Lies, I know, can be so furbished
And disguised in gorgeous wrappings
That their skinny carcasses
Not a soul would recognize.
That’s what you’ve been doing now,
With your wonderful adventures
Eagles’ wings, and all that nonsense
Making up a pack of lies,
Tales of breathless risk and danger
Till one can no longer tell
What one knows and what one doesn’t.

Aase to Peer Gynt, Scene I, Act One

Sinclair Peters, I blame you! I have been unable to get this tune out my head since I read your comment aluding to the Phantom and corruption! I have been on a quest to find the best version of Edvard Greig’s Opus 23 and in this one I was rewarded with an intense emotional reaction. Simply superb.

Greig’s Peer Gynt suite was written to give song to Henrik Ibsen’s poetic tale of corruption of the spirit, the protagonist being Per Gynt, son of the widowed Aase and the late John Gynt, a layabout who always seeks the shortest route to success and an easy life. Ibsen himself was somewhat frustrated by the satirical interpretations of his contemporaries, stating that, “… in Denmark they have discovered much more satire in it than was intended by me. Why can they not read the book as a poem? For as such I wrote it. The satirical passages are pretty well isolated. But if the Norwegians of to-day recognize themselves, as it would appear they do, in the character of Peer Gynt, that is the good people’s own affair.” (Heinrik Ibsen, Peer Gynt: Introduction.)

And wonderful poetry it is, not to mention fabulous music from Greig. Nevertheless, in any folklore such as that which Ibsen has built upon there is generally a moral tale and hence there is no avoiding the similarities between Peer Gynt and the Inquisitor. So, with apologies to Ibsen let us, with stealth, steal down into the Hall of the Mountain King to see where the similarities lead.

Peer Gynt is a braggart who believes himself entitled to more than he is truly owed. His life is spent building on the conquests of others, taking the short route to anything of value, gaining nothing through his own efforts. His life is built on lies and deception. Drunk on his own sense of self he claims to be a Christian, but in reality Narcissus is his god.

Peer’s sense of entitlement comes from family money, long ago squandered by his father. Over indulged by his father when making buttons as a child, he was given:

“Not tin … King Christian’s coin!
A silver coin to melt, and show
That you’re the son of rich John Gynt.”

Although the money has long gone, Peer sees himself as still being entitled to the same privileges and rights as “the Good John Gynt”, yet those around him see him as he truly is, a liar with torn britches who cannot hold his liquor. Not unlike the Inquisitor, drunk on his own sense of self, believing himself entitled to adulation for a minor achievement many years past, gained not independently but on the back of many others more deserving than himself.

Peer wiles his way into the heart of a beautiful maiden, the daughter of the Troll King who takes him back deep into the mountains to meet her father. The Troll King is rich, master of all he surveys, ruler of the court of trolls and whilst they may not be attractive, they are honest in their self absorption. ‘To thy self be enough!’ is the troll’s maxim, one that Peer adopts and pursues throughout the rest of his life. ‘Enough’ and ‘go around’ underpin Peer’s approach to adversity or challenge. He is completely incapable of living up to man’s maxim, ‘To thyself be true.’ It is this last that is Peer’s undoing, for when he is called by the Button-Moulder (the Angel of Death) to account for his sins in his dotage, he can find none to confess, because he is, in all things, blameless.

Peer Gynt:I deserved something a little kinder.
I’m not so bad as perhaps you think;
I’ve done some little good in the world.
At worst I might be called a bungler,
But certainly not an out-and-out sinner.
Button-Moulder:But that is just the point, my man.
In the highest sense you’re not a sinner
So you escape the pangs of torment
And come into the Casting-ladle

No sins so serious as to be counted on the ledger of life. In any accounting there must be credits and debits, but Peer in his self-absorption, believes that he is blameless and therefore should be afforded a more favourable accounting at his final judgement. The Button-Moulder refuses to be corrrputed by Peer who fails to understand that in claiming no sins at all, is in fact claiming to be divorced of the human condition, of the mistakes that all men granted free will must inevitably make.

