Henrik Ibsen

Early life

Henrik Ibsen was born on March 20, 1828, in Skien, Norway. His father was a successful merchant. When
Ibsen was eight, his father's business failed, which was a shattering blow to the family. Ibsen left home at
age fifteen and spent six years as a pharmacist's (one who prepares and sells drugs that are ordered by
doctors) assistant in Grimstad, Norway, where he wrote his first play. In 1850 he moved to Christiania
(Oslo), Norway, to study. In 1851 he became assistant stage manager of a new theater in Bergen, Norway,
where part of his job was to write one new play a year. Although these plays were mostly unsuccessful,
Ibsen gained valuable theater experience.

Ibsen returned to Christiania in 1857, where he spent the worst period of his life. His plays either failed or
were rejected, and he went into debt. He left Norway in 1864, spending the next twenty-seven years in Italy
and Germany. He changed his appearance, his habits, and even his handwriting. He became distant,
secretive, and desperate to protect himself from the real and imagined hostility of others.

Early plays

The main character in Catiline (1850), Ibsen's first play, is torn between two women who represent
conflicting forces in himself. Ibsen's other early plays show him struggling to find his voice. The two plays
he wrote during his second stay in Christiania were more successful: Love's Comedy (1862), which pokes
fun at romantic love, and The Pretenders (1864), a historical and psychological (relating to the mind)
tragedy (a serious drama that usually ends with the hero's death).

In the first ten years after leaving Norway Ibsen wrote four plays, including the immensely successful Brand
(1866), about a man's attempt to understand himself. His next play, Peer Gynt (1867), made Ibsen
Scandinavia's most discussed dramatist. Peer Gynt is Brand's opposite, a man who ignores his problems until
he loses everything, including himself. Ibsen called Emperor and Galilean (1873), a ten-act play, "a world-
historical drama."

Plays about current issues

Inspired by the demands of critics that literature should address current problems of the day, Ibsen set out to
develop a dramatic form in which serious matters could be dealt with using stories about everyday life. Ibsen
did not invent the realistic (based on real life) or social reform play, but he perfected the form. In doing so
he became the most famous dramatist of the nineteenth century. Still, Ibsen remained what he had always
been, a man who disliked society and concerned himself only with the individual and his problems.

As used by George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), a great supporter of Ibsen's work, the term "Ibsenite"
describes a play that exposes individual and social hypocrisy (pretending to be what one is not). Examples
are Pillars of Society (1877) and A Doll's House (1879), which point out how the conventions of society
hinder personal development. In Ghosts (1881), however, the character of Mrs. Alving discovers that there
are forces within the individual more destructive than the "dollhouse" of marriage and society. The last of
the "Ibsenite" plays, An Enemy of the People (1882), is one of Ibsen's finest comedies.

Later works

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After 1882 Ibsen concentrated more on the problems of the individual. The Wild Duck (1884) shows how
the average man needs illusions (unreal and misleading thoughts or ideas) to survive and what happens to a
family when it is forced to face the truth. In Rosmersholm (1886) a man raised in a tradition of Christian
duty and sacrifice tries to break with his past. Hedda Gabler (1890) is the story of an unhappy woman who
attempts to interfere with the lives of others. There is much of Ibsen, as he saw himself at the time, in Hedda
Gabler.

Many of Ibsen's last plays represent confessions of his sins. The Master Builder (1892), one of Ibsen's most
beautiful dramas, is the story of an artist consumed by guilt over the wife and children he has "murdered" to
further his ambition. John Gabriel Borkman (1896) is a study of a man who sacrifices everything to his
vision and is killed by the forces in nature he has sought to control. Ibsen's last play, When We Dead
Awaken (1899), is an artist's confession of his failure as a man and of his doubts about his achievement.
Soon after this play Ibsen suffered a stroke that ended his career. He died on May 23, 1906, in Christiania.

Social, Historical and Political Context of Hedda Gabler (1890s Norway)

Henrik Ibsen:

Henrik Johan Ibsen was a 19th century Norwegian writer who specialised in playwriting, directing and
poetry. He was born 20th March 1828 in Sweden-Norway (United Kingdom of Sweden and Norway) to
Knud Ibsen, his father, and Marichen Altenburg, his mother. Henrik Ibsen is also known as the ‘Father of
Realism’ - realism being the dramatic movement in which stories are more loyal to true to life depictions of
events, rather than abstract interpretations. A lot Ibsen’s work was not truly appreciated at the time of
publication due to the strict European ideals and morals imposed in Sweden-Norway at the time; his work
lacked conformity to these ideals. Ibsen is frequently regarded as the most important playwright since
Shakespeare.

When Ibsen was seven his father came into various financial issues which resulted in the family moving to a
much smaller house in Venstøp, a small distance away from Skien.

His father’s endless financial complications strongly influenced Ibsen’s later works. Ibsen’s work often
depicts characters that struggle with social descent (lowering of class and status) mirroring the situation that
his father was in. In Hedda Gabler a similar financial struggle is show through Miss Tesman. Miss Tesman
sacrificed her own money to pay for a mortgage for her son.

In the early days of his writing Ibsen was suffering from depression and went through a more macabre phase
of writing (e.g. A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler). The thoughts of suicide in Hedda Gabler mirror the
emotional state that Ibsen was in during the time of writing the plays.

