Ghosts Literary Elements

Drama

Danish; translated into multiple languages

Rosenvold, Norway in the 1880s; Alving mansion on the coast

Third-person in the traditional style of drama; sometimes stage directions suggest the tone or mood of the character speaking

Tone: bewildered, ironic, uneasy, stressful, sly

Mood: nervous, foreboding

The protagonists of the play are main characters, Mrs. Alving and Osvald Alving. The antagonists are Manders, Captain Alving, Engstrand, and intangible antagonists such as society and tradition.

Will Mrs. Alving be able to put her dead husband behind her and live the life she wishes with her son? What will happen when she reveals the truth to her son about his father?

There are two possible climaxes depending on the critic being consulted.

The first option is when Osvald reveals the truth to his mother that he is sick and unable to work anymore; the audience/reader immediately realizes what the disease is and from whom he got it, thus destroying Mrs. Alving's attempts to put her husband behind her.

The other option, which more critics usually prefer, is when the orphanage burns down. Right as Mrs. Alving is about to tell her son and Regina the truth about his disease, his father, and her parentage, the flames from the orphanage reach them. The rest of the play involves coming to terms with the legacies of the Captain.

1. The drawn-out conversation about whether or not to insure the buildings foreshadows the eventual mistake made by Manders and Mrs. Alving in not doing so
2. The comment about Engstrand starting a fire and being careless with matches foreshadows what happens to the orphanage

N/A.

1. "Pied de mouton" and "fi donc" and "savoir faire"—the first one roughly translates to "mushroom foot" which is a rude comment about Engstrand's foot, and the other is "for shame," and the last is more or less "urbanity" or "sophistication"
2. Divine Providence—an allusion to God
3. Meerschaum pipe—smoking pipes made out of sepiolite (a white material that looks like ivory)
4. The Prodigal Son—an allusion to the biblical parable of the son who returned home to his father (found in Luke)

The author turns to imagery when describing nature, which reflects the inner world of the characters and allows readers to better understand the environment and conditions they are living in.

N/A.

1. Captain Alving and Osvald have numerous parallels. Both celebrate the "joy of life" and have casual sexual relationships. Both have syphilis, though Osvald's is from his father. Both die before their time.
2. Regina and her mother Johanna have parallel lives: they both get involved with an Alving, they are both maids, etc.

1. "luck on our side" (Manders, 78)
2. "The spirit of rebellion makes us speak happiness here in this life; that's precisely its aim" (Manders, 84)
3. "nearly dragged other reputations into it as well" (Manders, 85)

1. Stage directions
2. Synecdoche/Metonymy: "If the pastor could just imagine himself—for a moment in poor Johanna's shoes—" (Engstrand 98)