Peer Gynt

At the beginning of Part One, Peer Gynt, a twenty-year-old young man, has returned from a reindeer hunt after several months away from home. His mother, Åse, scolds him for returning “in rags. No game. No gun” (32). She accuses her son of lying when he tells a wild tale of a massive deer that he nearly felled. Peer describes in vivid detail of the beast who he claims overpowered him, catching him in his antlers, and bolted with Peer still attached. Åse swoons as he recounts the story of the deer who ran along a dangerous cliff and then, surprised by a bird, leapt into the depths of the lake below. The deer swam north, pulling Peer along “until he struggled, safe and sound, to shore” (35), and Peer headed home. Åse blubbers, grateful for her son’s safe return and then stops, recognizing his account as an event in a fairy tale. Peer replies, “Must everything happen only once?” (36).

Weeping, Åse furiously calls Peer a pig, wailing about the family’s misfortunes. She laments: “Salt’s been sown where once our luck grew” (37). The Gynts were once a wealthy family, but Peer’s father spent all of the money left by Peer’s grandfather. When they had money, they had friends, but when the money dried up, “the place has been a desert ever since” (37). Åse expresses her shame over her son, who “make[s] girls shriek at dances” (37) and starts fights with “bigger wastrels than [him]self” (37). She claims that he broke the finger of the blacksmith, Aslak. When Peer denies this, asserting that Aslak bested him, she cries again in shame because her son allowed Aslak to beat him. Peer reassures her that this was yet another lie, describing for Åse how he defeated the blacksmith. 

Peer promises his mother that “one day, everyone in town will bow to Åse Gynt, Peer’s mother, mother of Peer who did the mighty deed” (39). He insists that he will be a king. Åse scoffs, informing him that he had missed his chance to become someone by marrying Ingrid, the heir to a wealthy man. Ingrid liked Peer, but Åse cries: “While you were riding reindeers, he promised her to Mads Moen” (40). Peer resolves to stop the wedding, forcing his mother into the carriage so that she can tell Ingrid’s father “what sort of man Peer Gynt is” (42). Åse threatens to do just that and tell him what a liar and trickster her son is. Peer decides to leave Åse, who is now determined to go. Peer places the screeching Åse on the millhouse roof and rides away, promising to return soon. Åse screams for help, and the neighbors appear. She tells them that she must get down so that she can go after her son who has gone to Haegstad. One neighbor tells her that the blacksmith has also headed toward Haegstad, and Åse worries: “God help me! My poor boy! They’ll murder him!” (44).

Peer reaches Haegstad at the beginning of Scene 2, noting that Ingrid is surrounded by wedding guests. He wishes for a drink to steel his courage against those who would undoubtedly laugh at him. Hidden, Peer hears two guests calling him “a failure” (45). He pretends not to be hurt, lying on his back to look at the clouds. Peer thinks about his mother, screaming at him and calling him a pig. He imagines himself a king, dressed in finery and riding down the road accompanied by a thousand subjects and tossing “ducats and guineas and golden half-sovereigns” (47) into the street “as if they were pebbles” (47). Aslak the blacksmith appears, calling him a “drunken swine” (48). Aslak taunts Peer, asking about his recent whereabouts and mocking him for missing his chance with Ingrid. Peer shrugs them off, declaring: “She can marry who she likes. See if I care” (49). Noticing that there are many women at the wedding, Peer realizes that he needs to attend, even after briefly recalling that he left his mother atop the millhouse.

At the wedding, Ingrid has locked herself in the hayloft and Mads cannot find the key. When Peer shows up, Aslak tells the guests to shun him. As they refuse to talk to him, Peer is embarrassed. Then, a family from out of town arrives. Peer intercepts, asking the father if he can dance with his daughter, Solveig. The father agrees but not until after he greets their host. They walk away, and Peer muses: “What a picture! What a sight to see! Downcast eyes… snowy white apron… hand clasping her mother’s skirts… prayer book wrapped in a kerchief” (53). As Peer follows Solveig and her family into the house, a group of young men stops Peer, taunting him. Solveig reappears, ready to dance. They exchange names, and upon hearing his, Solveig pulls away and excuses herself. Meanwhile, Mads complains to his parents that Ingrid still refuses to unlock the door. A young man offers Peer a drink, which he accepts. Another young man does the same, coaxing Peer to drink anyways even after he declines. A girl excuses herself and Peer asks, “What’s the matter, Miss? Are you afraid of me?” (56). The surrounding young men claim that everyone is afraid of Peer after his brawl with Aslak. 

