The King's Beginnings: A Historical Play in Five Acts

Ibsen, Henrik, 1828-1906Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.3

Word count: 235K words
Chapters: 24

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Kuninkaan-alut: Historiallinen näytelmä viidessä näytöksessä by Henrik IbsenAuthor: Ibsen, Henrik, 1828-1906,Language: Finnish, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Apr 24, 2006

Editor's review

This is the Finnish translation of Ibsen's early historical play The Pretenders (Kuninkaan-alut), released as a public-domain eBook. Set against a medieval Norwegian struggle for the throne, the play centers on two rival claimants and explores ambition, legitimacy, popular will, and the responsibilities of rule. It is an important link between Ibsen's historical dramas and his later psychological plays. The five-act structure is complete, the dialogue is charged with tension, and the characters' motives unfold layer by layer, combining historical scenes with political reflection. The Finnish translation preserves the dramatic rhythm of the original, making it suitable for readers studying Nordic literature, theater history, or the development of Ibsen's work. When reading, it helps to keep the medieval Norwegian historical background in mind and to pay attention to the play's debates about the legitimacy of royal power and personal ambition. As a free electronic edition, it is convenient for searching and for comparison with the original, but readers need a knowledge of Finnish.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature specialists studying the development of Ibsen's dramatic work
Readers interested in Nordic historical drama and political theater
Readers with Finnish reading ability who want to read public-domain classics

Not a good fit for

General readers with no Finnish who can read only Chinese
Casual readers looking for light entertainment fiction

Reading tips

First learn the historical background of the Norwegian struggle for the throne, then enter the five-act plot.
Go through the play act by act, tracing how the motives of the two protagonists change and focusing on the debate over the legitimacy of power.
Read it alongside Ibsen's later plays to observe the evolution of his psychological characterization.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What language is this edition in?

This is the Finnish translation of Ibsen's historical play The Pretenders, published by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain eBook. Readers need a knowledge of Finnish.

Is this play suitable for understanding Ibsen?

It is suitable as a reference for understanding Ibsen's early historical drama, but it is a Finnish text with a political and historical theme, so it is best read after some prior experience with Ibsen.

What background knowledge is needed before reading?

It is best to have a basic understanding of the medieval Norwegian struggle for royal power and of the phases of Ibsen's career, which makes it easier to grasp the play's discussion of ambition and the legitimacy of rule.

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About the author

Ibsen, Henrik, 1828-1906 Author

Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) was a Norwegian playwright best known for his problem plays on social issues. His works often center on marriage, family, gender roles, and individual freedom, exposing the contradictions beneath respectable surfaces through tight dialogue and steadily unfolding plots. The collection holds 51 of his works, including A Doll's House, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler, and Rosmersholm, as well as dramatic collections and translations into Finnish and Esperanto. Written in a realistic style, these plays probe their characters' inner lives, with spare dialogue rich in subtext, and helped shape modern European drama; they are still staged worldwide. Because public information is limited, biographical details are omitted here.