This is a test
- 128 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Book details
Book preview
Table of contents
Citations
About This Book
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price
Ibsen's great play about idealism and liberalism undermined by a deeply conservative society.
When Rosmer abandons his faith after the death of his wife, his former friends question his morality. But with guilty secrets and deception surrounding everyone, there are tragic results.
Henrik Ibsen's play Rosmersholm was first published in 1886 and first staged in 1887.
This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated by Kenneth McLeish, with an introduction by Stephen Mulrine.
Frequently asked questions
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Both plans give you full access to the library and all of Perlegoâs features. The only differences are the price and subscription period: With the annual plan youâll save around 30% compared to 12 months on the monthly plan.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, weâve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes, you can access Rosmersholm by Henrik Ibsen, Kenneth McLeish in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & European Drama. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
ACT ONE
Large sitting-room in Rosmersholm, old-fashioned and comfortable. The walls are covered with portraits, old and new, of clergymen, army officers and government officials in uniform. Down right, stove trimmed with fresh birch-twigs and wild flowers. Beside it, sofa, easy chairs and table. Upstage right, door. Centre back, double doors to the hall. Left, window, in front of which is a stand covered with flowers and house-plants. The window is open. So are the double doors and the outer door beyond; through them we can see an avenue of mature trees leading to the garden.
It is a summer evening, just after sunset. REBECCA WEST is sitting in a chair by the window, crocheting a large white shawl which she has nearly finished. From time to time she looks out of the window through the plants. After a moment, enter MRS HELSETH.
MRS HELSETH. Itâs getting late, Miss. I ought to lay the table?
REBECCA. Yes, please. Mr Rosmer wonât be long.
MRS HELSETH. Arenât you in a draught there, Miss?
REBECCA. A little. Please, if youâd â
MRS HELSETH closes the doors to the hall, then returns to the window to close it.
MRS HELSETH (looking out). Heâs coming, now.
REBECCA (starting). Where?
She gets up to look, keeping behind the curtain.
Keep back. Donât let him see us.
MRS HELSETH. Look, Miss. He is using the old path again. The one by the mill.
REBECCA. Just like the day before yesterday.
She peeps out between the curtain and the window-frame.
Now, will he or wonât he â ?
MRS HELSETH. Use the foot-bridge?
REBECCA. Thatâs what I want to see. (Pause.) No. Heâs turning. The other way again. (Coming from the window.) The long way round.
MRS HELSETH. Iâm not surprised. That bridge . . . after what happened . . . if he never sets foot on it again.
REBECCA (folding the shawl). They cling to their dead, at Rosmersholm.
MRS HELSETH. Or the dead cling to Rosmersholm.
REBECCA. What dâyou mean?
MRS HELSETH. As if they canât tear themselves away.
REBECCA. What makes you think that?
MRS HELSETH. Well, the White Horse, Miss.
REBECCA. What White Horse?
MRS HELSETH. I know you donât believe in that sort of thing.
REBECCA. Do you?
MRS HELSETH (closing the window). Youâll just make fun of me. (Looking out.) Look. There on the mill-path. Has the Pastor changed his mind?
REBECCA (looking out). No, thatâs Doctor Kroll.
MRS HELSETH. Headmaster Kroll.
REBECCA. Heâs coming to see us.
MRS HELSETH. Straight over the bridge. Even though she was his sister. Iâd better lay the table, Miss.
Exit right. REBECCA stands at the window. She smiles and waves. Then she goes to the door, right.
REBECCA. Mrs Helseth, what about a little treat for dinner? You know what the Headmaster likes.
MRS HELSETH (off). Iâll find something, Miss.
REBECCA opens the doors to the hall.
REBECCA. Doctor Kroll. After all this time. Itâs wonderful to see you.
KROLL (in the hall, putting down his walking stick). My dear Miss West. Iâm not disturbing you?
REBECCA. Donât be silly.
KROLL (coming in). Thank you.
He looks round.
