in this world who plunge to the bottom when they’ve hardly been winged, and they never come up again.”
Hedda Gabler: “People don’t do such things!”
The Master Builder: “What if he slipped and fell—he, the master builder himself!”
A Doll House: “But there’s no one who gives up honor for love.”
The Wild Duck: “There are people in this world who plunge to the bottom when they’ve hardly been winged, and they never come up again.”
Hedda Gabler: “People don’t do such things!”
The Master Builder: “What if he slipped and fell—he, the master builder himself!”
February 25, 2021
I swapped my copy of A Doll's House for this 4-play edition - thinking that loving one Ibsen play as I did, I'd be sure to like the others. Didn't turn out that way, though. They were interesting, but not deeply engaging; sad, but without the pathos of tragedy. I suppose the translation might be partly at fault, leading me to underappreciate Ibsen's artful writing. But even in barebones, I didn't find the other three plays to be compelling. All of them seemed to concern characters who felt trapped by circumstance and their own natures, desirous of change (at least at certain points in each arc) but unable or unwilling to pay the cost required to grow. If these are character studies, they lack application; if social commentaries, I found myself unable to connect with their insights.
A Doll's House brings the collection average up to 3 stars.
A Doll's House brings the collection average up to 3 stars.
October 7, 2025
Plays by Ibsen - A Doll's House, Peer Gynt, Hedda Gabler, Brand, the Master Builder, the Wild Duck, When We Dead Awaken, Ghosts, Rosmersholm, an Enemy of the People, Little Eyolf, Love's Comedy, the Pillars of Society
Most are great, some I did not like
Ibsen is a bit cold and strange for my taste.
But somehow I loved most of his plays, even if I do not include them among the books I like most and want to read again.
Chance made me listen to Romanian or BBC production of these plays, most of the time at least for a couple of sessions.
Ibsen is even present in movies I like.
Like Le Gout Des Autres.
Maugham, who is in the top five writers for me, wrote about Ibsen, but not in laudative terms:
- “Every time there is a new guy coming on stage, opening windows and changing what is generally a rather dull, unchallenging plot…”
- Ibsen and Shaw have benefited from timing. The emancipation of women and a few other events made their work more interesting and on the subject.
I loved A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler, The Wild Duck, Ghosts, An Enemy of The People, The Pillars of Society.
I did not like Peer Gynt and Brand and did not read yet the rest.
I have learned a strange, perhaps even funny detail, remotely connected with An Enemy of the People:
- I am reading a magical book- Adventures in The Screen Trade, where all kinds of secrets, anecdotes, gossip and extraordinary detail is presented.
Steve McQueen was an excellent actor, wanted by the big studios. So hot he became that they had offered him a few million dollars, for three weeks work, at a time when he did not want to act.
In fact, he stayed out of show business for an incredible four years. Daniel Day Lewis is also known to take long breaks between mega hits, but not that long.
The only work that Steve McQueen did during those four years was…an Ibsen production. He starred in An Enemy of The People, which flopped.
Paul Newman once said that:
- “in Europe, the public accepts actors in different types of roles, but in America we tend to be typecast”
In other words, the audiences wanted to see McQueen in action movies and the same went for Burt Reynolds and others, who, whenever they tried something different the movies bombed at the box office.
There is more to say about that, but then we were talking about Ibsen and I derailed until I have reached …
Burt Reynolds, who, to my great surprise, topped the polls for favorite actor for five years, if I am not mistaken.
I have reviewed the aforementioned plays; the point here was more about Brand, the most recent Ibsen play that I kind of listened to. But since I did not like it, I went on speaking about other things.
Sorry if it caused any inconvenience.
Most are great, some I did not like
Ibsen is a bit cold and strange for my taste.
But somehow I loved most of his plays, even if I do not include them among the books I like most and want to read again.
Chance made me listen to Romanian or BBC production of these plays, most of the time at least for a couple of sessions.
Ibsen is even present in movies I like.
Like Le Gout Des Autres.
Maugham, who is in the top five writers for me, wrote about Ibsen, but not in laudative terms:
- “Every time there is a new guy coming on stage, opening windows and changing what is generally a rather dull, unchallenging plot…”
- Ibsen and Shaw have benefited from timing. The emancipation of women and a few other events made their work more interesting and on the subject.
