The Master Builder and Other Plays Read online

  HILDE [nodding]: Yes, castles in the air! Do you know what they are – castles in the air?

  SOLNESS: The loveliest things in the world, according to you.

  HILDE [jumps up and gives an almost dismissive wave of her hand]: Yes, of course they are! Castles in the air – they’re so easy to retreat into. And easy to build, too – [eyeing him scornfully] – especially for those master builders with – with dizzy consciences.

  SOLNESS [rising]: From this day on we’ll build together, Hilde.

  HILDE [with a slightly doubtful smile]: A real castle in the air, do you mean?

  SOLNESS: Yes. One with a solid foundation.

  RAGNAR BROVIK comes out of the house. He is carrying a large green wreath bound with flowers and ribbon.

  HILDE [with a cry of delight]: The wreath! Oh, how terribly splendid it’s going to be!

  SOLNESS [in surprise]: You’ve brought the wreath, Ragnar?

  RAGNAR: I promised the foreman I would.

  SOLNESS [with relief]: Ah, then your father must be feeling better?

  RAGNAR: No.

  SOLNESS: Did what I wrote not buck him up?

  RAGNAR: It came too late.

  SOLNESS: Too late!

  RAGNAR: By the time she came back with it he was no longer conscious. He had had a stroke.

  SOLNESS: Well, go home to him then! Go see to your father!

  RAGNAR: He no longer needs me.

  SOLNESS: But you need to be with him, surely?

  RAGNAR: She is by his bedside.

  SOLNESS [somewhat uncertainly]: Kaja?

  RAGNAR [glaring at him]: Yes – Kaja, yes –.

  SOLNESS: Go home, Ragnar. To him and to her. Give me the wreath.

  RAGNAR [suppressing a derisive smile]: You don’t mean to say that you –?

  SOLNESS: I’ll take it down myself, that I will. [Taking the wreath from him] Now go on home. We have no need of you today.

  RAGNAR: I know you have no need of me from now on. But today I am staying.

  SOLNESS: All right, stay, then, if you insist.

  HILDE [by the balustrade]: Mr Master Builder – I’m going to stand right here and watch you.

  SOLNESS: Watch me!

  HILDE: It’s going to be terribly exciting.

  SOLNESS [lowering his voice]: We’ll discuss this later, Hilde.

  He walks off with the wreath, down the steps and across the garden.

  HILDE [watches him go, then turns to RAGNAR]: I think you could at least have thanked him.

  RAGNAR: Thanked him? I should have thanked him?

  HILDE: Yes, you most certainly should have!

  RAGNAR: Surely it’s really you I should thank.

  HILDE: How can you say such a thing?

  RAGNAR [not replying to this]: But be on your guard, miss! Because you don’t really know that man yet.

  HILDE [hotly]: Oh, I know him better than anyone!

  RAGNAR [with a bitter laugh]: Thank the man who has kept me down year after year! The man who has caused my father to doubt me. Caused me to doubt myself –. And all of that just so that –!

  HILDE [with growing suspicion]: So that what –? Tell me now!

  RAGNAR: So that he could keep her here with him.

  HILDE [starting towards him]: That desk-girl!

  RAGNAR: Yes.

  HILDE [menacingly, with clenched fists]: It’s not true! You’re lying.

  RAGNAR: I wouldn’t have believed it either, until today – when she said it herself.

  HILDE [as if beside herself]: What did she say?! I want to know! Now! Now!

  RAGNAR: She said he has taken hold of her mind – completely and utterly. Taken all of her thoughts to himself alone. She says she can never let him go. That she wants to stay here with him –

  HILDE [eyes flashing]: She’s not allowed to.

  RAGNAR [somewhat probingly]: Oh, who won’t allow it?

  HILDE [hastily]: Well, he won’t either!

  RAGNAR: Ah no, of course – I understand only too well now. After this she would only be – in the way.

  HILDE: You understand nothing – if you can say such a thing! No, I’ll tell you why he held on to her.

  RAGNAR: And why was that?

  HILDE: So that he could keep you.

  RAGNAR: Has he told you that?

  HILDE: No, but it is so! It has to be so! [Desperately] I will – I will have it so!

  RAGNAR: And as soon as you came along – he let her go.

  HILDE: You – it was you he let go! What do you think he cares for such strange young women?

