Monologue

Solness Monologue from The Master Builder

From The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen

male · anguished · 1:00 min

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For you see, Hilda--up there, amidst those new surroundings, I used to go about musing and pondering within myself. Then I saw plainly why he had taken my little children from me. It was that I should have nothing else to attach myself to. No such thing as love and happiness, you understand. I was to be only a master builder--nothing else, and all my life long I was to go on building for him. (Laughs.) But I can tell you nothing came of that! (HILDA: What did you do then?) First of all, I searched and tried my own heart-- (HILDA: And then?) The I did the impossible--I, no less than he.

About this piece

Solness reflects on his past and the sacrifices he made in his pursuit of being a master builder, revealing deep emotional scars related to loss and isolation.

40s · sadness · identity · loss · ambition · isolation

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