The Master Builder and Other Plays Read online

  SOLNESS: Is that how it seems to you?

  HILDE: Yes.

  SOLNESS: I doubt there is a corner of me that is safe from you.

  HILDE [looks towards the bay window]: So – up there. Way up there –

  SOLNESS [moving closer]: You could live in the topmost room of that tower, Hilde. Could live like a princess there.

  HILDE [an indefinable note in her voice, somewhere between gravity and jest]: Yes, well, that is what you promised me.

  SOLNESS: Did I really?

  HILDE: Shame on you, Mr Master Builder! You said that I would be a princess. And that you would give me a kingdom. And then you went and – Well!

  SOLNESS [gently]: Are you quite certain that it wasn’t a dream – some notion you’ve got into your head?

  HILDE [sharply]: Or maybe you didn’t do all that?

  SOLNESS: I hardly know myself –. [More quietly] But what I do know now is that I –

  HILDE: That you –? Say it now!

  SOLNESS: – that I ought to have done.

  HILDE [gaily exclaiming]: You with a bad head for heights – never!

  SOLNESS: This evening we’ll hang up the wreath – Princess Hilde.

  HILDE [with a touch of bitterness]: On your new home, yes.

  SOLNESS: On the new house. Which will never be a home to me.

  He walks out through the French windows.

  HILDE [gazing into space, misty-eyed, and whispering to herself. The only words heard are]: … terribly exciting …

  Act Three

  A long, broad veranda attached to Halvard Solness’s residence. Part of the house, with the door on to the veranda, is seen on the left. To the right the balustrade of the veranda. Farthest away, at the end of the veranda, is a flight of steps leading down to the garden below. The branches of big, old trees in the garden stretch over the veranda towards the house. On the far right, just visible through the trees, is the lower half of the new villa and the scaffolding around the tower. In the background the old picket fence at the foot of the garden. Beyond the fence a street lined with small, tumbledown houses.

  Evening sky with sunlit clouds.

  On the veranda, set against the wall of the house, is a garden seat and in front of the seat a longish table. On the other side of the table an armchair and some stools.

  All the furniture is of cane.

  MRS SOLNESS, wrapped in a white crêpe shawl, is relaxing in the armchair, gazing out to the right.

  After a few moments HILDE WANGEL comes up the steps from the garden. She is dressed as before, but with her hat on. Pinned to her bosom is a little nosegay of common garden flowers.

  MRS SOLNESS [turning her head slightly]: Have you been for a walk round the garden, Miss Wangel?

  HILDE: Yes, I’ve been having a look around down there.

  MRS SOLNESS: And found flowers, too, I see.

  HILDE: Oh, yes! There are plenty of them, you know. In among the bushes, that is.

  MRS SOLNESS: No, are there really? Still? Well, of course, I’m hardly ever down there.

  HILDE [coming closer]: What! You mean you don’t race down into the garden every day!

  MRS SOLNESS [with a languid smile]: Me – no, I don’t really ‘race’ anywhere. Not any more.

  HILDE: Oh, but don’t you go down once in a while to say hello to all the lovely things growing there?

  MRS SOLNESS: It’s all become so foreign to me now. I’m almost afraid to see it again.

  HILDE: Your own garden!

  MRS SOLNESS: I don’t feel it is mine any longer.

  HILDE: Oh, what a thing to say –!

  MRS SOLNESS: No, no, it isn’t. It isn’t like it was in Mother’s and Father’s day. They’ve taken away such an awful lot of the garden, Miss Wangel. Just think – they divided it into plots – and built houses for strangers. People I don’t know. And now they can sit and look at me from their windows.

  HILDE [brightly]: Mrs Solness?

  MRS SOLNESS: Yes?

  HILDE: May I sit here with you for a while?

  MRS SOLNESS: Yes, of course, if you’d like to.

  HILDE pulls a stool closer to the armchair and sits down.

  HILDE: Aah – here you really can sit and bask in the sun like a cat.

  MRS SOLNESS [placing a hand lightly on the back of HILDE’s neck]: It’s nice of you to sit with me. I thought you were on your way in to see my husband.

  HILDE: Why would I go in to him?

  MRS SOLNESS: To help him, I assumed.

  HILDE: No, thank you. And anyway, he isn’t in the house. He’s over there with the workmen. But he looked so ferocious that I didn’t dare speak to him.

