The Master Builder was the first work Ibsen wrote upon after his return to Norway from Europe in July 1891. It is generally grouped with the three other works written during this late period of Ibsen's life - Little Eyolf, John Gabriel Borkman, and When We Dead Awaken - as "symbolic plays" which lack the thematic clarity of such earlier works as Hedda Gabler. Early reactions to the play by Ibsen's critics were mixed, probably due its heightened symbolism, much of which is unclear. Hilde, for example, seems to alternate roles between an inspiring force, urging Solness to temper his ra.