Four Major Plays, Volume I (Signet Classics)

(Author), Joan Templeton (Afterword), Rolf Fjelde (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The greatest works by the father of modern theater

Brilliantly exemplifying his landmark contribution to the theater, A Doll House, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler, and The Master Builder are truly the greatest and best known works of Henrik Ibsen.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Signet Classics (June 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451530225
• ISBN-13: 978-0451530226
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #74,306 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hedda Gabler, February 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Four Major Plays: Volume 1: A Doll House; The Wild Duck; Hedda Gabler; The Master Builder (Signet Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Hedda gabler is a tale of a woman in the victorian ages. She was recently married to a man who considered writing a book "The Brabant in the middle ages" an exiting topic. She is torn between the role she must portray and the role she wants. The play shows the fall from grace and the decline of Hedda Gablers power. It is a powerful play and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Anyone who read the play and wants to help me with a staging essay. [e-mail]

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling classics, May 19, 2006

By	Simon (Brampton, ON) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four Major Plays: Volume 1: A Doll House; The Wild Duck; Hedda Gabler; The Master Builder (Signet Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

I had to read A Doll House and the Wild Duck for one of my classes, and this was the edition recommended to us by the professor. I was so caught up in Ibsen that I went back and read Hedda Gabler and Master Builder in my spare time, and was not disappointed.

For those who are not familar with Ibsen, his plays are studies of human interaction and psychology, and this collection slants towards the tragic (meaning that it's not quite over until someone dies). There's certain patterns readers will notice, how characters lives are inter-connected by past secrets or relations they haven't been quite honest about, and how a character's unfulfilled life is linked to past actions and someone else's meddling hand. But it's all very compelling, and once you've gotten the names straight and how everyone is related to each other, you're sucked into the drama of these lives.

Of course if you don't like your modern drama depressing then this might not be for you. But any serious playwright/drama student needs to read Ibsen, and this is a fine place to start.

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing!, March 1, 2001

By	cinemagirl (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four Major Plays: Volume 1: A Doll House; The Wild Duck; Hedda Gabler; The Master Builder (Signet Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ibsen is one of the most important playwrights to ever grace this earth, and it is not difficult to see why after reading this collection of plays. "The Doll House" is immediately fascinating, perhaps the easiest to understand out of this group of plays. It teaches the lesson that one must learn to stand on one's own, to carry out the cliché -- "to find oneself" -- but the lesson is not learned by the main character until the stage has been skillfully set in order to make the ending all the more compelling. The strongest play is perhaps "Hedda Gabler," whose upper class heroine, Hedda, is one of the most abstract and intriguing female characters ever written for a play. Devious and suffocating in her new middle class surroundings after marrying a rather dull man, her frustrations play out and alienate the other characters. The other characters are not merely accessories; they ARE the play when one juxtaposes them with Hedda. "The Wild Duck" is not as strong a play, and the dullest of the group, but is also worth a read. Overall, the collection is a quick and engrossing read.