Henrik Ibsen :: essays papers

Henrik IbsenHenrik Ibsen was born at Skien in Norway on March 20, 1828. When he waseight, his father went bankrupt. This event make a deep impression uponhim. After they went bankrupt, his family moved to a diminished farm northof the town where they lived in poverty. Henrik was forced to attend asmall local school. He received a substandard education. In 1843, thefamily returned to town. Unfortunately they were still poor. Ibsen camefrom a very dysfunctional family. His domineering father was analcoholic who build solace in alcohol. His quiet mother found comfortin religion. He used them as a model for his plays. The blend of anoverbearing economize and a submissive wife made appearances in hisplays Brand, A Dolls House, and Ghosts. The bitter character ofHjalmar Ekdal in The Wild Duck was based on Ibsens father. When hewas sixteen, he moved to Grimstad to work for a druggist. He hadwanted to become a doctor, but game up on the idea after he failed Grecian and Math on his Un iversity entrance exams. Medicine was not hisonly ambition. He also wanted to be a painter.In 1850, Ibsen entered the first of his three opus periods. Hisromantic period went from 1850 to 1873. The greatest works from thisperiod are the Brandand Peer Gynt Most of the plays that he wroteduring these years are romantic historical dramas. Lady Inger ofOstraat was a romantic drama with intrigue. The Vikings of Helgelandwas a simple and sad tragedy. The last play of the Romantic period wasEmperor andGalilean. It is similar to Ibsens other play Catiline because itshowed his impatience with conventional attitudes and values. In bothplays he showed sympathy for historical characters who were famous forbeing rebellious.Ibsen became the stage manager and playwright of the National Stage inBergen in 1851. He worked there for six years. In 1857, he moved toChristiania (Oslo), where he became director of the Norwegian Theatre.He neglected both writing and the theatre. He plunged into mixer li fewith his literary friends and drank heavily. In 1858, Ibsen marriedSuzannah Thoresen, with whom he had one child, Sigurd Ibsen. This was amarriage that was often as misunderstood as the marriages of Ibsensdramas. At the age of thirty, Ibsen maxim his first performances ofShakespeare in Copenhagen and Dresden. Shakespeares work convincedIbsen that serious drama must strive toward a psychological truth andform its basis on the characters and conflicts of mankind. Ibsen and