Powerful psychological drama (1881) exposes hypocrisy of social conventions and society's moral codes. Mrs. Helen Alving is haunted by her husband's infidelities and the disease he has passed to their son. Ultimately, she is forced to acknowledge the "ghosts" that have kept her from living "just for the joy of life."
Ghosts
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'Ghosts is a forboding litany of sins past which unravel to lay bare a series of creeping consequences that damn everyone involved, unwittingly or not.' Neil Cooper, Herald, 18.5.09 'Ibsen has the extraordinary capacity for building up tension like the force of water gathering behind a fracturing dyke. When the walls finally break, the ensuing flood is irresistible.' Mark Brown, Sunday Herald, 24.5.09 'Ibsen's most notable foray into the nature/nurture debate' Steve Cramer, Financial Times, 26.5.09 'When Ibsen's 1881 drama was first staged, the play didn't just tread on one taboo, it bravely waded through a messy bog of them.' Maxie Szalwinska, Sunday Times, 2.8.09
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
The Plays for Performance series is edited by Nicholas Rudall, former artistic director of the Court Theatre at the University of Chicago where he is professor of classics, and Bernard Sahlins, founder and director of the Second City. They both live in Chicago, Illinois.
--This text refers to an alternate
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I chose this book to read and analyse a couple of years ago. It seemed to have simple meaning, but the more I tried to analyse, the more outstanding I found the book, and far from simple.
Helen Alving is a widow and is keeping a secret. One day she tells her friend Manders and he's quite shocked. It all has to do with some money from her dead husband that she doesn't want her son to have. Oswald, her son, comes home from abroad with very sad news. He is ill, and there isn't a cure for him. When Mrs. Alving is told that it was most likely inherited, she tells her son the secret too, and that changes his view on his father. As the book goes on, the intriques grow bigger...
Ibsen is probably more known for his play "A Doll House", but this one is just as great. He was very critical of the society and most, if not all, of his books often has a somewhat hidden story where he debates social matters and also morals. He use symbols and mostly contrasts to give the play a certain atmosphare and meaning. I believe this is one of Ibsen's greatest plays and strongly recommend it to anyone.
Helen Alving is a widow and is keeping a secret. One day she tells her friend Manders and he's quite shocked. It all has to do with some money from her dead husband that she doesn't want her son to have. Oswald, her son, comes home from abroad with very sad news. He is ill, and there isn't a cure for him. When Mrs. Alving is told that it was most likely inherited, she tells her son the secret too, and that changes his view on his father. As the book goes on, the intriques grow bigger...
Ibsen is probably more known for his play "A Doll House", but this one is just as great. He was very critical of the society and most, if not all, of his books often has a somewhat hidden story where he debates social matters and also morals. He use symbols and mostly contrasts to give the play a certain atmosphare and meaning. I believe this is one of Ibsen's greatest plays and strongly recommend it to anyone.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Roman Clodia
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Written towards the end of the nineteenth century, Ibsen's Ghosts was originally seen as a shocking and immoral play that deeply offended bourgeois sensibilities. By deconstructing the way in which sexual corruption was endemic across society, not least because it was covered up and implicitly normalised, Ibsen was part of a movement concerned with the idea of what we now call `sexuality' but which was only just emerging as a concept thanks to the work of people like Kraft-Ebbing in his Pychopathia Sexualis and, of course, Freud.
For readers today, this is still a play that provokes, even though we're now used to the rather clichéd idea of what went on beneath the surface of the nineteenth century which valorised `family values' across Europe. This exposure of corruption, abuse, incest and other forms of psychic sickness seems very of its time, especially to the extent that it plays into `degeneration' discourses which were endemic at this period, but is still an angry and potent work which indicts bourgeois moralities.
For readers today, this is still a play that provokes, even though we're now used to the rather clichéd idea of what went on beneath the surface of the nineteenth century which valorised `family values' across Europe. This exposure of corruption, abuse, incest and other forms of psychic sickness seems very of its time, especially to the extent that it plays into `degeneration' discourses which were endemic at this period, but is still an angry and potent work which indicts bourgeois moralities.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Bewchacca
Format:Paperback
I liked this play. I found the artificiality of the upper classes to be conveyed with especial skill. Also the worthlessness of hollow morality is exposed. It is rather like Oscar Wildes work but not funny. Worth a read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
its ok
Came in plenty of time. Bit heavy going, Good value for money. Was pleased overall with the item. No problems with the purchase, would definately recommend.
Published 2 months ago by Mrs A
2.0 out of 5 stars
disappointing
I was not expecting a script for a play, although the name of the author should have told me. I use my kindle for reading in bed and this sent me sleep for all the wrong reasons
Published 4 months ago by Joan Pritchard
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book
Easy read, very enjoyable.
It's not often I sit and read the whole book straight off!
But I did with this one.
It's not often I sit and read the whole book straight off!
But I did with this one.
Published 6 months ago by A. De Whytell
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Riveting Portrait by a Master
Despite the passage of time and the difference in the settings for this work I still find it one of the most compelling dissections of society and class distinctions ever written. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Joe Z.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not his best, but interesting
This was one of the set plays during my University degree. When compared with Oedipus and Hamlet, at first it comes across as fairly weak. Read more
Published 15 months ago by CandyApocalypse
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