A large, broad veranda, part of SOLNESS’S house. A portion of the house, with a door leading onto the veranda, is visible left. A railing running along it to the right. Far back at the end of the veranda, steps lead down to the garden below. Huge old trees in the garden spread their branches over the veranda and toward the house. Through the trees at the far right, a glimpse of the lower structure of the new house, scaffolding rising around the base of the tower. In the background, the garden is bordered by an old wooden fence. Beyond the fence, a street with small, low, dilapidated houses. The evening sky is streaked with sunlit clouds.
On the veranda a garden bench stands along the wall of the house, and in front of the bench a long table. On the other side of the table are an armchair and some stools. All the furniture is wickerwork.
MRS. SOLNESS, wrapped in a large white crepe shawl, sits resting in the armchair and gazing off to the right. After a moment HILDA WANGEL comes up the steps from the garden. She is dressed the same as before and is wearing her hat. On her blouse she has a little bouquet of small common flowers.
MRS. SOLNESS (turning her head slightly). Have you had a walk in the garden, Miss Wangel?
HILDA. Yes, I’ve been having a look around.
MRS. SOLNESS. And found some flowers too, I see.
HILDA. Oh yes! They’re just growing thick in through the bushes.
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh, are they really? Still? I hardly ever get down there, you know.
HILDA (approaching). Honestly? You don’t run down to the garden every day?
MRS. SOLNESS (with a faint smile). I don’t “run” any place, not anymore.
HILDA. Well, but don’t you go down even once in a while and visit all those lovely things?
MRS. SOLNESS. It’s grown so strange to me, all of it. I’m almost frightened of seeing it again.
HILDA. Your own garden!
MRS. SOLNESS. I don’t feel it’s mine anymore.
HILDA. What’s that mean—?
MRS. SOLNESS. No, no, it isn’t. Not what it used to be, in Mother and Father’s time. They’ve taken so much of the garden away, it’s painful, Miss Wangel. Can you imagine— they’ve cut it up and built houses for strangers. People I don’t know. And they can sit at their windows and look in on me.
HILDA (her face lighting up). Mrs. Solness?
MRS. SOLNESS. Yes?
HILDA. May I stay here a while with you?
MRS. SOLNESS. Yes, of course, if you want to.
HILDA (moving a stool over to the armchair and sitting). Ah—you can sit and really sun yourself here, like a cat.
MRS. SOLNESS (laying her hand gently on HILDA’S neck). It’s kind of you to want to sit with me. I thought you’d be going in to my husband.
HILDA. What would I want with him?
MRS. SOLNESS. To help him, I thought.
HILDA. No, thanks. Besides, he’s not in. He’s over there with the workmen. But he looked so ferocious I didn’t dare speak to him.
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh, underneath he’s so mild and softhearted.
HILDA. Him!
MRS. SOLNESS. You hardly know him yet, Miss Wangel.
HILDA (looking at her warmly). Are you happy to be moving into the new place?
MRS. SOLNESS. I should be happy. It’s what Halvard wants—
HILDA. Oh, but not just for that reason.
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh yes, Miss Wangel. For that’s no more than my duty, giving in to him. But it isn’t always so easy forcing your thoughts to obey.
HILDA. I’m sure it can’t be.
MRS. SOLNESS. Believe me, it’s not, When one’s no better a person than I am, then—
HILDA. You mean, when one’s gone through all the sorrow you have—
MRS. SOLNESS. How did you hear of that?
HILDA. Your husband told me.
MRS. SOLNESS. With me he hardly ever mentions those things. Yes, I’ve been through more than my share in life, Miss Wangel.
HILDA (regarding her sympathetically and slowly nodding). Poor Mrs. Solness. First you had the fire—
MRS. SOLNESS (with a sigh). Yes. Everything of mine burned.
HILDA. And then what was worse followed.
MRS. SOLNESS (looks questioningly at her). Worse?
HILDA. The worst of all.
MRS. SOLNESS. What do you mean?
HILDA (softly). You lost your two little boys.
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh, them, yes. Yes, you see, that’s something quite different, that. That was an act of Providence, you know. And there one can only bow one’s head and submit. And be grateful.
HILDA. And are you?
MRS. SOLNESS. Not always, I’m afraid. I know very well it’s my duty. But all the same, I can’t.
HILDA. Of course not. That’s only natural.
MRS. SOLNESS. And time and again I have to remind myself that it was a just punishment for me—
HILDA. Why?
