Sign-In
Cart
John Gabriel Borkman
Hardcover
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
Publisher: Indoeuropeanpublishing.com
Pages: 202
Weight: 0.92
Height: 0.63 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
John Gabriel Borkman by Henrik Ibsen is a psychological drama that explores themes of ambition, power, and moral downfall. The play centers on John Gabriel Borkman, a former bank manager who has been disgraced and imprisoned for financial misconduct. After his release, he isolates himself in the upper floor of his home, clinging to dreams of regaining his former status and justifying his actions as necessary sacrifices for a greater vision. Ibsen presents Borkman as a tragic figure whose obsessive pursuit of success ultimately alienates him from society and his own family.
The play also delves deeply into strained relationships and emotional repression. Borkman's wife, Gunhild, remains bitter and resentful, focusing her energy on their son Erhart, whom she hopes will restore the family's lost honor. Meanwhile, Gunhild's twin sister Ella, who once loved Borkman and sacrificed greatly for him, reenters their lives, creating tension and forcing long-buried conflicts to surface. Through these characters, Ibsen examines the personal cost of ambition and the ways in which pride and betrayal can fracture human connections.
Ultimately, John Gabriel Borkman is a reflection on the consequences of living a life driven by illusion rather than reality. Borkman's inability to accept responsibility or adapt to his changed circumstances leads to his emotional and physical decline. The play ends on a somber note, emphasizing the inevitability of reckoning and the tragedy of wasted potential. Ibsen uses this work to critique societal values that prioritize success and power over integrity and human relationships.
About the Author
Henrik Johan Ibsen (20 March 1828 - 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright. He is considered one of the world's pre-eminent writers of the 19th century and is often referred to as the father of modern drama. He pioneered theatrical realism but also wrote lyrical epic works. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, and When We Dead Awaken. In 2014 Ibsen was considered the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare. Store norske leksikon describes him as the center of the Norwegian literary canon.
Ibsen was born into the merchant elite of the port town of Skien and had strong family ties to the Paus family and other families who had held power and wealth in Telemark since the mid-1500s. He established himself as a theater director in Norway during the 1850s and gained international recognition as a playwright with the plays Brand and Peer Gynt in the 1860s. From 1864, he lived for 27 years in Italy and Germany, primarily in Rome, Dresden, and Munich, making only brief visits to Norway, before moving to Christiania (Oslo) in 1891. Most of Ibsen's plays are set in Norway, often in bourgeois environments and places reminiscent of Skien, and he frequently drew inspiration from family members. Ibsen's early verse play Peer Gynt has strong surreal elements. After Peer Gynt Ibsen abandoned verse and wrote in realistic prose. Several of his later dramas were considered scandalous to many of his era, when European theatre was expected to model strict morals of family life and propriety. Ibsen's later work examined the realities that lay behind the façades, revealing much that was disquieting to a number of his contemporaries. He had a critical eye and conducted a free inquiry into the conditions of life and issues of morality. Critics frequently rate The Wild Duck and Rosmersholm as Ibsen's best works; the playwright himself regarded Emperor and Galilean as his masterpiece...(wikipedia.org)
2 different editions
Also available
Also from
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen: A New English Translation by Royston Coppenger
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
Madame Inger à Ostraat; pièce historique en cinq actes. Traduit du norvégien d'après l'édition définitive de Copenhague
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
La Comédie de l'Amour, Pièce En Trois Actes Et En Vers
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
de Colleville, Ludovic
Ibsen-H
Paperback
Peer Gynt - A Dramatic Poem - Illustrated by Arthur Rackham: A Dramatic Poem
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
The Collected Works Of Henrik Ibsen: The League Of Youth. Pillars Of Society
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
A Doll's House: A Classic Drama of Marriage, Secrecy, and a Woman's Awakening
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
Speeches and New Letters [Of] Henrik Ibsen
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Kildal, Arne
Hollander, Lee Milton
Paperback
A Winter Jaunt to Norway, with Accounts of Nansen, Ibsen, Etc.
Fridtjof, Nansen
Alec-Tweedie, Ethel
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
Ibsen's Prose Dramas: Emperor and Galliean ... [Tr. by William Archer...
Archer, William
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
Henrik Ibsen: A Doll's House (English Edition): The Classic Drama of Self-Discovery and Freedom
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Hardcover
Uma Casa de Bonecas - Tradução Moderna e Original para o Português Brasileiro (2025): Livro Completo
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
Brand, a Dramatic Poem, tr. Into English Verse, Rhymed and in the Original Metre
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Dawson, Miles Menander
Paperback
The Collected Works of Henrik Ibsen Volume; Volume 12
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Gosse, Edmund, 1849-1928
Paperback
The Works Of Henrik Ibsen: John Gabriel Borkman; Series 2
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Gosse, Edmund
Archer, William
Paperback
The Collected Works of Henrik Ibsen Copyright Edition From Ibsen's Workshop
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
The Collected Works of Henrik Ibsen Copyright Edition From Ibsen's Workshop
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Hardcover
Early Plays: Catiline, the Warrior's Barrow, Olaf Liljekrans (Cram Edition)
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Orbeck, Anders
Paperback
Henrik Ibsen: A Doll's House (English Edition): The Classic Drama of Self-Discovery and Freedom
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
The Best Known Works of Ibsen: Including Ghosts, Hedda Gabler, Peer Gynt and a Doll's House
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Hardcover
Henrik Ibsens Samtliche Werke in Deutscher Sprache: Bd. Das Hunengrab. Die Herrin Von Oestrot. Deutsch Von Emma Klingenfeld. Das Fest Auf Solhaug. Deu
Elias, Julius
Brandes, Georg Morris Cohen
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
The Works of Henrik Ibsen: The Vikings at Helgeland ...
Archer, William
Gosse, Edmund, 1849-1928
Ibsen, Henrik Johan
Paperback
Also in
Classic Fiction
James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales Vol. 1 (Loa #26): The Pioneers / The Last of the Mohicans / The Prairie
Cooper, James Fenimore
Hardcover
Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, a Midsummer Night's Dream, the Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night
Shakespeare, William
Paperback
Before Gatsby: The First Twenty-Six Stories
Baughman, Judith
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Bruccoli, Matthew J.
Paperback
The Princess Bride Deluxe Limited Edition: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Goldman, William
Paperback
The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of the Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Paperback
The Lord of the Rings Illustrated by the Author: Illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Hardcover
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Goldman, William
Hardcover
The Pilgrim's Progress: A Readable Modern-Day Version of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (Revised and easy-to-read)
Bunyan, John
Vermilye, Alan
Paperback
Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stoker, Bram
Shelley, Mary
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Paperback