FOUR MAJOR PLAYS
A Doll House, The Wild Duck,
• Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder
"Before I write down one word, I have to have the character in mind through and through. I must penetrate to the last wrinkle of his soul...
Then I do not let him go until his fate is fulfilled." Thus Henrik Ibsen described the process of visual creation by which he shaped the major works of his maturity. Brilliant in design, multi-leveled in meaning, these four plays project Ibsen's revealing criticism of society and his almost uncanny perception of the intricacies of human motivations and relationships. Exposed are the demonic forces of greed, fear, sexual hostility, and willful destructiveness, rising to shatter the prosaic surface of middle-class life. Here, presented in memorable new translations, are dramas of universal significance, the crowning achievements of the artist who stands as the father of the modern theater. As Rolf Fjelde writes, it was Ibsen's purpose "not to lull-nor merely shock-the bourgeoisie, not to lecture the prole-tariat, but to instigate human beings into existence, to dare each individual to think, to feel, to question, to live...