Henrik Ibsen: “Father of Modern Drama”
(1828-1906)
Ibsen was born in Skien, Norway in 1828 to a middle-class family. Despite having four younger siblings, he was a loner and a bit on the antisocial side. It didn’t help that when he was 15, his father went bankrupt, or that around the same time he heard whispers that he was actually the son of another man. While it was never proven that he wasn’t the true son of Knud Ibsen, the fear evidently haunted him, as the theme of illegitimacy appears on Ibsen’s work. At this time, broke and embarrassed, the family headed off to a farmhouse on the edge of town.
After this incident, Henrik became an apprentice to an apothecary in Grimstad to pay the bills, in spite of the fact that he had already expressed his creative leanings by dispaying skill in painting. He hoped to perhaps go on from the apprenticeship to a medical degree at University. It was at Grimstad where Ibsen began the career for which he is noted, though – that of writer.
The 1840s in Europe were a tumultuous time. The Revolution of 1848 involved almost every European country except England and Russian in armed conflict as the middle class sought to maintain rights won in the time of the French revolution against the nobility. Ibsen began writing about what was going on at the time, moving to Oslo but foregoing the expected medical education to write plays, articles, and criticism.
While getting his start, Ibsen worked for the National Theater in Bergen for seven years (1851-1858). He wrote plays for them and also managed the theater. At this time, he had not yet begun writing in what would become known as the school of “realism.” Instead, he wrote about more traditional subjects. His next job was once again in Oslo as director in another theater. It was there he married Suzannah Thoresen. Later they would have a child, Sigurd. By most accounts, their marriage seemed happy.
However, Henrik was somewhat anal about his habits. Every single day, he always did the same thing: he would get up, eat a small breakfast, take a walk, write for five hours, eat dinner, relax in the evening, and go to bed. The only difference in his day came from what preceded bedtime.
Life wasn’t easy, though. Ibsen still had money troubles. Some friends lent him money in 1864 so that he could move to Italy and later Germany, where he would remain for nearly thirty years. It was at this time in his life when he wrote his most famous and “realist” works. His new type of drama became very popular and he was known and published throughout Europe. However, his writing was also controversial. He was one of the first to discuss women’s issues in his work (although not a feminist) and was one of the first to make societal commentary central to his play. His most noted work, A Doll’s House, was censored heavily for its scandalous ending.
For the last decade of his life, Ibsen and his wife returned to Norway. He died of a stroke in 1906.
Source: http://www.nkerns.com/drama/documents/IbsenHandout.doc
Web site to visit: http://www.nkerns.com
Author of the text: indicated on the source document of the above text
Henrik Ibsen: “Father of Modern Drama”
(1828-1906)
Ibsen was born in Skien, Norway in 1828 to a middle-class family. Despite having four younger siblings, he was a loner and a bit on the antisocial side. It didn’t help that when he was 15, his father went bankrupt, or that around the same time he heard whispers that he was actually the son of another man. While it was never proven that he wasn’t the true son of Knud Ibsen, the fear evidently haunted him, as the theme of illegitimacy appears on Ibsen’s work. At this time, broke and embarrassed, the family headed off to a farmhouse on the edge of town.
After this incident, Henrik became an apprentice to an apothecary in Grimstad to pay the bills, in spite of the fact that he had already expressed his creative leanings by dispaying skill in painting. He hoped to perhaps go on from the apprenticeship to a medical degree at University. It was at Grimstad where Ibsen began the career for which he is noted, though – that of writer.
The 1840s in Europe were a tumultuous time. The Revolution of 1848 involved almost every European country except England and Russian in armed conflict as the middle class sought to maintain rights won in the time of the French revolution against the nobility. Ibsen began writing about what was going on at the time, moving to Oslo but foregoing the expected medical education to write plays, articles, and criticism.
While getting his start, Ibsen worked for the National Theater in Bergen for seven years (1851-1858). He wrote plays for them and also managed the theater. At this time, he had not yet begun writing in what would become known as the school of “realism.” Instead, he wrote about more traditional subjects. His next job was once again in Oslo as director in another theater. It was there he married Suzannah Thoresen. Later they would have a child, Sigurd. By most accounts, their marriage seemed happy.
