Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major Norwegian playwright of the late 19th century who introduced to the European stage realistic contemporary plays that set out to expose social evils. He wrote plays about ordinary people, but from them he elicited insights of devastating directness, great subtlety, and occasional flashes of rare beauty.

Henrik Ibsen was born in Skien, a small lumber town in southern Norway. His father was a respected merchant in the community until 1836, when he went bankrupt. The family sank into poverty. At age 15, Ibsen moved to Grimstad. There he worked as an apothecary’s apprentice while studying nights for admission to the university.

First at Bergen and then at the Norwegian Theatre in Christiania, Henrik Ibsen worked as a director and playwright, trying to create a “national drama.” His early plays were unsuccessful, and the Norwegian Theatre went bankrupt. He left Norway in 1864 and wrote most of his best work in the 27 years he lived abroad.

Henrik Ibsen wrote plays. His early works are in verse, and his later works are in prose. Ibsen’s best-known plays included A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler, Peer Gynt, The Wild Duck, Brand, and Rosmersholm.