Cover of Rosmersholm

Rosmersholm

  • Free to read
  • 2 hours to read
  • 4 chapters
  • Reading level: 6th grade

"Rosmersholm" by Henrik Ibsen is a play written in 1886. It follows Johannes Rosmer, a former clergyman haunted by his wife's suicide, and Rebecca West, his strong-willed companion, as they navigate guilt, forbidden love, and political turmoil at the ancestral Rosmersholm manor. Their relationship unravels through accusations and confessions, revealing Rebecca's dark role in the late wife's death. Unable to escape their moral guilt or trust each other, they face an impossible choice between living with their past and embracing a tragic fate together.

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  • Europe · Social conditions · 19th century
  • Suicide
  • Norwegian drama · Translations into English

Read the opening

Act 1

(SCENE—The sitting-room at Rosmersholm; a spacious room, comfortably furnished in old-fashioned style. In the foreground, against the right-hand wall, is a stove decorated with sprigs of fresh birch and wild flowers. Farther back, a door. In the back wall folding doors leading into the entrance hall. In the left-hand wall a window, in front of which is a stand filled with flowers and plants. Near the stove stand a table, a couch and an easy-chair. The walls are hung round with portraits, dating from various periods, of clergymen, military officers and other officials in uniform. The window is open, and so are the doors into the lobby and the outer door. Through the latter is seen an avenue of old trees leading to a courtyard. It is a summer evening, after sunset. REBECCA WEST is sitting by the window crocheting a large white woollen shawl, which is nearly completed. From time to time she peeps out of window through the flowers. MRS. HELSETH comes in from the right.)

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Contents

  1. Act 1
  2. Act II
  3. Act III
  4. Act IV

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About this edition

This free edition of Rosmersholm by Henrik Ibsen comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #2289, released 2000-08-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Plays/Films/Dramas.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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