Ibsen's Tale of the Button Molder in the Final Act of Peer Gynt

Henrik Ibsen

Sunday evening I listened to a lecture called Kierkegaard's Passion, from the Great Courses Series Philosophy as a Guide to Living. In this lecture Professor Stephen A. Erickson shared several keen insights from Kierkegaard. One of these had to do with boredom, which plays a bigger role in many of our lives than we realize. Kierkegaard viewed boredom as a symptom of existential despair, particularly in the "aesthetic" mode of existence, where individuals chase fleeting pleasures to avoid confronting life’s deeper questions. To illustrate this idea, Professor Erickson used the example of Peer Gynt's encounter with the Button Molder at the end of Ibsen's famous play.

Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt was a five act play based on a Norwegian fairy tale about a hunter. In Ibsen's play Peer is a self-absorbed dreamer who spends his life chasing fleeting ambitions. As a consequence he loses himself in the episodes of his life and never achieves authentic selfhood.

In Act V, after running over the world chasing adventures, the mysterious Button Molder appears as Peer’s life is unraveling, his grandiose illusions crumbling. A grim, almost bureaucratic character, the Button Molder explains that he’s been sent by a higher power (implied to be divine) to collect souls that have failed to fulfill their purpose. Peer, he says, has lived a life so lacking in authentic identity—neither truly good nor evil, just self-serving and scattered—that his soul qualifies for neither heaven nor hell. Instead, the Button Molder plans to melt Peer down in his ladle, like a defective button, to be remolded into something new, erasing his individuality entirely.

Peer, desperate to preserve himself, protests, arguing that his life’s adventures—his travels, schemes, and self-proclaimed greatness—prove he’s unique. The Button Molder counters that Peer has never truly been himself; he’s lived as a shapeshifter, adapting to please others or chase whims without committing to any higher purpose or moral core. 

To escape this fate, Peer must prove he’s been a distinct self, but his frantic attempts—seeking validation from others or clinging to past deeds—fail. The play ends ambiguously, with Peer facing the ladle’s threat, saved temporarily by the love of Solveig, a woman who represents the steadfast faith he’s squandered. The Button Molder warns he’ll return, leaving Peer’s ultimate fate unresolved.

Meaning for Us Today

The Button Molder’s encounter with Peer speaks powerfully to modern existential and societal concerns. At its core, the story is a warning about the dangers of living an inauthentic life—one driven by external validation, fleeting desires, or avoidance of responsibility. I'm reminded of the Aesop's Fable of the grasshopper and the ants. The ants spent the summer in preparation for winter, working to gather grain and other necessities. The grasshopper spent his summer fiddling and having fun. He was not ready for the coming winter, the moral being, "There's a time for work and a time for play."

The Button Molder represents a kind of existential reckoning, forcing us to confront whether our lives have meaning or if we’ve merely drifted, like Peer, through a series of roles without substance. Hence Kierkegaard's dismay that most people avoid thinking deeply about meaning, or as Gauguin put it, the title of his famous painting, "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?"

In today’s world, the Button Molder’s message resonates in this age of digital personas, endless distractions, and societal pressure to “perform” identity. Social media, for instance, encourages us to curate idealized versions of ourselves, much like Peer’s chameleon-like existence, prioritizing likes and trends over authentic selfhood. 

The threat of being “melted down” mirrors the modern fear of insignificance—being reduced to a faceless cog in a system, whether it’s corporate, cultural, or algorithmic. 

The Button Molder’s ladle evokes the erasure of individuality in a world that often rewards conformity or superficial success, or as Dylan suggests in Idiot Wind, "You'll find out when you reach the top You're on the bottom."

Yet, the story also offers hope. The Button Molder give Peer a little more time, and there is a possibility of redemption suggested by the presence of Solveig, the woman who has dedicated her life to waiting for him. Solveig's enduring faith and patience serves as a counterpoint to Peer's self-absorbed journey. (In a similar fashion Hermann Hesse explores this duality in his novel Narcissus and Goldmund, with Goldmund being the  self-absorbed adventurer living from episode to episode whichever way the wind blows.) Solveig's presence suggests that love, faith, or commitment to something greater can anchor us, helping us forge a true self. 

 

The Button Molder challenges us to ask: Are we living as ourselves, or are we just buttons, shapeless and ready to be remolded by the world’s demands? 

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Norwegian playwright Henrik Johan Ibsen is considered one of the world's pre-eminent writers of the 19th century. His plays are among the most performed plays in the world, second only to Shakespeare. He is often referred to as "the father of modern drama."  

Trivia: Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg wrote two suites for Peer Gynt. Opus 23 premiered along with the play on 24 February 1876 in what is now Oslo. My father used o ilisten to this album when I was growing up.