History Creator / HenrikIbsen

Henrik Johan Ibsen (20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a famous Norwegian playwright, and celebrated as a national symbol by Norwegians. Many of Ibsen's plays were critiques of the morality of his time, residing very far to the cynical end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism and often having NoEnding in a traditional storytelling sense. A noteworthy example is ''Theatre/ADollsHouse'', about a housewife and mother of three who has been taking deceptive means to support her family by herself. Her husband never suspects, but [[ManicPixieDreamGirl treats her as a child in a big toy house]] (hence ''A Doll's House''). The play as Ibsen wrote it ended with Nora flat-out leaving her husband after he reveals how he thinks of her: the last sound of the play is described as "the most famous door slam in the history of theater." However, for his German audience, Ibsen was pressured into writing a new ending, where the now self-assured and defiant Nora slips back into her meek role as a housewife when she is reminded of her children. Both endings are usually included in translations of the script, albeit with the German ending in significantly smaller letters.

* ''Theatre/TheLadyFromTheSea'' (1888). An uniquely psychological play, with a ShadowArchetype coming in to screw up the lead character.

Ibsen's production went trough a number of phases. The early stage was marked by a knack for historical plays, often with a HappyEnding, and from a later point of view, this part of his production is a long EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. His early tendency is slightly more idealistic than what he became in later years, but he also had to swallow some harsh criticism in this early stage. Notably the years between 1850 and 1856, when he wrote four plays, three of whom never entered his ''collected works''. To be fair, all the young playwrights and poets in the 1850s were labeled "idealists". Come 1859, Ibsen had a serious CreatorBreakdown and didn't write anything significant, be it poems or plays, for ''four years'', after 1858. His "second phase" can thus be said to imply a lot of therapy.

* ''Theatre/TheWildDuck'' (1884).

Ibsen was punctual to the point of parody, and people in Christiania (Oslo) knew they could set their clocks by him, at least after he moved back to Norway in 1891 and settled in a flat in the western part of town. Every day, he went down to his favorite café, entering when the clock stroke twelve. He kept this habit up for ''thirteen years''.

[[quoteright:348:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Henrik_Ibsen_7953.jpg]]

His late phase, after 1885, shows a more introvert and symbolical playwright, searching for his roots, and he re-uses themes from early on, like the MedievalBallads, but moulded in a different way. As the years passed, Ibsen was more into dissecting himself, and deconstructing himself in the process. His last three plays are chock full of this. He wrote his last play, ''WhenWeDeadAwaken'', in the fall of 1899. With a career launched in 1850, he set a solid mark on the entire second half of the nineteenth century.

* SanitySlippage: ''Theatre/LadyIngerAtAustraat''[='=]s Lady Inger may have been the first to fall victim to the trope (1857). Since then, Ibsen used it frequiently, up to and including his very last work in 1899.

* SlidingScaleOfRealismVersusFantastic: Ibsen is known as ''the father of realism''

* ''Theatre/ComedyOfLove:'' A short BreatherEpisode and UnintentionalPeriodPiece. Containing a virtual SnarkKnight who seems to be the spiritual predecessor of ''Brand.''

** Theatre/{{Rosmersholm}}: a HauntedHouse.
** Theatre/WhenWeDeadAwaken: Irene, a heroine of the "gothic insane" variety.

** Theatre/LadyIngerAtAustraat has the titular character walking sleeplessly about in an empty castle, believing it to be haunted, while her servants believe she herself is a ghost.
** Theatre/TheWarriorsAtHelgeland is even more gothic in the entire setup.

A famous Norwegian playwright, and celebrated as a national symbol by Norwegians. Many of Ibsen's plays were critiques of the morality of his time, residing very far to the cynical end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism and often having NoEnding in a traditional storytelling sense. A noteworthy example is ''Theatre/ADollsHouse'', about a housewife and mother of three who has been taking deceptive means to support her family by herself. Her husband never suspects, but [[ManicPixieDreamGirl treats her as a child in a big toy house]] (hence ''A Doll's House''). The play as Ibsen wrote it ended with Nora flat-out leaving her husband after he reveals how he thinks of her: the last sound of the play is described as "the most famous door slam in the history of theater." However, for his German audience, Ibsen was pressured into writing a new ending, where the now self-assured and defiant Nora slips back into her meek role as a housewife when she is reminded of her children. Both endings are usually included in translations of the script, albeit with the German ending in significantly smaller letters.

