Henrik Ibsen is a Norwegian playwright best known for his plays "A Doll's House" and "Hedda Gabler" among many others. Henrik Ibsen was born on March 20, 1828 in Norway. Henrik grew up in the town of Skein; the eldest of five children. The family became poor when Henrik was 8 years old due to problems in his father's business. The family moved to a dilapidated farm near the city. At 15 Ibsen stopped going to school and went to work. He obtained an apprentice position in a pharmacy where he worked for six years. In his free time he wrote poetry and painted. In 1849 he wrote his first play "Catalina", written in verse and inspired by one of his influences, William Shakespeare. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Ibsen moved to Oslo in 1850 to study at Christiania University. During his time in Oslo, he made friends with writers and artists. One of his friends, Ole Schulerud, paid for Ibsen's first play, Catalina, which did not get much attention. In 1851 Ibsen met the violinist and theater manager Ole Bull. Bull offered him a job as a writer and manager for the Norwegian theatre. In 1857 Ibsen returned to Christiania to manage another theatre. This became a frustrating job for him, with people claiming he mismanaged the theater and calling for his resignation. Despite this, Ibsen found time to write "Love Marriage" in 1862. Ibsen left Norway in 1862 and settled in Italy for a few years. There he wrote "Brand," a tragedy about a priest whose devotion to the faith cost him his family and his life. Two years later, Ibsen created "peer gynt". It was a modern version of the Greek epics of the past. In 1868 Ibsen moved to Germany. During his time there, his social drama "The Pillars of Society" was performed in Munich. The play marked the launch of his career and was soon followed by one of his most famous plays, "A Doll's House". The show explored Nora's struggle with traditional roles of wives and mothers and her need for freedom. Ibsen questioned the accepted social judgments of the time, causing a stir. In the first performance of the opera, the ending had to be changed. In this period he returned to Rome. His next work, “Ghosts,” sparked further controversy by tackling topics such as incest. The outcry was so strong that the show was performed on a large scale only two years later. Ibsen wrote "The Lady of the Sea" and soon after returned to Norway, where he would spend his final years. One of his most famous works, "Hedda Gabler", followed. Ibsen created one of the theater's most famous characters. Hedda, the daughter of a general, is a newlywed who has grown to hate her husband. Despite this, she destroys a former lover who stands in her husband's way. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In 1891, Ibsen returned to Norway where he continued to write more plays that had more self-reflective qualities. In 1899 he wrote his last play, "When We Dead Awake." It's about an old sculptor who meets one of his old models and tries to rediscover his lost creative spark. In 1900 he suffered a series of strokes that left him unable to write. He lived for many more years until he died in May 23, 1906.