<P> Ibsen wrote his plays in Danish (the common written language of Denmark and Norway) and they were published by the Danish publisher Gyldendal . Although most of his plays are set in Norway--often in places reminiscent of Skien, the port town where he grew up--Ibsen lived for 27 years in Italy and Germany, and rarely visited Norway during his most productive years . Born into a merchant family connected to the patriciate of Skien, Ibsen shaped his dramas according to his family background . He was the father of Prime Minister Sigurd Ibsen . Ibsen's dramas continue in their influence upon contemporary culture and film . </P> <P> Ibsen was born to Knud Ibsen (1797--1877) and Marichen Altenburg (1799--1869), in a well - to - do merchant family, in the small port town of Skien in Telemark county, a city which was noted for shipping timber . As he wrote in an 1882 letter to critic and scholar Georg Brandes, "my parents were members on both sides of the most respected families in Skien", explaining that he was closely related with "just about all the patrician families who then dominated the place and its surroundings", mentioning the families Paus, Plesner, von der Lippe, Cappelen and Blom . Ibsen's grandfather, ship captain Henrich Ibsen (1765--1797), had died at sea in 1797, and Knud Ibsen was raised on the estate of ship - owner Ole Paus (1766--1855), after his mother Johanne, née Plesner (1770--1847), remarried . Knud Ibsen's half - brothers included lawyer and politician Christian Cornelius Paus, banker and ship - owner Christopher Blom Paus, and lawyer Henrik Johan Paus, who grew up with Ibsen's mother in the Altenburg home and after whom Henrik (Johan) Ibsen was named . </P> <P> Knud Ibsen's paternal ancestors were ship captains of Danish origin, but he decided to become a merchant, having initial success . His marriage to Marichen Altenburg, a daughter of ship - owner Johan Andreas Altenburg (1763--1824) and Hedevig Christine Paus (1763--1848), was a successful match . Theodore Jorgenson points out that "Henrik's ancestry (thus) reached back into the important Telemark family of Paus both on the father's and on the mother's side . Hedvig Paus must have been well known to the young dramatist, for she lived until 1848 ." Henrik Ibsen was fascinated by his parents' "strange, almost incestuous marriage," and would treat the subject of incestuous relationships in several plays, notably his masterpiece Rosmersholm . </P> <P> When Henrik Ibsen was around seven years old, however, his father's fortunes took a significant turn for the worse, and the family was eventually forced to sell the major Altenburg building in central Skien and move permanently to their small summer house, Venstøp, outside of the city . Henrik's sister Hedvig would write about their mother: "She was a quiet, lovable woman, the soul of the house, everything to her husband and children . She sacrificed herself time and time again . There was no bitterness or reproach in her ." The Ibsen family eventually moved to a city house, Snipetorp, owned by Knud Ibsen's half - brother, wealthy banker and ship - owner Christopher Blom Paus . </P>

Who plays henry in i am number four