Peer Gynt

He believed this play to be purely Norwegian, one that “would hardly be understood outside the Scandinavian countries.” However, Ibsen’s fears turned out to be in vain. “Peer Gynt” was translated into most European languages, and Edvard Grieg wrote magnificent music for this play, further strengthening its popularity. The 20th century brought numerous theatrical productions and film adaptations of Ibsen’s drama.

The poem’s action spans the first half of the 19th century and takes place in Norway (in the Gudbrann valley and the surrounding mountains), on the Moroccan coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Sahara Desert, in a madhouse in Cairo, at sea and again in Norway—on the hero’s homeland. The main character is Peer Gynt, the son of Jon Gynt, once rich and respected by everyone, who later became a drunk and lost all his money. Peer wants to restore everything destroyed by his father, but he gets lost in his boasting, dreams, and daydreams. He is drawn into a fight, and on the day of her wedding he abducts Ingrid, the bride from Hegst ed. He is declared an outlaw and forced to flee from his village. While in exile, he meets three shepherdesses who hunger for love, a woman in green, the daughter of the old man of Dovr, whom he wants to marry, and also the monster Bøyg en…