Although a lot of his work may seem provocative, in fact this is not the case. Ibsen copied many other
working playwrights at the time of his writings, such as Eugene Scribe and even some Greek Tragedy
writers.

Hedda Gabler follows Eugene Scribe’s idea of a well-made play. A well-made play must include: A secret -
Hedda’s baby being the secret; discovery of the secret – Inferred to the audience that she has a baby;
dramatic irony – The audience continuously knows more than the characters in the play; a happy ending –
which Hedda Gabler arguably has; chronological form – Hedda Gabler is set in the same house throughout
the play, and lastly a hero-type (hero, anti-hero or false hero) character who reaches their demise – Hedda?

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Although Ibsen doesn’t stray too far from this theatrical form, he does have a variation of his own and unlike
his fellow writers; he was unafraid to break this structure. In Hedda Gabler there isn’t a happy ending scene,
it is far less farcical and contains elements of Greek Tragedy. Ibsen cared too much for social realism to
restrain his writing to this exact form.

Sweden-Norway:

Ibsen wrote Hedda Gabler in 1890 and it appears that it is set contemporary Norway. However, it is believed
that the historical setting is meant to be earlier. This is based on multiple assumptions such as the lack of
electrical lights and Hedda’s mentioning of walking back from parties, barefoot.

During the 19th century there was a diplomatic struggle between Sweden and Norway about the unequal
representation of the issues in Norway. It is also important to consider that there were two Swedish men
representing the two nations; not a Swedish ambassador and a Dutch ambassador. During this time many
Dutch civilians urged that they should take strong action against the Swedish and there were many
occurrences of fights between the two countries. This conflict between the two countries posed a struggle for
many – what side do they fight for? Hedda’s irrationality reflects that of the uncertainty of the members of
the public. Perhaps Hedda’s confused as a result of two contrasting ideas of Victorian ideals.

Women

Henrik Ibsen was an enthusiastic supporter of women’s rights (yet he does not call himself a feminist) and
created many seemingly flawed, complex heroines throughout his plays. In the 19th century the play’s
impact was huge. Many critics struggled with the concepts of the play and called Hedda ‘monstrous’ and yet
some supported Ibsen’s criticism of women’s treatment by society.

The suffering of women, another prevalent theme in his text, is inspired by both his biological mother,
Marichen, and his mother-in-law, Magdalene (the leader of the feminist movement in Norway). From his
mother he learned about sacrifice and the difficulties of being a woman, especially the occupational
restrictions – reflect in Hedda’s lack of job.

From his mother-in-law he gained a new voice - one that was not afraid to criticise marriage. Ibsen has a
history of portraying leading, multifaceted female characters that are trapped in the constraints of Victorian
traditions.

Upon first reading Hedda Gabler it is hard not to mistake Hedda Gabler as an extremely malicious and
vindictive person but is this really the case? There is evidence against the negative connotative portrayal of
Hedda. We have to look into the context to really see if Hedda’s behaviour can be defined as unreasonable.

Hedda is a young bride, newly married to George Tesman. Society pressures her into believing that she
should be enormously happy or at least pretend to be but instead Hedda is dissatisfied and makes no real
attempt of hiding it. From the outset, she expresses her feeling of suffocation as a result of society’s
expectations of her; to be a housewife, a mother and powerless. Hedda’s motivation to manipulate people is
a result of her incapability to remonstrate. ‘Penis Envy’ was another common factor that played a part in the
struggle for women. Women started to wish they were men and they would compensate by acting rebellious
and how a man would; against societal principles. Hedda could be subconsciously projecting these thoughts
through her dialogue and actions.

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 Hedda’s intentions are fascinating because in some ways they could be deemed acceptable, as the strict
views imposed on her supports the idea that it is a rational decision for her to rebel. Hedda’s life was entirely
dictated by men - they say what she should or should not do, and it is this constricting force that made her
manipulative in the first place. This poses the question is Hedda’s suicide courageous or cowardly? The
intentions behind her suicide are fairly unambiguous: she either committed suicide to break free from the
societal boundaries that are enforced upon her (she is unwilling to be capsulated by society) or she is unable
to live her life as a housewife and she would rather die than be conformist.

Men

Prior to the 1890s, a husband had entire ownership of all of his wife’s property and his wife’s wealth.
Obviously there were many men who detested this idea, for many various reasons. These men wanted
women to have more responsibility in the working environment as well in the general upkeep of the family
home – these men started to pave way for an attitude change among many men…passivity. Men were no
longer 100% dominant. Although generally they were still dominant over women (more laws to protect
men) but women now had more of a say and some even went on to gain an education and helped Norway
advance in fields such as medication and technology. The Victorian ideals of what roles men and women
should play were starting to crumble and new ones were made.

Men were no longer forced against their will to be the provider of the family and some even became ‘house-
husbands.’ Society as a whole was becoming more equal and this could have perhaps inspired Ibsen’s
portrayal of Hedda. Hedda Gabler was a force to be reckoned with – she was educated, witty and most of all
prescient (she is aware of the things around her and how they may affect her future). Hedda is the
representation of the ascent of women in Norway during the early late half of the 1890s. Hedda has more
theoretical power than George Tesman, the man she has married. Some have even gone to say that Hedda is
more of a man than George.

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