Gladys
08-21-2008, 07:48 PM
With Halvard Solness fallen to his death from top of his own house, the play ends with:
HILDA. [As if in quiet spell-bound triumph.] But he mounted right to the top. And I heard harps in the air. [Waves her shawl in the air, and shrieks with wild intensity.] My--my Master Builder!
Clearly an elated Hilda has a 'castle in the air' fit for a princess. Earlier in the last Act, she and Solness talk of castles, plural. It would seem that the Master Builder has just built such a castle for Ragnar and his princess, Kaia Brovnik. What about his dutiful wife, Aline Solness, a woman steeped in tragedy after her beloved ‘castle’ burnt down, "But it's what came of the fire--the dreadful thing that followed---! That is the thing! That, that, that!"?
We learn much later that 'the dreadful thing' is not the death of her twins, "That was a dispensation of Providence; and in such things one can only bow in submission--yes, and be thankful, too". When they married, Aline had long been a princess in a castle! Not for her, mere 'houses for people to live in', 'houses for strangers'. Yet for a decade, Aline has been trapped in a dreadful 'cage' of conjugal duty to Solness, a virtual stranger burdened with shattered dreams.
It follows that in daring to climb to the pinnacle of his new house, in again talking face to face with almighty God and laying the wreath, the Master Builder builds a new castle (in the air) for Aline also. Hilda is understandably ecstatic: what is life for, if not to build castles in the air for princesses to live in?
HILDA. [As if in quiet spell-bound triumph.] But he mounted right to the top. And I heard harps in the air. [Waves her shawl in the air, and shrieks with wild intensity.] My--my Master Builder!
Clearly an elated Hilda has a 'castle in the air' fit for a princess. Earlier in the last Act, she and Solness talk of castles, plural. It would seem that the Master Builder has just built such a castle for Ragnar and his princess, Kaia Brovnik. What about his dutiful wife, Aline Solness, a woman steeped in tragedy after her beloved ‘castle’ burnt down, "But it's what came of the fire--the dreadful thing that followed---! That is the thing! That, that, that!"?
We learn much later that 'the dreadful thing' is not the death of her twins, "That was a dispensation of Providence; and in such things one can only bow in submission--yes, and be thankful, too". When they married, Aline had long been a princess in a castle! Not for her, mere 'houses for people to live in', 'houses for strangers'. Yet for a decade, Aline has been trapped in a dreadful 'cage' of conjugal duty to Solness, a virtual stranger burdened with shattered dreams.
It follows that in daring to climb to the pinnacle of his new house, in again talking face to face with almighty God and laying the wreath, the Master Builder builds a new castle (in the air) for Aline also. Hilda is understandably ecstatic: what is life for, if not to build castles in the air for princesses to live in?