Henrik Ibsen Research Paper

In hearing the name Henrik Ibsen, the average person may have no idea of his identity, but he is responsible for some of the most produced and influential pieces of theatre of all time. Author of A Doll House, Peer Gynt, Hedda Gabbler and The Master Builder as well as many other notable works, Ibsen helped shape the theatrical universe and entertainment industry, as we know it today.

Born on March 20th 1828 to Marken and Knud Ibsen in the small shipping town of Skien, Norway was Henrik Johan Ibsen. Early in his childhood, his family fell upon poor financial times and they were forced to sell both their family and vacation home. When Ibsen was roughly 16, he left school and spent 6 years working as an assistant to an apothecary named Reimann in Grimstad. In 1846, a servant living with Ibsen fell pregnant and he is suspected to be the father. He was never a part of the child’s life, but was forced to pay child support for fourteen years.

This lead to him moving to Christiana to attend university, but was not accepted and did not have the financial means to study, so he decided to continue writing. In 1850, he wrote his first play, Catalina, but it had little success. He met his wife, Suzannah, whilst being a director at the Christiana Theatre and they married in 1858. A year later they had a daughter named Sigurd and in 1864, Ibsen decided to move to Sorrento, Italy. It was here when his career as a playwright took off with his play Brand. It was inspired by some philosophical research Ibsen had done, but after its success he took even more interest in philosophy. He followed his success with Peer Gynt in 1867 which began as a