Ibsen Henrik: biography, creativity, quotes

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Ibsen Henrik did the incredible - he created and opened the Norwegian drama and the Norwegian theater to the whole world. His works were originally romantic, having ancient Scandinavian sagas as plots (“Warriors of Helgelade”, “Struggle for the Throne”). Then he turns to the philosophical and symbolic understanding of the world ("Brand", "Peer Gynt"). And finally, Ibsen Henrik comes to sharp criticism of modern life ("A Doll's House", "Ghosts", "Enemy of the People").

Dynamically developing, G. Ibsen demands in his later works the complete emancipation of man.

Childhood playwright

In the family of a we althy Norwegian businessman Ibsen, who lives in the south of the country, in the town of Skien, in 1828, the son of Henrik appears. But only eight years pass, and the family goes bankrupt. Life falls out of the usual social circle, they suffer hardships in everything and the ridicule of others. Little Ibsen Henryk painfully perceives the changes taking place. However, already at school, he begins to surprise teachers with his compositions. Childhood ended at 16, when he moved to a nearby town and became an apothecary's apprentice. He works inpharmacy for five years and all these years dreaming of moving to the capital.

In the city of Christiania

A young man, Ibsen Henrik, arrives in the big city of Christiania and, being financially poor, participates in political life. He manages to stage a short drama "Bogatyr Kurgan". But he still has the drama Catilina in reserve. He is noticed and invited to Bergen.

In the folk theater

In Bergen, Ibsen Henrik becomes a director and theater director. Under him, the theater's repertoire includes plays by classics - Shakespeare, Scribe, also Dumas son - and Scandinavian works. This period would last in the playwright's life from 1851 to 1857. He then returns to Christiania.

In the capital

This time the capital met him more affably. Ibsen Henryk received the position of director of the theater. A year later, in 1858, his marriage to Susanna Thoresen will take place, which will be happy.

At this time, heading the Norwegian theater, he is already recognized as a playwright in his homeland thanks to the historical play "Feast in Sulhaug". His previously written plays are repeatedly staged. These are "Warriors of Helgelade", "Olaf Liljekrans". They are played not only in Christiania, but also in Germany, Sweden, Denmark. But when in 1862 he presented to the public a satirical play - "Comedy of Love", in which the idea of love and marriage is ridiculed, the society is tuned in relation to the author so sharply negatively that after two years he is forced to leave his homeland. With the help of friends, he receives a scholarship and leaves for Rome.

Forborder

In Rome, he lives alone and in 1865-1866 he writes a poetic play "Brand". The hero of the play, the priest Brand, wants to achieve inner perfection, which, as it turns out, is completely impossible in the world. He abandons his son and wife. But no one needs his ideal views: neither the secular authorities, nor the spiritual ones. As a result, without renouncing his views, the hero dies. This is natural, since his whole nature is alien to mercy.

Moving to Germany

Having lived in Trieste, Dresden, G. Ibsen finally stops in Munich. In 1867, another poetic work was published - the exact opposite of the play about the mad priest "Peer Gynt". This romantic poem takes place in Norway, Morocco, the Sahara, Egypt, and again in Norway.

In a small village where a young guy lives, he is considered an empty talker, a fighter who does not even think about helping his mother. The modest beautiful girl Solveig liked him, but she refuses him because his reputation is too bad. Per goes into the woods and there he meets the daughter of the Forest King, whom he is ready to marry, but for this he needs to turn into an ugly troll. With difficulty escaping from the clutches of forest monsters, he meets with his mother dying in his arms. After that, he travels the world for many years and finally, completely old and gray-haired, returns to his native village. No one will recognize him, except for the wizard Buttonman, who is ready to melt his soul into a button. Per begging for a reprieve to prove to the sorcererthat he is a whole person, and not faceless. And then he, a tumbleweed, meets the aged Solveig, faithful to him. It was then that he realizes that he was saved by the faith and love of a woman who had been waiting for him for so long. This is an absolutely fantastic story that Henrik Ibsen created. The works, on the whole, are built on the basis that some kind of whole person is struggling with the lack of will and immorality of insignificant people.

World fame

By the end of the 70s, G. Ibsen's plays began to be staged all over the world. Sharp criticism of modern life, dramas of ideas make up the work of Henrik Ibsen. He wrote such significant works: 1877 - "Pillars of Society", 1879 - "A Doll's House", 1881 - "Ghosts", 1882 - "Enemy of the People", 1884 - "Wild Duck", 1886 - Rosmersholm, 1888 - The Woman from the Sea, 1890 - Hedda Gabler.

In all these plays, G. Ibsen asks the same question: is it possible in modern life to live truthfully, without lies, without destroying the ideals of honor? Or it is necessary to obey generally accepted norms and turn a blind eye to everything. Happiness, according to Ibsen, is impossible. Eccentrically preaching the truth, the hero of the "Wild Duck" destroys the happiness of his friend. Yes, it was based on a lie, but the man was happy. The vices and virtues of the ancestors stand behind the backs of the heroes of the "Ghosts", and they themselves are, as it were, tracing papers of their fathers, and not independent individuals who can achieve happiness. Nora from "A Doll's House" is fighting for the right to feel like a person, not a beautiful doll.

And she leaves home forever. And forshe has no happiness. All these plays, with the possible exception of one, are subject to a rigid authorial scheme and idea - the heroes are doomedly fighting against the whole society. They become rejected, but not defeated. Hedda Gabler fights against herself, against the fact that she is a woman who, having married, is forced to give birth against her will. Born a woman, she wants to act freely like any man.

She is impressionable and beautiful, but she is not free to choose her own life, nor to choose her own destiny, which is unclear to her. She can't live like this.

Henrik Ibsen quotes

They express only his worldview, but maybe they will touch the strings of someone's soul:

• "The strongest is the one who fights alone."
• "What you sow in youth, you reap in maturity."
• "A thousand words will leave less of a mark than the memory of one deed."
• "The soul of a man is in his deeds".

At home

In 1891, G. Ibsen, after a 27-year absence, returned to Norway. He will still write a number of plays, his anniversary will still be celebrated. But in 1906, a stroke will forever end the life of such an outstanding playwright as Henrik Ibsen. His biography is over.