Mrs. Solness sits looking out toward the audience, as before. Hilde comes in with flowers and approaches Mrs. Solness.
MRS. SOLNESS: So—have you been taking a walk in the garden, Miss Wangel?
HILDE: Mmm—looking around a bit . . .
MRS. SOLNESS: I see you found some flowers . . .
HILDE: Yes, definitely! There are lots of them down there. You know, growing up between the bushes . . .
MRS. SOLNESS: Really? They’re still growing? Well well. You see, I almost never go down there . . .
HILDE: No? You don’t? I mean—don’t you at least run down there—once each day?
MRS. SOLNESS: Well I must say, running isn’t something I really do now.
HILDE: But I mean—don’t you at least go down there once in a while?—just to say hello to all the lovely things?
MRS. SOLNESS: Well, it’s all become alien territory, as far as I’m concerned. I’d feel almost—uncomfortable—about seeing it again.
HILDE: Your own garden?
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh, I don’t think of it as mine at all, you see, now.
HILDE: You mean you don’t—
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh no, it’s certainly not mine. Oh no, no— It’s not the way it was in my mother and father’s time. Not at all. They’ve gotten rid of so much of the garden, Miss Wangel, it’s pitiable, really. —I mean, imagine what they’ve done—they’ve parceled it all out, you see, and built houses for strangers, houses for people I don’t even know—and then these strangers, you see, can sit at their windows and just stare at me. Isn’t that something?
(Pause.)
HILDE: Mrs. Solness?
MRS. SOLNESS: Yes?
HILDE: Would it be all right with you if I sat with you here for a short while?
MRS. SOLNESS: Yes, that would be very nice—if you feel you would like to.
(Hilde sits down near Mrs. Solness.)
HILDE (Sighs): What a perfect spot to just sit and sun your-self—like a cat . . .
MRS. SOLNESS: It’s so kind of you—to want to sit with me. I would have thought you’d be going in now to be with my husband . . .
HILDE: What would you think I’d be doing with him?
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh, I thought you’d be—helping him, I suppose.
HILDE: Oh, please! No! Anyway, he isn’t in there. He’s gone over to see the men who are working on the new house. And the expression he had on his face!—he looked so fierce and dangerous—I really didn’t have the courage to speak to him.
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh! Ha ha—is that right? But do you know?—he really has the most gentle disposition in the whole world.
HILDE: He does?!
MRS. SOLNESS: You see, you don’t really know him properly yet, Miss Wangel.
(Silence.)
HILDE: So—Are you happy to be moving over into the new house?
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh, I ought to be. Because he so much wants me to be happy about it . . .
HILDE: But—I’m sure that’s not the only reason to be happy—is it?
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh yes. Yes it is. Because you see, that’s my simple obligation in life, Miss Wangel—to do—what he wants. Simply—to yield . . . But there are many occasions when it’s terribly hard to beat one’s spirit into the necessary submission.
HILDE: Ergh—yes—that must be hard . . .
MRS. SOLNESS: That’s one thing you can certainly be sure about—it is hard. I mean, if one isn’t a better person than I am, at any rate.
(Pause.)
HILDE: Mrs. Solness—when someone has been through really hard times the way you have—
MRS. SOLNESS: How do you know I’ve been through hard times?
HILDE: Your husband said you had . . .
MRS. SOLNESS: Hm . . . to me he says so little about those things. But yes, it’s true, I’ve been through quite a bit in the course of my life, Miss Wangel—yes, I have.
HILDE: Dear Mrs. Solness— First everything burned up in the fire? . . .
MRS. SOLNESS (With a sigh): Yes. Everything I had.
HILDE: And then—what was—so much worse—the—
MRS. SOLNESS (Looks questioningly at her): Worse?
HILDE: What happened—which was worse than—
MRS. SOLNESS: What do you mean?
HILDE (Softly): I meant—losing the boys . . .
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh—that—yes . . . Yes, well, that is really something different, you see. That was really a sort of—decision by a higher power. And one has to submit oneself to something like that. And even give thanks for it.
HILDE: Do you—do that?