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh, but deep down he’s so gentle and sweet-natured.

  HILDE: Him?

  MRS SOLNESS: You don’t really know him yet, Miss Wangel.

  HILDE [regarding her with glowing eyes]: Are you glad, now that you’re moving into the new house?

  MRS SOLNESS: I ought to be glad, of course. Because Halvard so wants me to be.

  HILDE: Oh, not just for that reason, I’m sure.

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh yes, Miss Wangel. After all, it’s no more than my duty to bow to his wishes.1 Although it’s often very hard to school one’s mind to obedience.

  HILDE: Yes, that must be hard.

  MRS SOLNESS: Believe me, it is. When one is no better a person than I –

  HILDE: When one has endured as much hardship as you have –

  MRS SOLNESS: How do you know that?

  HILDE: Your husband told me.

  MRS SOLNESS: He hardly mentions those things to me. – Oh yes, believe me, Miss Wangel, I – I’ve endured plenty in my life.

  HILDE [eyeing her sympathetically and nodding slowly]: Poor Mrs Solness. First your house burned down –

  MRS SOLNESS [with a sigh]: Yes. Everything of mine, burned –

  HILDE: And then, of course, came an even harder blow.

  MRS SOLNESS [looking at her in bewilderment]: Harder?

  HILDE: The very hardest.

  MRS SOLNESS: What are you talking about?

  HILDE [gently]: Well – that you lost both your baby boys.

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh them, yes. Ah, but you see that was different. A higher power had a hand in that. And we cannot but bow to such things. And give thanks.

  HILDE: And do you do that?

  MRS SOLNESS: Not always, I’m afraid. Though I know very well it’s my duty to do so. And yet I can’t.

  HILDE: No, no, that’s perfectly reasonable, I would say.

  MRS SOLNESS: And time and again I have to tell myself that I only got what I deserved.

  HILDE: How so?

  MRS SOLNESS: Because I wasn’t strong enough in the face of misfortune –

  HILDE: But I don’t see how that –

  MRS SOLNESS: No, no, Miss Wangel – don’t say another word to me about those two little boys. We must just be happy for them. Because all’s well with them now – all’s well with them. No, it’s the little losses in life that cut one to the heart. To lose all those things that other people consider of little or no account.

  HILDE [hugging her knees and gazing ardently up at her]: Dear Mrs Solness – tell me, what are those things?

  MRS SOLNESS: As I say – just little things. All the old portraits on the walls burned up, for example. And all the old silk costumes burned up. The ones that had been in my family for such a long time. And all Mother’s and Grandmother’s lace – that too burned up. And, just think – even the jewellery! [Mournfully] And all my dolls.

  HILDE: Your dolls?

  MRS SOLNESS [tearfully]: I had nine lovely dolls.

  HILDE: And they burned up too?

  MRS SOLNESS: Every one. Oh, it was so painful – so painful for me.

  HILDE: So had you kept all those dolls stored away? From when you were little?

  MRS SOLNESS: Not stored away. The dolls and I went on living together.

  HILDE: After you grew up?

  MRS SOLNESS: Yes, long after that. />
  HILDE: After you were married too?

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh yes. As long as he didn’t see it, then –. But then they perished in the flames, poor things. No one thought of saving them. Oh, it doesn’t bear thinking of. Ah, but you musn’t laugh at me, Miss Wangel.

  HILDE: I’m not laughing.

  MRS SOLNESS: Because there was life in them too in a way. I carried them beneath my heart. Like small unborn children.

  DR HERDAL comes through the door, hat in hand, and catches sight of MRS SOLNESS and HILDE.

  DR HERDAL: What – sitting out here catching cold, are you, ma’am?

  MRS SOLNESS: I think it’s lovely and warm out here today.

  DR HERDAL: Well, well. But is something amiss here in the house? I received a note from you.

  MRS SOLNESS [rising]: Yes, there’s something I need to talk to you about.

  DR HERDAL: All right. Perhaps we should go inside then. [To HILDE] In hiking uniform again today, Miss Wangel?

  HILDE [gaily, getting up]: Absolutely! All tricked out! But I won’t be climbing the heights and breaking my neck today. We’re going to stay quietly down below and watch, you and I, doctor.

  DR HERDAL: And what will we be watching?

