Peer Gynt figure quite so exuberant, outrageous, vitalistic as Peer Gynt. He merely "seems" initially to be an unlikely candidate for such eminence: "What is he", we say, "except a kind of Norwegian roaring boy?" – marvelously attractive to women, a kind of bogus poet, a narcissist, absurd self-idolator, a liar, seducer, bombastic self-deceiver. But this is paltry moralizing – all too much like the scholarly chorus that rants against Falstaff. True, Peer, unlike Falstaff, is not a great wit. But in the Yahwistic, biblical sense, Peer the scamp bears the blessing: More life. On 5 January 1867 Ibsen wrote to Frederik
The Master Builder spectators standing aghast at the sight, only Hilda comes forward as if in silent triumph. She waves her shawl and cries out with wild intensity. “My—my Master Builder!” The search for a meaning, or interpretation has engaged and often bewildered audiences and critics all over the world. It is seen as an exploration of the author’s autobiographical history, or of issues dealing with youth versus maturity, or of issues of psychology, and other possible interpretations. Halvard Solness, the master builder, has become the most successful builder in his home town by a fortunate series of coincidences for him which were