  RAGNAR [considering this]: Has he been going around feeling afraid of me?

  HILDE: Him – afraid! I don’t think you’ve any call to be quite so cocky.

  RAGNAR: Ah, but he must have realized a long time ago that I’m good too. And besides – afraid – that’s just what he is, you know.

  HILDE: Him! Oh, don’t give me that!

  RAGNAR: In a way he is afraid. Him, the great master builder. To cheat other people of happiness in life – as he has done with both my father and me – that he’s not afraid to do. But a simple thing like climbing some measly scaffolding – that he would beg by God Almighty to be spared!

  HILDE: Oh, but you should have seen him as I once saw him, standing so high up – so high up it would make your head spin!

  RAGNAR: You’ve seen that?

  HILDE: Yes, I most certainly did. Standing so free and so proud, fixing the wreath to the weather-vane.

  RAGNAR: I know he did dare to do it once in his life. Just the one time. We younger ones have often talked about it. But no power on earth could make him do it again.

  HILDE: Today he’s going to do it again!

  RAGNAR [scoffing]: Hah, don’t you believe it!

  HILDE: We will see it!

  RAGNAR: That neither you nor I shall see.

  HILDE [tempestuously, uncontrollably]: I will see it! I must and I will see it!

  RAGNAR: But he won’t do it. Simply doesn’t dare to do it. Because he has this one failing, you see – him, the great master builder.

  MRS SOLNESS comes out of the house on to the veranda.

  MRS SOLNESS [looking around her]: Isn’t he here? Where did he go?

  RAGNAR: The master is over there with the workmen.

  HILDE: He went down with the wreath.

  MRS SOLNESS [in horror]: Went down with the wreath! Oh, dear God – oh, dear God! Brovik – you have to go down to him! Bring him back up here!

  RAGNAR: Shall I tell him you’d like a word with him, ma’am?

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh, yes, dear boy, do that. – No, no – don’t say that I want him! Say there’s someone here to see him. And that he has to come right away.

  RAGNAR: Very well, ma’am. I will.

  He goes down the steps and off across the garden.

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh, Miss Wangel, you’ve no idea how I fear for him.

  HILDE: But is this really worth getting into such a panic about?

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh yes, surely you can see that. What if he goes through with it! If he takes it into his head to climb that scaffolding!

  HILDE [eagerly]: Do you think he will?

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh, there’s never any telling what he might do. He’s quite capable of doing anything.

  HILDE: Aha, so you also think he’s – you know –?

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh, where he’s concerned I no longer know what to think. Because the doctor has told me such a great many things. And when I put all of that together with the occasional thing I’ve heard Halvard say –

  DR HERDAL looks through the door.

  DR HERDAL: Won’t he be here soon?

  MRS SOLNESS: Yes, I think so. Someone’s gone to fetch him, anyway –.

  DR HERDAL [stepping closer]: But you had better come in, ma’am –

  MRS SOLNESS: No, no. I’m going to stay out here and wait for Halvard.

  DR HERDAL: Yes, but there are some ladies here to see you –

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh, dear God, that as
well? Now, of all times!

  DR HERDAL: They say they simply have to see the ceremony.

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh, well, I’d better go in and attend to them nonetheless. It is my duty, after all.

  HILDE: Couldn’t you just ask those ladies to go away?

  MRS SOLNESS: No – I couldn’t possibly. Now that they’ve come it’s my duty to receive them. But you stay here – and receive him when he comes.

  DR HERDAL: And try to hold him in conversation as long as possible –

  MRS SOLNESS: Yes do, dear Miss Wangel. Hold on to him as tightly as only you can.

  HILDE: Wouldn’t it be better if you did that yourself?

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh, goodness, yes – it is my duty, I know. But when one has so many duties calling on one from so many sides –

  DR HERDAL [looking down the garden]: Here he comes!

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh dear – and I have to go in!

  DR HERDAL [to HILDE]: Don’t say anything about me being here.

  HILDE: No, no! I’ll find something else to chat to Mr Solness about, don’t you worry.

  MRS SOLNESS: And do hold on to him. I think you are the best person to do that.

  MRS SOLNESS and DR HERDAL go back into the house. HILDE is left alone on the veranda.

  HALVARD SOLNESS comes up the steps from the garden.