MRS. SOLNESS. Because I wasn’t staunch enough under misfortune.
HILDA. But I don’t see that—
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh no, no, Miss Wangel. Don’t talk anymore to me about the two little boys. We can only be happy for them. Because they’re well off—so well off now. No, it’s the small losses in life that strike at your heart. Losing all of those things that other people value at next to nothing.
HILDA (laying her arms on MRS. SOLNESS’S knee and looking up at her fondly). Dear Mrs. Solness—what sort of things? Tell me.
MRS. SOLNESS. As I say—just little things. There were all the old portraits on the walls that burned. And all the old silk dresses. They’d been in the family for ever so long, generations—they burned. And all Mother’s and Grandmother’s lace—that burned too. And just think—their jewels! (Heavily.) And then, all the dolls.
HILDA. The dolls?
MRS. SOLNESS (choking with tears). I had nine beautiful dolls.
HILDA. And they burned also?
MRS. SOLNESS. All of them. Oh, that was hard—so hard for me.
HILDA. Were they dolls that you’d had put away, ever since you were little?
MRS. SOLNESS. Not put away. I and the dolls had gone on living together.
HILDA. After you’d grown up?
MRS. SOLNESS. Yes, long after that.
HILDA. After you were married, too?
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh yes. As long as he didn’t see them, then— But then, poor things, they were all burned up. No one ever thought about saving them. Oh, it’s so sad to remember. Now you mustn’t laugh at me, Miss Wangel.
HILDA. I’m not laughing a bit.
MRS. SOLNESS. Because, you see, in a way there was life in them too. I used to carry them under my heart. Just like little unborn children.
(DR. HERDAL, with his hat in his hands, comes out through the door and spots MRS. SOLNESS and HILDA.)
DR. HERDAL. So you’re out here, Mrs. Solness, catching yourself a cold, hm?
MRS. SOLNESS. It seems so nice and warm here today.
DR. HERDAL. All right. But is something the matter? I got a note from you.
MRS. SOLNESS (getting up). Yes, there’s something I have to talk to you about.
DR. HERDAL. Fine. Perhaps we’d better go in, then. (To HILDA.) Still dressed for climbing mountains, hm?
HILDA (gaily, rising). That’s right—full gear! But I won’t be climbing and breaking my neck today. We two are going to stay quietly down below and watch, Doctor.
MRS. SOLNESS (to HILDA, in a low, frightened voice). Shh, shh—for God’s sake! He’s coming. Just try and get him out of this wild idea. And then, do let’s be friends, Miss Wangel. Can’t we be?
HILDA (throwing her arms impetuously around MRS. SOLNESS). Oh—if we only could!
MRS. SOLNESS (gently disengaging herself). Oh-oh-oh! There he is, Doctor. We’ve got to talk.
DR. HERDAL. Is this about him?
MRS. SOLNESS. Of course it is. Just come inside.
(She and DR. HERDAL enter the house. A moment after, SOLNESS comes up the steps from the garden. A serious look comes over HILDA’S face.)
SOLNESS (glancing toward the door of the house, carefully being closed from within). Have you noticed something, Hilda—that the moment I come, she goes?
HILDA. I’ve noticed that the moment you come, you make her go.
SOLNESS. Maybe so. But I can’t help that. (Scrutinizing her.) Are you cold, Hilda? You rather look it to me.
HILDA. I’ve just come up out of a tomb.
SOLNESS. Now what’s that mean?
HILDA. That I’ve been chilled right to the bone, Mr. Solness.
SOLNESS (slowly). I think I understand—
HILDA. What do you want here now?
SOLNESS. I caught sight of you from over there.
HILDA. But then you must have seen her too, hm?
SOLNESS. I knew she’d leave immediately if I came.
HILDA. Is it very hard on you, that she keeps on avoiding you like this?
SOLNESS. In a way it’s almost a relief.
HILDA. That you don’t have her right under your eyes?
SOLNESS. Yes.
HILDA. And you’re not always seeing how she broods over this business of the children?
SOLNESS. Yes. Mostly that.
(HILDA saunters across the veranda with her hands behind her back, takes a stance at the railing, and looks out over the garden.)
SOLNESS (after a short pause). Did you talk with her quite a while? (Hilda remains motionless, without answering.) I’m asking, did you talk quite a while? (HILDA says nothing.) What did she talk about, Hilda? (HILDA stays silent.) Poor Aline! It was the twins, I suppose. (HILDA shudders nervously, then quickly nods several times.) She’ll never get over it. Never in this world. (Coming closer.) Now you’re standing there like a statue again. The same as last night.
