This is a poetic translation of this poetic and satirical
fantasy play by Henrik Ibsen, the great Norwegian dramatist who also wrote such serious plays as THE DOLL''S HOUSE, GHOSTS, and ROMERSHOLM. Ibsen himself said that critics and readers were always trying to read deeper meanings into his play than he had meant there. He intended only to write a fun fantasy play, with mild ribbing at a few of the odder aspects of society and life, both foreign and, to a lesser extent, at home (as he was being supported and given artistic freedom by an artist''s pension from his home state, he did not wish to offend them too much). Yet it was after this play that he wrote those things which changed society forever.
At the beginning of the story, Peer comes home from a hunting expedition without his rifle and with his pants all torn up. He tells his
mother a tale about being caught by a reindeer and borne on a wild ride over the mountains. His mother chides him, and says he could have married a rich neighbor girl, but she''s marrying someone else, since he was gone so long. He puts his mother up on the roof for giving him grief, and goes off to the wedding. There he meets the young and beautiful
love of his life, Solveig; later, after being disrespected by all and sundry, he kidnaps the bride. He ravishes and then rejects her. This action makes him an outlaw, and nearly all of his and his mother''s property is forfeit, and confiscated. While he is up in the mountains, he meets some girls and makes merry , and later one girl dressed in green, who turns out to be the
Troll King''s daughter. He is taken in for the wedding feast, but refuses to let the Troll King blind him, and, with the help of the ringing church bells, fights off the little trolls and later the great invisible one that haunts those hills. He takes the trolls motto to heart without meaning to: "To himself a man must be enough," forsaking his own motto, "To himself a man must be true." Later, when Solveig seeks him out and moves into his hut, the troll maiden comes with their son, and Peer cannot bear to sully his beloved Solveig with the
truth of his being and past conduct, although he rationalizes this as her purity.
Peer then goes home, seeking solace from his mother, but she dies while he plays at a journey with her, as they used to do when he was a child. He must leave, however, without even burying her, as his life is forfeit if he is caught there.
He embarks on many exploits and becomes rich; yet all that he has is stolen from him by his treacherous companions. He plays at being a Prophet on a horse and in clothes someone stole from the Emperor and abandoned. He winds up in a madhouse, crowned Emperor of the madmen--and the keeper is madder than them all.
Peer finally makes his way home, pursued by the Buttonmaker, who wants to melt down his soul and start over, because he was meant by the Master to be great and shining, but failed by being "enough" and not "true." He meets the Troll King and the Devil, who confront him with his reality--he''s not even fit for Hell.
But he comes to Solveig''s hut and remembers, sort of, though both have grown old now. She says his true self has been with her and she protects him. The Buttonmaker leaves, saying he''ll see him again, at the third crossroads, and then...?
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