* ScrewThisIAmOutOfHere: Many, many times. As a rule, it is a young girl who breaks out and leaves (Nora Helmer has to be counted with this lot). A male example is Erhart, the son of ''Theatre/JohnGabrielBorkman''.

* ''Theatre/TheMasterBuilder'' (1892): Heavily auto biographical or at least self assessing play. This is both the last of his "realistic" plays and the first of his "symbolist" ones. Featuring an AntiHero, FemmeFatale, a bit of TheRashomon, and loads of FreudWasRight. Unsurprisingly, Freud himself quite liked this play.

Phase two overlaps roughly with the 1860s, beginning with a "revival" in 1862. This phase marks a transition from the early stage, and shows a more mature, but clearly seeking poet. At the same time, this is Ibsen's "angry years". Both ''Theatre/{{Brand}}'' and ''Theatre/PeerGynt'' as well as a string of poems, show that Ibsen was more disappointed with his lot, and showed himself as a veritable SnarkKnight. His early sentiments were turned inside out, and Ibsen seems to have made a point of "sacrificing himself" in each and every play. If there is an AuthorAvatar, be sure that he seldom survives the play in this period.

Come the 1870s and onwards, we find the Ibsen we know and love. The mature playwright with his realistic plays, occupied by his tendency to reveal all the corruption of the Norwegian bourgoisy. He also stands out as an elitist, with small regard for the commoners. The lower classes tend to be set as morons in some level or another, and the big cheeses, like Old Werle and Proprietor Brack, or Consul Bernick, all get off the hook scott free, while the people in the middle suffer. In this period, Ibsen clearly stated SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids. Thus, we see a harsh deprecation of his youthful days.

His late phase, after 1885, shows a more introvert and symbolical playwright, searching for his roots, and he re-uses themes from early on, like the MedievalBallads, but it is moulded in a different way. As the years passed, Ibsen was more into dissecting himself, and deconstructing himself in the process. His last three plays is stock full of this. He wrote his last play, ''WhenWeDeadAwaken'', in the fall of 1899. With a career launched in 1850, he set a solid mark on the entire second half of the nineteenth century.

Ibsen was punctual to the point of parody, and people in Christiania (Oslo) knew they could tune their clocks after him, at least after he moved back to Norway in 1891, and settled in a flat in the western parts of town. Every day at a certain time, he went down to his favorite café, entering the spot when the clock stroke twelve. He kept this habit up for ''thirteen years''.

Ibsen continued his strolls through town until he got too sick to move around. He suffered a stroke about 1904, which made him incapable of social life, and finally died in 1906, hailed as the greatest playwright in Norway, a country he had less than good to say about in his plays. In that respect, he seems an inversion of Creator/HenrikWergeland. Wergeland had a vision of what Norway could become. Ibsen presented a nightmare, or at least a bad dream that never left.

* WhenSheSmiles: Because of his aloof personality and social quirks, Ibsen rarely smiled on portraits and photograps. However, he ''was'' pictured smiling once, by Norwegian painter Erik Werenskjold, and this painting shows a rare moment of pure fun from this rather sullen man. A local paparazzi also managed to shoot a picture of Ibsen while talking to a young child on his regular stroll. At that moment, a kind smile can be observed, but usually, he never cracked.

Ibsen continued his strolls through town until he got too sick to move around. He suffered a stroke about 1904, which made him incapable of social life, and finally died in 1906, hailed as the greatest playwright in Norway, a country he had less than good to say about in his plays. In that respect, he seems an inversion of HenrikWergeland. Wergeland had a vision of what Norway could become. Ibsen presented a nightmare, or at least a bad dream that never left.

* ''Theatre/{{Catilina}}'' (1850). A Roman PeriodPiece and the first in his collected works.
* ''Theatre/StJohnsEve'' (1853) ''Not'' to be found in his collected works. A revived OldShame.

* ''Theatre/ComedyOfLove'': A short BreatherEpisode and UnintentionalPeriodPiece. Containing a virtual SnarkKnight who seems to be the spiritual predecessor of ''Brand''.