HILDA (turns and looks at him with great, serious eyes). I’m going away.
SOLNESS (sharply). Away!
HILDA. Yes.
SOLNESS. But I won’t let you!
HILDA. What can I do here now?
SOLNESS. Just be here, Hilda!
HILDA (looking him up and down). Sure, thanks a lot. You know it wouldn’t stop there.
SOLNESS (wildly). So much the better.
HILDA (with intensity). I just can’t hurt somebody I know! Or take away something that’s really hers—
SOLNESS. Who wants you to?
HILDA. A stranger, yes. Because that’s different, completely! Someone I never laid eyes on. But somebody I’ve gotten close to—! No, not that! Never!
SOLNESS. But what have I ever suggested?
HILDA. Oh, master builder, you know so well what would happen. And that’s why I’m going away.
SOLNESS. And what’ll become of me when you’re gone. What’ll I have to live for then? Afterwards?
HILDA (with the inscrutable look in her eyes). There’s no real problem for you. You have your duties to her. Live for those duties.
SOLNESS. Too late. These powers—these—these—
HILDA. Devils—
SOLNESS. Yes, devils! And the troll inside me too—they’ve sucked all the lifeblood out of her. (With a desperate laugh.) They did it to make me happy! Successful! And now she’s dead—thanks to me. And I’m alive, chained to the dead. (In anguish.) I—I, who can’t go on living without joy in life!
(HILDA goes around the table and sits on the bench with her elbows on the table and her head propped in her hands.)
HILDA (after watching him a while). What are you building next?
SOLNESS (shaking his head). Don’t think I’ll build much more now.
HILDA. No more warm, happy homes for mothers and fathers—and droves of children?
SOLNESS. Who knows if there’ll be any use for such homes in the future.
HILDA. Poor master builder! And you who’ve gone all these ten years and put your life into—nothing but that.
SOLNESS. Yes, you might as well say it, Hilda.
HILDA (in an outburst). Oh, it’s just so senseless, really, so senseless—the whole thing!
SOLNESS. What whole thing?
HILDA. Not daring to take hold of one’s own happiness. Of one’s own life! Just because someone you know is there, standing in the way.
SOLNESS. Someone you have no right to leave.
HILDA. Who knows if you really don’t have a right. And still, all the same— Oh, to sleep the whole business away! (She lays her arms down flat on the table, rests her head on her hands, and shuts her eyes.)
SOLNESS (turning the armchair and sitting by the table). Was yours a warm, happy home—up there with your father, Hilda?
HILDA (motionless, answering as if half asleep). I only had a cage.
SOLNESS. And you won’t go back in?
HILDA (as before). Wild birds never like cages.
SOLNESS. They’d rather go hunting in the open sky—
HILDA (still as before). Birds of prey like hunting best—
SOLNESS (letting his eyes rest on her). Oh, to have had the Viking spirit—
HILDA (in her usual voice, opening her eyes, but not moving). And the other? Say what that was!
(HILDA sits up on the bench, vivacious once more. Her eyes again have their happy, sparkling look.)
HILDA (nods to him). I know what you’re going to build next!
SOLNESS. Then you know more than I do, Hilda.
HILDA. Yes, master builders—they’re really so dumb.
SOLNESS. All right, what’s it going to be?
HILDA (nods again). The castle.
SOLNESS. What castle?
HILDA. My castle, of course.
SOLNESS. Now you want a castle?
HILDA. Let me ask you—don’t you owe me a kingdom?
SOLNESS. If I listen to you, I do.
HILDA. So. You owe me this kingdom, then. And who ever heard of a kingdom without a castle!
SOLNESS (more and more animated). Yes, they usually do go together.
HILDA. Good. So build it for me! Right now!
SOLNESS (laughing). Is everything always “right now”?
HILDA. That’s right! Because the ten years, they’re up—and I’m not going to wait any longer. So, come on, Mr. Solness—fork over the castle!
SOLNESS. It’s not easy owing you anything, Hilda.
HILDA. You should’ve thought of that before. It’s too late now. Come on—(Drumming on the table.) one castle on the table! It’s my castle! I want it now!
SOLNESS (more serious, leaning nearer her, with his arms on the table). What sort of castle did you imagine for yourself, Hilda?
HILDA (her expression veiling itself more and more, as if she were peering deep within herself; then, slowly). My castle must stand up—very high up—and free on every side. So I can see far—far out.