I loved A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler, The Wild Duck, Ghosts, An Enemy of The People, The Pillars of Society.
I did not like Peer Gynt and Brand and did not read yet the rest.
I have learned a strange, perhaps even funny detail, remotely connected with An Enemy of the People:
- I am reading a magical book- Adventures in The Screen Trade, where all kinds of secrets, anecdotes, gossip and extraordinary detail is presented.
Steve McQueen was an excellent actor, wanted by the big studios. So hot he became that they had offered him a few million dollars, for three weeks work, at a time when he did not want to act.
In fact, he stayed out of show business for an incredible four years. Daniel Day Lewis is also known to take long breaks between mega hits, but not that long.
The only work that Steve McQueen did during those four years was…an Ibsen production. He starred in An Enemy of The People, which flopped.
Paul Newman once said that:
- “in Europe, the public accepts actors in different types of roles, but in America we tend to be typecast”
In other words, the audiences wanted to see McQueen in action movies and the same went for Burt Reynolds and others, who, whenever they tried something different the movies bombed at the box office.
There is more to say about that, but then we were talking about Ibsen and I derailed until I have reached …
Burt Reynolds, who, to my great surprise, topped the polls for favorite actor for five years, if I am not mistaken.
I have reviewed the aforementioned plays; the point here was more about Brand, the most recent Ibsen play that I kind of listened to. But since I did not like it, I went on speaking about other things.
Sorry if it caused any inconvenience.
March 19, 2022
I didn't read the Master Builder, but thought the other three were all very good.
January 15, 2022
For me, one of the main themes present in the book was the limitations of women's autonomy in a man's world, and how the best or only way to gain some kind of power is by removal—leaving, killing, or dying.
May 4, 2022
A Doll’s House, play in three acts, it centres on an ordinary family—Torvald Helmer, a bank lawyer, his wife Nora, and their three little children. Torvald supposes himself the ethical member of the family, while his wife assumes the role of the pretty and irresponsible little woman in order to flatter him. Into this arrangement intrude several hard-minded outsiders, one of whom threatens to expose a fraud that Nora had once committed without her husband’s knowledge in order to obtain a loan needed to save his life. When Nora’s act is revealed, Torvald reacts with outrage and repudiates her out of concern for his own social reputation. Utterly disillusioned about her husband, whom she now sees as a hollow fraud, Nora declares her independence of him and their children and leaves them, slamming the door of the house behind her.
Hedda Gabler, drama in four acts. The work reveals Hedda Gabler as a selfish, cynical woman bored by her marriage to the scholar Jørgen Tesman. Her father’s pair of pistols provide intermittent diversion, as do the attentions of the ne’er-do-well Judge Brack. When Thea Elvestad, a longtime acquaintance of Hedda’s, reveals that she has left her husband for the writer Ejlert Løvborg, who once pursued Hedda, the latter becomes vengeful. Learning that Ejlert has forsworn liquor, Hedda first steers him to a rowdy gathering at Brack’s and subsequently burns the reputedly brilliant manuscript that he loses there while drunk. Witnessing his desperation, she sends him one of the pistols and he shoots himself. Brack deduces Hedda’s complicity and demands that she become his mistress in exchange for his silence about the matter. Instead, she ends her ennui with the remaining pistol. The work is remarkable for its nonjudgmental depiction of an immoral, destructive character, one of the most vividly realized women in dramatic literature.
The Master Builder, drama in three acts, the play juxtaposes the artist’s needs with those of society and examines the limits of artistic creativity. There is an autobiographical element in the depiction of the aging architect, Halvard Solness, who feels pressure from a younger, more idealistic and ambitious generation of architects and fears the diminishing of his own creativity.
The Wild Duck, drama in five acts. In the play, an idealistic outsider’s gratuitous truth-telling destroys a family. Gregers Werle, who has a compulsion to tell the truth at all costs, reveals to the Ekdal family certain unasked-for information about each family member’s past. The knowledge destroys their illusions and their family life.
