Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Johan Ibsen (March 20, 1828 - May 23, 1906) was an extremely influential Norwegian playwright who was largely responsible for the rise of the modern realistic drama. After his birth his family's fortunes took a significant turn for the worse. His mother turned to religion and his father had severe depression. The characters in his plays often mirror his parents and his themes often deal with issues of financial difficulty. Ibsen left home and became an apprentice druggist at fifteen and began writing plays.He spent the next several years employed at the Norwegian Theater. He got married in 1859.With a stellar career behind him, Ibsen died in Oslo.

A Doll's House (1879) was a scathing criticism of the traditional roles of men and women in Victorian marriage. He has his protagonist, Nora, leave her husband in search of the wider world, after realizing he was not the noble creature she had supposed him to be. Her role in the marriage was that of a doll, her house a "Doll's House", and indeed her husband Torvalds refers to her incessantly as his little "starling" and his "squirrel". She is not even permitted a key to the mailbox. When she is blackmailed due to an impropriety she committed in order to save her husband's life, forging her father's name on a note, her husband declares that he will put her away. His only concern is his own reputation, despite the love for him which prompted her to it.

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