  SOLNESS: There’s someone here to see me, I hear.

  HILDE: Yes indeed, Mr Master Builder, and that someone is me.

  SOLNESS: Ah, is it you, Hilde. I was afraid it might be Aline and the doctor.

  HILDE: You’re afraid of a lot of things, it seems!

  SOLNESS: You think so, do you?

  HILDE: Yes, people say you’re afraid of clambering about on things – up on the scaffolding.

  SOLNESS: Ah, well that’s an exceptional case.

  HILDE: But you are afraid of it – isn’t that so?

  SOLNESS: Yes, I am.

  HILDE: Afraid that you’ll fall to the ground and kill yourself.

  SOLNESS: No, not of that.

  HILDE: Well, of what then?

  SOLNESS: I’m afraid of the retribution, Hilde.

  HILDE: Retribution? [Shaking her head] I don’t understand.

  SOLNESS: Sit down. And I’ll tell you something.

  HILDE: Yes, do! This instant!

  She sits down on a stool next to the balustrade and regards him expectantly.

  SOLNESS [tossing his hat on to the table]: As you know, I first began by building churches.

  HILDE [nodding]: Yes, I know.

  SOLNESS: Because, you see, I was a boy from a religious home in a small village. And so it seemed to me that building churches, that was the worthiest occupation I could choose.

  HILDE: Oh, yes.

  SOLNESS: And I think I can safely say that I built those humble little churches with such an honest and warm and fervent heart, that – that –

  HILDE: That –? What?

  SOLNESS: Well, that I feel he ought to have been pleased with me.

  HILDE: He? Who’s he?

  SOLNESS: Him – the one the churches were for, of course! The one they were meant to glorify and praise.

  HILDE: Oh, I see! But what makes you so sure that – that he wasn’t – you know – pleased with you?

  SOLNESS [scornfully]: Him, pleased with me! How can you say such a thing, Hilde? The one who allowed the troll within me to go rampaging around as it pleased. The one who commanded them to be there, on the spot, night and day, to serve me – all those – those –

  HILDE: Devils –

  SOLNESS: Yes, of the one kind and the other. Oh, no, he certainly let me know that he was not pleased with me. [Secretively] You see, that was the real reason why he let the old house burn down.

  HILDE: That was why?

  SOLNESS: Yes, don’t you see? He wanted me to have the chance to become a true master in my own field – and build much more glorious churches to him. At first I didn’t understand what it was he wanted. But then, suddenly, it dawned on me.

  HILDE: When was this?

  SOLNESS: It was when I built the church tower up at Lysanger.

  HILDE: I thought as much.

  SOLNESS: Because you see, Hilde, up there in that strange town – so often up there I found myself considering things and mulling them over in my mind. And then I saw so clearly why he had taken my little children from me. He did it so that I would have nothing else to distract me. No love or happiness or anything like that, d’you see? I was simply to be a master builder. Nothing else. And I was to spend my whole life building for him. [Laughing] But that didn’t come to anything, of course!

  HILDE: So what did you do then?

  SOLNESS: First I searched and examined myself –

  HILDE: And then?

  SOLNESS: Then I did the impossible. I – as he had done.

  HILDE: The impossible!

  SOLNESS: Till then I’d never been able to bear climbing high up into the air. But that day I could.

  HILDE [leaping up]: Yes, yes, you could!

  SOLNESS: And when I stood there right at the very top and hung the wreath over the weather-vane, I said to him: now you listen to me, almighty one! From now on I’m going to be a free master builder too. In my own field. As you are in yours. I’m never going to build churches for you again. Only homes for people.

  HILDE [with wide, sparkling eyes]: That was the song I heard in the air!

  SOLNESS: Ah, but that was only grist to his mill.4

  HILDE: What do you mean by that?

  SOLNESS [eyeing her despondently]: Building homes for people, Hilde – it’s not worth tuppence.

  HILDE: Now you say that?

  SOLNESS: Yes, because I see it now. People have no need of these homes of theirs. Not in order to be happy – no. And nor would I have had need of such a home. If I’d owned one. [With a quiet, bitter laugh] So you see that’s what it all amounts to, no matter how far back I look. Nothing built, basically. And nothing sacrificed to be able to build anything either. Nothing, nothing – all of it.

  HILDE: And you’ll never build anything new again?