SOLNESS. And I suppose it’ll have a high tower?
HILDA. A terribly high tower. And at the highest pinnacle of the tower there’ll be a balcony. And out on that balcony I’ll stand—
SOLNESS (instinctively clutching his forehead). How you can want to stand at those dizzy heights—!
HILDA. Why not! I’ll stand right up there and look down on the others—the ones who build churches. And homes for mothers and fathers and droves of children. And you must come up and look down on them too.
SOLNESS (his voice low). Will the master builder be allowed to come up to the princess?
HILDA. If he wants to.
SOLNESS (lower still). Then I think he’ll come.
HILDA (nods). The master builder—he’ll come.
SOLNESS. But never build anymore—poor master builder.
HILDA (full of life). Oh, but he will! We two, we’ll work together. And that way we’ll build the loveliest—the most beautiful thing anywhere in the world.
SOLNESS (caught up). Hilda—tell me, what’s that!
HILDA (looks smilingly at him, shakes her head a little, purses her lips, and speaks as if to a child). Master builders, they are very—very stupid people.
SOLNESS. Of course they’re stupid. But tell me what it is! What’s the world’s most beautiful thing that we’re going to build together?
HILDA (silent a moment, then says, with an enigmatic look in her eyes). Castles in the air.
SOLNESS. Castles in the air?
HILDA (nodding). Yes, castles in the air! You know what a castle in the air is?
SOLNESS. It’s the loveliest thing in the world, you say.
HILDA (rising impatiently, with a scornful gesture of her hand). Why, yes, of course! Castles in the air—they’re so easy to hide away in. And easy to build too. (Looking contemptuously at him.) Especially for builders who have a—dizzy conscience.
SOLNESS (getting up). From this day on we’ll build together, Hilda.
HILDA (with a skeptical smile). A real castle in the air?
SOLNESS. Yes. One with solid foundations.
(RAGNAR BROVIK comes out of the house. He carries a large green wreath with flowers and silk ribbons.)
HILDA (in an outcry of joy). The wreath! Oh, that’ll be magnificent!
SOLNESS (surprised). Are you bringing the wreath, Ragnar?
RAGNAR. I promised the foreman I would.
SOLNESS (relieved). Oh. Then I suppose your father’s better?
RAGNAR. No.
SOLNESS. Didn’t he get a lift from what I wrote?
RAGNAR. It came too late.
SOLNESS. Too late!
RAGNAR. When she got back with it, he was in a coma. He’d had a stroke.
SOLNESS. But go home to him, then! Look after your father!
RAGNAR. He doesn’t need me anymore.
SOLNESS. But you need to be with him.
RAGNAR. She’s sitting by his bed.
SOLNESS (somewhat uncertain). Kaja?
RAGNAR (giving him a dark look). Yes—Kaja, yes.
SOLNESS. Go home, Ragnar, to both of them. Let me have the wreath.
RAGNAR (suppresses a mocking smile). You don’t mean you’re going to—
SOLNESS. I’ll take it down myself, thanks. (Takes the wreath from him.) And go along home. We won’t be needing you today.
RAGNAR. I’m aware that you won’t be needing me permanently. But today I’m staying.
SOLNESS. Well, then stay, if—you’re so anxious to.
HILDA (at the railing). Mr. Solness—I’ll stand here and watch you.
SOLNESS. Watch me!
HILDA. It’ll be terribly thrilling.
SOLNESS (in an undertone). We’ll talk about that later, Hilda. (He goes, with the wreath, down the steps and off through the garden.)
HILDA (looking after him, then turning to RAGNAR). It seems to me you might at least have thanked him.
RAGNAR. Thanked him? Should I have thanked him?
HILDA. Yes, you absolutely should have!
RAGNAR. If anything, it’s probably you I should thank.
HILDA. Why do you say that?
RAGNAR (without answering). But just look out for yourself, miss. Because, actually, you hardly know him yet.
HILDA (fiercely). Oh, I know him the best!
RAGNAR (with a bitter laugh). Thank him, when he’s held me down year after year! He, who made my own father doubt me. Made me doubt myself— And all that, just so he could—
HILDA (as if surmising something). He could—? Say it out!
RAGNAR. So he could keep her with him.
HILDA (with a start toward him). The girl at the desk!
RAGNAR. Yes.
HILDA (threateningly, with fists clenched). It isn’t true! You’re lying about him!
RAGNAR. I didn’t want to believe it either, before today—when she said it herself.
