Rebellions against monarchy flared in many countries. This spirit of
revolution was intoxicating for Ibsen and his friends. Royalty and
aristocracy seemed on their way out; the people were coming into
their own.
Two years later, Ibsen moved to Oslo to attend the university but
failed to complete the entrance examinations. He was so caught up in
politics and writing, however, that he really didn't care. After all,
modern society seemed to be at a crossroads, and the world offered
infinite possibilities.
But things began to go wrong. The revolutions of 1848 faltered and
finally were crushed. Artists and politicians alike lost their
idealism. The world of infinite possibilities didn't really exist.
Years later, Ibsen would use the experiences of this period in his
plays. Certain of his characters (like Nora in A Doll's House and
Lovborg and Hedda in Hedda Gabler) reflect the possibility of a
society where people can reach their individual potential. But these
are lonely characters who must struggle against society as well as
their own human failings.
Although he avoided any further active involvement in politics,
Ibsen remained a nationalist. For the first time in centuries,
Norway had its own government and was trying to escape the political
and artistic influence of Denmark and Sweden. Authors wrote
Norwegian sagas, and the Norwegian Theater was opened in Bergen.
Young Ibsen became active in Norway's artistic rebirth. His first
plays were filled with sweeping poetry about Vikings and political
heroes. In fact, the fourteen plays Ibsen wrote between 1850 and
1873 are said to make up his Romantic Period.
Ibsen quickly forgot about being a doctor. On the merit of two plays,
he became the director of the theater at Bergen, with the assignment
to write one original play each year. But things did not go well for
him there. Not only were his own plays failures, but he was forced
to produce plays he considered mindless and unimportant--such as
drawing room comedies by the contemporary French playwright Augustin
Eugene Scribe. Although Ibsen ridiculed Scribe's plays, he absorbed
much about their structure, known as the piece bien faite (well-made
play). These were tightly woven melodramas, designed primarily to
entertain, to keep theatergoers on the edge of their seats. Such
plays usually included a young hero and heroine, bumbling parents,
and a dastardly villain. The action hinged on coincidences,
misplaced letters, misunderstandings, and some kind of time limit
before which everything had to work out.
There is a real art to writing a piece bien faite, because there can
be no unnecessary scenes or dialogue; every word and action sets up
a later action. Ibsen would use this tight structure in A Doll's
House, but he would add elements that turned an entertainment into
