Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen born March 20, 1828 is often referred to the father of modern drama and one of the founders of modernism in playwright(ing). He turned away from the Romantic style and brought the problems of his day on stage. Born in Skien in southern Norway his father was a successful merchant until he was in his teens were the family was faced with poverty. He had to stop his education and become an apprentice to a pharmacist.
In 1850 he moved to Olso where he attended Heltberg and earned some money from writing for newspapers. He wanted to become a physician but failed the university entrance examinations. During this year he also wrote two plays; Catiline which is a tragedy and Burial Mound. Burial Mound performed three times in 1850 were Cataline was not preformed until 1881.
In 1851 he was appointed as a stage poet for a small theater in Bergen which he staged over 150 plays. During this time he also wrote four plays which were based on Norwegian folklore and history. From 1852 to 1857 his theater sent him to study in Denmark and Germany. Upon his return he became an artistic director for Norwegian Theatre which became bankrupt so he was appointed to Christiania Theatre. With setbacks in his plays he decided to move abroad. For the next twenty-seven years he began his foreign travel in Italy. He wrote most of his best work during this time. One of these was Brand (1866) using the idea of subjectivity as truth.
Ibsen thought his most important play was The Emperor and the Galilean (1873). However Pillars of Society (1877) and A Doll’s House (1879) were most popular. A Doll’s House was a sensation in Europe and America. I have read this play. There a couple of parts that stood out to me the most. One part is a man who is seen as immoral to society will ruin his house. “Just think how a guilty man like that has to lie and play the hypocrite with everyone… and how about the children… Because such an atmosphere of lies infects and poisons the whole life of a home. Each breath the children take in such a house is full of the germs of evil.” (A Doll’s House, 27.) However the most rememberable part for me is when the husband Torvald says to his wife “I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora- bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves.” and she responds “It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done.” (A Doll’s House, 70).
Ibsen introduced a new order of moral analysis. Ibsen wrote about ordinary and everyday people who were forced to remove their disguises and show their true self which made his audiences reexamine themselves and their moral values. Other things he explores in his plays were the individual feelings of alienation and societal pressure to conform. In the play A Doll’s House is an example of what appears and what it.
Feinberg has several of Ibsen’s works. If you browse roughly between PT8852. E5 M2 to PT8877.A42 you can found them.
