Henrik Ibsen
...sts pitted against darker forces. Every drama was expected to result in a morally appropriate conclusion, meaning that was goodness was to bring happiness and immorality only pain. Ibsen challenged this notion and the beliefs of this time. Henrik Ibsen wrote for and about the middle class, and life in the suburbs and small towns. He focused on characters and psychological conflicts rather than dramatic situations. The characters in his plays often mirror his parents. His central theme was the duty of the individual towards himself. Other themes include issues of financial difficulty, as well as moral conflicts stemming from dark private secrets hidden from society. His first play was a tragedy called Catilina written in 1850, but was never performed. His first play to see production as the Burial Mound, also publish in 1850. He did not reach the peak of his success and influence until about twenty years later. One of his most famous plays was A Doll’s House, published in 1879. The play criticized the traditional roles of men and women in Victorian marriage. The protagonist, Nora, leaves her husband in search of a new life after realizing her husband was not the righteous man she thought he was. She basically is her husband’s “doll” and is controlled by him and lives under his rules. When she is blackmailed because of an improper act that she commits in order to save her husbands life, her husband shows disgust and horror at what she had done. He is only concerned with his reputation, despite the fact she it out of love for him. In the end, Nora decides to leave her husband and children to discover who she is and what she wants in life. To the Victorians, this play was highly scandalous. During this era, the covenant of marriage was extremely important and to portray it in such a way was completely unacceptable. Some theatres refused to stage the play, and Ibsen would occasionally write an alternate ending. Ibsen’s most performed play is Hedda Gabler, published in 1890. The leading female role is regarded as one of the most challenging and rewarding for an actress, even in the present. Hedda and the character Nora in A Doll’s House are similar characters. Hedda Gabler marries Jorgen Tesman not because of love but for financial security. Hedda’s former lover is Eilert Lovborg. He is a wr...