The Life and Works of
Henrik Ibsen
Introduction
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Henrik Ibsen was born on March 20th, 1828
in Skien, Norway and died at the age of 78
on the 23rd of May, 1906 in Christiania
(Oslo), Norway.
His Major works include Brand, Peer Gynt,
An Enemy of the People, A Doll's House,
The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler and The
Master Builder.
He is the most frequently preformed
dramatist in the world after Shakespeare.
Early Life
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Ibsen was born to an upper middle class
merchant family, and was closely related to
many of the patrician (ruling class) families
in the area.
Henrik's parents were Marichen Altenburg
and Knud Ibsen. Her mother, and his stepfather were brother and sister, making their
relationship borderline incestuous. This
subject was depicted in several of Ibsen's
plays, such as Rosmersholm.
Early Life Cont.
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When Henrick was seven, Knud faced
several financial difficulties and the family
was forced to move to their summer home
permanently.
Bankruptcy turned Knud into an alcoholic
and an abusive husband.
Henrik based many of his suffering female
characters off of his mother Marichen,
showcasing the powerlessness of women
he so often witnessed at home.
His childhood generated another prominent
theme in his plays, the danger of debt.
Adolescence
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At 15, Ibsen left school and moved to
Grimstad. He became an apprentice
pharmacist and began to write in his free
time.
At 18, he fathered an illegitimate child
(male) with a servant, and payed for him
into his teens, though he never saw the boy.
Wrote Catilina and The Burial Mound when
he was 22, under the pseudonym Byrnjolf
Bjarme, both generated little attention or
revenue.
First major success was Peer Gynt which
was based off of a Norwegian folk tale.
Later Life
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Married Suzannah Thoresen at 30 (1858),
she gave birth to their only child Sigurd in
1859.
They were very poor, and Ibsen became
“disenchanted” with life in Norway.
In 1864,they moved to Sorrento, Italy, and
traveled Europe for the next 27 years before
returning back to Norway.
Despite its representation in his plays, Ibsen
revered marriage, believing that it was
possible to live as “...[two] perfect, happy
equals.”
Later Life Cont.
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Ibsen achieved notoriety with his plays
Brand, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's
House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People,
Hedda Gabler and Wild Duck.
His plays were scathing commentaries on
society, and were borderline scandalous,
with mentions of STDs, radical gender roles
and the portrayal of the masses as ignorant
sheep.
Death
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After Ibsen suffered a series of strokes in
1906, a nurse assured a visitor that he was
recovering. Ibsen sat up and sputtered his
last words, “On the Contrary!”
(“Tvertimod!”), he died less than 24 hours
later on May 23 1906.
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Real
Life
Actual
Nora
Nora was based off of Ibsen's good friend
Laura Kieler, and Torvald, her husband
Victor.
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Most of the plot really happened, minus the
forged signature.
When Victor discovered the loan, he
divorced Laura and had her committed to an
asylum, two years later she was released
and returned to his household at his urging.
Laura had asked Ibsen to intervene prior to
her incarceration, which he felt he could not
do, leaving him feeling guilty, which is why
he had Nora leave with her head held high.
Connections to the Text
(Themes)
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Poverty: “You know what I think? No debts,
no borrowing-never. A home that depends
on loans and debt is not beautiful because it
is not free.” (pg 3).
Women: “I was handed from Papa to you...
It's because of you I've made nothing of my
life.” (pg 99).
“What duties?” “My duties to myself.” “You are
a wife and a mother before everything else.”
(pg 101).
Connections to the Text
(Themes) Cont.
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Broken family unit: “... we must look as if
nothing has changed. But only in public.
From now on you will stay in the house...
Now it's just about saving the remains, the
wreckage, the appearance.” (Pg 94).
Modernism and Realism
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Henrik Ibsen is often referred to as the
father of realism and is often associated
with the modernism movement in art
Modernist art is that which deals with the
social structures of modern societies and
growing industrialization of the world
Realism is just as it sounds, art that
attempts to depict the world truthfully
without the intervention of supernatural
elements
Modernism and Realism
(cont.)
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While some of Ibsen's plays, such as
Peer Gynt, deal with more fantastical
story lines, the majority of his work is
grounded in the real world, in microsocieties, with imperfections acting as plot
points and criticisms of the world at large
Ibsen was very mindful of the world
around him, and was not afraid to express
his observations, and thus the content in
his works was often controversial
Influences on Henrik Ibsen
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Henrik Ibsen's focus on Modernism and
Realism stemmed from his interests in
literature and philosophy
The two largest influences on Ibsen's
work were Henrik Wergeland, and Søren
Kierkegaard though some of Jørgen
Engebretsen Moe,and Peter Christen
Asbjørnsen influence can be seen in
Ibsen's work
Henrik Wergeland
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Wergeland (17 June 1808 – 12 July
1845) was a Norweigan writer, most know
for his poetry and plays
Wrote poems criticizing the abuse of
power and the manipulation of common
“people”
Much like Ibsen, his attacks against
society and content were highly
controversial for his time
Søren Kierkegaard
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Was a Danish philosopher, and poet (5
May 1813 – 11 November 1855) who was
considered to be one of the first
existentialist philosophers
Wrote about the importance of “self” the
involvement of an individual within a
society
Heavily criticized the institution of the
church
Jørgen Engebretsen Moe and
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
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Commonly referred to as Asbjørnsen and
Moe, these two Norweigan writers
collected a series of Norweigan of folk
and fairy tales
Aside from shaping Ibsen's views in his
adolescence with basic moral principles,
the collection of works also featured Per
Gynt, something that Ibsen would later
loosely rewrite as his play Peer Gynt
Ibsen's Influence on Theatre
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Ibsen's influence on theatre was
widespread, having even created a
community of modernist writers that
consider themselves “Ibsenites”
More directly, Ibsen's Peer Gynt inspired
the Norweigan composer Edvard Grieg to
compose In the Hall of the Mountain King
Inspired much of the work of Irish
playwright George Bernard Shaw, among
others, including Arthur Miller
Interactive Components
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Was Henrick's beard big because it was
full of secrets?
Torvald-emort and his Nor-crux?
Doll's House and Lord of the Rings, a
comparison.
Did Nora go on to be the United States
Minister of Finance?
Actual Interactive Component
Would you rather be Nora or Laura?
Was Ibsen's ending unfairly optimistic?
Conclusion