Peer Gynt, the dramatic poem by Ibsen, is inspired by and permeated with Norwegian folk tales.

Peer Gynt struggles with dreams and temptations, stubbornly insisting like a small child to live his life "as the emperor of himself" until he realizes that throughout his life he was pretending to be someone else.

After the painful realization of the futility of his wandering, he finds recognition in the arms of the ideal partner, the woman who loved him for who he was and waited for him until the end.