Peer Gynt Chapter Summary & Analysis - Part 1 Act 3 Scene 1 Summary

Part 1 Act 3 Scene 1 Summary

Alone in the forest, Peer chops down a tree. He refers to it in poetic language describing it as an old man, and imagines turning it into a beautiful ship. He narrates the action as the tree bends and falls and then starts to strip off the branches. As he does so, he notices a young boy and narrates the action as the boy cuts off his finger and runs away. Peer assumes that the boy did what he did to avoid being drafted for military service, says he couldn't do it, and goes back to work.

Part 1 Act 3 Scene 1 Analysis

This short scene consists of just one long speech from Peer, but it's a speech rich with imagery and foreshadowing. His action in chopping down the tree foreshadows his actions later in the play as he chops down his animalistic self-image, while his imagining of the tree as a ship foreshadows his own...
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