Master builder (annotated), the

The Master Builder (Norwegian: Bygmester Solness) is a dramatic work by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's most significant and revealing works. Halvard Solness is the middle-aged Master Builder of a little town in Norway who has become a successful architect of some distinction and local reputation. One day while having a visit from his friend Doctor Herdal, Solness is visited by Hilde Wangel, a young woman of twenty-four from another town whom the doctor promptly recognizes from a recent trip. Soon after the Doctor leaves and Solness is alone with Hilde, she reminds him that they are not strangers and that they had previously met in her home town ten years ago when she was fourteen years of age. When Solness does not respond to her quickly enough she reminds him that at one point he had made advances upon her, offered a romantic interlude, and promised her castles in the sky during their encounter, which she believed. He denies this and she gradually convinces him, however, that she can assist him with his household duties and he takes her into his home. This edition has been formatted for your reader, with an active table of contents. The play has also been annotated, with additional information about the work and also the playwright, including an overview, plot, information about realism, characters, themes, adaptations, biographical and bibliographical information.