s refused to participate unless the ending was changed, citing that she would never leave her children. Ibsen decided that, if it was necessary that the ending be changed, he should be the one to change it. He considered this the lesser of two evils, though still calling the situation a "barbaric outrage." Ibsens contemporary, Bjornson, said about the play, "It is technically excellent, but written by a vulgar and evil mind." Ibsen had this to say about his critics and his writing: Most critical objections boil down to a reproach against the writer for being himself, thinking, feeling, seeing and writing as himself, instead of seeing and writing as the critic would have done, had he been able. The essential thing is to protect ones essential self, to keep it pure and free of all intrusive elements, and to draw a clear distinction between what one has merely experienced and what one has spiritually lived through; for only the latter is proper matter for creative writing. Ibsens supporters eventually outnumbered his critics, and A Dolls House, with the original ending, made him artistically, socially, and financially successful. The play is not nearly the social phenomenon it was at the time, but its content, like that of all great art, can be a lesson to us still. ...