Hedda Gabler, drama in four acts. The work reveals Hedda Gabler as a selfish, cynical woman bored by her marriage to the scholar Jørgen Tesman. Her father’s pair of pistols provide intermittent diversion, as do the attentions of the ne’er-do-well Judge Brack. When Thea Elvestad, a longtime acquaintance of Hedda’s, reveals that she has left her husband for the writer Ejlert Løvborg, who once pursued Hedda, the latter becomes vengeful. Learning that Ejlert has forsworn liquor, Hedda first steers him to a rowdy gathering at Brack’s and subsequently burns the reputedly brilliant manuscript that he loses there while drunk. Witnessing his desperation, she sends him one of the pistols and he shoots himself. Brack deduces Hedda’s complicity and demands that she become his mistress in exchange for his silence about the matter. Instead, she ends her ennui with the remaining pistol. The work is remarkable for its nonjudgmental depiction of an immoral, destructive character, one of the most vividly realized women in dramatic literature.
The Master Builder, drama in three acts, the play juxtaposes the artist’s needs with those of society and examines the limits of artistic creativity. There is an autobiographical element in the depiction of the aging architect, Halvard Solness, who feels pressure from a younger, more idealistic and ambitious generation of architects and fears the diminishing of his own creativity.
The Wild Duck, drama in five acts. In the play, an idealistic outsider’s gratuitous truth-telling destroys a family. Gregers Werle, who has a compulsion to tell the truth at all costs, reveals to the Ekdal family certain unasked-for information about each family member’s past. The knowledge destroys their illusions and their family life.
August 21, 2014
I don't know if I'm equipped to talk about plays in the same way I feel capable of opining on fiction. But I know what I like and what I don't, and these plays fall somewhere in between. I've seen a lot of other people approach this collection in a play by play review, and I think parsing these tales out from one another makes a certain amount of sense. So my more exacting star reviews are:
A Doll's House - 3 stars
The Wild Duck - 3 stars
Hedda Gabler - 4 stars
The Master Builder - 2.5 stars
Things I liked
Strong, complex female characters across the board: I did a (very) little research after finishing the plays, and some people are ready to claim Hedda Gabler as one of the most challenging stage roles for an actor. I can see why. She's cold and calculating but also passionate and hopeful. She has a vengeful streak but also a sentimental streak. And she's whip smart. Nora from A Doll's House is a bit more lackluster, but she shows great resolve throughout and real insight by the end. Gina, from The Wild Duck is the most sympathetic, pragmatic of the female characters in these plays. And her daughter Hedvig, although self-sacrificing is still real and grounded. The only character that is a bit wobbly for me is Hilda in The Master Builder, and even she is complex albeit confusingly so.
Questions of truth; what is it and what does it mean for each of us: Without getting too into the weeds, each play addresses the idea of truth in its own way, the notion that what is happening in the foreground of life has often little to do with what transpires in the background. People misconceive one another's intentions. They misunderstand one another's deepest desires and fears. They obfuscate their own desires from other people and from themselves. And in a moment when the truth is revealed, there is in each play a lingering sense that the established lie is as true as the revelation, depending on your point of view
Things I wasn't as keen on
A sense of symbolism bearing down on everything: This is a bit of a quibble. Normally, I really enjoy a good metaphor. I think just having read these four plays back to back, I got a little tired of asking myself questions like, "Who is the duck suppose to be?" Sometimes I wish the duck could just be a duck.
The meandering path between point A and point B: In 3 of 4 of these plays, the endings felt abrupt and a little unearned. Nora's turning on a dime in A Doll's House makes sense enough, but her tonal shift is so sudden and drastic it was hard for me to believe. Hedda Gabler drew a mostly straight line from beginning to end, but I don't think that the gradual escalation of things prepared me for so drastic an ending. And The Master Builder ended as it must, but it took many detours along the way so that by the time the inevitable happened, the meaning of the events had been muddled for me. Only The Wild Duck progressed in a way that was clear to me, and it actually telegraphed its ending so loudly that I found myself a little impatient for it. A gun appears in the first act so the slow plod outward from there feels a bit long.
VERY similar motifs: guns, socially-oppressed women, debt, etc. Some details lose their specificity when they are shuffled around and reused multiple times.