HILDA (as if beside herself). What did she say! I’ve got to know! Now! Right now!
RAGNAR. She said he’d taken possession of her mind—completely. That all her thoughts are caught up in him, only him. She says she’ll never let him go—that she wants to stay here where he is—
HILDA (her eyes flashing). She won’t be allowed to!
RAGNAR (searchingly). Who won’t allow her?
HILDA (quickly). He won’t either.
RAGNAR. Oh no—I understand everything now. From here on she could only be, shall we say—an inconvenience.
HILDA. You understand nothing—when you can talk like that! No, I’ll tell you why he kept her.
RAGNAR. Why?
HILDA. So he could keep you.
RAGNAR. Did he tell you that?
HILDA. No, but it’s true! It must be true! (Wildly.) I will—I will have it that way!
RAGNAR. But just the moment you come by—is when he drops her.
HILDA. You—you’re the one he dropped. What do you think he cares about strange girls like her?
RAGNAR (reflectively). You suppose he’s really been afraid of me all along?
HILDA. Him afraid? I wouldn’t be so conceited if I were you.
RAGNAR. Oh, I think he’s suspected for a long time that I had it in me all right. Besides—afraid—that’s exactly what he is, you know.
HILDA. Him! Oh, don’t give me that!
RAGNAR. In certain ways he’s afraid—this great master builder. When it comes to stealing other people’s happiness in life—like my father’s and mine—there he’s not afraid. But if it’s a matter of climbing up a measly piece of scaffolding—watch him take God’s own sweet time getting around to it!
HILDA. Oh, if you’d only seen him as I did once—way, high up in the spinning sky!
RAGNAR. You’ve seen that?
HILDA. Of course I have. How proud and free he looked, standing there, tying the wreath to the weather vane!
RAGNAR. I heard that he’d once gone up—just that once in his lifetime. Among us younger men, talking about it—it’s almost a legend now. But no power on earth could get him to do it again.
HILDA. He’ll do it again today.
RAGNAR (scornfully). Sure—tell me another!
HILDA. We’re going to see it!
RAGNAR. Neither you nor I will ever see that.
HILDA (in a frenzy). I will see it! I will and I must see it!
RAGNAR. But he’s not going to do it. He simply doesn’t dare. He’s got this disability now, and that’s it.
(MRS. SOLNESS comes out on the veranda.)
MRS. SOLNESS. (looking about). Isn’t he here? Where has he gone?
RAGNAR. Mr. Solness is down with the men.
HILDA. He took the wreath over.
MRS. SOLNESS (terrified). He took the wreath! Oh, God, no! Brovik—go down to him! Try to get him back up here!
RAGNAR. Should I say you’d like to speak with him?
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh yes, dear, do that. No, no—don’t say I’d like anything! You can say that somebody’s here—and he should come at once.
RAGNAR. Good. I’ll take care of it, Mrs. Solness. (He goes down the steps and out through the garden.)
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh, Miss Wangel, you can’t imagine how anxious I am about him.
HILDA. But is there anything here, really, to be so frightened about?
MRS. SOLNESS. Of course. It’s obvious. Suppose he goes through with this seriously—and tries to climb that scaffolding?
HILDA (thrilled). You think he might?
MRS. SOLNESS. One just never knows what he’ll come up with. He could easily do anything.
HILDA. Ah, so you do think that he’s—somewhat—?
MRS. SOLNESS. I don’t know what to think about him anymore. The doctor’s been telling me so much now, and when I put it all together with one thing and another that I’ve heard him say—
(DR. HERDAL opens the door and looks out.)
DR. HERDAL. Isn’t he coming right up?
MRS. SOLNESS. Yes, I guess so. In any case, I’ve sent after him.
DR. HERDAL (approaching). But I think you’d better go in, Mrs. Solness—
MRS. SOLNESS. No, no. I’ll stay out here and wait for Halvard.
DR. HERDAL. Yes, but some ladies are here asking for you—
MRS. SOLNESS. Good Lord, that too? And right at this moment!
DR. HERDAL. They say they absolutely must see the ceremony.
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh, well, I suppose I ought to go in to them after all. It is my duty.
DR. HERDAL. Can’t you just invite them to move on?
MRS. SOLNESS. No, that wouldn’t do. Now that they’re here, it’s my duty to make them welcome. (To HILDA.) But you stay here a while—until he comes.
DR. HERDAL. And try to hold him here talking as long as possible—
MRS. SOLNESS. Yes, do try, Miss Wangel, dear. Hold him, as hard as you can.