MRS. SOLNESS: Mmm—not always—unfortunately. I know it’s my obligation, that’s what I ought to do. And yet, sometimes, I just can’t.
HILDE: But I think that’s so understandable—really.
MRS. SOLNESS: And again and again I have to say to myself, It was a just punishment.
HILDE: But—why? . . .
MRS. SOLNESS: Because when I was face to face with what was difficult, I wasn’t strong.
HILDE: I don’t understand . . .
MRS. SOLNESS: Quite honestly, Miss Wangel—please don’t keep talking about the two little boys—we really should only be happy for them, because things are so good for them now—very very good. (Pause) And of course it’s the little losses which really break your heart in life—when you lose certain things which other people might consider almost—worthless, but which for you . . .
HILDE: Dear sweet Mrs. Solness—tell me. Please.
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh—as I said—just unimportant things. You know. All the old portraits that were on the walls—they were all burnt up. And all the old silk dresses—they were burned—you know, all the dresses which had belonged to the family for such a long long time. And all the lacework which had been done by all the mothers and the grandmothers—all of it burnt. And you can imagine—the jewelry, of course. (Heavily) And then—all the dolls.
HILDE: The dolls?
MRS. SOLNESS: I had nine beautiful dolls.
HILDE: And they burned, too?
MRS. SOLNESS: Yes—every one of them. And that was painful—that was very painful for me.
HILDE: So you’d always kept the dolls you had as a young girl?
MRS. SOLNESS: I didn’t just—keep them. I would take them out—and look at them—hold them—play with them—
HILDE: Even after you were grown up?
MRS. SOLNESS: Yes—long after.
HILDE: Even after you were married?
MRS. SOLNESS: Yes. Only when he couldn’t see me, of course. But then—they were burnt. The poor little things were burnt. Nobody made any attempt to save them. Oh God, it’s so awful to imagine them burning . . . Don’t laugh at me.
HILDE: No—
MRS. SOLNESS: Because in a way—they were—alive . . . I carried them around—in my arms—like small children—not quite born yet . . .
(Dr. Herdal comes in.)
DR. HERDAL: Well—ah—so, Mrs. Solness—so you’re sitting outside and letting yourself catch a cold—is that it?
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh no—it’s nice and warm out here today.
DR. HERDAL: Hm, I suppose. But you sent me a note? Is there some sort of problem, or—?
MRS. SOLNESS (Stands up): Yes, I have to talk to you about something.
DR. HERDAL: All right . . . (To Hilde) Ha ha—I see you’ve put on your mountain climbing uniform today—ha ha ha—
HILDE (Merrily, standing up also): Absolutely! And every button is polished! Ha ha ha—of course I won’t be climbing—I won’t be breaking my neck today. I mean, you and I are just going to stay down here on level ground and watch, aren’t we, Doctor?
DR. HERDAL: And what are we going to be watching, I wonder?
MRS. SOLNESS: For God’s sake, will you stop talking about that? (To Hilde) Please—please just try to get that idea out of his head. (Pause) I think that we ought to be—friends, Miss Wangel. Don’t you think that we can be?
HILDE (Throwing her arms passionately around Mrs. Solness): Oh—if we could be—that would be so wonderful!
MRS. SOLNESS (Gently freeing herself): Yes—yes.
(She leads Dr. Herdal off. Solness appears.)
SOLNESS: Have you ever noticed that the minute I show up somewhere, my wife leaves?
HILDE: Actually, I’ve noticed that the minute you show up somewhere, you drive her out.
SOLNESS: Oh, maybe. But that’s completely out of my control, I’m afraid.
HILDE: Tell me—why did you come up here just now?
SOLNESS: To see you.
HILDE: But surely you saw that I was here with her . . .
SOLNESS: Well—I knew she’d leave.
HILDE (After a pause): But—doesn’t it upset you that she would run away from you like that?
SOLNESS: Sometimes it makes life easier.
HILDE: It’s easier when she isn’t there—
SOLNESS: Mmm . . .
HILDE: —so you don’t have to see—her suffering.
SOLNESS: Right.
