Henrik Ibsen Plays in Order: A Reading Guide to the Major Works

A practical guide to Henrik Ibsen's plays in order, with chronology, recommended starting points and the major phases of his dramatic career.

In short

Henrik Ibsen’s most important plays fall into three broad phases: early national
and historical drama, poetic and philosophical drama, and the modern realistic
plays that made him one of the founders of modern theatre. If you are new to
Ibsen, do not begin at the beginning. Start with the plays that made the form
clear: A Doll’s House, Ghosts,
The Wild Duck and Hedda Gabler.

If you want Start with
The easiest entry point A Doll’s House
Ibsen’s darkest social drama Ghosts
The life-lie and moral ambiguity The Wild Duck
Psychological character drama Hedda Gabler
Ibsen’s poetic and mythic range Peer Gynt
Politics, whistleblowing and majority power An Enemy of the People

Recommended reading order

This is the best order for students and general readers who want to understand
why Ibsen matters:

  1. A Doll’s House (1879)
  2. Ghosts (1881)
  3. An Enemy of the People (1882)
  4. The Wild Duck (1884)
  5. Hedda Gabler (1890)
  6. Peer Gynt (1867)
  7. The Lady from the Sea (1888)
  8. John Gabriel Borkman (1896)
  9. Rosmersholm (1886)
  10. The Master Builder (1892)

This order is not chronological. It is pedagogical. It starts with the plays
where Ibsen’s method is most visible: a respectable home, a hidden past, a social
role that no longer holds, and a final crisis that cannot be repaired by polite
language.

Henrik Ibsen plays in chronological order

Year Play Why it matters
1850 Catiline Ibsen’s first drama, written before his mature theatrical method.
1850 The Burial Mound Early national-romantic drama.
1852 St. John’s Eve Early experiment with folklore and romantic material.
1854 Lady Inger of Ostrat Historical drama with political intrigue.
1855 The Feast at Solhaug National-romantic drama drawing on medieval and ballad material.
1856 Olaf Liljekrans Another early national-romantic play.
1858 The Vikings at Helgeland Stronger early drama, built on saga material.
1862 Love’s Comedy Satirical verse drama about love, marriage and convention.
1863 The Pretenders Major historical drama about kingship and vocation.
1866 Brand Breakthrough dramatic poem about all-or-nothing idealism.
1867 Peer Gynt Dramatic poem about selfhood, evasion and becoming oneself.
1869 The League of Youth Political comedy and transition toward contemporary drama.
1873 Emperor and Galilean Large historical-philosophical drama.
1877 Pillars of Society First major realistic contemporary drama.
1879 A Doll’s House The play that made Ibsen central to modern drama.
1881 Ghosts Radical critique of inheritance, silence and social hypocrisy.
1882 An Enemy of the People Drama about truth, polluted baths and majority power.
1884 The Wild Duck Ibsen’s central play about the life-lie.
1886 Rosmersholm Political, psychological and symbolic drama.
1888 The Lady from the Sea Freedom, marriage and the meaning of a genuine choice.
1890 Hedda Gabler Psychological drama about power, boredom and entrapment.
1892 The Master Builder Late symbolic drama about art, ambition and fear.
1894 Little Eyolf Guilt, marriage, parenthood and loss.
1896 John Gabriel Borkman Money, power, cold ambition and family ruin.
1899 When We Dead Awaken Ibsen’s final drama, about art, life and what was sacrificed.

The main phases of Ibsen’s drama

1. Early national and historical drama

Ibsen’s early plays are not the best place to start. They matter because they
show him learning theatre: structure, conflict, stagecraft and national material.
Works such as Lady Inger of Ostrat, The Feast at Solhaug and The Vikings at
Helgeland draw on history, medieval settings and national-romantic themes.

These plays are useful if you are studying Ibsen’s development, but they do not
yet show the dramatic method that made him internationally decisive.

2. The poetic breakthrough: Brand and Peer Gynt

With Brand and Peer Gynt, Ibsen becomes a major writer. Both are dramatic
poems, not realistic drawing-room plays. They are written on a larger scale and
ask philosophical questions about selfhood, compromise and vocation.

Peer Gynt is the more commonly read of the two in
English. It follows a man who spends his whole life avoiding responsibility, then
returns home to face the question of whether he has ever truly been himself.

3. The realistic social dramas

The decisive turn begins with Pillars of Society
and becomes unmistakable in A Doll’s House.
Here Ibsen’s stage world narrows: homes, offices, letters, documents, reputations
and conversations that expose what society would rather keep hidden.

This is the Ibsen who changed European drama. He made ordinary family life and
respectable society dramatically dangerous.

4. Psychological and symbolic late drama

From Rosmersholm onward, Ibsen’s plays become more inward and symbolic. The
realistic surface remains, but the central conflicts are often harder to reduce
to a social issue. Hedda Gabler is the clearest
example: the play is not only about marriage or gender roles, but about power,
imagination, boredom and a human force with nowhere to go.

Which Ibsen play should you read first?

Read A Doll’s House first. It is short,
dramatically clear and historically important. Then read Ghosts
to see how Ibsen darkens the method. After that, The Wild Duck
will show you why Ibsen is not simply a writer of social protest: he is also a
writer of painful ambiguity.

Then read Hedda Gabler. By that point you will
recognise the Ibsen pattern: the crisis begins late, the past returns, and the
characters discover that their lives have already been shaped by decisions they
cannot undo.

Read more