These complaints I make half-heartedly. Although they might have lessened my enjoyment some, I read with a sense of context and I get that Ibsen is the father of modern drama. Anything that feels overdone at this point is probably because he did it first and everyone else after him followed suit. So to sum up, history may have stolen some of the oomph but none of the mastery from these plays.
A Doll's House - 3 stars
The Wild Duck - 3 stars
Hedda Gabler - 4 stars
The Master Builder - 2.5 stars
Things I liked
Strong, complex female characters across the board: I did a (very) little research after finishing the plays, and some people are ready to claim Hedda Gabler as one of the most challenging stage roles for an actor. I can see why. She's cold and calculating but also passionate and hopeful. She has a vengeful streak but also a sentimental streak. And she's whip smart. Nora from A Doll's House is a bit more lackluster, but she shows great resolve throughout and real insight by the end. Gina, from The Wild Duck is the most sympathetic, pragmatic of the female characters in these plays. And her daughter Hedvig, although self-sacrificing is still real and grounded. The only character that is a bit wobbly for me is Hilda in The Master Builder, and even she is complex albeit confusingly so.
Questions of truth; what is it and what does it mean for each of us: Without getting too into the weeds, each play addresses the idea of truth in its own way, the notion that what is happening in the foreground of life has often little to do with what transpires in the background. People misconceive one another's intentions. They misunderstand one another's deepest desires and fears. They obfuscate their own desires from other people and from themselves. And in a moment when the truth is revealed, there is in each play a lingering sense that the established lie is as true as the revelation, depending on your point of view
Things I wasn't as keen on
A sense of symbolism bearing down on everything: This is a bit of a quibble. Normally, I really enjoy a good metaphor. I think just having read these four plays back to back, I got a little tired of asking myself questions like, "Who is the duck suppose to be?" Sometimes I wish the duck could just be a duck.
The meandering path between point A and point B: In 3 of 4 of these plays, the endings felt abrupt and a little unearned. Nora's turning on a dime in A Doll's House makes sense enough, but her tonal shift is so sudden and drastic it was hard for me to believe. Hedda Gabler drew a mostly straight line from beginning to end, but I don't think that the gradual escalation of things prepared me for so drastic an ending. And The Master Builder ended as it must, but it took many detours along the way so that by the time the inevitable happened, the meaning of the events had been muddled for me. Only The Wild Duck progressed in a way that was clear to me, and it actually telegraphed its ending so loudly that I found myself a little impatient for it. A gun appears in the first act so the slow plod outward from there feels a bit long.
VERY similar motifs: guns, socially-oppressed women, debt, etc. Some details lose their specificity when they are shuffled around and reused multiple times.
These complaints I make half-heartedly. Although they might have lessened my enjoyment some, I read with a sense of context and I get that Ibsen is the father of modern drama. Anything that feels overdone at this point is probably because he did it first and everyone else after him followed suit. So to sum up, history may have stolen some of the oomph but none of the mastery from these plays.
June 24, 2021
It's tough to rate compilations that aren't of the author's design. I got this one from a book sale years ago, and picked it up while waiting on some imminent library holds to arrive. This was my first experience with each play, though I did know the general story of A Doll House. Knowing the husband would get comeuppance in advance definitely helped. I was pleasantly surprised by the centrality of the women, and in the first three, it was hard to come by a scene that wasn't about them in some way, like a reverse Bechdel test fail (that is not a thing, it does not need to be a thing, just using it for descriptiveness). Less so in The Master Builder, though in a way that was about the folly of a man centering himself to a fault. Hedda Gabler was fascinating; she's so awful but so interesting. And, not to leave it out, the sense of dawning horror in The Wild Duck was so good.
Points off for the forward in this edition, which is bloviating drivel and should be skipped (I peaced out well before its end).
Points off for the forward in this edition, which is bloviating drivel and should be skipped (I peaced out well before its end).
November 26, 2022
Most of these plays are set in parlors so they do run together a bit. They have similar themes such as aging and the legacies of intellectual-class men. Ibsen’s universe feels like an unforgiving one; most characters are resigned to live with the consequences of early career errors, bad marriages, or inherited misfortune. The plots are pleasantly, desperately pessimistic.
