The Master Builder | Page 8

recalls
the exquisite genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne.(5)
The critics who insist on finding nothing but symbolism in the play
have fastened on Mrs. Solness's "nine lovely dolls," and provided the
most amazing interpretations for them. A letter which I contributed in
1893 to the Westminster Gazette records an incident which throws a
curious light on the subject and may be worth preserving. "At a recent
first night," I wrote, "I happened to be seated just behind a well-known
critic. He turned round to me and said, 'I want you to tell me what is
YOUR theory of those "nine lovely dolls." Of course one can see that
they are entirely symbolical.' 'I am not so sure of that,' I replied,
remembering a Norwegian cousin of my own who treasured a favourite
doll until she was nearer thirty than twenty. 'They of course symbolise
the unsatisfied passion of motherhood in Mrs. Solness's heart, but I
have very little doubt that Ibsen makes use of this "symbol" because he
has observed a similar case, or cases, in real life.' 'What!' cried the critic.
'He has seen a grown-up, a middle-aged woman continuing to "live
with" her dolls!' I was about to say that it did not seem to me so very
improbable, when a lady who was seated next me, a total stranger to

both of us, leant forward and said, 'Excuse my interrupting you, but it
may perhaps interest you to know that I HAVE THREE DOLLS TO
WHICH I AM DEEPLY ATTACHED!' I will not be so rude as to
conjecture this lady's age, but we may be sure that a very young woman
would not have had the courage to make such an avowal. Does it not
seem that Ibsen knows a thing or two about human nature--English as
well as Norwegian-- which we dramatic critics, though bound by our
calling to be subtle psychologists, have not yet fathomed?" In the
course of the correspondence which followed, one very apposite
anecdote was quoted from an American paper, the _Argonaut_: "An
old Virginia lady said to a friend, on finding a treasured old cup
cracked by a careless maid, 'I know of nothing to compare with the
affliction of losing a handsome piece of old china.' 'Surely,' said the
friend, 'it is not so bad as losing one's children.' 'Yes, it is,' replied the
old lady, 'for when your children die, you do have the consolations of
religion, you know.'"
It would be a paradox to call The Master Builder Ibsen's greatest work,
but one of his three or four greatest it assuredly is. Of all his writings, it
is probably the most original, the most individual, the most unlike any
other drama by any other writer. The form of Brand and Peer Gynt was
doubtless suggested by other dramatic poems--notably by Faust. In The
Wild Duck, in Rosmersholm, in Hedda Gabler, even in Little Eyolf and
John Gabriel Borkman, there remain faint traces of the French leaven
which is so strong in the earlier plays. But The Master Builder had no
model and has no parallel. It shows no slightest vestige of outside
influence. It is Ibsen, and nothing but Ibsen.
W.A.

*FOOTNOTES.
(1)"To the May-sun of a September life--in Tyrol."
(2)"High, painful happiness--to struggle for the unattainable!"
(3)Neus deutsche Rundschau, December, 1906, p.1462.
(4)This conception I have worked out at much greater length in an
essay entitled The Melody of the Master Builder, appended to the
shilling edition of the play, published in 1893. I there retell the story,
transplanting it to England and making the hero a journalist instead of
an architect, in order to show that (if we grant the reality of certain

commonly-accepted phenomena of hypnotism) there is nothing
incredible or even extravagantly improbable about it. The argument is
far too long to be included here, but the reader who is interested in the
subject may find it worth referring to.
(5)For an instance of the technical methods by which he suggested the
supernormal element in the atmosphere of the play, see Introduction to
_A Doll's House_, p. xiv.

THE MASTER BUILDER.
PLAY IN THREE ACTS.

CHARACTERS.
HALVARD SOLNESS, Master Builder. ALINE SOLNESS, his wife.
DOCTOR HERDAL, physician. KNUT BROVIK, formerly an
architect, now in SOLNESS'S employment. RAGNAR BROVIK, his
son, draughtsman. KAIA BROVIK, his niece, book-keeper. MISS
HILDA WANGEL. Some Ladies. A Crowd in the street.
The action passes in and about SOLNESS'S house.

ACT FIRST.
A plainly-furnished work-room in the house of HALVARD SOLNESS.
Folding doors on the left lead out to the hall. On the right is the door
leading to the inner rooms of the house. At the back is an open door
into the draughtsmen's office. In front, on the left, a desk with books,
papers and writing