Power corrupts, but it can also bore. Like compulsive seducers, the unduly ambitious are the heroes of their own narratives, dogged, ruthless, and full of self-regard. Halvard Solness, the title character of Henrik Ibsen’s 1892 play “The Master Builder,” is a portrait of something, but . . . (Subscription required.)
SOURCE: The New Yorker at 12:00AM on May 27, 2013