The Master Builder

The first two reviews state as fact that this is often called Ibsen's masterpiece, but that is far from the majority critical view, which rightly gives that exalted title to The Wild Duck, with Rosmersholm probably second. However, this is generally considered one of his best plays, though in my view it is the least good of his major works. Ibsen's genius is thankfully such that it still shines through and makes the play worth reading over a century later. It certainly differs from most of his work, especially his best-known. A late drama, it is usually classified with mostly symbolic later works, in contrast to the "problem plays" that made his name by dealing with contemporary sociopolitical issues. The Master Builder may best be termed psychological and is a very interesting case study of a particular type - a Machiavellian schemer with a guilty conscience. The protagonist is Halvard Solness, a successful aging architect who has gotten his position by ruthlessly and selfishly holding back competition and by an astonishing string of luck he attributes to vaguely metaphysical forces. However, he is deadly certain his luck will soon end, and he fears the younger generation, which only increases his unscrupulous scheming. Worse, he is fully aware of how he has used and held back others and is thus tortured by a guilty conscience. Finally, he has a strange but overwhelming feeling of debt to his wife, whom he believes has suffered as he has gained - first through destruction of her family castle, the rebuilding of which made his career, and the death of their sons. The question of his sanity is present throughout, even to himself, and he often wonders how much, if at all, he is responsible for her trials. He begins to spiral out of control in an ever-widening series of deceits and manipulations, losing the loyalty of both long-time employees and his long-suffering wife, when Hilda, a vivacious young women he knew as a youth, returns. He unsurprisingly develops a great passion for her, and she becomes a double-edged influence - pushing him to literal heights of greatness and daring he had long ceased attempting but eventually driving him to ruin by making him overreach. Ibsen's usual mastery of dramatic tension is present throughout, and he skillfully keeps suspense high though even less actual action happens than is usual in his plays. What primarily separates The Master Builder from most of Ibsen is the overwhelming sense of unreality, which stands in vivid contrast to the canon of an acknowledged realist master. The character of Hilda is particularly ambiguous; from her improbable entrance on a flimsy, near-unbelievable pretext, her speech and behavior are extremely unnatural. She is interesting because we never quite know what she will do, but the contrast with Ibsen's usual characters is off-putting. Her motivations are unclear, and her effect on others is also very unreal. One can get somewhat used to it, but the strangeness never really fa

Henrik Ibsen, The Master Builder (Theatre Arts Books, 1967) Ibsen is considered one of the world's master playwrights from a reason, and The Master Builder, often considered his finest work, provides solid evidence as to why. Halvard Solness, an old and somewhat bitter master builder scared of being upstaged by the younger generation (in the persona of his assistant, Ragnar Brovik), gets a visit from Hilde Wangel. Wangel, barely out of her teens, saw Solness at the dedication of one of his chapels ten years ago, climbing the steeple to hang a wreath. She has idolized him since, considering him capable of almost anything, but she doesn't know Solness' big secret: he suffers from vertigo, and was as close to death that day as he'd ever been. Given the time of its writing, when psychoanalysis was in its infancy, The Master Builder is a masterpiece of psychological depth. The characters seem a bit stilted and Victorian today, but Hilde Wangel stands out as a fantastic example of a deeply manipulative character, more impressive because her manipulation is born not of malice but of her naivete. This is wonderful stuff. Highly recommended. ****

Written in 1892, when Ibsen was a mature playwright, this tension-filled play focuses on an older man's fear that he will be replaced by the younger generation before he has been able to reconcile his professional success with his personal sacrifices. Halvard Solness is a Master Builder who once built churches and towers but who now builds only houses. Arrogant, manipulative, and often paranoid, there is little he will not do to control outcomes. When Hilde Wangel suddenly knocks on his door, the younger generation arrives. Exuberant and flirtatious, Hilde reminds Halvard that exactly ten years ago, when she was the twelve-year-old daughter of a client, he called her his little princess and promised to buy her a kingdom. Ingratiating herself with Halvard, Hilde listens as he reveals his accumulated guilt, his fear of godly retribution, and his simultaneous belief that he is one of the "special people" who can bring his desires to fruition through the summoning of demons, "called 'luck' by others." Hilde, believing she can free him creatively, urges the acrophobic Halvard to place a wreath at the top of the tower on the house he has built for his wife-a symbolic celebration of a new kind of life through Hilde, building castles in the air. The characters, though full of passion, are not always realistic. Their psychological grounding seems uncertain, and their behavior does not seem to flow out of a sense of personal unity. Halvard believes that certain people can make direct connections with him and read his mind. He also believes that that his success has occurred because years ago he made a bargain with demons which resulted in the loss of everything he and his wife held dear-he is successful, but guilty. Though he has rejected religion, he is tormented by the need for retribution. Hilde, for her part, became obsessed with Halvard at the age of twelve, and she believes that now, after ten years, they can build castles together. Ibsen's dark vision here seems to combine classical tragedy with a belief in the Nordic spirit world and in the newly evolving psychoscience of Freud. Often considered Ibsen's masterpiece, the play is powerful to watch, but eerie and unsettling--its pessimistic message equivocal--and one concludes the play not knowing how much free will Ibsen believes men really have and what kind of spirit world he thinks may control it. (5 stars for its period, 4 stars for its relevance to the present) n Mary Whipple