HILDA. Aren’t you the one who ought to be doing that?
MRS. SOLNESS. Lord, yes—it’s my duty, I know. But when you have duties in so many directions, then—
DR. HERDAL (looking toward the garden). There he comes!
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh, my—and I have to go in!
DR. HERDAL (to HILDA). Don’t say anything about my being here.
HILDA. Don’t worry. I’m sure I can find something else to talk to him about.
MRS. SOLNESS. And hold him, no matter what. I’m sure you can do it best.
(MRS. SOLNESS and DR. HERDAL go into the house. HILDA remains standing on the veranda. SOLNESS comes up the steps from the garden.)
SOLNESS. I hear someone wants me.
HILDA. Yes, I’m the someone, Mr. Solness.
SOLNESS. Oh, it’s you, Hilda. I was afraid it’d be Aline and the doctor.
HILDA. You’re pretty easily frightened, I guess!
SOLNESS. You think so?
HILDA. Yes, people say you’re afraid to go clambering around—like up on scaffolds.
SOLNESS. Well, that’s a special case.
HILDA. But you are afraid—it’s true, then?
SOLNESS. Yes, I am.
HILDA. Afraid of falling and killing yourself?
SOLNESS. No, not that.
HILDA. What, then?
SOLNESS. Afraid of retribution, Hilda.
HILDA. Of retribution? (Shaking her head.) I don’t follow that.
SOLNESS. Sit down and I’ll tell you something.
HILDA. Yes, do! Right now! (She sits on a stool by the railing and looks expectantly at him.)
SOLNESS (tosses his hat on the table). You know that I first started out with building churches.
HILDA (nods). I know that, of course.
SOLNESS. Because, you see, as a boy I came from a pious home out in the country. That’s why the building of churches seemed to me the noblest thing I could do with my life.
SOLNESS. And I think I can say that I built those poor country churches in so honest and warm and fervent a spirit that—that—
HILDA. That—what?
SOLNESS. Well, that I feel He should have been pleased with me.
HILDA. He? Who’s “He"?
SOLNESS. He who was to have the churches, of course. He whose honor and glory they served.
HILDA. I see! But are you sure that—that He wasn’t—well, pleased with you?
SOLNESS (scoffingly). He pleased with me! What are you saying, Hilda? He who turned the troll in me loose to stuff its pockets. He who put on call, right around the clock for me, all these—these—
HILDA. Devils—
SOLNESS. Yes—both kinds. Oh no, I pretty well got the idea that He wasn’t pleased with me. (Mysteriously.) Actually, that’s why He had the old house burn.
HILDA. That was why—?
SOLNESS. Yes, don’t you see? He wanted me to have the chance to become a complete master in my own realm—and enhance His glory with still greater churches. At first I didn’t understand what He was after—but then, all at once, it dawned on me.
HILDA. When was that?
SOLNESS. When I was building the church tower in Lysanger.
HILDA. I thought so.
SOLNESS. For you see, Hilda, up in those strange surroundings I used to go around musing and pondering inside myself. And I saw then, clearly, why He’d taken my children from me. It was to keep me from becoming attached to anything else. Anything like love and happiness, that is. I was only to be a master builder, nothing else. And all my life through, I was to go on building for Him. (Laughs.) But that never got very far.
HILDA. What did you do then?
SOLNESS. First, I searched my heart—tested myself—
HILDA. And then?
SOLNESS. Then I did the impossible. I no less than He.
SOLNESS. I’d never in my life been able to climb straight up to a great height. But that day I could.
HILDA (jumping up). Yes, yes, you could!
SOLNESS. And when I stood right up at the very top, hanging the wreath, I said to Him: Hear me, Thou Almighty! From this day on, I’ll be a free creator—free in my own realm, as you are in yours. I’ll build no more churches for you. Only homes for human beings.
HILDA (with great, luminous eyes). That was the singing I heard in the air!
SOLNESS. Yes—but His mill went right on grinding.
HILDA. What do you mean by that?
SOLNESS (looking despondently at her). This building homes for human beings—it’s not worth a bent pin, Hilda!
HILDA. You really feel that now?
SOLNESS. Yes, because now I see it. Human beings don’t know how to use these homes of theirs. Not for being happy in. And I couldn’t have found use for a home like that either—if I’d had one. (With a quiet, bitter laugh.) So that’s the sum total, as far, as far back as I can see. Nothing really built. And nothing sacrificed for the chance to build, either. Nothing, nothing—it all comes to nothing.
