T.Y.B.A. (ENG) PARAMAR BHAVESH G
SEM : 5 PhD (PURSUING), M.A. (ENG)
CCE : 16 JRF, NET, GSET, GATE 2022/23.
Henrik Ibsen (1828 – 1906)
Henrik Johan Ibsen was born in Skien, Norway on March 20, 1828. He was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. He was known as the "Father of Modern Prose Drama." He was the youngest of six children. Ibsen's father was a wealthy merchant who went bankrupt when Ibsen was eight years old, thus he lived much of his childhood in hardship. From 1851 through 1864, he worked in theatres in Bergen and Oslo (then known as Christiania). At the age of twenty-one, Ibsen penned his first play, Catiline, a five-act tragedy. Catiline, like much of his early work, was written in verse.
Ibsen married Suzannah Thoreson in 1858 and had
one son with her. Ibsen believed that husband and wife should live as equals,
free to become their own human beings, rather than just cohabiting. (This
belief is seen in his play A Doll's House.) As a result, Ibsen's critics
accused him of disrespecting the institution of marriage. Ibsen's literature,
like his private life, tended to raise delicate societal topics, and some
sections of Norwegian society mocked on it. Ibsen travelled to Italy in 1864
after receiving a travelling grant and a stipend from the Norwegian government
after receiving criticism in Oslo about both his work and his personal life..He
spent the next twenty-seven years living abroad, mostly in Italy and Germany.
Ibsen's early years as a playwright were not financially
rewarding, but he did gain significant experience. Ibsen's first significant
theatrical hit, a lyric drama called 'Brand', was released in 1866. He followed
it up with 'Peer Gynt', another well-received verse play. These two works
contributed to Ibsen's status as one of the foremost Norwegian dramatists of his
day. Ibsen's masterpiece, “A Doll's House”, was published in 1879, while he was
residing in Italy. A Doll's House, unlike “Peer Gynt” and “Brand”, was written
in prose. It is widely regarded as an important turning point in the evolution
of what quickly became a popular theatre genre realism, which attempts to show
life honestly while rejecting portrayed conceptions of it.
In A Doll's House, Ibsen combines traditional tragedy themes and
structures while writing in prose about ordinary, unexceptional individuals.
Ibsen's concern for women's rights, and for human rights in general, is clearly
prominent in A Doll's House.
Following A Doll's House, Ibsen wrote two more plays in an
innovative, realistic style: “Ghosts” in 1881 and “An Enemy of the People” in
1882. Both were a huge success. Ibsen's works began to earn international
acclaim, and they were produced across Europe and translated into other
languages. Ibsen's later work diverted away from realistic drama to address
psychological and subconscious issues. As a result, symbols began to take centre stage in his
performances. During this symbolist period, he composed “The Wild Duck (1884)”
and “Hedda Gabler (1890)”. Ibsen's final play while living abroad was Hedda
Gabler. He returned to Oslo in 1891. Among his later works are “The Master
Builder (1892)” and “Little Eyolf (1896)”. Ibsen eventually became afflicted
with a terrible illness that stopped him from writing. He passed away on May
23, 1906.
Important Plays of Henrik Ibsen.
Catiline (1850)
The Burial Mound (1850)
St. John's Eve (1852)
Lady Inger of Oestraat (1854)
The Feast at Solhaug (1855)
Olaf Liljekrans (1856)
The Vikings at Helgeland (1858)
Love's Comedy (1862)
The Pretenders (1863)
Brand (1866)
Peer Gynt (1867)
The League of Youth (1869)
Emperor and Galilean (1873)
Pillars of Society (1877)
A Doll's House (1879)
Ghosts (1881)
An Enemy of the People (1882)
The Wild Duck (1884)
Rosmersholm (1886)
The Lady from the Sea (1888)
Hedda Gabler (1890)
The Master Builder (1892)
Little Eyolf (1894)
John Gabriel Borkman (1896)
When We Dead Awaken (1899)
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