Ibsen was described as “the father of realism.” For the most part the writing certainly does have a realist feel, but every once in a while, often near the climaxes, I felt a sense of the surreal, both because of singular fantastical elements such as the animal room in The Wild Duck, or because of a general eery feeling of predestination.
Ibsen was described as “the father of realism.” For the most part the writing certainly does have a realist feel, but every once in a while, often near the climaxes, I felt a sense of the surreal, both because of singular fantastical elements such as the animal room in The Wild Duck, or because of a general eery feeling of predestination.
November 22, 2018
Hedda Gabler is a story about an unhappy woman, much like A Doll's House, but with an ending like The Wild Duck. That may be why it was in this collection, seeing as how it goes so well with those two.
Master Builder is a story of pain. It was rather like a train wreak waiting to happen, you see it coming and yet can do nothing to stop it.
Master Builder is a story of pain. It was rather like a train wreak waiting to happen, you see it coming and yet can do nothing to stop it.
December 2, 2017
Doll's House was great. Master Builder was good. Hedda Gabler disturbing and Wild Duck was not great.
September 2, 2017
I loved A Doll's House and Hedda Gabbler. You can see his influance on O' Neill, Miller and Tennessee Willams.
November 29, 2025
This review will only be about 3 of the 4 plays contained, as I had read A Doll's House previously and already gave a review on how much I enjoyed the play. These 3 plays were a bit more challenging to place, but I still enjoyed them nonetheless.
The Wild Duck was a harsh slap in the face to start out with. It's a story of an individual whose father was disgraced by his "rival" and served a heavy punishment due to their risky business avenues. Thereafter, the other partner prospered, while our main character's father was left a shell of himself and only retained a portion of his former military glory. In present day, we are introduced to our character in an awkward meal at the house of his father's former rival, as he is good friends with his son and is invited, but does not stay long. After he leaves, his friend reproaches his father for his treatment and starts to resent all that he learns his father has done to try and repent for his actions against this other family, as he feels it is not fair to his friend, and takes it upon himself to reveal it all to him. Over the course of the play we learn the family is rather poor, but happy in their own life with a daughter of their own while becoming photographers. They even have a garret to themselves where they keep a variety of wildlife, including a wild duck given to them by this other man's father, which is their daughter's prized possession. However, we, along with our main character, slowly learn that all of these things, his wife, the duck, and even his own daughter, are due to the other man feeling sorry for him and gifting him these things (although his daughter is more to cover up his own behavior with his wife, who was formerly the maid), and he absolutely loses his mind and goes on a bender when he learns the truth. He refuses to acknowledge his daughter, who adores him, is ready to move out, when his friend instills the idea in his daughter's mind that she should kill the duck with a gun to show her true loyalty. Well, she shoots something, but they end up finding it was herself, in an attempt to bring her family closer together. The friend is over the moon, as the doctor is disgusted with something that is clearly his idea, and warns him that this is only a temporary fix for this man's "ideal" and won't fix all the problems that have been created. A really deep tale of someone who is given everything and attempts to fix others by searching for this "ideal" that simply doesn't exist in the world, and by doing so, kills an innocent child indirectly.
Hedda Gabler is another strange and sad play. In it, Hedda is born of a powerful family, but decides to settle down with a man she doesn't particularly love, mostly because she is growing old and knows he will be an eventual success. She is mean-spirited, cruel, and clearly despises all the things he attempts to do for her. She slowly broods her lot in life, until it is learned that her husband's old colleague, and her old fling, is back in town and is a raging success. Everyone finds this odd, as he used to be a raging alcoholic that was destined to throw himself to disrepair, so Hedda gets to plotting and gets him invited to her place as she learns more. Turns out, her husband's old lover has secretly been working with this man on his book, which is why it's so good, and has been a good change in his life to get him to lay off the booze. However, he quickly becomes infatuated with Hedda again, and she twists him around her finger again to lead him back down that dark path and sabotage his own work for her pleasure. She eventually drives him to drink and then to commit suicide with her weapon, but still doesn't find pleasure in it, as her husband and his former lover delve into a state of hard work to avenge his death. So that she can finally be free from both him and now the judge, who knows the truth of the weapons, she kills herself in the end. An odd look at woman's empowerment of the time, and how warped her own sense of self became due to her ridiculous standards and ego. There are also glimpses at her own cowardice, and how her first, and only, act of her own within the whole play is to finally end it all.
