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Henrik IbsenA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section contains discussion of death by suicide.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a Norwegian playwright. Hedda Gabler is one of his most famous works, alongside A Doll’s House and Peer Gynt. In his early career, Ibsen wrote primarily in verse. He later switched to prose plays. Some of Ibsen’s plays, including Hedda Gabler, initially generated scandal. At the time, it was relatively uncommon to include characters like Hedda: a female protagonist who had premarital sex, pushed back against the social constraints of her life, and died by suicide. Though Hedda Gabler was initially controversial, it remains a focal point of Ibsen’s legacy. It is widely considered to be not just one of his best plays, but one of the most influential plays ever written. Ibsen wrote Hedda Gabler quite late in his career. He was in the theater on the night of the first performance, though he remained backstage.
Though Ibsen was born in Norway, he lived in other countries for much of his life. As a young man, he failed his university entrance exams and turned to writing as his new career. He worked at a Norwegian theater in the 1850s, but moved to Rome in 1864 after the theater closed down.
By Henrik Ibsen
A Doll's House
A Doll's House
Henrik Ibsen
An Enemy of the People
An Enemy of the People
Henrik Ibsen
Ghosts
Ghosts
Henrik Ibsen
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Henrik Ibsen
The Master Builder
The Master Builder
Henrik Ibsen
The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck
Henrik Ibsen
When We Dead Awaken
When We Dead Awaken
Henrik Ibsen