Henrik Ibsen
When A Doll's House was first published in 1879 it created a sensation. The play follows the ordinary life of a housewife. Gradually the tensions within her marriage become clear and build to a final, stunning action. The play is widely studied because of its sharp critique of 19th century marriage norms, and its feminist tendencies.
Fearing rejection by her community, Helene Alving stayed with her philandering husband up until his death. She finds out that her son Osvald not only has congenital syphilis, but is in love with the maid without knowing she is his half-sister. Eventually Mrs. Alving must face the cruel choice of euthanizing her own son as he descends into a syphilitic madness. As with Ibsen's A Doll's House, Ghosts was an intentionally controversial
...Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen wrote An Enemy of the People in 1882 as a response to the public outrage over his play Ghosts. Part comedy, part serious drama, the play looks at Dr. Thomas Stockmann's struggle to uphold the truth in the face of intolerance and willful ignorance, as his entire community turns against him. Branded an "Enemy of the People," Dr. Stockmann can only take solace in the idea that "the strongest man in the
...Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler was first published in 1890. Despite premiering the next year to negative reviews, the play since been hailed as a classic work of realism, with the character Hedda being considered by some critics as one of the great dramatic roles; a female Hamlet. Gabler is actually the character's maiden name rather than her name by marriage (which is Hedda Tesman); on entitling it this Ibsen wrote:
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