The last story, The Master Builder, was maybe the oddest of the bunch, but also the most intriguing. This went through the life of a Master Builder, who had a strong sense of self, but was clearly worried about the newer generation trying to outdo him and take over his business. As a result, he refused to give his drawer any positive feedback. At the same time, he clearly had a strange relationship with his wife, and all this was laid to bare when a strange woman came to town claiming that he told her she could be his princess when she was of age. Outraged that he didn't return to her village, she came searching for him. During her tale, he discusses the amount of luck he has had in his life, and how it has almost sought him out, and almost in his time of need, once again a lucky damsel has reached out to him. She learns that he is no longer happy with his wife, if ever he was, because in order to reach his heights as Master Builder, they lost their two children in a house fire (well not in it, but shortly after) along with her childhood home, and it completely crushed her will to live. This new woman, however, wishes to return him to his former glory, gets him to finish his home in the countryside that he has been building, and wants him to go on the roof, as is the tradition, and put the wreath on the weathervane as she saw him do when she was little. Problem is, he is naturally a dizzy person, but this new woman of course convinces him. The moment comes, and of course, he falls to his death, smashing his head on the way down. It's an interesting tale of luck and greatness does not necessarily equal happiness, and almost a similar thought as the tale of Icarus, where he attempts to continue to soar to these dizzying heights, and while he knew it would lead to his downfall, this voice inside his head (the new woman) pushes him to try anyway and ultimately costs him his life.
Overall, another great collection by Ibsen, who I have come to enjoy more and more. He has a very dark style of writing, which is difficult to nail down, but I love the boundaries he pushes and the glimpses he gives us of everyday homes in those times. None of these tales are something that couldn't happen, but are warped in a way that make them reach a fever pitch by the end due to an outstanding circumstance. It reminds me a lot of the Russian way of writing, as it feels like it touches on the mystical, but doesn't need to go too far down these pathways because it's even more harrowing to think of this being so close to home.
The Wild Duck was a harsh slap in the face to start out with. It's a story of an individual whose father was disgraced by his "rival" and served a heavy punishment due to their risky business avenues. Thereafter, the other partner prospered, while our main character's father was left a shell of himself and only retained a portion of his former military glory. In present day, we are introduced to our character in an awkward meal at the house of his father's former rival, as he is good friends with his son and is invited, but does not stay long. After he leaves, his friend reproaches his father for his treatment and starts to resent all that he learns his father has done to try and repent for his actions against this other family, as he feels it is not fair to his friend, and takes it upon himself to reveal it all to him. Over the course of the play we learn the family is rather poor, but happy in their own life with a daughter of their own while becoming photographers. They even have a garret to themselves where they keep a variety of wildlife, including a wild duck given to them by this other man's father, which is their daughter's prized possession. However, we, along with our main character, slowly learn that all of these things, his wife, the duck, and even his own daughter, are due to the other man feeling sorry for him and gifting him these things (although his daughter is more to cover up his own behavior with his wife, who was formerly the maid), and he absolutely loses his mind and goes on a bender when he learns the truth. He refuses to acknowledge his daughter, who adores him, is ready to move out, when his friend instills the idea in his daughter's mind that she should kill the duck with a gun to show her true loyalty. Well, she shoots something, but they end up finding it was herself, in an attempt to bring her family closer together. The friend is over the moon, as the doctor is disgusted with something that is clearly his idea, and warns him that this is only a temporary fix for this man's "ideal" and won't fix all the problems that have been created. A really deep tale of someone who is given everything and attempts to fix others by searching for this "ideal" that simply doesn't exist in the world, and by doing so, kills an innocent child indirectly.
