Henrik Johan Ibsen, born in 1828 in Skien, Norway, was the eldest of five children after the early death of his older brother. Though Ibsen later reported that Skien was a pleasant place to grow up, his childhood was not particularly happy. He was described as an unsociable child. His sense of isolation increased at the age of sixteen when his father's business had to be sold to meet the demands of his creditors. On top of this, a rumor began circulating that Henrik was the illegitimate son of another man. Although the rumor was never proven to be true, it manifested itself in the theme of illegitimate offspring that runs throughout Ibsen's later works.
After Ibsen's father's business...