However, Henrik was somewhat anal about his habits. Every single day, he always did the same thing: he would get up, eat a small breakfast, take a walk, write for five hours, eat dinner, relax in the evening, and go to bed. The only difference in his day came from what preceded bedtime.
Life wasn’t easy, though. Ibsen still had money troubles. Some friends lent him money in 1864 so that he could move to Italy and later Germany, where he would remain for nearly thirty years. It was at this time in his life when he wrote his most famous and “realist” works. His new type of drama became very popular and he was known and published throughout Europe. However, his writing was also controversial. He was one of the first to discuss women’s issues in his work (although not a feminist) and was one of the first to make societal commentary central to his play. His most noted work, A Doll’s House, was censored heavily for its scandalous ending.
For the last decade of his life, Ibsen and his wife returned to Norway. He died of a stroke in 1906.
A Doll's House was published on December 4, 1879, and first performed in Copenhagen on December 21, 1879. The work was considered a publishing event, and the play's initial printing of 8,000 copies quickly sold out. The play was so controversial that Ibsen was forced to write a second ending that he called "a barbaric outrage" to be used only when necessary. The controversy centered around Nora's decision to abandon her children, and in the second ending, she decides that the children need her more than she needs her freedom. Ibsen believed that women were best suited to be mothers and wives, but at the same time, he had an eye for injustice, and Helmer's demeaning treatment of Nora was a common problem. Although he would later be embraced by feminists, Ibsen was no champion of women's rights; he only dealt with the problem of women's rights as a facet of the realism within his play. His intention was not to solve this issue but to illuminate it. Although Ibsen's depiction of Nora realistically illustrates the issues facing women, his decision in Act III to have her abandon her marriage and children was lambasted by critics as unrealistic, since according to them, no "real" woman would ever make that choice.
That Ibsen offered no real solution to Nora's dilemma inflamed critics and readers alike who were then left to debate the ending ceaselessly. This play established a new genre of modern drama; prior to A Doll's House, contemporary plays were usually historical romances or contrived comedy of manners. Ibsen is known as the "father of modern drama" because he elevated theatre from entertainment to a forum for exposing social problems. Ibsen broke away from the romantic tradition with his realistic portrayals of individual characters and his focus on psychological concerns as he sought to portray the real world, especially the position of women in society.
A Doll’s House:
"Depressed and confused by her faith in authority, she loses faith in her moral right and ability to bring up her children. A mother in contemporary society, just as certain insects go away and die when she has done her duty in the propagation of the race." - Ibsen
Late 18th century – trend in Europe towards bourgeois or middle-class drama; realism
Changes Ibsen made:
“Problem play” – where the problem is not just to motivate plot, it is the central consideration
“Well-made play” – follows Freytag’s triangle perfectly. However, in Ibsen, the denoument is complicated by discussion
Additionally, A Doll's House subverted another dramatic traditions, this one related to character. Namely, Ibsen's realist drama disregarded the tradition of the older male moral figure. Dr. Rank, the character who should serve this role, is far from a moral force; instead, he is sickly--rotting from a disease picked up from his father's earlier sexual exploits--and lascivious, openly coveting Nora. The choice to portray both Dr. Rank and the potentially matronly Mrs. Linde as imperfect, real people was a novel approach at the time.
A more obvious importance of A Doll's House is the feminist message that rocked the stages of Europe when the play was premiered. Nora's rejection of marriage and motherhood scandalized contemporary audiences. In fact, the first German productions of the play in the 1880s had an altered ending at the request of the producers. Ibsen referred to this version as a "barbaric outrage" to be used only in emergencies.
In large part, Ibsen was reacting to the uncertain tempo of the time; Europe was being reshaped with revolutions. The revolutionary spirit and the emergence of modernism influenced Ibsen's choice to focus on an unlikely hero?a housewife?in his attack on middle-class values. Quickly becoming the talk of parlors across Europe, the play succeeded in its attempt to provoke discussion. In fact, it is the numerous ways that the play can be read (and read it was?the printed version of A Doll's House sold out even before it hit the stage) that make the play so interesting. Each new generation has had a different way of interpreting the book, from feminist critique to Hegelian allegory of the spirit's historical evolution. The text is simply that rich.
Source: http://www.nkerns.com/drama/documents/Ibsen.doc
Web site to visit: http://www.nkerns.com/
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