Peer’s panic grows when he realizes that when he courted the Troll King’s daughter and became ‘Prince Peer’, he traded the ledger that counts his soul’s deeds for one used by trolls.

Peer Gynt:Yes, you tempted me;
But I resolutely made up my mind
That I would not give in.
And that’s the way
A man shows what he’s worth.  A song
Depends on its concluding verse.
Old Man:But the conclusion, Peer, was just
The opposite of what you think

You took away
My motto graven on your heart
Peer GyntWhat motto?
Old Man:That compelling word.
Peer Gynt:Word?
Old Man:That distinguishes a Troll
From Mankind: ‘Troll, to thyself be
Enough!’
Peer Gynt:Enough!
Old Man:And ever since,
With all the energy you have,
You’ve lived according to that motto.

Not long after, Peer, is met again by the Button-Moulder. Desperate, Peer asks the Angel of Death what it is to be true to thyself.

Button-Moulder:To be one’s self is to slay one’s self.
But as perhaps that explanation
Is thrown away on you, let’s say:
To follow out, in everything,
What the Master’s intention was.
Peer Gynt:But suppose a man was never told
What the Master’s intention was?
Button-Moulder:Insight should tell him.
Peer Gynt:But our insight
So often is as fault, and then
We’re thrown out of our stride completely.
Button-Moulder:Quite so, Peer Gynt. And lack of insight
Gives to our friend with the Cloven Hoof
His strongest weapon, let me tell you.

Finally, Peer comes across the ‘friend with the Cloven Hoof’ and pleads his case to be taken to hell. In a sheer twist of irony, to save his imperfect soul, Peer recounts his failings; at first the minor incursions, before increasing in severity as Satan rejects each as suitable reason for inclusion in his other-worldly realm.

Thin Person:… Begging your pardon, what’s the good
Of all this talk of half a sin?
Who do you think, in these hard times,
Is going to waste expensive fuel
On worthless rubbish such as that?
… everything that you can recall,
Whether you judge it with your head
Or with your heart, is nothing more
Than what our Swedish friends would call
‘Very poor sport.’ There’s nothing in it
That’s worth a tear or worth a smile,
Worth boasting or despairing of,
Nothing to make one hot or cold
Only, perhaps, to make one angry.

The Thin Person goes on to discuss man’s soul in terms of photography, recently invented at the time of Ibsen’s writing, where the positive is the good side, the negative the less so, but still recognizable as the same soul. These are the souls of people who have been entirely themselves, who take responsibility for their actions. The plates that hold the negatives, explains the Thin Person, are taken by him to effect a transformation to bring out the positive, the truer likeness. In the case of a soul such as Peer’s, the Thin Person explains that transformation is impossible, because the image is already half rubbed out.

The tale finishes with Peer, still trying to prove that he has been himself, sheltered only by one who truly loved him, but not found as yet to have a truly human soul. The Button-Moulder is awaiting again at the next crossroads. Peer has not escaped his accounting, he will meet with judgement and the fate of his own making.

Ibsen’s poem portrays the soul as a thing to be put to use, not placed on a shelf for safe keeping or packed in a box out of sight as a thing of annoyance. The soul is the seat of conscience, the bellwether of thought and the ledger of transactions. In the Hall of the Mountain King that is the ACT Department of Treasury, laden with gold and silver, the Inquisitor has wielded deceit to bargain for the hand of the Troll King’s daughter, in this sense the position of the ACT Commissioner for Revenue. Peer goes only so far, but is failed in the end by his own cowardice when he will not see things for what they truly are. Similarly, the Inquisitor, having defiled man’s maxim in pursuing the Troll King’s daughter, has been denied the role of ACT Commissioner of Revenue himself and has remained haunted by his jilted lover and the offspring of his deceit, namely the ghost of a Wiradjuri man we all know as Pat.

