An Enemy of the people

Ibsen wrote the play in 1882, setting the action in a small Norwegian coastal town. The plot was based on the real-life censure he experienced as a result of his controversial play, Ghosts (1881). It was initially five acts long. His plays were known for their realist style and, as Miller put it, a structure that utilized "models of a stringent economy of means to create immense symphonic images of tragic proportions."