(Hilde looks out toward the front.)
(After a pause) Did you talk with her for a long time?
(She stands unmoving and doesn’t answer.)
Was it a long—conversation?
(She is silent.)
Hilde?—what did she talk about?
(She is silent.)
Poor Aline! I’m sure she mentioned the boys—obviously.
(A nervous shudder runs through Hilde.)
Never get over it! She’ll never get over it! She’ll never get over it! (He approaches Hilde) You’re standing there like a statue—just the way you looked last evening when—
HILDE: I want to leave.
SOLNESS: Leave!
HILDE: Yes.
SOLNESS: But you can’t! I—
HILDE: But what am I going to do here?
SOLNESS: Hilde! Just be here!
HILDE: Oh, for God’s sake. You know it wouldn’t stay like that!
SOLNESS: Well—?
HILDE: No! I can’t do something that wrong against someone I know! I—to take something—that belongs to her—I can’t do it!
SOLNESS: But why do you—
HILDE (Continuing): If she were a stranger, someone I’d never met, it might be different, but someone I’ve come close to— No! I can’t! I’m sorry—I’m leaving.
SOLNESS: But what will become of me, then? What will I have to live for? After you leave?
HILDE: But you don’t have to worry about that. You have something. —You have the debt you have to pay—your obligation—to her. Live for that.
SOLNESS: No—it’s too late. Because Aline is dead. Because of me, she’s dead. The last drops of blood have been drained out of her body, and now I’m living my life chained to someone who is actually dead! —But I’m still capable of experiencing joy! Help me! Help me! I’m still alive!
(A long silence.)
HILDE: So—what are you planning to build after this?
SOLNESS: Build? Oh, there probably won’t be that much more after this . . .
HILDE: So you’re not planning to build more nice, cozy homes for nice mothers and fathers and children?
SOLNESS: In a way I wonder whether people in the future will have any desire for something like that. Because a home is not what people need. A home doesn’t bring happiness or joy to people. I wouldn’t have been happy if I’d somehow managed to have a home.
HILDE: Poor Master Builder. What a conclusion to come to—when you’ve devoted all these years to building those homes—and poured your life into it—
SOLNESS: Yes—
(A pause.)
HILDE (Suddenly bursting out): Oh Christ, I just think—
SOLNESS: What?
HILDE: —I think it’s ridiculous not to have the courage to reach out and take happiness, just take it, and life, life itself—just because there’s someone in the way whom you happen to know . . .
SOLNESS: . . . someone whom you don’t have the right to leave . . .
HILDE: Or is it possible that that’s not true?—that the truth is, you really always do have that right? But then, that would—it— Oh God, if only one could just fall asleep, and the whole thing could—the whole thing could . . .
(She closes her eyes. They both are silent for a long time. Then:)
(Drowsily) Hm. I know what you’re going to build next, Master Builder.
SOLNESS: Really? What?
HILDE: It’s going to be a palace.
(A long silence.)
SOLNESS: Tell me how you imagine it, Hilde . . .
HILDE (Slowly): My palace will stand very, very high, up on a hill. Nothing around it on any side, so I can see far, far off—way out over the land—
SOLNESS: And I’m sure there will be a high tower on it?
HILDE: Yes. Oh yes. The tower, you see, will be frightfully high. And way, way up on the top of the tower—yes, a balcony will be there, encircling the whole thing. And outside on that balcony I’m going to stand—
SOLNESS: Oh my God! That you would stand up there—so horribly high up—so dizzyingly high up—
HILDE: Yes! That’s where I’ll stand—and of course you’ll be able to come up also . . .
SOLNESS: The Master Builder will be allowed—to come up to the princess?
HILDE: Yes, of course . . .
SOLNESS: But he won’t be able to build anymore!—poor Master Builder . . .
HILDE: Oh no—he will build—because you see, Master Builder, you and I are going to be partners now! And we’re going to build these very special structures that will be more beautiful, really, than anything on earth—
SOLNESS: Really? You mean—
HILDE: Oh yes, Master Builder, we’re going to be building dream palaces that will be able to stand firmly right in the middle of the sky . . . They’ll stand firmly in the middle of the sky . . .