  SOLNESS [brightening up]: Oh, but I will, starting right now!

  HILDE: What? What? Tell me now!

  SOLNESS: The only things in which I believe human happiness can be contained – that’s what I’m going to build now.

  HILDE [eyeing him steadily]: Mr Master Builder – now you’re talking about our castles in the air.

  SOLNESS: Castles in the air, yes.

  HILDE: I’m afraid your head will start to spin before we’ve gone halfway.

  SOLNESS: Not if I’m climbing hand in hand with you, Hilde.

  HILDE [with a flicker of suppressed resentment]: Just me? Won’t anyone else be coming with us?

  SOLNESS: Who else were you thinking of?

  HILDE: Oh – her, that Kaja, the desk-girl. Poor thing – aren’t you going to ask her to come too?

  SOLNESS: Aha. Was that who Aline was talking to you about earlier?

  HILDE: Is it so, or is it not?

  SOLNESS [angrily]: I’m not going to answer such a question! You have to believe in me completely and utterly!

  HILDE: For ten years I have believed absolutely, absolutely, in you.

  SOLNESS: You must go on believing in me!

  HILDE: Then let me see you stand free and high up in the air!

  SOLNESS [sadly]: Oh, Hilde – standing like that is no ordinary, everyday thing for me.

  HILDE [ardently]: I want it! I want it! [Beseechingly] Just one last time, master builder! Do the impossible once more!

  SOLNESS [looking deep into her eyes]: If I attempt it, Hilde, then I’ll stand up there and talk to him as I did before.

  HILDE [with growing excitement]: What will you say to him?

  SOLNESS: I will say to him: listen to me, almighty Lord – you can judge me as you see fit. But from now on I’m only going to build the loveliest things in the world –

  HILDE [rapturously]: Yes – yes – yes!

&nb
sp; SOLNESS: – build them together with a princess whom I care for –

  HILDE: Yes, tell him that! Tell him that!

  SOLNESS: Yes. And then I will say to him: now I’m going to climb down and throw my arms around her and kiss her –

  HILDE: – many times! Say it!

  SOLNESS: – many, many times, I’ll say.

  HILDE: And then –?

  SOLNESS: Then I’ll wave my hat in the air – and climb down to earth – and do what I told him I would do.

  HILDE [arms outstretched]: Now I see you again as you looked when there was singing in the air!

  SOLNESS [looking at her, head bowed]: How did you come to be the way you are, Hilde?

  HILDE: How have you made me the way I am?

  SOLNESS [shortly and decisively]: The princess shall have her castle.

  HILDE [exultantly, clapping her hands]: Oh, master builder –! My lovely, lovely castle. Our castle in the air!

  SOLNESS: With a solid foundation.

  A CROWD has gathered in the street. They can just be made out through the trees. The distant sound of brass band music can be heard beyond the new house.

  MRS SOLNESS, with a fur tippet around her neck, comes out on to the veranda along with DR HERDAL, who is carrying her white shawl over his arm, and a number of LADIES. At the same moment RAGNAR BROVIK comes up the steps from the garden.

  MRS SOLNESS [to ragnar]: Is there a band too?

  RAGNAR: Yes. It’s the Building Workers’ Association band. [To SOLNESS] The foreman asked me to tell you that he’s ready to go up with the wreath.

  SOLNESS [picking up his hat]: Good. I’ll go down there myself.

  MRS SOLNESS [anxiously]: Why are you going down there, Halvard?

  SOLNESS [curtly]: I have to be down below with the men.

  MRS SOLNESS: Down below, yes. But only down below.

  SOLNESS: Well, that’s where I usually am. Ordinarily.

  He walks down the steps and off across the garden.

  MRS SOLNESS [calling after him over the balustrade]: But do please ask that man to be careful climbing up there! Promise me that, Halvard!

  DR HERDAL [to MRS SOLNESS]: There, you see? I was right, he has given up those mad ideas of his.

  MRS SOLNESS: Oh, what a relief! Twice now, we’ve had workers falling off buildings. And both were killed outright. [Turning to HILDE] Thank you, Miss Wangel, for keeping such a firm hold on him. I’m sure I could never have prevailed over him.

  DR HERDAL [jovially]: Ah, yes, Miss Wangel, you know how to hold on to someone when you put your mind to it, all right!