Characters Discussed
Halvard Solness
Halvard Solness, the master builder. Although he is no longer young, he is evidently attractive to women: His wife, Aline, his bookkeeper, Kaia Fosli, and Hilda Wangel, a young woman from a nearby village who had seen him only once ten years earlier, are all in love with him. Solness became successful after a tragedy, the death of his infant twin sons, caused him to turn from building churches to building houses. He has achieved success through working for Knut Brovik, whom he surpassed, put down, and now employs. He has two fears: fear of the younger generation, which will treat him as he has treated Brovik, and fear of heights. The fear of heights interferes with his hanging a wreath on the tower of each new building, a task he now delegates to a workman. When vivacious Hilda Wangel appears to collect “the kingdom” that he promised her ten years earlier after he had hung his last wreath on the church tower in her village, Solness is at last overpowered by her stronger personality. Through Hilda’s influence, he approves plans designed by the young architect Ragnar Brovik and climbs a scaffolding to place a wreath on a new house. Both courses mean oblivion for him. He falls into a quarry and is crushed.
Hilda Wangel
Hilda Wangel, a fanciful young woman from the village of Lysanger. Little more than a child at the time, Hilda had fallen in love with Solness when he hung a wreath on the church tower in Lysanger. He has remained her hero. She is a charming young woman, filled with a quality the playwright calls “joy in life.” When Solness falls into the quarry, Hilda is exalted. She cries, “But he mounted right to the top. And I heard harps in the air. . . . My—my Master Builder!”
Aline Solness
Aline Solness, Halvard’s wife, a quiet, hopeless woman, once beautiful. Aline’s life purpose ended because of a fire that destroyed her family home, in which she and Halvard lived, because her twin baby boys died soon afterward. Through a sense of duty, she insisted on nursing the babies when she was ill from the excitement of the fire, and they died as a result. Halvard says that Aline had a talent “for building up children’s souls in perfect balance, and in noble and beautiful forms.” She keeps three nurseries in their present house, and their new home is to contain three empty nurseries. Aline is naturally jealous of Kaia and Hilda, although she and Hilda come to like each other. Knowing her husband’s fear of heights, she tries to prevent his fatal climb. She faints when he falls at the conclusion of the play.
Knut Brovik
Knut Brovik, formerly an independent architect, now employed in Solness’ office. Old, ill, and dying, Brovik lives only for his son, an aspiring architect. His one wish is that he might see Ragnar a success. Because Solness never approves anything that Ragnar does, Brovik has come to doubt his son’s talent. He pleads with Solness to let Ragnar have the commission for a villa, plans for which he has already drawn. Although Brovik gave Solness his start in architecture, Solness, knowing Ragnar’s talent, will not give Brovik any encouragement. Brovik is dead when Hilda finally persuades Solness to approve Ragnar’s plans for the villa.
Kaia Fosli
Kaia Fosli, Knut Brovik’s niece, Solness’ bookkeeper, engaged to marry Ragnar. Kaia is a quiet girl in love with Solness. Solness employs her to keep Ragnar, who is very much in love with her, in his employ, and hence...
(This entire section contains 700 words.)
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in subjection.
Ragnar Brovik
Ragnar Brovik, a talented young man employed by Solness as a draftsman. Ragnar represents the younger generation that Solness fears will displace him. Ragnar does not realize his ability until he learns from Hilda that Solness employs Kaia not because he cares for her at all but because he fears Ragnar’s talent and wants to keep it hidden.
Dr. Herdal
Dr. Herdal, a physician concerned about Halvard and Aline. He serves as an audience for both Halvard and Aline and thus is a vehicle for expressing their personalities.
Characters
Knut Brovik
Formerly an architect, Knut Brovik now assists Solness. As the play begins, his
declining health leads him to confront Solness about the insufficient support
given to his son, Ragnar. Knut confesses that his faith in Ragnar has waned
because Solness has never acknowledged his son's work. Using the last of his
strength, Knut insists that Solness review and appreciate Ragnar's drawings.
Unfortunately, Solness responds too late, and Knut lapses into a coma before he
can read his employer’s feedback.
Ragnar Brovik
Ragnar, Knut’s son, works as a draftsman for Solness. His stooped posture in
the play symbolizes his inability to assert himself and demand recognition from
his boss. When his frustration over Solness’s lack of acknowledgment of his
talent leads him to confront Solness, he quickly retreats when told his
drawings are worthless. Despite this, Ragnar embodies youth and potential,
which Solness fears.
Ragnar’s lack of insight is evident when he concludes that Solness has denied both him and his father independence to keep Kaja close. His bitterness surfaces in the final scene when he attends the celebration of Solness’s new home, hoping to witness Solness’s failure to climb the tower. Ragnar remarks on how "horrible" Solness’s fall is, and his final words emphasize his employer’s failure.
