GHOSTS
By Henrik Ibsen
Commenting on the title of the play ‘Ghosts’
-Venus Anand
Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian playwriter, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as the father of realism and is one of the founders of Modernism in theatre. ‘Ghosts’ was written in 1881 and first performed in 1882 in Chicago, Illinois. Ibsen's ‘Ghosts’ is a scathing commentary on 19th-century morality. Because of its subject matter, which includes religion, venereal disease, incest and euthanasia, it immediately generated strong controversy and negative criticism. Since then the play has fared better, and is considered a “great play” that historically holds a position of “immense importance”. [ I intend to show ] the significance of the title of the play ‘Ghosts’. I’ll frame my work with respect to these characters – Mrs. Alving, Pastor Manders, Osvald, Regina, and Jacob Engstrand. The implication of Mrs. Alving’s definition of ‘ghosts’ will also be explained along with a detailed conclusion at the end.
The title of a text has to be something relevant, appropriate, and undoubtedly catching with respect to the play. Many plays and texts have been written whose title contribute to the plot and character – such as Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, Virginia Woolf’s ‘Mrs Dalloway’, and Chaucer’s ‘Wife of Bath’.
In Ibsen’s play, the characters are haunted by ‘ghosts’ to which they are unable to control. Many of the characters are reminders of the past, such as Regina and Osvald. The events of the past return to the characters, and cause them to uncover the truth of the situation making them realise of the possible outcomes of their intended actions. All are haunted by the ghosts of society’s expectations, which bind them to unhappy lives of “duty and honour”.
Mrs Alving sent her son, Osvald, away at a fine young age, after the “final humiliation” from her husband. Captain Alving had “his way” with Johanna, the maid. The result was Regina, who is also influenced by the “ghosts” of her past. The maid married Engstrand, and they brought Regina up, until Mrs Alving took her in as a maid. Regina was not aware of her true parentage, although she always suspected something of the sort, as Engstrand often reminded her of that she “was none of his”. This hints towards the real character of Engstrand. When she is told, she is shocked that her mother “was like that”, even though Mrs Alving describes Johanna as a “fine woman”. Mrs Alving asks Regina not to “throw herself away”. Regina replies, “If Osvald takes after his father, I expect I take after my mother.” She does not feel as though she can outrun the “ghosts” of the past and indirectly & unknowingly, she carries ghosts on herself.
Perhaps it is not so much that the characters are victims of the past, as they are victims of the lies they told to cover up the past.
Mrs. Alving tries to follow a life of “duty and obedience”. She covers up the “truth” with mistaken “ideals”. She tries to make the past disappear, as she builds an Orphanage in Captain Alving’s memory, to “dispel any rumours” of his “dissolute life”. Her goal is to “feel as if her late husband had never lived in the house”. However, because she was too much of a “coward” to face the “truth”, not only is her own life got ruined, but the lives of the people around her are also affected. However, she realises, too late, that she must “free” herself, as the “truth will come out”. By the time she gets this feel, its over too late.
The most celebrated “ghost” is Osvald. The first time he is introduced to the audience, he is seen to be living under the influence of his dead father, a reminder of Captain Alving to the world. He is very proud of his father, and does not know the factual reality. Upon seeing Osvald, Pastor Manders describes the meeting as “like seeing his father in the flesh”. He goes further to say that Osvald has “inherited a worthy name from an industrious man”, and that it should be an “inspiration” to him. Already it can be surmised that “ghost” – the memory of his father, haunts Osvald.
Not only does this “ghost” influence the way Osvald behaves, as he tries to be worthy of the “beautiful illusion” he holds of his father, but it also influences the way people see him. In reality, Captain Alving was a fallen man, and curiously fond of over-the- limit alcohol drinking. Womanising and flirting seemed genetic. Mrs Alving tried to keep his “irregularities” secret, to protect Osvald, who she feared would be “poisoned by the unwholesome atmosphere” in Alving’s home. The Orphanage is built, not only to “dispel any rumours”, but also make sure that Osvald would not “inherit anything whatever from his father.” This last aim is futile.
Although Osvald does not inherit money from his father, he inherits aspects of his personality. Osvald inherits his father’s “joy of living”, which he is able translates into the “joy of working”. He prefers a nomadic and care-free lifestyle. He shows signs of drunkenness, as he drinks liquor to “keep the damp out”. He also makes advances to Regina, the maid, similar to the advances made by Captain Alving to Johanna, the maid. The women reacted in similar ways; Regina says, “Stop it, Osvald. Don’t be silly. Let me go.” Johanna is far more pious, pleading “Leave go sir, let me be”. Mrs Alving foregrounds the meaning of the title by saying, “Ghosts- the couple in the conservatory, walking again”.
However, Osvald inherits something far worse, something from which his mother, for all her “sacrifice”, could not protect him. An illness even the cure by a mother is not sufficient. Through Captain Alving’s “dissolute life”, Osvald has inherited congenital syphilis. He has “been riddled from birth”.
“The sins of the father are revisited on the sons.”
The “ghosts” of the past cannot be escaped. Like his father, Osvald will die of syphilis, a non-treatable bacterial STD. This fear consumes him, and is only abated when his mother promises to give him “a helping hand” (overdose of morphine pills) to end the torment if he experiences another attack, which eventually he does at the end of the play.
During the play, the “ghosts” of past events takes “cruel revenge” upon the characters, who have to face their greatest fears.
-Pastor Manders and Mrs Alving must face the “crime” of their denied love.
-Regina finally understands her true parentage.
-Osvald faces his “deadly fear” of syphilis.
They all come to know of Captain Alving’s “debauchery”, and society’s hypocrisy. However, for most of them, the realisation comes too late. Mrs Alving loses everything.
As for conclusion, the theme of the ‘Ghosts’ in society is an image referred to throughout the text, and works on many levels. On one level, the ‘Ghosts’ relate only to the characters, and their particular events. At another level, the play is also a desperate warning to wider society, and one that is still significant to today’s audiences. Ibsen tried to make the audience understand that such issues must be faced, or they would return to exact “cruel revenge” upon their victims. Both Captain Alving and Regina’s mother Johanna are dead, yet both are accountable for the unfolding tragedy. They are an example of the “ghosts”. This is foregrounded in the way the Orphanage burns down, the brightness of light. The “beautiful illusion” of the memorial to the “industrious” Captain Alving burns “to the ground” with nothing to save, along with no insurance.
Despite being used only countable times, the title is relevant throughout the play even when characters aren’t aware. That is how ‘Ghosts’ is a suitable and acceptable name for Ibsen’s play. Both consciously and unenlightened, Ghosts are on each page. The “ghosts” of society’s beliefs and values, and their effect on the individual, is central to the text.