The young people egg Peer on, asking questions and encouraging outrageous lies. Peer claims that he can raise the Devil and that he “squeezed him into a nutshell once” (57), blaming the Devil for his fight with Aslak. Peer asserts that he brought the nutshell to Aslak and asked him to break it. But the Devil got away, burning Aslak in the process and starting the clash between them. The guests laugh, identifying Peer’s story as another folktale and sneering when he claims, “I can saddle my charger and ride the stars. I can… do anything I like” (58). Mads approaches Peer asking if he can really ride the stars or if he actually has a hat that makes him invisible. Peer confirms that it’s true, but that it’s a cloak. Then Peer sees Solveig and takes her wrist to lead her to the dance floor. She resists, saying that he’s “mad” (60) and asserting that he is also drunk. Mads begs for Peer’s help to lure Ingrid outside. Peer declines, turning again to Solveig and asking why she won’t dance with him. Solveig admits that even if she wanted to dance with Peer, she is afraid of her father. He puts on a spooky voice, claiming to become a troll and eat her and her sister if Solveig won’t dance. Offended, she refuses.

Mads approaches Peer again, offering an ox in exchange for his help. Peer agrees, and they exit. In the morass of the party, Aslak threatens to fight Peer as drunken guests encourage the fight. Solveig’s mother tells her daughter: “You see what they think of him? Your halfwit?” (62). Then Åse enters, waving a stick and threatening to beat her son. Aslak says that she is “far too frail” (63) and that he will “thrash him” (63) instead and “string him up” (63). Åse immediately shifts her loyalties to her son’s defense. Then Mads rushes in, crying that Peer has kidnapped Ingrid, and chaos ensues. In Scene 4, Peer and Ingrid are in the hills and she is still in her bridal gown. Ingrid follows him as he orders her to “go away” (64). She begs: “After what we did…?” (65). However, Peer is only interested in one girl. He compares her to Solveig, repeating his earlier description and rejecting Ingrid for failing to measure up. Ingrid threatens: “If you leave me after this, they’ll hang you” (65). He rebuffs her again and she runs off in tears.

In Scene 5, Åse—followed by Solveig, who is trailed by her family—searches for her son. Shocked that Peer kidnapped Ingrid, Åse cries that her son was always “a talker, a daydreamer. But that’s all he was. He never did anything” (67). She remembers telling him fairy tales when life was hard, never dreaming that “the Devil would stick such fancies in his mind for good” (68). Solveig’s family catches up, and her father says that Peer will hang and that they must “save his soul” (69). Finding a footprint, they continue the search. Solveig asks Åse to tell her more about Peer. Åse smiles and agrees. Scene 6 opens in “treeless, hilly country” (71). Peer is exhilarated as he evades the townspeople who are searching for him. Just as he swears “to hell with fairy tales” (72), three girls approach, shouting for the trolls of the mountain to come and sleep with them. Thinking quickly, Peer announces: “I’m a troll. Three-headed! A three-girl troll!” (72). The women take him back to their hut, kissing him.

Scene 7 rises in the Ronde mountains at sunset, where Peer wanders, bewildered and lost. He is hungover after his night with the three maidens. In his confusion, he sees things that are not there. Then, Peer runs into a rockface, knocking himself unconscious. At the beginning of Scene 8, a woman in green enters and Peer “follows her, the picture of someone sick with love” (77). The woman is the daughter of a king, and Peer has claimed to be a prince. The woman comments on Peer’s ragged clothing, stating: “I wear gold and silk each day” (78). Peer responds, “Looks more like grass and hay” (78).To this, the woman exclaims, “Ah! You don’t understand. That’s our custom, here in the mountains. Nothing is what it seems. For example, when you come to my father’s palace, you probably won’t recognize it. You’ll think it’s a rubble-heap” (78). Peer then replies, “It’s just the same with us! You’d probably think our gold was rust and dust” (78). The woman embraces him. She calls her wedding steed, which is a large pig. They ride off together, and Peer announces: “You can tell a prince by the steed he rides!” (79).

