Henrik Ibsen was born on March 20, 1828 in Skien, Norway. At seven years old, his father had to give up the family business, sending his family into financial hardship. At 15 years old, Ibsen became a pharmacist's apprentice and began writing plays. In 1850, at the age of 22, Ibsen moved to Christiania (modern day Oslo) to study medicine at the University but he did not pass the entrance exams. He continued writing plays, however, and he published two of his plays: Catiline and The Burial Mound (first play produced) under a pseudonym.

 

A year later, Ibsen moved to Bergen, Norway and became an assistant at the Norske Teater, an important moment in his theatrical career. Ibsen went on to become the artistic director of The Norwegian Theatre and marry his wife, Suzannah Thoreson, in 1857. When the theatre went bankrupt in 1862, Ibsen moved his family back and forth between  Rome, Italy and Munich, Germany where he wrote the bulk of his work.

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Ibsen was influenced by his mother-in-law, Magdalene Thoreson, who was a leader of the feminist movement in Norway. In A Doll's House (1879) and Hedda Gabler  (1890), two of his most famous works, Ibsen uses his plays to criticize marriage by portraying strong women who are trapped in a domestic setting.