Henrik Johan Ibsen (March 20, 1828 – May 23, 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 and his themes often deal with issues of financial difficulty as well as moral conflicts stemming from dark secrets hidden from society. This is pertinent to his father’s financial ruin as a merchant which led to his family’s elite wealth depleting immensely and his parent’s unconventional relationship as viewed by society at the time during Ibsen’s childhood. Ibsen is considered one of the most important playwrights in the history of world literature and is widely regarded as the foremost playwright of the nineteenth century. Sigmund Freud considered him on par with Shakespeare and Sophocles, while George Bernard Shaw argued that Ibsen had surpassed Shakespeare as the world's pre-eminent dramatist. Ibsen influenced other playwrights and novelists such as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and James Joyce. Considered a profound poetic dramatist, he is widely regarded as the most important playwright since Shakespeare. Ibsen is commonly described as the most famous Norwegian internationally.