The Master Builder

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

4.5

Word count: 165K words
Chapters: 17

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.The Master Builder by Henrik IbsenAuthor: Ibsen, Henrik, 1828-1906,Language: English, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: May 1, 2003

Editor's review

The Master Builder is a late masterpiece by Henrik Ibsen. Centered on the architect Solness, it explores the complex psychology of a man at the height of his career as he confronts youth, idealism, and a reckoning with himself. The play is notable for its symbolism: high buildings, towers, and a knock at the door form layered metaphors, while the dialogue is sharp and the relationships charged with tension. It succeeds not through plot but through inner turmoil, and rewards quiet, attentive reading; understanding Ibsen's shift from social-problem drama to psychological symbolism deepens one's appreciation of its weight. The Project Gutenberg edition makes searching and comparison with the English original convenient, offering drama lovers and literary scholars a practical entry point to the work.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Theatre readers interested in Ibsen's late symbolist plays
Drama students who need the English source text for script study
Readers researching nineteenth-century Nordic literature and psychological symbolism
Literature lovers who enjoy a short play rich in inner conflict

Not a good fit for

Casual readers who prefer strong plot and fast pacing
Readers unaccustomed to script format and extensive stage directions
Readers with weak English who need annotations to follow the dialogue

Reading tips

Read the whole play first to grasp the relationship between Solness and Hilda, then return to the symbolic imagery.
Mark stage directions and spatial descriptions as you read, noting the recurrence of images such as high buildings and towers.
Read one of Ibsen's middle-period social-problem plays alongside it to appreciate the shift in his creative focus.
After finishing, try summarizing the protagonist's change in self-awareness in a paragraph to test your understanding.

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

Is this electronic edition a Chinese translation?

No. This entry is an English electronic edition released by Project Gutenberg, marked as English, with the English translation of Ibsen's play in the body text. It is suitable for reading in English or for comparison with the original.

Can I understand it without experience reading drama?

Yes, but patience is required. The play advances through dialogue and symbolism, with little plot action. It helps to start with the character list and basic relationships, then read scene by scene. Don't rush to decode every symbol; it becomes clearer when you look back after finishing.

Is it suitable for classroom or book-club use?

Yes. It is short, has a concentrated cast, and offers rich layers of symbolism, making it easy to discuss topics such as the protagonist's psychological transformation and the conflict between ideals and reality. It also works well for comparative reading with other works by Ibsen.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

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.