The satirical parody Norma or The Love of a Politician, written in just ten days by the Norwegian playwright, was first published in June 1851 in the weekly literary magazine Andhrimner, which had a particular emphasis on satire.

Its first stage presentation took place only in 1994 in Trondheim by a group of student actors, making it the Ibsen play that took the longest to find its way to the stage. Not without reason, however, considering that it is a work that was not written with the intention of being performed but to be published in a satirical newspaper.

But what is the plot of the opera Norma that so piques Ibsen's interest that it becomes the vehicle to lead him to his apparent satirical critique against Parliament in 1851? Norma, then, is a high priestess of the Druids residing in Gaul, which is under Roman occupation. The provincial governor of Gaul is Pollione, with whom Norma, breaking the oath of purity of the Druids, enters into a relationship and ultimately becomes pregnant, giving birth to two sons.

However, she learns that Pollione is in love with her young friend Adalgisa, who is also a priestess of the Druids, and wanting to take revenge on him, she signals the Gauls to revolt against the Roman conquerors. According to Roman customary law, to ensure victory, Pollione must be sacrificed and thrown into the fire.

Norma wants to save his life, and after pleading with him to return to her and he refuses, she offers to take his place in the fire and be sacrificed. When Pollione sees this, he is moved and follows her to the pyre. Ibsen takes the basic shape of the love triangle as well as its political aspect and transforms them into something entirely different.

Here, the love triangle is merely a mold to create and vividly present what exactly is happening within Parliament. The characters in his story are real, and what he claims about how people change positions and ideas according to their convenience is nothing but reflections of the political life of his time.