(Ragnar comes out, carrying a large wreath with flowers and silk ribbons wound around it.)
Oh, look! Look! Oh, it’s going to be so incredibly beautiful! . . .
SOLNESS: But—how do you come to be bringing the wreath, Ragnar?
RAGNAR: Well, I promised the foreman I would.
SOLNESS: So—is your father doing a bit better, then?
RAGNAR: Mmm—not really.
SOLNESS: But—did the things I wrote cheer him up at all?
RAGNAR: No, they came too late, I’m sorry to say.
SOLNESS: Oh!—you mean—
RAGNAR: When Kaya arrived, he was already in a coma. He’d had a stroke, actually.
SOLNESS: But for God’s sake—go home and take care of him! I—
RAGNAR: Well, there’s nothing more I can do for him now.
SOLNESS: But you ought to be with him—you ought—
RAGNAR: Well, she’s with him—she’s sitting by the bed and—
SOLNESS: You mean, Kaya?
RAGNAR (Looks darkly at Solness): Yes—Kaya.
SOLNESS: If you don’t mind, I’ll take this down to the men. (He takes the wreath) And, you know, I actually don’t have anything for you to do here today.
RAGNAR: Yes, I know that, but I’m going to stay for the ceremony.
SOLNESS: Oh. Well, all right then.
(He leaves with the wreath. Hilde stares after him for a moment, then turns to Ragnar.)
HILDE: I would have thought you might have thanked him, at least.
RAGNAR: Thanked him? You think I should have thanked him?
HILDE: Yes—of course . . .
RAGNAR: You’re probably the one I should actually thank—am I right?
HILDE: What do you mean?
RAGNAR (Without answering her): But—can I say?—I think you ought to proceed with caution . . . Because I’d be very surprised if you really know him yet.
HILDE: I know him better than anyone in the world knows him.
RAGNAR: Incredible—ha ha—thank him . . . Can I tell you something? This is the man who has kept me down at the lowest level, year after year—he made my father lose his respect for me—he made me lose whatever respect I once might have had for myself! And do you know what the point of it all was?
HILDE: Please tell me.
RAGNAR: The point of it all was to keep her here with him!
HILDE: What? Your fiancée? Kaya?
RAGNAR: She told me herself today!
HILDE: No! That’s not true! That’s a lie!
RAGNAR: Yes. She told me that he literally controls her soul—she can never let him go—she has to be with him—
HILDE: No! No! That won’t be permitted. And you’ve misunderstood the whole situation. He was keeping her here simply to keep hold of you. He needed to keep you there in the office. You—not her. Now that is the truth—that is the truth—and I’m not going to stand for any other explanation!
RAGNAR: But then—could it actually be possible that for all this time he was somehow afraid of what I would be able to do? He knew I would be a good architect! Oh my God—what a pitiful man. He’s a pitiful, weak, cowardly man.
HILDE: You—
RAGNAR: He’s afraid of me, an unknown young architect whom he trained himself—he’s afraid of climbing up that tower over there on his own house—
HILDE: No! No! He’s not afraid. Because I once saw him climb up an enormous tower and tie a wreath to a church’s weather vane . . .
RAGNAR: What? You saw him do that?
HILDE: And he’s going to do it again—tonight! We’re all going to see it . . .
RAGNAR: Well, that is something we’ll never see . . .
HILDE: But it’s what I want to see! I have to see him do that!
RAGNAR: Yes, but unfortunately, he won’t. He can’t. Maybe he could at one time, but now, he can’t.
(Mrs. Solness comes in.)
MRS. SOLNESS: Where is he? I—
RAGNAR: He’s with the men who are working down there.
HILDE: He took the wreath, and—
MRS. SOLNESS: He took the wreath? Oh my God, Brovik, you have to go down there. Tell him he needs to come back here right away . . .
RAGNAR: Should I say that you need to speak with him, or—?
MRS. SOLNESS: Just tell him to come up here . . .
