Ghosts

A detailed Summary of Ghosts

In the final analysis, the individual can never be free from his/her cultural identity, class, gender, race or ethnic background. Discuss this statement in relation to at least two of these aspects, with detailed reference to at least one text.

Henrik Ibsen, a playwright of social reform, wrote Ghosts in 1881. The play is set in the bourgeois Norwegian society and is primarily about dishonesty, the patriarchy, hypocrisy, and above all to entertain his audience. The play follows the path of a Greek tragedy, all the action is within 24 hours and in the end, there is an area of uncertaincy for nothing is truly concluded. Through Ghosts, Ibsen illustrates that society perpetuates itself by handing down a set of beliefs and customs from one generation to the next. Within the text, the reader can analyse that the individual can never be free from their cultural identity, class or gender. This is shown by the characters of Pastor Manders, Mrs. Alving, Oswald, Regina and Engstrand, who all, however may escape from the boundaries of the past in some aspects, inevitably return to these backgrounds, or are infected from these backgrounds.

Believes he's holy and good. Pastor Manders is a character in Ghosts that is portrayed to be virt

'I'm inclined to think that we're all ghosts Pastor Manders; it's not only the things that we've inherited fro our fathers and mothers that live on in us, but all sorts of dead ideas and old dead beliefs, and things of that sort'

Regina is the lovechild of a servent and Captain Alving and throughout the play she is represented as a mere servant. As the play progresses, the audience beings to unravel the mystery upon which Regina's mother plays apart. Her mother and Captain Alving slept together, and to hide this fact, she married Engstrand. Comically for the audience, the idea of incest is brought in, for Oswald is in pursuit of Regina. Incest and syphilis were 2 common occurances at this time in Norway, however it was a little talked about subject, and Ghosts focuses and creates its comedy from it. Regina, who is the common dutiful house girl, is limited by both her gender, and class, she is unable to channel this 'joy of life' which she adopted from Captain Alving, and unable to marry into another social level. She has no resources to face her future other than her good looks and spited temperament, and however late in the play she is told that she is the daughter of Captain Alving, she is still confined. In the end of the play she never truly becomes free, and probably will end up in the ironically named Captain Alving brothel. This again illustrates that one who is entrapped within a gender construction and a class construction; they are doomed to never be truly free from these backgrounds.

'I began to look closely at the stuff your teaching was made of. I only wanted to unpick a single stitch, but once I'd got that undone the whole thing unraveled.'

Manders, upholding his churchman status replies "[with difficulty] If I'd realized anything of the sort I couldn't have gone on" Clearly, this statement is both false, misleading and hypocritical as later in Act Two he illustrates his feelings when he admits the desire he felt and that it was "The hardest struggle in my life", of which he is proud of that he managed to disobey his feelings and keep his faith with the church.

This clearly and succinctly shows that Manders views are purely hyprocitical, and that one you step within and realize this, his character, being flat, falls apart. Manders indifference of the individual, where he sacrificed

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Approximate Word count = 1563
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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