* ''Literature/TerjeVigen'' (1865): Ibsen's best known narrative poem, and another national icon - obligatory in Norwegian schools for years.

* ''Theatre/PeerGynt'' (1867): Notable in that the incidental music was composed by Edvard Grieg, including [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRpzxKsSEZg "In the Hall of the Mountain King"]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUKRBeG-sGQ "Morgenstimmung"]].
* ''Theatre/TheLeagueOfYouth'' (1869): A satirical play, and a strong TakeThat on Norwegian politics at the time. Made quite a stir - the first performance instigated riots between different political fractions. Some people were personally offended.
* ''Theatre/EmperorAndGalilean'' (1873): Considered to be Ibsen's magnum opus. Even so, it's ''criminally'' under-appreciated, even considering the whole [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]] thing.

* ''Theatre/{{Ghosts}}'' (1881)
** Features the same [[TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed disease]] as ''A Doll's House'', and a very dark take on IncestIsRelative.
** Plus a famous NoEnding. The curtain drops while Mrs. Alving [[spoiler:is trying to decide whether or not to euthanize her now-comatose son.]] When asked by his English translator what he thought happens after that, he replied, [[ShrugofGod "I wouldn't dream of answering such an important question. What do you think?"]]
** After some critics reviled ''A Doll's House'', Ibsen wrote ''Ghosts'' partly [[TakeThat to show what can happen to a woman who stays with a deadbeat husband]]. Contemporary critical reception for ''Ghosts'' was far worse than for ''A Doll's House''.

* ''Theatre/{{Rosmersholm}}'' (1886). Another play featuring an idealistic priest, who ends up DrivenToSuicide alongside TheIngenue. The play is halfway political, halfway symbolical.
* ''Theatre/TheLadyFromTheSea'' (1888). A uniquely psychological play, with a ShadowArchetype coming in to screw up the lead character.
* ''Theatre/HeddaGabler'' (1890): Featuring another TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed (in this case, pregnancy), and one [[spoiler: DrivenToSuicide]].
* ''Theatre/TheMasterBuilder'' (1892): Heavily autobiographical or at least self-assessing play. This is both the last of his "realistic" plays and the first of his "symbolist" ones. Featuring an AntiHero, FemmeFatale, a bit of TheRashomon, and loads of FreudWasRight. Unsurprisingly, Freud himself quite liked this play.
* ''Theatre/LittleEyolf'' (1894): A symbolistic play presenting a [[IllGirl crippled little boy]], KilledOffForReal before the end of the first act. The rest of the play conserns a lot of angsting from the remaining adults (the parents), and a comment on CrossDressing.
* ''Theatre/JohnGabrielBorkman'' (1897). Ibsen's penultimate play, telling the story of a GrumpyOldMan, bitterly resenting the world and dying in the snow.

----

Phase two overlaps roughly with the 1860s, beginning with a "revival" in 1862. This phase marks a transition from the early stage, and shows a more mature, but clearly seeking poet. At the same time, this is Ibsen's "angry years". Both ''{{Brand}}'' and ''PeerGynt'' as well as a string of poems, show that Ibsen was more disappointed with his lot, and showed himself as a veritable SnarkKnight. His early sentiments were turned inside out, and Ibsen seems to have made a point of "sacrificing himself" in each and every play. If there is an AuthorAvatar, be sure that he seldom survives the play in this period.

-->''To live is a fight with trolls, in the vaults of the heart and mind''.
-->''To write poems, is to hold a judgement over yourself''. (Epigram by Henrik Ibsen).

** Theatre/TheWarriorsOfHelgeland is even more gothic in the entire setup.

Ibsen continued his strolls through town until he got to sick to move around. He suffered a stroke about 1904, which made him incapable of social life, and finally died in 1906, hailed as the greatest playwright in Norway, a country he had less than good to say about in his plays. In that respect, he seems an inversion of HenrikWergeland. Wergeland had a vision of what Norway could become. Ibsen presented a nightmare, or at least a bad dream that never left.

Ibsen had a notable rivalry with Swedish playwright August Strindberg, who often accused Ibsen of stealing his ideas (claiming that Ibsen's ''Theatre/HeddaGabler'', for example, was a ripoff of his own ''Miss Julie''). Ibsen, delighted by the notion of having an archenemy, hung a huge portrait of a glowering Strindberg over his desk, and said that it helped him concentrate.