HILDA. Then will you never build anything again?
SOLNESS (animated). Why, I’m just now beginning!
HILDA. With what? What’ll you build? Tell me now!
SOLNESS. The one thing human beings can be happy in—that’s what I’m building now.
HILDA (looking intently at him). Master builder—you mean our castles in the air.
SOLNESS. Castles in the air, yes.
HILDA. I’m afraid you’d be dizzy before we got halfway up.
SOLNESS. Not if I went hand in hand with you, Hilda.
HILDA (with a touch of suppressed resentment). Only with me? Won’t we have company?
SOLNESS. Who else?
HILDA. Oh, her—that Kaja at the desk. Poor thing—don’t you want her along too?
SOLNESS. Ah, so she was the subject of Aline’s little talk.
HILDA. Is it true, or isn’t it?
SOLNESS (hotly). I wouldn’t answer a question like that! You’ll have to trust me, absolutely!
HILDA. For ten years I’ve trusted you utterly—utterly—
SOLNESS. You’ll have to keep on trusting me.
HILDA. Then let me see you high and free, up there!
SOLNESS (wearily). Oh, Hilda—I’m not up to that every day.
HILDA (passionately). I want you to! I want that! (Imploring.) Just once more, master builder! Do the impossible again!
SOLNESS (looking deep into her eyes). If I did try it, Hilda, I’d stand up there and talk to Him the same as before.
HILDA (with mounting excitement). What would you say to Him?
SOLNESS. I’d say: Hear me, Almighty God—you must judge me after your own wisdom. But from now on, I’ll build only what’s most beautiful in all this world—
HILDA (enraptured). Yes—yes—yes!
SOLNESS. Build it together with a princess that I love—
HILDA. Oh, tell Him that! Tell Him!
SOLNESS. Yes. And then I’ll say to Him: I’m going down now and throw my arms about her and kiss her—
HILDA.—many times! Say that!
SOLNESS. —many, many times, I’ll say.
HILDA. And then—?
SOLNESS. Then I’ll swing my hat in the air—and come down to earth, here—and do as I said.
HILDA (with outstretched arms). Now I see you again as if there was singing in the air!
SOLNESS (looks at her with bowed head). How did you ever become what you are, Hilda?
HILDA. How have you made me into what I am?
SOLNESS (decisively). The princess shall have her castle.
HILDA (jubilant, clapping her hands). Oh, Mr. Solness—! My lovely, lovely castle. Our castle in the air!
SOLNESS. On a solid foundation.
(Out in the street, faintly visible through the trees, a CROWD OF PEOPLE has gathered. Distant music of a brass band is heard from behind the new house. MRS. SOLNESS, with a fur stole around her neck, DR. HERDAL, with her white shawl on his arm, and several LADIES come out onto the veranda. RAGNAR BROVIK comes up at the same time from the garden.)
MRS. SOLNESS (to RAGNAR). There’ll be music too?
RAGNAR. Yes. They’re from the Building Trades Association. (To SOLNESS.) I’m supposed to tell you from the foreman that he’s ready to go up now with the wreath.
SOLNESS (taking his hat). Good. I’ll go down myself.
MRS. SOLNESS (anxiously). What are you going to do there, Halvard?
SOLNESS (brusquely). I’ve got to be down below with the men.
MRS. SOLNESS. Yes, down below. Please, stay down below.
SOLNESS. Don’t I always—as a normal rule? (He goes down the steps and off across the garden.)
MRS. SOLNESS (calling after him from the railing). But you must tell the man to be careful climbing! Promise me, Halvard.
DR. HERDAL (to MRS. SOLNESS). You see, I was right. He’s forgotten all about that craziness.
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh, what a relief! We’ve had men fall there twice now, and both times they were killed on the spot. (Turning to HILDA.) Thank you so much, Miss Wangel, for taking hold of him like that. I’m sure I never could have managed it.
DR. HERDAL (roguishly). You know, Miss Wangel—you have a gift for taking hold of a man that you shouldn’t hide!
(MRS. SOLNESS and DR. HERDAL move across to the LADIES, who stand nearer the steps, looking out over the garden. HILDA remains standing at the railing in the foreground. RAGNAR goes over to her.)
RAGNAR (with stifled laughter, dropping his voice). Miss Wangel—do you see all the young people, down there in the street?
HILDA. Yes.
RAGNAR. They’re my fellow students, come for a look at the master.