Kaja Fosli
Kaja works as Solness’s bookkeeper and has fallen deeply in love with him,
despite being engaged to Ragnar. Ibsen does not fully develop her character,
using her primarily to highlight Solness’s power and status.
Dr. Herdal
Dr. Herdal serves as the family doctor and advisor. He counsels Solness about
his wife’s condition and provides her with comfort and support.
Aline Solness
Aline Solness, Halvard’s wife, has become barren both physically and
emotionally due to the tragedies she has endured. When her parents' home and
all its contents were destroyed by fire, Aline could not recover from the loss
of her possessions and memories. The resulting mental and emotional strain
prevented her from properly nursing her babies, and her stubbornness made her
refuse any help. She admits she lacked the strength to endure the fire and
believes she was punished for this through the death of her children.
The sense of duty she demonstrated in caring for her children has only intensified over the years. Her daily life revolves around her obligations to others. When Hilda arrives at the house with few belongings, Aline immediately purchases enough items to make her feel at home. However, when Hilda expresses her gratitude, Aline replies that it was her duty to care for her guest, stripping away any sense of spontaneity or genuine connection. She treats her husband similarly, telling Hilda that it is "her duty to give in to him." Her estrangement from him is evident as she leaves the room whenever he enters.
She seems to find no joy in her tasks or interactions with others, especially her husband. Haggard and depressed, Aline dresses in black, as if in constant mourning. However, she does show some openness toward Hilda near the end of the play, when the young woman takes the time to discuss the past with her. Halvard suggests that his wife once had the potential for a fulfilling life, noting that she had a talent for "building up the small souls of children," but that potential was shattered by the death of their boys.
Halvard Solness
Master builder Halvard Solness is a forceful, ambitious man, accustomed to
getting his way. His success stems from his drive to be the best in his field
and his ruthlessness. Knut Brovik claims that Solness's ambition caused him to
"cut him down" and admits that he broke Brovik's spirit. Solness refuses to let
Ragnar become independent, declaring that he will "never give ground" to the
young. His determination to hold Ragnar back comes from his fear that if the
younger man gets a chance, he will "hammer [him] to the ground" and break him
just as he did to Ragnar's father.
Solness attempts to rationalize his ambition by explaining his original intentions. He tells Hilda that his aspiration was to construct churches as tributes to God, believing this to be the most noble pursuit of his life. However, his plans somehow went astray. He recounts, "I built those poor country churches in so honest and warm and fervent a spirit that . . . He should have been pleased with me," yet for some unknown reason, He wasn't. Consequently, Solness insists that God "turned the troll in me loose to stuff its pockets, put devils in me," diverting his ambition towards more selfish goals. Solness views the house fire as a sign of God's discontent and believes that God took his children to prevent him from forming attachments to anything other than his mission. He feels his life has been devastated as a result. Additionally, he blames himself for the tragic fate that befell him and his wife. He feels indebted to Aline, as his ambition to develop the land on which her parents' home stood unleashed his "troll," causing the house fire and draining her vitality.
Nevertheless, with Hilda's arrival, Solness's spirit and self-assurance are revived. She redirects his focus back to his craft by urging him to build a "castle in the air" for them. Her evident sexual desire for him also rejuvenates him, making him feel youthful and powerful once again.
Hilda Wangel
Hilda is an enigmatic young woman who comes to stay with the Solnesses after
Aline invites her for a visit. The two had met at a mountain lodge the previous
summer. However, Hilda's true motive for the visit is to seduce Solness and
persuade him to fulfill his promise to build a castle for her, a promise he
made ten years prior when she was twelve. Solness left such a lasting
impression on the young Hilda that she has become infatuated with the man she
idolizes as a god.
In her middle-class Victorian world, Hilda tries to absolve herself of responsibility for her desires, which threaten to disrupt a marriage. She insists that, like Solness, she too has a "troll" and "devils" inside her that have driven her to him. Solness acknowledges that when these internal forces grow strong, "we have to give in—whether we want to or not." This idea of Hilda being controlled by uncontrollable forces is further emphasized by Solness's description of her as a "little devil in white," screaming his name as he climbed the tower in her hometown.
Occasionally, Hilda’s concern for others surpasses her fixation on Solness. She urges Solness to offer some praise for Ragnar’s drawings to ease Ragnar’s father's mind as he nears death. Additionally, she displays empathy towards Aline when the older woman recounts her tragic past. At one point, Hilda is so moved by sympathy that she tells Solness she intends to leave. However, when Solness confesses that he no longer cares about his work, she becomes furious at the thought of anything hindering his creativity, and her passion for him resurfaces. When he falls from the tower at the play’s conclusion, she cannot accept his fate, refusing to take her eyes off the heights he has reached.