  MRS SOLNESS [whispering anxiously to HILDE]: Hush now, for heaven’s sake! He’s coming! Just try to talk him out of this whim. And let us be friends, Miss Wangel. Can we not?

  HILDE [flinging her arms around her]: Oh, if only we could.

  MRS SOLNESS [gently extricating herself]: Now, now! There he is! Doctor – a word, if you please.

  DR HERDAL: Is it to do with him?

  MRS SOLNESS: Yes, of course, him. Come inside.

  She and the DOCTOR go into the house.

  A moment later HALVARD SOLNESS comes up the steps from the garden. HILDE’s face grows solemn.

  SOLNESS [glancing at the door, which is closed softly from inside]: Have you noticed, Hilde, that as soon as I appear, she leaves?

  HILDE: I’ve noticed that as soon as you appear you cause her to leave.

  SOLNESS: Maybe so. But I can’t help that. [Eyeing her closely] Are you cold, Hilde? You look to me as if you are.

  HILDE: I’ve just climbed out of a tomb.

  SOLNESS: What’s that supposed to mean?

  HILDE: That I’m chilled to the bone, master builder.

  SOLNESS [slowly]: I think I understand –

  HILDE: What brings you up here now?

  SOLNESS: I spotted you from over there.

  HILDE: But then you must have seen her too?

  SOLNESS: I knew she’d leave right away if I appeared.

  HILDE: Does it hurt you very much, the way she avoids you?

  SOLNESS: In a way it’s also something of a relief.

  HILDE: Not to have her right before your eyes?

  SOLNESS: Yes.

  HILDE: Not to constantly see how heavily it weighs on her – this thing with your little boys?

  SOLNESS: Yes, mainly that.

  HILDE strolls across the veranda with her hands behind her back, stops by the balustrade and looks out across the garden.

  SOLNESS [after a short pause]: Did you talk to her for long?

  HILDE stands there motionless and does not reply.

  SOLNESS: For long, I asked.

  HILDE says nothing, as before.

  SOLNESS: So what was she talking about, Hilde?

  HILDE remains silent.

  SOLNESS: Poor Aline! She was talking about the little boys, wasn’t she?

  A shudder runs through HILDE; she gives two quick nods.

  SOLNESS: Never get over it. She’ll never, ever get over it. [Moving closer] Now you’re standing there like a stone pillar again. You stood like that last night too.

  HILDE [turning and looking at him with wide, solemn eyes]: I’m going to leave.

  SOLNESS [sharply]: Leave!

  HILDE: Yes.

  SOLNESS: No – I won’t let you!

  HILDE: What can I do here now?

  SOLNESS: Simply be here, Hilde!

  HILDE [eyeing him up and down]: Oh, no thank you. Because it wouldn’t stop there.

  SOLNESS [impulsively]: So much the better!

  HILDE [passionately]: I cannot hurt someone I know! Cannot take away something that belongs to her.

  SOLNESS: Who’s asking you to do that!

  HILDE [carrying on]: A stranger, yes! That would be quite a different matter! Someone I had never laid eyes on before. But someone I’ve become close to –! Oh, no! Oh, no! Ugh!

  SOLNESS: But I’ve never suggested that you should!

  HILDE: Oh, master builder, I think you know what would happen. And that’s why I’m leaving.

  SOLNESS: And what’s to become of me when you’re gone? What will I have to live for then? After that?

  HILDE [with that indefinable look in her eyes]: Oh, I’m sure you’ll be all right. You have your duties to her, after all. Live for those duties.

  SOLNESS: Too late. These powers – these – these –

  HILDE: – devils –

  SOLNESS: Yes, devils! And the troll within me too. They’ve drained all the lifeblood out of her.2 [Laughing hopelessly] They did it for the sake of my happiness! Oh, yes! [Dully] And now she’s dead – for my sake. And I am chained, living, to the dead. [Frantically] I – I, who cannot live a joyless life!

  HILDE walks around the table and sits down on the garden seat with her elbows on the table and her head in her hands.

  HILDE [sits for some moments looking at him]: So – what are you going to build next?

  SOLNESS [shaking his head]: Don’t think there’ll be much more now.

  HILDE: No warm, happy homes for mothers and fathers? And for broods of children?

  SOLNESS: I wonder whether there will be any need of such homes after this.

