Ghosts Essay Questions

What is the relationship between Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Ghosts? How do they inform each other? How are they similar, and how are they different?

Ibsen gave a whole new impetus to drama in the twentieth century. Two of his most famous plays, A Doll’s House (1879) and Ghosts (1881), grabbed a lot of attention in the early twentieth century. The plays have several common features and complement each other. In fact, Ibsen said that A Doll’s House acts as “an introduction” to Ghosts. A Doll’s House portrays explicitly the incongruous condition of women in the patriarchal society. It is the story of a woman who chooses to leave her house, the cozy world to which her identity was linked and enter the bizarre world of opportunities. On the other hand, Ghosts portrays a woman who chooses to maintain her identity given to her by society and to stay in her cozy world forever. Mrs. Alving knows the reality of her situation but refuses to rebel, and she suffers as a consequence.

Explain the significance of the symbol of "ghosts" in the play.

In every Ibsenian drama, society is a dead institution and is no longer relevant to the quotidian. This is why the play has been entitled ‘Ghosts’. It is the society, its dead customs, and its morals that act as ghosts, haunting and terrifying people. Helen Alving told Pastor Manders that she saw ghosts while listening to the conversation between Osvald and Regina. These ghosts are nothing but the “old, long dead ideas, all kinds of old, long dead beliefs” that “cling” to everyone. The title of the play reinforces the main theme of the play: the clash between moral courage and convention. The past of the characters haunts their present in the form of “ghosts” to plague them and keep them away from the joy of living.

Conduct a close reading of the opening scene of Ghosts.

It is raining when the play opens, and Regina is trying to prevent her shabby and coarse father from entering the house. Newspapers and magazines are lying on the table, indicating that someone is interested in contemporary reading: it is Mrs. Alving, who reads the progressive books but is herself a willing victim of the patriarchal world. The first sound in the play is made by Engstrand, who has a deformed leg that makes noise because of the wooden floor. While Regina shows her knowledge of French, Engstrand uses colloquial language and typical metaphors so that he can hide his corruption. The gestures, dialogues, and social alertness of class illustrate the hypocrisy of society. The interaction between Regina and Engstrand shows that no relation is ideal and those that are thought to be—father and daughter, for example—are questionable. It is through these characters that the audience is introduced to Pastor Manders, Mrs. Alving, and Osvald without their being present on the stage. Rain is a metaphor for the stark reality of the outside threatening to enter the hermetic inside world—an outside which is brought inside by Engstrand through his shoes. The delicate plants in the conservatory present on the stage are a metaphor for the world that will soon collapse; thus, following the realistic tradition, the opening scene helps the audience to prepare their minds for a coming catastrophe.

What kind of relationship do Osvald and Regina have? How do they inform each other's character development throughout the play?

Osvald describes Regina in superlative terms. While class division is the reality of the time, he describes a common girl who belongs to a low class. He is the first man and probably the only man who values Regina for her health and vigor rather than for her sexually. It is noteworthy that Osvald does not admire her because of her morals or ideals but rather because she embodies youth and robustness, something he can never achieve. He wants Regina as a “helping hand” so that she can help to alleviate his suffering if need be. Regina is shown to be a practical woman who does not even mind entering the world of prostitution after realizing that Osvald is her half-brother; for her, money and influence are the most important things. These two individuals could not be further apart, but the sins of their father yoked them together.

In what ways does Ibsen portray the female characters in Ghosts?

Mrs. Alving, the female lead in the play, resists society in her own way. She tries to understand new ideas and orient those in her own way, yet she never wants to understand the truth. Her entire life is a disaster because she not only uses lies but also uses others to comfort herself. She knows reality, questions it, and yet doesn’t act. Other female characters in the play are Regina and Johanna. They do not have the luxury of money nor the upper class, and they have never gotten the social respect that Mrs. Alving receives. They grapple not only for respect but also for sustenance. This is the reason that they use everything they can to climb the social ladder. Regina, for instance, uses social pretenses of beautiful dresses, mannerisms, and even her own sex to achieve these. The lower-class female characters in Ibsen’s Ghosts are unconventional and know how to question and manage to survive in the ravenous world.