Hedda Gabler is another strange and sad play. In it, Hedda is born of a powerful family, but decides to settle down with a man she doesn't particularly love, mostly because she is growing old and knows he will be an eventual success. She is mean-spirited, cruel, and clearly despises all the things he attempts to do for her. She slowly broods her lot in life, until it is learned that her husband's old colleague, and her old fling, is back in town and is a raging success. Everyone finds this odd, as he used to be a raging alcoholic that was destined to throw himself to disrepair, so Hedda gets to plotting and gets him invited to her place as she learns more. Turns out, her husband's old lover has secretly been working with this man on his book, which is why it's so good, and has been a good change in his life to get him to lay off the booze. However, he quickly becomes infatuated with Hedda again, and she twists him around her finger again to lead him back down that dark path and sabotage his own work for her pleasure. She eventually drives him to drink and then to commit suicide with her weapon, but still doesn't find pleasure in it, as her husband and his former lover delve into a state of hard work to avenge his death. So that she can finally be free from both him and now the judge, who knows the truth of the weapons, she kills herself in the end. An odd look at woman's empowerment of the time, and how warped her own sense of self became due to her ridiculous standards and ego. There are also glimpses at her own cowardice, and how her first, and only, act of her own within the whole play is to finally end it all.
The last story, The Master Builder, was maybe the oddest of the bunch, but also the most intriguing. This went through the life of a Master Builder, who had a strong sense of self, but was clearly worried about the newer generation trying to outdo him and take over his business. As a result, he refused to give his drawer any positive feedback. At the same time, he clearly had a strange relationship with his wife, and all this was laid to bare when a strange woman came to town claiming that he told her she could be his princess when she was of age. Outraged that he didn't return to her village, she came searching for him. During her tale, he discusses the amount of luck he has had in his life, and how it has almost sought him out, and almost in his time of need, once again a lucky damsel has reached out to him. She learns that he is no longer happy with his wife, if ever he was, because in order to reach his heights as Master Builder, they lost their two children in a house fire (well not in it, but shortly after) along with her childhood home, and it completely crushed her will to live. This new woman, however, wishes to return him to his former glory, gets him to finish his home in the countryside that he has been building, and wants him to go on the roof, as is the tradition, and put the wreath on the weathervane as she saw him do when she was little. Problem is, he is naturally a dizzy person, but this new woman of course convinces him. The moment comes, and of course, he falls to his death, smashing his head on the way down. It's an interesting tale of luck and greatness does not necessarily equal happiness, and almost a similar thought as the tale of Icarus, where he attempts to continue to soar to these dizzying heights, and while he knew it would lead to his downfall, this voice inside his head (the new woman) pushes him to try anyway and ultimately costs him his life.
Overall, another great collection by Ibsen, who I have come to enjoy more and more. He has a very dark style of writing, which is difficult to nail down, but I love the boundaries he pushes and the glimpses he gives us of everyday homes in those times. None of these tales are something that couldn't happen, but are warped in a way that make them reach a fever pitch by the end due to an outstanding circumstance. It reminds me a lot of the Russian way of writing, as it feels like it touches on the mystical, but doesn't need to go too far down these pathways because it's even more harrowing to think of this being so close to home.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2021
urgh!
June 22, 2020
Although "Doll's House" is not my favorite Ibsen, its craftsmanship continues to amaze with all the interesting swerves it serves up. Krogstad remains one of the most interesting loan sharks in literature. One thing I like about "The Wild Duck" is how it flips the thesis of "Enemy of the People" on its head. Enlightenment may be okay for an actual visionary like Stockman. But when you're a feckless wannabe without a vision like Hialmar Ekdal, enlightenment can lead to tragedy for others. I hope some day to see a live production that takes on doing the animals in the garret. Of the Ibsen plays I've read (about half of the final 14), Hedda Gabbler remains my favorite. There is not a line wasted in this text---a riveting dramatic juggernaut careening inevitably to its conclusion. And the dreamy "Master Builder" is the most emotionally satisfyiny--a delicious mixture of realism and fairy tale that serves up a cautionary tale about a man who is unwilling to make room for the next generation. If you haven't read Ibsen, you're missing out on something essential in the eternal discussion about what it is that makes us human.
March 8, 2019
I have had these plays forever and they are So , so good!!!! I can't believe I hadn't read them before. or seen them anywhere. it is hard to believe that they were written so long ago. they feel really fresh. in the translation I read the phrase "we two will. ..." or whatever starting in "we two" got used really frequently and reminded me of grad school, who knows why. it is hard to pick a favorite, but they all certainly deal with the cruelty of love and of not being truly loved in the way you thought you were and trusted you were... in a way that makes you see the whole world differently. and so many manipulators in each of these!! Hedda. gregers. the master builder. anyway. i am glad these are in my life and in my head now.
