A Doll's House by
The classic play about a woman's fight for independence and her desire to break free of her role as housewife. One of the best-known, most frequently performed modern plays, A Doll's House richly displays the genius with which Henrik Ibsen pioneered realistic prose drama. The central character, Nora, epitomizes the human struggle against the humiliating constraints of social conformity. Her ultimate rejection of a smothering marriage and life in a "doll's house" shocked theatergoers of the late nineteenth century and opened new horizons for playwrights and their audiences. However, daring social themes are only one aspect of Ibsen's power as a dramatist. A Doll's House demonstrates his ability to create realistic dialogue and a suspenseful flow of events, and bring to life the psychologically penetrating characterizations that make the struggles of his dramatic personages utterly convincing. Here is a deeply absorbing dramatic work as readable as it is eminently playable. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
Four Major Plays by
Taken from the highly acclaimed Oxford Ibsen, this collection of Ibsen's plays includes A Doll's House, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler, and The Master Builder.
Hedda Gabler by
Hedda Gabler is bored with everything, even her new marriage. Resigning herself to a life of domesticity, she becomes nervous when her husband, George Tesman, tells her they are tight on money. George hasn't become the success Hedda thought he would. When George's academic rival, Eilert Lövborg, enters the picture, Hedda begins manipulating the lives of others, leading to multiple tragedies. First published in 1890 in Norway and performed in 1891 in Germany, this play by Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen explores the consequences that can arise from a desire for freedom and power. This is an unabridged version of the translation by Edmund Gosse and William Archer.
Hedda Gabler: A Play in Four Acts by
Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler was first published in 1890. Despite premiering the next year to negative reviews, the play since been hailed as a classic work of realism, with the character Hedda being considered by some critics as one of the great dramatic roles; a female Hamlet. Gabler is actually the character's maiden name rather than her name by marriage (which is Hedda Tesman); on entitling it this Ibsen wrote: "My intention in giving it this name was to indicate that Hedda as a personality is to be regarded rather as her father's daughter than her husband's wife."
A Master Builder by
"Wallace Shawn is one of the most complex and uncompromising moralists of the American theater." - Ben Brantley, New York Times "At once the U.S.'s most profound and overlooked playwright." - David Hare This translation and adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Master Builder Solness by Wallace Shawn, a writer known for his own bleakly hilarious and provocative plays, was used by legendary director Andr#65533; Gregory during fifteen years of work on a theatrical production which, instead of being produced as a play, was made into a film by Jonathan Demme--a film that is an utterly contemporary vision of Ibsen's classic play.
The Master Builder and Other Plays by
Showing his development from dramas of societal conflict to vivid portrayals of psychological turmoil, Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and Other Plays is translated with an introduction by Una Ellis-Fermor in Penguin Classics. The four plays in this volume, written late in Ibsen's career as a dramatist, move away from his earlier preoccupation with people at odds with society to instead explore the inward struggle with their own thoughts, feelings and dreams. The Master Builder depicts a powerful man whose illusions collapse in the face of a young woman's courageous common sense. In Rosmersholm, an idealist is forced to question his beliefs and confront terrible truths about the past, while Little Eyolf portrays a man's self-deception, which brings both tragic repercussions for his family and new hope for their future. And in John Gabriel Borkman, a dying woman returns to reclaim the affections and loyalty of her nephew, resulting in a bitter struggle with her sister. Una Ellis-Fermor's lucid translation does full justice to Ibsen's naturalistic dialogue. In her introduction, she discusses the themes of truth, freedom with responsibility, love and innocence that connect these four works, and examines each play in detail. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
