ABDESSALAM EL BASSAMI GROUP A1

CULTURAL STUDIES

Ghosts(1881) by Henrik ibsen

Plot summary :

Mrs Helene Alving is the widow of the fallen captain

Anlving who was an imporatnt figure at his time .
The play is presented in Mrs Alvings house in a room
full of books near the garden , we start off by a
converesation between Regina the maid and
Engstrand the carpenter who was presented as her
father .Regina doesnt show respect to her father and
wants him to leave after telling her to leave Mrs
Alvings house with him .
Manders the pastor ,who is in charge of the finances of
Mrs Alvings house ,has come to discuss orphanage
matters with Mrs Alving that she has decided to run on
the memorial of her husband as they both agree on
leaving the orphanage without insurance .
Mrs Alvings son ,Oswald has come after leaving the
house for a long time .Helene is very pleased with the
arrival of her son .
Oswald and manders have an argument about how life
should be and about marriage and love ,Oswald
ABDESSALAM EL BASSAMI GROUP A1
CULTURAL STUDIES

seems to disagree with Manders and Mrs Alving

seems to agree with her son in every word her son
says. This conversation has showed the different
perspectives and personalities of these characters .
Oswald seems to live life out of bonds in a reckless
way not concerning himself about what the public
thinks of him ,Manders on the other hand , seems to be
a man of ideals and manners with a good
consciousness of what the people think of him.
Oswald leaves the room and manders and Mrs Alving
are left alone .Manders started reminding her of what
she did in the past . we learn that Mrs Alving has left
the house in the past when Mr Alving was still alive
,but she responds saying that she was emotional at that
time.Mrs Alving has told Manders the truth that has
never been told and that is about how her husband
used to treat her poorly and about the illegale affair
that he had with the previous maid ,Johanna .
Moments later ,they heard a noise which turned out to
be Regina and Oswald making out . The scene was so
shocking because Oswald is Reginas brother. Mrs
Alving has decided Regina should leave the house .
A fire burns down the orphanage which didnt have an
insurance .Engstrand uses this opportunity to the
fullest by taking full responsibility of the fire on the
ABDESSALAM EL BASSAMI GROUP A1
CULTURAL STUDIES

condition of having his sailors house funded by

Alvings estate .
Oswald wants to marry Regina but his mother refuses
and tells him about the truth . He feels depressed and
tells her that he had a case of syphilis and that he has
few days to live .He then tells her he only came here to
die in his fathers house .
In the next morning , Mrs Alving is holding the
morphines he told her to use so he can die .

Themes: Deception
Mrs Alving tries to deceive everyone around her
by cleaning up after what her husband did in the
past by pretending to believe in god and by
building an orphanage so she can keep the false
reputation of her fallen husband .
Duty:
This word is repeated throughout the play ; the
duty of Mrs Alving as a mother ,the duty of
manders in the finances .
Social classes:
ABDESSALAM EL BASSAMI GROUP A1
CULTURAL STUDIES

This theme was very dominant in the story as we

see different classes clashing with each other ,
the lower working class tries to stand higher
while the upper class is very depressed . Regina
who tries to use fancy words to impress Manders
and to downgrade her father by speaking french
to him .

Finale sequences:
The ending was ambiguous as we didnt get to
see what happens to characters like Regina later
on the play .we understand that we shouldnt let
the ghosts of the past hunt us down and that lying
is never good for hiding truths .

Finale thoughts and opinion :

Eventhough ghosts was written between the two
of Ibsens greatest plays and didnt get as much
attention , I believe that it was one of the most
phenomenal pieces of literature I have read ,it
ABDESSALAM EL BASSAMI GROUP A1
CULTURAL STUDIES

highlighted the issues and conflicts in the 17th

century in a subtle way .