Peer Gynt: A Dramatic Poem About a Decadent Young Man’s Hallucination

Book excerpt: Peer Gynt is classical drama written by Henrik Ibsen. This modern version is rewritten by Sadr al-Din Arabi. His aim is to criticize the decadent lifestyle in the West from an Islamic point of view. Peer Gynt is obsessed about being himself, but the way he sees himself is not reflective of who he truly is. The well-known scene with the onion depicts this quite clearly. There is no core inside an onion, just as there is no core in a false self. Peer Gynt’s journey is a psychological struggle to discover his true self, his core. A core based on empathy, morality and religious meaning. In this rewritten version is Solveig, a symbol of spiritually, the pure and innocent. She is helping Peer Gynt to be reborn into a spiritual life. - There will be a new enlightenment!