Having traded his soul for the ways of the trolls, even if he has not signed the final deed of ownership, both Peer and the Inquisitor fail not only to meet the requirements of humanity, but have left their own souls so irreparably damaged that they cannot be transformed by the Cloven Hoofed one. Parts of the self have been rubbed out, leaving only a partial being that is not truly the self. In the Halls of Treasury, the Inquisitor has lived as the troll that he is, abiding by the concept of ‘enough’ and always going around any problem, rather than working hard to gain advance upon his own merit. In all aspects the Inquisitor could be considered Peer Gynt, one with a soul malformed, corrupted by his intents and deeds. Unlike Peer’s childhood buttons, the Maker’s design for the soul in Christian belief, which is referred to several times throughout the poem, must always be perfect, the newly cast form without dent or blemish. Therefore, Peer’s soul can only have been damaged through his own corrupt efforts, through abuse of the concept of free will, namely that with choice comes accountability.

Curiouser and curiouser, is the tale of Peer. I have no doubt that as time marches on, the Inquisitor will reinforce my belief that he and Peer share much in common, for they both live in the dream world of self adoration and blameless fantasy. It seems nice when you are there, but in reality there can be no accounting if you have no goods to tally, no sins on the debit sheet. Even saints concede their humanness laying out all the ways in which they have failed, not simply on their deathbed, but constantly throughout their lives. That is the insight that the Inquisitor seems to completely lack, a man who destroyed the life of Pat, the former ACT Commissioner for Revenue, because he coveted the position himself, because he wanted to call the Troll King’s daughter his own. Yet, when it came to the crunch, he did not have the nerve to go all the way, to gain what was needed, including completing his own accounting studies. Go around, Inquisitor, you are Enough as you are, you have done enough and for your efforts you shall be forever denied that which you seek and be haunted by the ghost of your deceit. Your day will come when you too reach the crossroads and the Button-Moulder will be standing there to collect your soul. I wonder if there will be anyone to vouch for your humanity when your hour comes?

This Post Has 24 Comments

  1. Can a true narcissist be truly capable of the self-reflection necessary to realise that he is indeed Peer and has damaged his sole beyond redemption or condemnation?

  2. David the Inquisitor is self-deceptive or at least in self-denial about what and who he is. Paulo Flores, while this might sound unprofessional as he has not examined the Inquisitor personally, he has spoken with a number of people who know him well. Paulo has diagnosed him as having a Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The same disorder Dr Flemming suggested he had in 2003. The difference between the Inquisitor and Peer is that Peer got the prize; the Inquisitor has missed out yet again. AS to the question you raised earlier – my PhD will be finalised and submitted by December – I’m now working on the material I wish to place before UN – hopefully I will be able to make some progress before the ACT Elections, the people of the ACT deserve better than what they have got, or they at least deserve to know what type of people are governing them – if you can actually call that level of corruption and racism, which extends to the AFP and the ACT DPP and the ACT court system governing!

  3. David Harrison I’ve been working with Bakchos on the material he is planning to place before the UN, that side of it is fairly settled. The point is that there are actions we take that are so self-delusional and self-destructive that we end up destroying one of the essential elements of being a human, when that happens the only thing left open to the Universe is to recycle the damaged material so that the faulty soul ceases to be, as it becomes as worthless as a button without an eye.

  4. A most enjoyable post – rather thought provoking in its own right. I haven’t taken the time to read Peer Gynt, however after having read your post that oversight on my part will be rectified. Tom, keep the work on the UN material going, what happened in ACT Treasury is so appalling, and the corruption involved in covering it up so widespread that it needs to be brought to the attention of the Australian and international public. Don’t forget the racism expressed and displayed to the ACT DPP in all of this. The justification for having an ACT and AFP at all should be brought into question on the back of what is to be placed before the UN.