Scene 9 begins in the hall of the Old Man of the Mountain. The Old Man is surrounded by his family and courtiers who are trolls, gnomes, and goblins. The trolls scream for Peer’s execution as a “princess-snatcher,” a “Christian,” and a “liar” (80). The Old Man calms them, asking if Peer desires his daughter. Peer responds, “And a kingdom for a dowry, yes” (80). The Old Man promises “half now, the rest when I fall off the perch” (81), and Peer agrees. There is a caveat: the Old Man tells Peer that first, he must promise to give up everything outside of the kingdom such as surface and daylight, and Peer says that he will. Second, Peer must be subjected to a test of intelligence. The Old Man prompts Peer to tell him the difference between trolls and humans. Peer responds, “None that I can see. Little trolls want to maul you, big trolls want to skewer you. Give humans half a chance, we’d do the same” (81). The Old Man approves of his answer but asserts that trolls and humans are different: “Out there, where the sky shines, humans say: ‘To thyself be true.’ In here, trolls say: ‘Be true to yourself-ish’” (81). Peer must agree that “-ish” are the “finest letters in the alphabet” (81), and he does. Third, the Old Man says, “You learn to enjoy our simple, homely lifestyle” (83).

Presented with local food and drink, Peer balks, but the Old Man reminds him that “no food, no girl” (83), and Peer gives in and drinks. The Old Man then tells Peer he must give up his “Christian clothes” (83) in favor of troll clothing, and since he doesn’t have a tail, he must wear a false one because “no bare-bum courts my daughter” (84). Annoyed, Peer agrees, asking if there is anything else, such as giving up his Christianity. The Old Man says, “No, no. Belief is free. It’s outward appearance that makes a troll” (84). Although, he admits that Christianity “gives [them] the creeps” (84). The Old Man calls for troll music and dancing, and afterward, Peer admits that he found it terrible. The Old Man attributes it to “human standards,” which Peer “can’t help” (85).Even still, the trolls and the princess are offended, so Peer claims that he was joking. The Old Man tells Peer that his human nature is persisting even though he dresses like a troll, and he must have an operation to damage his eyes, claiming that “[e]verything’ll look better right away” (86). Peer decides to leave instead, but the Old Man informs him that he can’t: “Getting in is easy. But the door’s one-way. No exit” (87). 

As the Old Man becomes angry, the Woman announces: “Peer, darling, you’re going to be a daddy” (88). The Old Man offers to send the baby to Peer’s palace, and Peer admits that he isn’t a prince. The Woman faints, and the Old Man orders the troll children to toss Peer off a cliff. The children want to play with him first, swarming all over him. Suddenly, the sound of church bells causes the troll children to scream and run off. Scene Ten begins in pitch darkness with the sound of Peer thrashing. Peer orders a Voice in the Dark to allow him to pass. The Voice replies, “Go round, Peer. The mountain’s big enough” (90). Peer then asks, “Who are you?” (90). The Voice responds, “Myself. Can you say as much?” (90). Then the Voice claims to be the Great Bøyg, “the one and only. The Bøyg who was hurt; the Bøyg who’s whole; the Bøyg who’s dead; the Bøyg who lives” (91). Frustrated, Peer tries to fight the Voice, who refuses, stating: “The Great Bøyg wins without a fight” (92). There is a sound of colossal bird wings, and one bird calls to the others: “Join the feast!” (92). Peer cries out to Solveig to save him by throwing her prayer book at him. The Voice begins to dissolve, whispering: “He was too strong. His women helped” (93).

