This is the first comprehensive study of the women in Ibsen's plays and their relationship to the women in the life and career of the playwright. Through close critical readings of the Ibsen texts, as well as the examination of such primary sources as letters and personal papers, Joan Templeton discovers how the important figures in his life (his family, wife, and the actresses themselves) influenced and informed the powerful and inspiring characters he created. Templeton also explores the importance of the early plays and their impact on the later works, and establishes some general patterns in Ibsen's general representation of women.