  5. The Amoral personality type is a dangerous thing. Most criminals are capable of self-reflection which can lead to repentance. Without self-reflection there can be no self-admission and therefore no repentance. It’s at this point that a soul becomes worthless even to the Devil. Narcissus drowned while admiring his own reflection in a pool of water, somehow the Inquisitor has avoided the fate of Narcissus, but the fate of Peer awaits all narcissists, as every one of us must eventually come to terms with our mortality. Will the button-maker find anything worthy in the Inquisitor or will his soul be damaged beyond repair through his own actions?

  6. I sick of hearing about this fucking tosser, Bakchos you have serious community work to do in the UN. All I want to know is why the ALS hasn’t sued his arse from here to the Dreamtime and back again? That’s what needs to be done. Useless, racist, apparently amoral turd is blocking us from moving forward to the UN. Bakchos get ya PhD submitted and get ya black arse into the main game, INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE!

  7. Anne Shiny via Facebook

    Mick, firstly the post was written by me, not Bakchos to help keep the focus on what matters, corruption and racism in the ACT Department of Treasury, the AFP and EY. The reason there have been no charges is because there has been no investigation of the complaints, because your despised ‘tosser’ is protected. He is an emblem of all that is wrong in what is supposed to be a democracy, namely favourable treatment of one person over others for no other reason than political connections and minor achievements. You may be sick of hearing about the Inquisitor, but he is, unfortunately, the pivot point in what went on in the early 2000s and the catalyst for all that has happened since.

  8. Mick Glass Bakchos has been working on the UN stuff almost constantly. Give him a break, not seen anyone else stepping forward to help!

  9. Indigenous Australia cannot stand alone. The issues that are being written about and discussed here and the same as those affecting EVERY indigenous person on this planet. If indigenous Australia refuses to embrace other causes its cause will wither on the vine.

  10. Ah the tosser from Treasury – like that one? Mick lay off, the UN gig is importand, but so is justice for Pat and his family. Surely E&Y could just sue the Tosser from Treasury aka the Inquisitor aka the fuckwit who can’t collect the rates or pass first year accounting at the CIT for the fraud he has most assuredly committed against them, and everything would probably end.

  11. The Tosser from Treasury aka the Inquisitor aka he who can’t pass first year accounting at CIT is indeed sub-human, a paranoid freak, a loser in a sheltered workshop of paranoia – now where was that again, I know – ACT Treasury.

  12. The Tosser from Treasury (aka the Inquisitor) hereafter to be known as ‘TT’ by me is nothing more than a useless piece of dog shit, to be scraped off your shoe with a stick if you’re unfortunate enough to step in it. Fuck, the bloke can’t count, spell, write his own name or do his job, yet – in his own mind he believes himself superior to Indigenous Australians, Why? Simply because he is of European extraction!!!

  13. You can’t liken the Inquisitor to someone like Peer Gynt – at least Gynt had imagination and purpose at some level, the Inquisitor only has his own reflection. There is no beauty in that.

  14. You’re right Sharon, the Inquisitor is no Peer Gynt, he is nothing more than a narcissistic tosser whose about to bring the entire Australian Government into disrepute.

  15. Anne Shiny via Facebook

    Sharon, that is precisely my point. Peer Gynt sees no fault in his own actions. In that, he is a narcissist. His self focus and inability to accept his human frailties and errors are effectively the pool in which he drowns when he meets the Cloven Hoofed One.

  16. Anne It appaers that like Peer, the Inquisitor sees no fault in his own reflection, only problem, unlike Peer, the Inquisitor is one ugly SOB. Nothing there to like at all.

  17. Hello Anne Like Mr Gynt the Inquisitor (as you like to call the tosser from treasury) can see no fault in himself, its just the rest of the world can. Who do you thing is most likly to be right the tosser from treasury or the rest of the world?

  18. It only the tosser from treasury aka the inquisitor had the moral and/or intellectual ability for introspection, they maybe and it’s only a maybe he might see himself as others see him, the sight will not please the narcissist, probably it would be akin to when Dorian Grey saw his portrait after all those years, the true picture of himself and not how he presents to the outside world.

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