Saturday, April 25, 2020

Peer Gynt By Henrik Ibsen (1828 - 1906) Essays - Ibsen Family

Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen (1828 - 1906) Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen (1828 - 1906) Type of Work: Poetic drama Setting Norway, Morocco and Egypt; nineteenth century Principal Characters Peer Gynt, a non-heroic Norwegian farm boy Aase, his mother Solveighis faithful love The Troll King The Button Molder, a "judge" of humanity Story Overveiw "Peer, you're lying!" cried Aase to her son - and he was lying. He had been weaving a fantastic tale of a ride he'd taken on a runaway reindeer when Aase realized that the story was one she had beard as a young woman. She berated Peer and wept. Aase had hoped that her son would win the heart of pretty Ingrid Hegstad, a local farm girt. However, Peer hadn't shown much interest in Ingrid - until he discovered that her wedding was to take place that very evening; it was only then that he resolved to attend the marriage and talk the girl's father into letting him take the place of the intended bridegroom. When his mother protested, he seized her, placed her on the millhouse roof, and went merrily off, leaving her screaming. Rescued by neighbors, Aase, fearing trouble, followed after him. At the wedding, Peer was shunned by all except a young girt named Solveig, with whom he danced during the festivities. Her innocence attracted him. But sadly, as the celebration wore on, Peer, now quite drunk, kidnapped the bride, shamed her ' and then abandoned her. This brought down thewrath of the entire community on his head, but in characteristic fashion, Peer simply ran away into the forest. Meanwhile, Aase managed to convince Solveig and her family that her son was in grave danger, and Christian duty dictated that they look for him. During the search, Aase spoke about her son: The lout! Why the devil has to tease him ?/ ... Oh, we've had to sick close in misery!/ Because, you know, my man - he drank! ... And we -well, we took fairy tales/ Of princes and trolls and strange animals/ Stolen brides too. But who'd have thought/ Those internal stories would be in him yet? Hearing Aase's longings for Peer, Solveig began to both pity and love the scamp. Peer continued to blunder and bluster about, spending one riotous night with three farm girls, and the next with the Troll King's daughter. While visiting there, Peer was delighted to find that if he married the troll-girl he could obtain quite a dowry. But his prospective father-in-law warned that there was quite a difference between a troll and a man: Among men under the shinning sky/ They say.. "Man to yourself be true!" while here, under our mountain roof/ We say: "Troll, to yourself be - enough!" Only when Peer found that if he stayed with the trolls he could "never die decently as a human" nor "go home the way the book says," did he give up the idea of becoming one of them. Indignantly, the King then turned the troll-children on him, and they would have killed him except, as he pleaded, "Help, Mother, I'll die!" immediately church bells rang, the children fled shrieking, and the troll hall collapsed and vanished. After a frustrating encounter with The Great Boyg, an enigmatic troll monster, Peer fled into the high mountains and built a hut. It was winter when Solveig appeared, she having left her family to be with him. Peer was overjoyed. It seemed that now, with a princess at his side, his adventures might end as a genuine fairy tale. But after he hoisted his ax and started off to chop roots for a fire, Peer was accosted by an old woman and her "ugly brat" of a child. He soon discovered the woman to be the troll princess he had previously deserted - and the child was his own sonl At last Peer's conscience roused itself enough to realize that his many sins were what stood between him and his love of faithful Solveig. "Be patient, my sweet . . . you must wait," Peer said to her as he entered the forest. "Yes, I'll wait!" Solveig called back to him. Peer felt compelled to leave the country in order to avoid being punished for his crimes. Before departing, however, he stopped to say good-bye to his mother. He found that the troubles he had caused his mother had broken the poor woman she was dying. The son tenderly tucked Aase into her bed, just as she had always done to him. After journeying far from home, Peer made his fortune in the American slave-trade and by selling idols in China. In Morocco, now middle-aged, he lost