Rosmersholm (pronounced [ˈrɔ̀sməʂˌhɔɫm]) is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in Danish-the common written language of Denmark and Norway at the time-and originally published in 1886 in Copenhagen by the Danish publisher Gyldendal. Rosmersholm has been described as one of Ibsen's darkest, most complex, subtle, beautiful, mystical, multilayered and ambiguous plays. The play explores the tension between old and new, and between liberation and servitude. Rosmersholm and The Wild Duck are "often to be observed in the critics' estimates vying with each other as rivals for the top place among Ibsen's works."