RAGNAR: All right, Mrs. Solness. (He goes off)
MRS. SOLNESS: I don’t think you can even imagine the anxiety I feel because of him—what I have to live with—I—
HILDE: But—is this really something—so absolutely terrifying? —I mean—
MRS. SOLNESS: Of course it’s terrifying! What if he actually has gotten it into his head that he’s going to go up that scaffolding?
(Dr. Herdal comes in.)
DR. HERDAL: I’m afraid you’re going to have to come in now.
MRS. SOLNESS: No, I can’t.
DR. HERDAL: But some women have just arrived—they’ve come to see you.
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh my God, they’ve come now? Oh no—
DR. HERDAL: They’ve come to watch the ceremony, it seems . . .
MRS. SOLNESS: Yes, yes—I mean, it’s my obligation to look after them, obviously—I have to go in there—I—
HILDE: But—can’t you just ask them to leave?
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh no, no, that’s impossible. I mean, they’ve come to my house, it’s certainly my obligation to look after them—of course— (To Hilde) But—but you stay out here—and when he comes up here, just don’t let him go—hold on to him!
HILDE: But wouldn’t it be more appropriate for you to do that?
MRS. SOLNESS: Of course! Yes! My God, of course I should do it, it’s my obligation to take care of him, my obligation, I know that, but—but—there are so many things I’m supposed to be doing—I—it’s unbelievable that I have to go to see these women now!
(Mrs. Solness and Dr. Herdal go off. Hilde stands for a while, looking out front. Solness comes in.)
SOLNESS: It’s all looking marvelous down there. Mr. Tesman, the foreman, is going to go up the tower with the wreath. I heard Aline was looking for me—?
HILDE: No—I don’t think so.
SOLNESS: Because Ragnar said—
HILDE (Interrupting): So—is it true?
SOLNESS: What?
HILDE: The bookkeeper? Kaya?
(He doesn’t answer.)
(Violently) You pathetic creature!
SOLNESS (Stunned): Hilde—I can’t live if you see me that way!
HILDE: Well, then let me see you differently! Let me see you up there on that tower—high up and standing free!
SOLNESS: Hilde, no!—I can’t!—
HILDE: Well, that is what I want! That is what I want! . . . And you did it once. You did it. I saw you.
SOLNESS: Hilde, don’t you understand? I was in such a state then because of what had been done to me, the death of my children, that I did something—something that was impossible. It was impossible for me, but I did it—I—
HILDE: Yes?
SOLNESS: Hilde, I don’t even know how I got up there. But when I was up there at the top, I made a vow—I vowed that I would never build churches again—only homes, where people could live . . . And then I came down, and that was when your father had us all to tea, and I met you.
HILDE: Yes. Yes.
SOLNESS: Oh Hilde, my God, if I were to try it?—if I were to try to climb that tower tonight? Do you know what I’d vow tonight at the top of the tower? I’d vow that I’d never build homes again, but instead I’d devote myself to building the only structures that can actually contain human happiness—
HILDE: Yes, that’s right—
SOLNESS: —those extraordinary, beautiful palaces that stand firmly in the middle of the sky . . . And I would vow to build them—together with a princess—whom I love . . . And then, after I made that vow, I’d wave wildly to everyone below, and I’d come down, and I’d throw my arms around my princess’s neck, and I’d kiss her and kiss her again and again . . .
HILDE: My Master Builder . . . My Master Builder . . .
(Now we can hear again the weird music we heard earlier when Solness fell into his dream. Mrs. Solness comes out, dressed for the ceremony, along with Dr. Herdal and the actresses who earlier played Nurse Olga, Nurse Nora, Nurse Myrtle and Nurse Ingrid. They now play women from the town, and they all wear party outfits. Then Ragnar comes in.)
MRS. SOLNESS (To Ragnar): Are we going to have music, too?
RAGNAR: Yes—it’s the band from the construction workers’ association.
FIRST WOMAN: They’re absolutely marvelous.
SECOND WOMAN: We haven’t had such a good band in this town for years.
THIRD WOMAN: They play such great music.
FOURTH WOMAN: Yes, they practice every week.
