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Henrik Ibsen 's A Dollhouse

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Henrik Ibsen’s A Dollhouse
A Dollhouse is Henrik Ibsen’s best known realistic problem play. It is about the debt a wife hides from her husband, and the escalation of problems surrounding it occurring around Christmas. The play shocked many viewers because it broke many cultural stigmas at the time. The names, symbols, and dialogue all contribute to the overall impact of the play.
According to the article, Henrik Ibsen Biography, Ibsen was a playwright born in Skien, Norway as the oldest of five siblings to Knud and Marichen Ibsen. At the age of 8, Ibsen’s parents went bankrupt, and moved the family “… to a rundown farm near town.” At 15, Ibsen worked as an apprentice to a pharmacist at an apothecary, and used his free time to write poetry and paint. Ibsen moved to Christiania (later called Oslo), in 1850 where he was offered the job of writer and manager of the Norwegian Theatre in Bergen. In 1862, Ibsen left Norway, and moved to Italy, and later Germany in 1868, where he wrote many realistic plays such as Peer Gynt and The Pillars of Society. He wrote his most famous play, A Dollhouse, in Germany in 1879. After moving back to Norway in 1891, Ibsen wrote more self-reflective plays such as The Master Builder and When We Dead Awaken. After having a series of strokes in 1900, Ibsen died May 23, 1906 (“Henrik Ibsen Biography”).
The names of the characters in Ibsen’s A Dollhouse and the name of the play itself tells a lot about the play. According to anthology editors, Edgar V.

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