HILDA. Why do they want to look at him?
RAGNAR. They want to see him afraid to climb up on his own house.
HILDA. So, that’s what the boys want!
RAGNAR (with seething scorn). He’s kept us down so long—now we’re going to see him have the pleasure of keeping himself down.
HILDA. You’re not going to see it. Not today.
RAGNAR (smiling). Really? And where will we see him!
HILDA. High—high up by the weather vane, that’s where.
RAGNAR (laughs). Him! Oh, you bet!
HILDA. His will—is to climb straight to the top. And that’s where you’ll see him, too.
RAGNAR. His will, yes, sure—that I believe. But he simply can’t do it. His head would be swimming before he was even halfway up. He’d have to crawl down again on his hands and knees.
DR. HERDAL (pointing). Look! There goes the foreman up the ladder.
MRS. SOLNESS. And he’s got the wreath to carry, too. Oh, if he’ll only take care.
RAGNAR (crying out in astonishment). But it’s—!
HILDA (in an outburst of joy). It’s the master builder himself!
MRS. SOLNESS (with a shriek of terror). Yes, it’s Halvard! Oh, my God! Halvard! Halvard!
DR. HERDAL. Shh. Don’t shout at him!
MRS. SOLNESS (half distracted). I’ll go to him. Get him down again!
DR. HERDAL (restraining her). All of you—don’t move!
HILDA (motionless, following SOLNESS with her eyes). He’s climbing and climbing. Always higher. Always higher! Look! Just look!
RAGNAR (breathlessly). Now he’s got to turn back. It’s all he can do.
HILDA. He’s climbing and climbing. He’s almost there.
MRS. SOLNESS. Oh, I’ll die of fright. I can’t bear to look.
DR. HERDAL. Then don’t watch him.
HILDA. There he is, on the highest planks! Straight to the top!
DR. HERDAL. Nobody move—you hear me!
HILDA (exulting with quiet intensity). At last! At last! Now I can see him great and free again.
RAGNAR (nearly speechless). But this is—
HILDA. All these ten years I’ve seen him like this. How strong he stands! Terribly thrilling, after all. Look at him! Now he’s hanging the wreath on the vane!
RAGNAR. I feel like I’m seeing something here that’s—that’s impossible.
HILDA. Yes, it’s the impossible, now, that he’s doing! (With the inscrutable look in her eyes.) Do you see anyone up there with him?
RAGNAR. There’s nobody else.
HILDA. Yes, there’s someone he’s struggling with.
RAGNAR. You’re mistaken.
HILDA. You don’t hear singing in the air, either?
RAGNAR. It must be the wind in the treetops.
HILDA. I hear the singing—a tremendous music! (Crying out in wild exultation.) Look, look! He’s waved his hat! He’s waving to us down here! Oh, wave—wave back up to him again—because now, now, it’s fulfilled! (Snatches the white shawl from the doctor, waves it, and calls out.) Hurray for master builder Solness!
DR. HERDAL. Stop! Stop! In God’s name—!
(The LADIES on the veranda wave their handkerchiefs, and shouts of “Hurray” fill the street below. Suddenly they are cut short, and the CROWD breaks into a cry of horror. A human body, along with some planks and splintered wood, is indistinctly seen plunging down between the trees.)
MRS. SOLNESS AND THE LADIES (as one). He’s falling! He’s falling!
(MRS. SOLNESS sways and sinks back in a faint; the LADIES catch her up amid cries and confusion. The CROWD in the street breaks the fence down and storms into the garden. DR. HERDAL also rushes down below. A short pause.)
HILDA (stares fixedly upward and speaks as if petrified). My master builder.
RAGNAR (leans, trembling, against the railing). He must have been smashed to bits. Killed on the spot.
ONE OF THE LADIES (as MRS. SOLNESS is carried into the house). Run down to the doctor—
RAGNAR. I can’t move—
ANOTHER LADY. Call down to someone, then!
RAGNAR (trying to call). How is it? Is he alive?
A VOICE (down in the garden). Mr. Solness is dead.
OTHER VOICES (nearer). His whole head’s been crushed—He fell right into the quarry.
HILDA (turns to RAGNAR and says quietly). I can’t see him up there anymore.
RAGNAR. How horrible this is. And so, after all—he really couldn’t do it.
HILDA (as if out of a hushed, dazed triumph). But he went straight, straight to the top. And I heard harps in the air. (Swings the shawl up overhead and cries with wild intensity.) My—my master builder!