  HILDE: Poor master builder! And here you’ve been all these ten long years – devoting your life – to nothing but that.

  SOLNESS: Ah, well may you say that, Hilde.

  HILDE [exploding]: Oh, I think it really is so stupid, so stupid – all of it.

  SOLNESS: All what?

  HILDE: That a person doesn’t dare to reach out and seize his own happiness. His own life! Simply because someone they know is standing in the way!

  SOLNESS: Someone they’ve no right to pass by.

  HILDE: Who’s to say that one doesn’t, in fact, have the right to do that. But then again –. Oh, if only one could sleep through the whole thing!

  She stretches her arms out flat on the table, rests the left side of her face on her hands and shuts her eyes.

  SOLNESS [turning the armchair round and sitting down at the table]: Did you have a warm, happy home, Hilde – up at Lysanger with your father?

  HILDE [unmoving, answering as if half-asleep]: A cage was all I had.

  SOLNESS: And you’ve absolutely no wish to return to that?

  HILDE [as before]: The wild woodland bird won’t ever be caged.

  SOLNESS: Better to hunt in the open air –

  HILDE [still as before]: The bird of prey likes best to hunt –

  SOLNESS [resting his eyes on her]: Oh, to have that dauntless Viking spirit –3

  HILDE [in her normal voice, opens her eyes, but does not move]: And the other thing. Tell me, what was that?

  SOLNESS: A robust conscience.

  HILDE straightens up brightly. The merry sparkle is back in her eye.

  HILDE [nodding at him]: I know what you’re going to build next!

  SOLNESS: Then you know more than I do, Hilde.

  HILDE: Oh, yes – the master builders, they’re such a silly lot, they are.

  SOLNESS: And what will that be, then?

  HILDE [nodding again]: The castle.

  SOLNESS: What castle?

  HILDE: My castle, of course.

  SOLNESS: So you want a castle now?

  HILDE: And don’t you owe me a kingdom, might I ask?

  SOLNESS: Yes, well, so you tell me.

  HILDE: Right then. You ow
e me this kingdom. And as far as I know a kingdom has to have a castle!

  SOLNESS [perking up more and more]: Yes, that’s usually the case.

  HILDE: Good; then build it for me! Right away!

  SOLNESS [laughing]: Right this minute, you mean?

  HILDE: Yes! Because they’re up – the ten years are up. And I’m not going to wait any longer. So – let’s be having my castle, master builder!

  SOLNESS: It’s no joke being in debt to you, Hilde.

  HILDE: You should have thought of that before. It’s too late now. So – [rapping the table] – castle on the table! It’s my castle! And I want it now!

  SOLNESS [more seriously, leaning closer, his arms on the table]: How have you imagined this castle should look, Hilde?

  Her eyes gradually veil over. She seems to be looking inside herself.

  HILDE [slowly]: My castle should lie high up. Very high up it should lie. And be open on all sides. So that I can see far – far and wide.

  SOLNESS: And there should be a tall tower too, I suppose?

  HILDE: An awfully tall tower. And at the very top of the tower there will be a balcony. And out on that I will stand –

  SOLNESS [instinctively putting a hand to his brow]: How you can enjoy standing at such a dizzy height –

  HILDE: Oh, yes! Up there is where I’ll stand and watch the others – the ones who build churches. And homes for mothers and fathers and broods of children. And you can come up there and watch as well.

  SOLNESS [softly]: Will the master builder be allowed to come up and see the princess?

  HILDE: If the master builder wants to.

  SOLNESS [even more softly]: Then I think the master builder will come.

  HILDE [nodding]: The master builder – he’ll come.

  SOLNESS: But never build anything else – poor master builder.

  HILDE [brightly]: Oh yes he will! We’ll do it together, you and I. And we shall build the loveliest – the very loveliest things in the world.

  SOLNESS [eagerly]: Hilde – tell me, what are these things!

  HILDE [smiling at him, shaking her head slightly, pouting her lips and speaking as if to a child]: Master builders – they are such silly – silly people.

  SOLNESS: Yes, they certainly are silly. But tell me, what are these things? That are the loveliest in the world? And that you and I shall build together?

  HILDE [is quiet for a moment then says, with an indefinable look in her eyes]: Castles in the air.

  SOLNESS: Castles in the air?