In his early life, Ibsen's financial hardship forced him to leave university and do bits of writing for newspapers as well as manage a small theatre; he was a poet in his own right. Soon his poetry developed into masterful plays and success finally ensued. His technique involved symbolism and in-depth psychological analysis of society and the mind. He attacked social pretension as well as the oppression of women. While the novelists of the era wrote of these subjects, Ibsen sought to dramatise the same smugness of the upper classes and depict the realism in these lifestyles. He demanded, in his works, that drama deal with the major issues of the day through cycles of life of his characters. He thought that truth could free, as well as destroy, but that truth could be the only manner in which individuals could see the realities of life and learn and evolve from them. His first successful play, "Brand", spoke of truth to one's self despite the conformities of society. The next was "Peer Gynt", a drama whose theme is that a second-rate life has little meaning and purpose. His plays
Nora: Sit down... we have a lot to talk over... I've lived by doing tricks for you... You're to blame that nothing's become of me.
Helmed: . . For a man there's something . . sweet and satisfying in knowing he's forgiven his wife;.. .in a sense he's given her fresh into the world again, and she's become his wife and his child as well. From now on that's what you'll be to me -- you little, bewildered, helpless thing.
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