----

Ibsen's production went trough a number of phases. The early stage was marked by a knack for historical plays, often with a HappyEnding, and from a later point of view, this part of his production is a long EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. His early tendency is slightly more idealistic than what he became in later years, but he also had to swallow some harsh criticism in this early stage. Notably the years between 1850 and 1856, when he wrote four plays, three of whom never entered his ''collected works''. To be fair, all the young playwrights and poets in the 1850s were labeled "idealists". Come 1859, Ibsen had a serious CreatorBreakdown and didn`t write anything significant, be it poems or plays, for ''four years'', after 1858. His "second phase" can thus be said to imply a lot of therapy.

Phase two overlaps roughly with the 1860s, beginning with a "revival" in 1862. This phase marks a transition from the early stage, and shows a more mature, but clearly seeking poet. At the same time, this is Ibsen`s "angry years". Both ''{{Brand}}'' and ''PeerGynt'' as well as a string of poems, show that Ibsen was more disappointed with his lot, and showed himself as a veritable SnarkKnight. His early sentiments were turned inside out, and Ibsen seems to have made a point of "sacrificing himself" in each and every play. If there is an AuthorAvatar, be sure that he seldom survives the play in this period.

* AcceptableTarget: Upper class Norwegians. ''Chamberlains'' are the most acceptable targets in the plays of Ibsen (Bratsberg, Alving, the greater lot of guests at Werle's).

* CloudCuckoolander: There is at least one per play, with very few exceptions.

* HappyEnding: Most of his pre 1860 plays.

* {{Tsundere}}: A good lot of girls in Ibsen`s plays show Tsundere qualities: Eline in ''Lady Inger'', Hilde Wangel in ''The Lady from the Sea'', Ingrid Hægstad in ''Peer Gynt'', Svanhild in ''Love`s Comedy''. Usually, he made this type a {{foil}} to a truer ingenue type of heroine.

* ''Theatre/LadyIngerAtAustraat'' (1857): PeriodPiece set in 1528. Concerning the last struggles for keeping Norway independent.
* ''Theatre/TheWarriorsAtHelgeland'' (1858): Ibsen's largest WorldOfHam, stock full of HornyVikings, {{Large Ham}}s, and over the top acting. He never tried that again. Ever.

* ''Literature/TerjeVigen'' (1865): Ibsen's best known narrative poem, and another national icon - obligatory in Norwegian schools for years.
* ''Theatre/{{Brand}}'' (1866): Ibsen's commercial and critical breakthrough. It affected him to the point that he changed his appearance, his handwriting and his beard...

* ''Theatre/TheLeagueOfYouth'' (1869): A satirical play, and a strong TakeThat on Norwegian politics at the time. Made quite a stir - the first performance instigated riots between different political fractions. Some people were personally offended.

* ''Theatre/ThePillarsOfSociety'' (1877): Another "political" play, with a female character paving the way for Nora, and another critical stand on the upper classes.

** After some critics reviled ''A Doll's House'', Ibsen wrote ''Ghosts'' partly [[TakeThat to show what can happen to a woman who stays with a deadbeat husband]]. Contemporary critical reception for ''Ghosts'' was far worse than for ''A Doll's House''.

* ''Theatre/{{Rosmersholm}}'' (1886). Another play featuring an idealistic priest, who ends up DrivenToSuicide alongside TheIngenue. The play is halfway political, halfway symbolical.
* ''Theatre/TheLadyFromTheSea'' (1888). A uniquely psychological play, with a ShadowArchetype coming in to screw up the lead character.

* ''Theatre/LittleEyolf'' (1894): A symbolistic play presenting a [[IllGirl crippled little boy]], KilledOffForReal before the end of the first act. The rest of the play conserns a lot of angsting from the remaining adults (the parents), and a comment on CrossDressing.
* ''Theatre/JohnGabrielBorkman'' (1897). Ibsen`s penultimate play, telling the story of a GrumpyOldMan, bitterly resenting the world and dying in the snow.
* ''Theatre/WhenWeDeadAwaken'' (1899): The "dramatic epilogue" of Ibsen, and the last play he ever wrote. Self-evaluating and kind of tired, as could be expected from a then 71 years old writer.