Wallace Shawn: Halvard Solness

A Master Builder

Halvard Solness

Knut Brovik: I *know* in my heart that he is talented.
Halvard Solness: But he just hasn't fully mastered that much of the discipline. I mean, he knows how to draw.
Knut Brovik: You hadn't mastered that much of the discipline either when you were working for me. But that didn't stop you from - plunging in - and seizing the moment and making a tremendous impression on everyone. No. It didn't stop you from luring away the wind that was in my sails at the time. It didn't stop you from just rushing past everyone around you.
Halvard Solness: Yes, it worked out that way, didn't it?
Knut Brovik: Oh, yes. It did. That's the way it worked out

Halvard Solness: I know she can actually *feel* it if I'd look at her from *behind*. And if I come anywhere near her, she starts to shake, she literally trembles. How can you account for that?

Knut Brovik: Do you think we might have a few moments to discuss something in private?
Halvard Solness: Of course.

Halvard Solness: You're gonna leave this world - with as much *dignity* as you can find in yourself.

Halvard Solness: I know that my luck is going to turn around. Everything is gonna spin out in the opposite direction.
Dr. Ejlert Herdal: Now, why would you think that? What would make that happen?
Halvard Solness: Well - those who are younger will begin the process. I know that.
Dr. Ejlert Herdal: No. I have to say, I think that's absurd.
Halvard Solness: No. One or another of those younger people is gonna ask me to step aside - and that will be that. You know what they say: "The younger generation will just show up one day and knock on the door."
Dr. Ejlert Herdal: Well, what if they do?
Halvard Solness: What if they do? Well, that'll - that'll simply be the end of Master Builder Solness. That's all I'm saying. It will simply be the end - of Master Builder Solness. That's all I'm going to say.

Halvard Solness: How else are you supposed to behave - when you have to cope with a mentally sick man in the house?
Aline Solness: "Mentally sick." Are you "mentally sick"?
Halvard Solness: Well, now, let's not say "sick." Let's just say a bit disturbed. A bit unbalanced.

Halvard Solness: You know, the funny thing is that I've become so disturbed by younger people.
Hilde Wangel: What? Younger people?
Halvard Solness: They upset me so much - that I've sort of closed my door here and locked myself in. I mean, I'm afraid that they're gonna come here and they're gonna knock on the door and then they're going to break in.
Hilde Wangel: Well, I think you should just open the door and let them in.
Halvard Solness: Open the door?
Hilde Wangel: Yes. Yes. So that they can gently - and quietly come inside - and it can be something good for you. ...
Halvard Solness: Open the door?
Hilde Wangel: Can you? Master Builder, can you?

Halvard Solness: Do you know that I honestly can't figure you out at all?
Hilde Wangel: You can't? Really? I am so simple.
Halvard Solness: Well, you're not so simple - 'cause I honestly can't tell whether you really mean all these things you're saying or whether you're joking.
Hilde Wangel: Oh, you mean teasing? The way you teased me.

Aline Solness: So what are you so upset about?
Halvard Solness: Upset? Am I upset? I think I might be upset because of the burden of all the guilt, Aline. I haven't done anything and yet I feel I'm being ground down into the dirt overpowered by guilt.

Halvard Solness: You see, there's always a balancing - that has to occur. In other words, everything I've done, everything I've achieved, it all has to be balanced out. Has to be paid for. Even after the down payment, a price must still be paid. And the currency, in which the payment is demanded, isn't money. It's human happiness. And my good fortune, it can't be paid for just with my happiness alone. No, it also has to be paid for with the happiness of other people. You see, every day, I have to get up and I have to watch the price being paid for my benefit all day long.
Hilde Wangel: Obviously you're talking about your wife.

Halvard Solness: Hilde, have you ever noticed - that sometimes the thing which is *impossible* - can somehow still tempt you, can somehow still cry out to you?

Halvard Solness: It's so good for me - that you came to me. It's such a wonderful feeling to have someone to talk with.
Hilde Wangel: You mean you can't talk with her?
Halvard Solness: Well, not in the way I want to talk - and need to talk. I mean, we simply can't talk about this. Or about most things, really.

Halvard Solness: You know, in all those old books of the Norse sagas, have you done any reading in those old books, Hilde?
Hilde Wangel: Yes, certainly.
Halvard Solness: Well, they always talk about the Vikings. They always describe how the Vikings went to foreign countries and - they set fire to the countryside and they robbed and they stole and they beat men to death.
Hilde Wangel: They seized the women.
Halvard Solness: They just took them away.
Hilde Wangel: Carried them off in their ships.
Halvard Solness: Well, those Vikings really had those consciences that were - that were strong and robust. You know, and in so many of those stories, some of those women whom they carried off, they became so attached to the men that they refused to be parted from them. Does that make any sort of sense to you, Hilde?
Hilde Wangel: It makes complete sense to me.

Hilde Wangel: Master Builder, I wonder if perhaps you were simply born with an oversensitive conscience.
Halvard Solness: Wh-What does that mean?
Hilde Wangel: It means that your conscience is very delicate and it's much too weak and it is too easily crushed by heavy things.
Halvard Solness: I see. And what sort of a conscience should I have then?
Hilde Wangel: I would like you to have a more robust conscience which can *lift* up those things and bear their weight.

Halvard Solness: Would you agree with me, possibly, that there are certain people in the world, certain particular selected individuals, who've received a certain favor, and they've been granted a certain power, so that they can desire something so passionately - that the thing they wish for simply has to take place?
Hilde Wangel: Well, if there are, we'll learn one day whether I'm one of them.
Halvard Solness: But see, Hilde, an individual can't accomplish things like that entirely on their own. See, there are forces in the universe that serve people and that help people. And in order for one's desires to be realized those forces have to be there. And they don't just suddenly appear, Hilde. One has to call for them - with a sort of intense inner determination. And I did that. I called for them. I called, and they came, and they did exactly what I wanted them to do.

Halvard Solness: Oh, Hilde, you are like a wild bird of the forest, Hilde.
Hilde Wangel: No, I'm not - because I don't fly off and hide in the shrubbery.
Halvard Solness: Yes. Maybe you're more like a bird of prey.
Hilde Wangel: Perhaps I am something more like that sort of bird. Why shouldn't I be? Why shouldn't I go off in search of my prey? Why shouldn't I seize the prize I want so desperately?

Halvard Solness: You are like a day which is dawning, Hilde. When I look at you, it's as if I were looking at the sun rising.

Halvard Solness: Have you ever noticed that the minute I show up somewhere, my wife leaves?
Hilde Wangel: Actually, I've noticed that the minute you show up somewhere, you drive her out.
Halvard Solness: Maybe. But that's completely out of my control, I'm afraid.