November 10, 2023
Ibsen has an amazing ability to take the mundane and to elevate it to mythical proportions without ever really straying from the typical, through his masterful use of literary devices and his keen ability to bring out the subconscious and mental state of his characters to the fore. There are no heavy handed didactic meanings to be found in his play and the room for ambiguity in his plays are better for that, his plays are disquieting in a great way. I would recommend anyone considering reading Ibsen to put aside any idea that these are just boring domestic plays and to keep yourself open to what is there waiting under the surface of his plays.
It is easy to see why he is so well renowned in the literary word.
It is easy to see why he is so well renowned in the literary word.
April 1, 2021
I remember reading Hedda Gabler and The Wild Duck way back in high school (which was longer ago than I care to acknowledge), and haven’t read Ibsen since. As a person who has spent much of my life working in theatre, this is inexcusable. Though there are moments in all four of these plays when exposition imposes itself on the dialogue in a manner that would be frowned upon today, these plays all feel quite modern. There is a reason Ibsen is considered the father of modern drama! This is a nice, compact little volume, handy to carry around, and bringing four of Ibsen’s most well-known plays to the table. I wonder now why I ignored him for so long.
April 4, 2019
I absolutely looooooooooved A Doll's House (5 stars!) and enjoyed re-reading The Wild Duck (also 5 stars).
I did not enjoy Hedde Gabler as much as I expected, she isn't the kind of character I enjoy but I imagine it is a great play to see.
The Master Builder was a more challenging read for me, mostly to interpret character motivations for almost everyone that's in it. I definitely hope to see if I can find a stage or film production to further appreciate the story.
All in all, a great collection of plays and a wonderful read. I see more Ibsen reading in my future!
I did not enjoy Hedde Gabler as much as I expected, she isn't the kind of character I enjoy but I imagine it is a great play to see.
The Master Builder was a more challenging read for me, mostly to interpret character motivations for almost everyone that's in it. I definitely hope to see if I can find a stage or film production to further appreciate the story.
All in all, a great collection of plays and a wonderful read. I see more Ibsen reading in my future!
March 13, 2019
A great selection of Ibsen works, featuring some of the best (Nora Helmer!) and worst (Hedda Gabler!) characters in drama. A Doll's House is a classic; The Wild Duck is heartbreaking in the obvious necessity of its conclusion; Hedda Gabler is wickedly infuriating, and the Master Builder is a bit muddled and overly long.
November 26, 2025
Hedda Gabler strong independent woman who resists male advances and societal expectations of women.
The Wild Duck a moving story of a young girl's love for her father that conflicts with an unforgiving man and a selfish young man who sees himself as righteous
The Master Builder a search for eternal youth, paranoia, and a young girl's infatuation and obliviousness to life.
The Wild Duck a moving story of a young girl's love for her father that conflicts with an unforgiving man and a selfish young man who sees himself as righteous
The Master Builder a search for eternal youth, paranoia, and a young girl's infatuation and obliviousness to life.
June 14, 2018
It was my first time reading Ibsen and really enjoyed it the power of the words is still palpable and some of the plot is straight up shocking. Very excellent play-write and one I’m glad I finally got around to reading.
May 22, 2022
Really enjoyed all of these except The Master Builder, which felt a little all-over-the-place. Reading all of these back to back for the first time helped me get a sense of Ibsen’s (later) style and themes. The man sure loves a death at the end of his plays, huh?
May 16, 2017
A Dolls House - 4/5
Wild Duck - 3/5
Hedda Gabler - 4/5
The Master Builder - 5/5
Wild Duck - 3/5
Hedda Gabler - 4/5
The Master Builder - 5/5
February 4, 2020
AWFUL BOOK
November 13, 2020
I know I'm not appreciating the historical context, but these all ended so terribly!
March 27, 2021
3.5 stars
February 3, 2022
Dolls house was good!
Read
August 16, 2022After hearing about it for years, I finally read A Doll House.
It wasn't what I expected, but the ending was great.
I can see why people love it.
It wasn't what I expected, but the ending was great.
I can see why people love it.
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