Research on a Major Playwright - Henrik Ibsen

Descendants to sea captains and businessmen, Ibsen was born in 1828 in Skein, Norway. The eldest of five siblings, Henrik was the only one showing promise. His father’s business failed when he was eight years old and they had to retire to a country house. This incident caused him to experience how materialistic his friends were: they were eager to dine and drink as guests of the affluent merchant but forsook all connections when the Ibsens lost their financial standing.

In his youth, he was a talented painter but his family was too poor to send him to art school and neither could afford to train him for his preferred profession, medicine. At fifteen years old, his father sent him to Grimstad, a small provincial town south Skein. There he became an apothecary’s apprentice, the next best thing to medicine. He was there for six years and led a lonely life. He started to read voraciously and particularly in contemporary poetry and theology. In 1849, he wrote his first play, Catilina, a drama written in verse modelled after one of his greatest influences, William Shakespeare.

Ibsen then moved to Christiania (now Oslo) in 1850 to prepare for university examinations to study at the University of Christiania, after he saved enough money through extreme economy and privation. Living in the capital, he became acquainted with other writers and artistic types. One of these friends, Ole Schulerud, sponsored publication fees for Ibsen first’s play Catilina, which failed to get much notice.

The following year, Ibsen met with a job opportunity to work as a writer and manager for the Norwegian Theatre in Bergen. The position became an intense tutorial in all things of theatre and even include travelling abroad to learn more about the craft. Ibsen left Norway in 1862.

1857, Ibsen returned to the Christiania to run another theatre there. This was a frustrating venture for him and others claim that he was mismanaging the theatre. Despite in deep waters, he found time to write Love’s Comedy (1862), a satirical take on marriage.

In this time period too he married Suzannah Thoreson in 1858, with whom he had a son with. Among his many works produced during this time were The Pretenders (1863); Love's Comedy (1863); Brand (1866); Peer Gynt (1867); Emperor and Galilean (1873); Pillars of Society (1877); Ghosts (1881); and An Enemy of the People (1882).

A Doll’s House (1879), a play significant for its critical attitude toward the 19th century marriage norms caused great controversy at the time. It was also the play that propelled him into the European avant-garde.

A Doll’s House incorporated a plot that he repeated in many following works, Ibsen was in the phase when he cultivated the “critical realism”, where the individual experiences an opposition to the majority, the society’s oppressive authority. When the individual intellectually frees himself from traditional ways of thinking, conflict arises.

Ibsen was a major 19th century playwright, director and poet. He died in May 23, 1906.

References:

Hemmer Prof., Bjorn. "The Dramatist: HENRIK IBSEN." n. page. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. <http://www.mnc.net/norway/Ibsen.htm>.

Merriman, C.D. "Henrik Ibsen." Literature Network. n. page. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. <http://www.online-literature.com/ibsen/>.