Peer Gynt (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Henrik Ibsen
- First Published: 1867
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Satire
- Time of Work: Early nineteenth century to the 1860’s
- Setting: Norway
- Genres: Satire, Drama, Folklore, Fantasy, Fairy tale
- Subjects: Folkloric or magical people, Nineteenth century, Marriage, Sin or Original sin, Farms, farmers, or farming, Hell, Weddings, Monsters, Braggarts, Norway or Norwegians
- Locales: Norway
Characters Discussed
Peer Gynt, a poetic, contradictious, and intriguing character made of the stuff of legendary heroes and sometimes confused with them in his own mind. He is one of the playwright’s greatest character creations and the least Victorian. As Peer himself would have wished to be, he is a citizen of the world. A youthful braggart, idler, brawler, and dreamer, he is a ragged, lying outcast from village life, the joy and despair of Aase, his mother. After stealing a bride from her unwelcome groom, he flees from his village, but he quickly abandons the stolen bride...
[The entire page is 1576 words long]
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