Henrik Ibsen Page 3

Short biography of Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen (20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a major Norwegian playwright largely responsible for the rise of modern realistic drama. He is often referred to as the “father of prose drama” and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler, The Wild Duck, When We Dead Awaken, Rosmersholm, and The Master Builder.

He is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare.Ibsen was born in Skien, a small town in Telemark county, Norway. He was the second of five children born to Knud Ibsen (1797-1877), a well-to-do merchant, and Marichen Altenburg (1799-1869). His father’s ship-building firm had gone bankrupt in 1826, and the family had to sell their house and move to a cheaper quarter of the town. When he was eight Ibsen was sent to live with a local farmer and his family in the nearby village of Gjerpen. This period was later described as the happiest time of his life.In 1843 Ibsen was admitted to the Cathedral School in Skien, where he studied until 1846 (he always had a flair for languages, and in addition to his native Norwegian, he would later master Danish, Swedish, German, English, French and Italian). He had great difficulty adjusting to the discipline of the school, and was frequently involved in fistfights and other mischievous activities. In 1846 he left the school and began an apprenticeship with a local pharmacist, a man by the name of Ellefsen.

Ibsen’s first play, Catiline, was published under the pseudonym Brynjolf Bjarme in 1849. This and a second play, The Warrior’s Barrow, were published together under the title Poems in 1852. Ibsen left Ellefsen’s pharmacy in 1851, and traveled to Grimstad to take up a position as an assistant pharmacist. It was here that he began work on his first draft of Brand. He also worked on a translation of Victor Hugo’s play Lucrezia Borgia.Ibsen’s first play to be performed on stage, The Feast at Solhaug, was produced in Bergen in 1855. It was a failure, and was not performed again. He then traveled to Christiania (now Oslo) and Copenhagen, returning to Grimstad in the summer of 1857. The following year Brand was staged in Bergen, but was again a failure. Ibsen then traveled to Rome and Dresden, and on his return to Christiania he found a publisher for his translation of Lucrezia Borgia.

General Essay Structure for this Topic

1. The Importance of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”
2. The Significance of the Title “A Doll’s House”
3. The Character of Nora in “A Doll’s House”
4. The Character of Torvald in “A Doll’s House”
5. The Relationship Between Nora and Torvald in “A Doll’s House”
6. Nora’s Decision to Leave at the End of “A Doll’s House”
7. The Significance of the Ending of “A Doll’s House”
8. The Themes of “A Doll’s House”

Important information

Spouse: Suzannah Ibsen (m. 1858–1906)

Plays: Puphejmo 1879, Peer Gynt 1867, Ghosts 1881