peer, like other great literary epic heroes such as beowulf, siegfried, roland and faust, reflects a universal human condition: the search for identity and the mortal consequences of his actions. but peer is a more complex and introspective hero. while on the one hand he is an imaginative storyteller, he is also a liar. though he recognizes the good and the ideal, he consistently opts for evil and compromise. when there is a shipwreck, peer determines that the cook's life is expendable and saves himself. the character of peer gynt marks a critical change in the concept of an epic hero and signifies the advent of an anti-hero concept. peer gynt covers a 50-year time span in one man's life. the play is developed into five acts. acts 1 through 3 cover peer's youth in norway. his maturity and adult years abroad is the subject of act 4. and finally, peer's old age and return home is the subject of act 5, the portion for our viewing. we will also see excerpts from scenes in acts 1, 2 and 3 as reminders of important figures in peer's youth. there's his mother, ase, who, like peer, prefers t