Is Johannes in his study?
REBECCA. He went for a walk. Further than he expected. He wonât be long.
She gestures to him to sit on the sofa.
Please, sit down.
KROLL (putting down his hat and sitting). Thank you. My, you have brightened up in here. This stuffy old room. Flowers, everywhere!
REBECCA. Mr Rosmer loves to have fresh flowers, growing plants, all round him.
KROLL. And so do you, I imagine.
REBECCA. They fill a room with perfume. And till recently, we had to do without.
KROLL. Poor Beata. The scent was too much for her.
REBECCA. The colours made her head spin.
KROLL. Yes. Yes. (More cheerfully.) Well, how are you all, so far from town?
REBECCA. Quiet. The same as usual. One day much like another. And you . . . ? Mrs Kroll . . . ?
KROLL. Dear Miss West, donât letâs talk about me. Family life . . . thereâs always something. These days, especially.
Pause. REBECCA sits in an armchair beside the sofa.
REBECCA. The holidaysâll be over soon. Youâll be back at school. Why havenât you been to see us, in all that time?
KROLL. Didnât want to impose.
REBECCA. You know how weâve missed you.
KROLL. And I was away, of course.
REBECCA. Two weeks, thatâs right. I suppose it was politics.
KROLL. Whoâd have guessed it? Headmaster Kroll, in his doddering old age, manning the barricades.
REBECCA (lightly). Oh, youâve always been a hothead.
KROLL. In a quiet way. But now itâs serious. Dâyou read the radical papers?
REBECCA. I canât deny I â
KROLL. Dear Miss West, itâs harmless. At least, for you.
REBECCA. We have to keep up â
KROLL. Itâs not as if you were expected to take sides. A woman! But itâs a civil war. You must have seen what the âchampions of the peopleâ have been saying, the way theyâve been treating me. Impertinence!
REBECCA. I think you gave as good as you got.
KROLL. I flatter myself Iâve tasted blood. Theyâll find Iâm not a man whoâll let himself be â (breaking off) Iâm sorry. Letâs change the subject. Itâs so annoying.
REBECCA. Letâs change the subject.
KROLL. How are things here for you at Rosmersholm, now that youâre on your own. Now that poor Beataâs â
REBECCA. Fine, thank you. Thereâs a huge gap, naturally. Sorrow, mourning. But otherwise . . .
KROLL. Are you planning to stay? For good, I mean.
REBECCA. Dear Doctor Kroll, I havenât thought about it, one way or the other. Iâm so used to Rosmersholm, itâs as if I belonged here.
KROLL. Of course you do.
REBECCA. So long as Mr Rosmer finds me useful, a comfort . . . well, Iâll stay.
KROLL (looking at her with admiration). You know, when a woman sacrifices her life for others, itâs wonderful.
REBECCA. My life. What else was I to do with it?
KROLL. All those years with that impossible man, your foster-father in his wheelchair.
REBECCA. Doctor West was fine up north in Finmark. It was the boat-journeys he couldnât stand. Then, when we moved south, until he died, we did have two or three bad years.
KROLL. Not so bad as what happened afterwards.
REBECCA. How can you say that? Poor Beata. I was fond of her. She needed me, my care, my company . . .
KROLL (warmly). Thank you for remembering her so kindly.
REBECCA (going to him). Doctor Kroll, you mean that. Youâre not irritated.
KROLL. What dâyou mean?
REBECCA. It wouldnât be surprising. A stranger, here, in Rosmersholm, running things.
KROLL. Youâre joking.
REBECCA. You donât mind! (Taking his hand.) Doctor Kroll, oh thank you.
KROLL. Whatever made you think I was irritated?
REBECCA. When you didnât call . . .
KROLL. My dear, you were quite mistaken. In any case, nothingâs changed. When Beata was alive, you still had...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title page
- Contents
- Introduction
- Ibsen: Key Dates
- Characters
- Rosmersholm
- Copyright and Performing Rights Information