Henrik Ibsen was born in Skien in Norway. As a child he dreamed of being an artist. His mother was a painter and she loved theatre. His parents became poor and his education was interrupted at the age of 15. He was sent to be an apprentice for a pharmacist. He moved in 1850 to Oslo to attend an irregular school. Here he wrote two plays, but his dream was now to become a physician. However, he failed the entrance exam. He turned to poetry and literature.

He was appointed in 1851 by Ole Bull as "stage poet" of Den Nationale Scene. He performed more than 150 plays and in 1852, he went on a study tour to Germany and Denmark. He returned to become an artistic director and in 1858 he married Suzannah Thoresen.  Ibsen received an award for foreign travel from the government in 1864. He left to travel Italy in April for 27 years and during this time is when he wrote Brand. He wrote for and about the middle class and living in suburbs. He also wrote about dramatic times and situations. Sadly a stroke struck him at around the 1900s and he was unable to write from then on. He is a well known author worldwide.
"A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view." (from Ibsen's Workshop, 1912)


Information retrieved from :http://kirjasto.sci.fi/ibsen.htm


I can't really see the relation to the title of the story and the worksheet we completed in class, but it probably has to do with symbolism or maybe a gift that someone receives.