MRS. SOLNESS: It’s wonderful, isn’t it?
SOLNESS (To Ragnar): So, is Mr. Tesman ready to climb up the tower with the wreath?
RAGNAR: Yes, he’s delighted to have the honor of doing it. You know Tesman—he always finds it exciting to climb up to high places.
SOLNESS: Good. Good. I’ll go down there myself now.
MRS. SOLNESS (Anxiously): What are you going to do down there, Halvard?
SOLNESS: Well, I need to be with the men who are working down there. I mean, that’s where I usually am, on these occasions . . .
MRS. SOLNESS (To Solness): Be sure to tell Mr. Tesman to be very careful when he climbs up the tower. Promise me you won’t forget to say that, Halvard!
(Solness kisses her and leaves.)
DR. HERDAL (To Mrs. Solness): So, you see?—I was right! He’s forgotten all about that whole crazy idea of going up himself.
(Mrs. Solness and Dr. Herdal go over to stand by the visiting women, who now stand looking out toward the audience. Hilde stands apart, also looking out. The music gets even stranger. Ragnar approaches Hilde and speaks to her quietly.)
RAGNAR: So . . . do you see that little group of young people over there by the new house? Those are all my friends. They’ve come to watch Master Builder Solness not have the courage to climb up the tower—ha ha ha . . .
HILDE: Then they’ll be disappointed.
DR. HERDAL (Pointing): Look! Mr. Tesman’s beginning to climb . . .
MRS. SOLNESS: Oh, and he has to carry the wreath too! It’s awful—awful—he has to be so careful—
RAGNAR: No—it’s him! It’s him! Oh my God!
(They all speak rather quietly, as people do at the bedside of someone who’s ill or asleep.)
MRS. SOLNESS: Halvard! No!
(As the music continues quietly, Solness comes in in his bathrobe. As Dr. Herdal, Mrs. Solness, Ragnar and Hilde look out front toward the new house, Solness, using the footstool, climbs with difficulty onto the bed. The actress who played Ingrid goes out. The other three visiting women become nurses again. They re-connect Solness to the tubes and wires to which he was originally attached. Solness breathes with difficulty. We can see that he is struggling. The nurses check the monitors and watch over him. The others don’t see him.)
HILDE: Climbing higher—higher—
(Dr. Herdal goes to Solness. Mrs. Solness, Ragnar and Hilde continue to face forward, looking out.)
MRS. SOLNESS: No—no—
(Mrs. Solness goes to Solness. She sits by the bed and holds his hand.)
RAGNAR: He’s bound to turn around—he can’t keep going—
HILDE: Climbing—climbing—almost there . . .
(Old Brovik comes in and stands by the bed.)
There—there—the very top! . . .
(Hilde continues to face forward. Kaya comes in and stands by the bed, not too near anyone else.)
Now, hanging the wreath—speaking—now he’s waving— (Hilde waves a handkerchief and shouts) Yes!
(Solness, in the bed, gasps. Hilde and Ragnar see Solness fall off the tower. Ragnar speaks to Hilde.)
RAGNAR: Damn—he actually was not able to do it, after all. He must have fallen right into the stone quarry . . .
(He goes to stand by the bed, near Old Brovik. The nurses and Dr. Herdal stop doing anything and just cluster around Solness. Nurse Ingrid comes in, in her nurse’s uniform, holding a blue bottle with a red label. She rushes to Dr. Herdal.)
NURSE INGRID (To Dr. Herdal): I found the bottle in the other room. It— (She sees everyone clustered around Solness, who breathes with difficulty) Oh—sorry.
HILDE (Still facing forward): But he made it—all the way to the very top . . . My Master Builder . . .
(She goes to the bed and kisses Solness on the forehead. When she kisses him, the music abruptly stops, Solness’s dream ends, and Solness stops breathing. Hilde puts on her nurse’s uniform. The lighting becomes the lighting we saw at the beginning of the play. Everyone stays gathered around the bed for a while. They leave one by one until only Mrs. Solness is left with Solness. The lights slowly go out.)
END