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 materials.
Further back than the folding door, a stove. In the right-
hand corner, a sofa, a table, and one or two chairs. On the
table a water-bottle and glass. A smaller table, with a
rocking-chair and arm-chair, in front on the right. Lighted
lamps, with shades, on the table in the draughtmen's office,
on the table in th