Ibsen's Life

Ibsen's life: Born into a large family on the 20th of march 1828, Ibsen was the fifth child of Knud and Marichen. Brought up and raised in Skien, Norway, Ibsen didn’t show any signs of becoming a playwright however did show an interest in becoming an artist and commonly acquainted his mother when going to the theatre, his father was a successful merchant and his mother painted, played the piano and loved to go to the theatre also. Despite this upbringing, Ibsen and his family found themselves in poverty when Ibsen was at the age of eight as his fathers work lost business leading the family to move into a farm closer to town where Ibsen spent his time happily painting and reading. Ibsen’s experience of living both wealthy and in poverty provides an understanding of both lifestyles, this could have had a huge impact on the way Ibsen creates such storylines and realism within his plays. At just the age of fifteen Ibsen stopped school and went into work gaining an apprenticeship in an apothecary (medical profession selling drugs and medication) in Grimstad where he continued to work until he was 21, in his free time he continued to paint and write poetry leading to him writing his first play influenced by Shakespeare in 1949 called Catilina which was a drama written in verse. Working life: Preparing for university Ibsen moved to Christiania (Oslo) in 1850 for university examinations to study at the University of Christiania where he soon made friends with other writers living in the capital and other artistic fields one friend in particular named Ole schulerus kindly paid for the publication of Ibsen’s first play (Catilina), which unfortunately failed to get much notice. In 1851 Ibsen met a theatre manager named Ole Bull who seemed to like Ibsen and eventually offered him a job as a writer and manager for the Norwegian Theatre in Bergen this gave Ibsen the chance to explore all the things within theatre alongside this Bull allowed him to travel to expand his knowledge. In 1857, Ibsen returned to Christiania to run another theatre there which seemed to challenge him with others claiming that he mismanaged the theatre and calling for his ouster. Despite his difficulties, Ibsen found time to write another play  Love's Comedy, a satirical look at marriage, in 1862.

Personal Life: Ibsen lead to have a long and happy marriage to Suzannah Daae Thores with a wedding in 1858 and welcomed their only child, son Sigurd in 1859 however Ibsen also had a son from previous relationship. He had fathered a child with a maid in 1846 while working as an apprentice as mentioned previously. While he provided some financial support, Ibsen never met his first son. Becoming old: unfortunately in 1900, Ibsen had a series of strokes that left him unable to write anymore. However luckily Ibsen to live for several more years, but he was not fully present during much of this time. Ibsen died on May 23, 1906. His last words were "To the contrary!" in Norwegian. Considered a literary titan at the time of his passing, he received a state funeral from the Norwegian government.