Scene 11 opens at dawn, and Peer wakes, hungry. He spies Solveig’s little sister Helga, jumping when Helga mentions Solveig’s name. Helga tells Peer that Solveig is at home, and Peer tells her that a troll king and princess had been there the night before. Helga replies, “It was lucky we rang the bells” (94). Helga is afraid of Peer, and Peer offers her a silver button in return for putting in a good word with her sister. Frightened, Helga runs away. In Scene 12, Peer is in the snowy woods wearing short sleeves and chopping wood. He has been banished for kidnapping Ingrid. Peer speaks to the tree as if it is an enemy he is fighting, but then stops himself. He scolds himself for daydreaming, reminding himself that he is a fugitive and will die if he leaves the safety of the forest. He begins telling himself that he must be self-sufficient, drifting once again into fantasy and reprimanding himself. Peer hears someone nearby and hides, scared. Then he sees that it’s just a terrified boy and watches as the boy takes out a sickle and lops off his own finger. Peer realizes that the boy is avoiding military service, shaking his head.

In Scene 13, Åse’s house is in disarray. Åse weeps to her neighbor Kari, revealing that everything she owned was taken to pay Peer’s court fines. Although they’ve allowed her to stay in the house until she dies, Åse denounces this small comfort as “charity!” (100).She blames the Devil for tempting Peer to take Ingrid, who has returned home “safe and sound” (100). Åse sorts through the belongings that the court did not take, finding Peer’s old casting ladle. She remembers that as a child, Peer would “play at making buttons” (100). He would mold a tin button and call it a silver coin, as “silver, tin, it was all the same to him” (100). Åse resolves to mend the bits of Peer’s clothing that have been left behind, claiming: “They missed it. We can surely keep it” (100). But Kari says, “It’s stealing, Åse. It’s a sin” (100). Åse concludes: “God forgives our sins” (101). Scene 14 sees Peer in the forest at nightfall. He has built a hut and is adding the finishing touches. There are reindeer antlers hanging over the entrance. Solveig enters. She received Helga’s message, and after hearing nothing more, Solveig felt compelled to find him. She has left her family to be with Peer. He reminds her that the judge took away his inheritance, and Solveig says, “It wasn’t your inheritance that tore me from all I loved” (103). 

Solveig tells Peer that this is her home now, and Peer cries, “My princess! At last she’s found!” (105). Solveig goes into the hut, and an Old Woman in a ragged green dress appears with an ugly, limping child. She claims to be an old friend, who has finally caught up with Peer. The Woman calls Peer the child’s “Pa” (106). She demands that Peer evict Solveig and take her and their child in and that she can be beautiful again. Peer tries to send the Woman away, but she says that she will always be lingering and that their son must live with him. She leaves him alone with the child. Peer remembers the Bøyg, who told him to go around because “there’s no way through” (108). Peer considers repenting, which would take “years of misery, tearing apart all that’s decent and fair” (108), and is determined to find a way. Solveig calls for him to come in, and Peer says, “You must wait. It’s dark. I’ve a heavy load” (108). Solveig offers to help, but Peer tells her to stay where she is, asking her to be patient. Solveig agrees: “I’ll wait” (108), and watches as Peer heads into the forest.

Scene 15 takes place in Åse’s hut. She tosses and turns, waiting. Peer enters, and Åse tells him that now she can die peacefully, which she asserts will happen soon. She looks around, noting that the courts took everything. When Peer gets defensive, Åse reassures him that it was the alcohol, not him, plus the lingering effects of his ride on the reindeer’s antlers that caused him to kidnap Ingrid. Peer changes the subject, asking about the people in town. Åse says, “They say there’s a girl here who pines for the mountains” (110). Peer tries to steer her away, asking about Mads Moen and Aslak, but Åse continues to talk about the girl. Peer draws her attention away by reminiscing about his childhood. Then Åse tells him that she is ready to die. He tells her about a king’s banquet that they will attend and begins to describe how they will travel there together. Peer says that “St. Peter’s at the gate” (113) and will invite her in. Tired, Åse says, “I’ll lie back. I’ll shut my eyes. Darling Peer, I’ll leave it all to you” (114). Peer continues to describe their trip and his interactions with St. Peter, in which he defends his mother’s rightful entrance. Then he looks back and realizes that his mother has died. He closes her eyes, thanking her for “slaps, night-night kisses, everything” (115) and imagines that she thanks him back. Kari enters, and Peer tells her that Åse is dead. Peer asks her to make sure his mother receives a decent burial because he must leave to travel far away.