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Birth
Henrik Ibsen was born in May 23rd, 1828 in a small lumbering town of Southern Norway. -
Father goes bankrupt
When he was only 8 years old his father became a disgrace of a merchant after going bankrupt -
Henrik Ibsen moves to Grimstad
After his father went into bankruptcy Henrik Ibsen wanted to move out the first chance he got and so at age 15 he did just that and moved to Grimstad a hamlet of roughly 800 people and there he supported himself as a apothecary’s apprentice not only that but he also started studying for University and started writing a play -
First play
Henrik Ibsen released his in 1850 titled Catilina it had been inspired by the Latin texts he had to study for university and while it wasn't a great play per say it did show that a natural bent for theatre -
Moving to Christiania
After writing his first play he decided to move to Christiania to peruse the art further there he studied for entrance exams and settled into student quarters -
first theatre
After arriving at Christiania he settled into his theatre life where at the age 0f 234 he managed to appoint himself director and playwright to a new theatre at Bergen where he had to write a new play year after year -
Marrige
In 1858 he married Suzannah Thoresen and he had developed qualities of independence and authority -
Last plays for the Norwegian stage
Kjaerlighedens komedie (1862; Love’s Comedy) was a satire on romantic illusions and while it became very unpopular it did express the theme of inti-idealism than he would soon make his own -
Bankruptcy
He had released his new played titled Kongsemnerne (1863; The Pretenders) and while it do good it was too late and the theatre was bankrupt and his career was at end, or so it seemed -
Independence
After the death of his theatre Henrik was now able to write for himself there he applied for a small state grant where he left Norway for Italy and for the next 27 years he lived abroad mainly in Rome, Dresden, and Munich -
Exile
While in exile he started writing a poem titled "Brand" its central figure is a rural pastor which was meant to give the readers an impasse " The heroic alternative was also a destructive alternative " in Norway it was very successful -
Eyes of the world
After his successful poem Henrik came out with two new poems Hard on the heels of Brand and Peer Gynt both of which were made to present a ant ethical view of the human nature and had both helped him win his battle with the world -
Doll house controversy
Henrik released a play titled Doll's house the plot was simple enough but what caused a scandal was the ending where most playwrights would have tried to scrape together a happy ending Henrik did not simply because it was not his way his play was about knowing ones self and being true to that -
Ghost controversy
His next controversial play wast Ghost it had managed to create even more distaste by showing worse consequences of covering up even more ugly truths the theme of this play had been congential veneresal disease -
Progressive change
As he released more and more controversial plays he also gained more of a following of people who agreed with him though his audiences were small in size they all took his plays very seriously as such did many critics he later released En folkefiende (1882; An Enemy of the People) was about a medical offficer who is declared 'the enemy of the people" after trying to save them this theme of idealistic truth becomes far more dominant in later plays -
Last of his string
Up to this point all of Henrik's plays had tied together one way or the other and Rosmersholm was his last -
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Later plays
While Rosmersholm was the last play in a string of eithical plays it was by no means his last play he later releases Fruen fra havet (1888; The Lady from the Sea), Hedda Gabler (1890), Bygmester Solness (1892; The Master Builder), Lille Eyolf (1894; Little Eyolf), John Gabriel Borkman (1896), and Naar vi døde vaagner (1899; When We Dead Awaken) where ke continues to write plays until 1906 where is bedridden due to a stroke in 1900 -
Stroke
Henrik had a stroke in 1900 which had lead to him being bedridden in 1901 -
Death
Henrik Ibsen died in 1906 in Kristiania -
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Life after death
While he may have died in 1906 he had impacts to the theatre world long after in the last half of the 19th century he had changed the European stage from a plaything to distract the board back to its roots an instrument for passing judgment on the soul -