Henrik Ibsen- Ghosts

 Henrik Ibsen- Ghosts

SUMMARY 

Act 1. 

ENGSTRAND, the carpenter, stands by the garden door. ( His left leg is some what bent) had conversation with Regina who forbids him to enter as he wa dripping. She asked him to go away but he requested her to talk to him. He informed her that the work of the orphanage will be complete tomorrow. He added that Pastor Manders would be coming the next day and he asked her to come to his home along with him. Me, that have been brought up by a lady like Mrs Alving! Me, that am treated almost as a daughter here! Is it me you want to go home with you?—to a house like yours? For shame! They had argument over it. Regina's mother died. What do you want with me in town? asked Regina. Can you ask what a father wants with his only child? A'n't I a onely, forlorn widower?

He is thinking to leave this carpentry and start a new business of sailor's tavern. A regular high-class affair, of course; not any sort of pig-sty for common sailors. No! damn it! it would be for captains and mates, and—and—regular swells, you know. He wanted Regina her only child( step- daughter) to join him in his business. But I will not live with you! I have nothing whatever to do with you. Be off! He even said that in his new business she can find any sailor for her. "I won't marry any one of that sort. Sailors have no savoir vivre" 

Pastor Manders enters 

Mrs. Alving's son Oswald came back home from Paris. Your father is not a man of strong character, Miss Engstrand. He stands terribly in need of a guiding hand.He requires some one near him whom he cares for, and whose judgment he respects. 

Then Mrs Alving came down to meet Mr. Pastor. They had conversation about Oswald, Paris and literature. And had debate about a publication too. He brought the documents and legal permissions for the orphanage "Captain Alving's Foundation" They discussed whether the orphanage building should be insured or not. 

 Last time he was in town I was really touched by him. He ame and thanked me so warmly for having got him work here, so that he ght be near Regina aaadded pastor

Oh, I know very well what sort of a father he has been to her. No! She shall never go to him with my goodwill- Mrs Alving

Oswald joined them later

Oswald is thinking of the time when Pastor were so much opposed to his becoming a painter. Pastor says - My dear Oswald you must not think that I utterly condemn the artist's calling. I have no doubt there are many who can keep their inner self unharmed in that profession, as in any Other.

When Oswald appeared there, in the doorway, with the pipe in his mouth, Pastor could have sworn he saw oswald's father, large as life.

But put your pipe away, my dear boy; I won't have smoking in here Mrs Alving says because she didn't want her only son Oswald to be like his father Mr Alving. 

Yes, you have inherited the name of an energetic and admirable man, my dear Oswald Alving. No doubt it will be an incentive to you said Pastor

 A healthy lad is all the better for it; especially hen he's an only child. He oughtn't to hang on at home with his mother and ther, and get spoilt.his mother always wanted him to be away from his father so that he wouldn't have his bad influence. 

Only look at your own son—there is no reason why we should not say it in his presence—what has the consequence been for him? He is six or seven and twenty, and has never had the opportunity of learning what a well ordered home really is. ttThe Oswald and Pastor discussed about idea of home

Pastor's idea of home is different -But I'm not talking of bachelors' quarters. By a "home" I nderstand the home of a family, where a man lives with his wife and children

Mrs Alving also support her son on his points on marriage and religion.

You are greatly to be pitied, Mrs. Alving. But now I must speak seriously to you. And now it is no longer your business manager and adviser, your own and your husband's early friend, who stands before you. It is the priest—the priest who stood before you in the moment of your life when you had gone farthest astray.

. This is—this is inconceivable to me. I cannot grasp it! I cannot realise it! But how was it possible to—? How could such a state of things be kept secret? but Manders could not Believe it.- Pastor

  Exact Character of Mr. Alving: That has been my ceaseless struggle, day after day. After 

Oswald's birth, I thought Alving seemed to be a little better. But it did not last long. And then I had to struggle twice as hard, fighting as though for life or death, so that nobody should know what sort of man my child's father was. And you know what power Alving had of winning people's hearts. Nobody seemed able to believe anything but good of him. He was one of those people whose life does not bite upon their reputation. But at last, Mr. Manders—for you must know the whole story—the most repulsive thing of all happened. 

She didn't want his influence on Oswald so she sent Oswald away from home at seven year of age

Act 2

Preparation of the event are going on

Pastor and Mrs Alving discuss about Johanna marrying Engstrand. She was given 300 dollars to keep her mouth shut.

 Just think of it—for a miserable three hundred dollars, to go and marry a fallen woman! Then what have you to say of me? I went and married a fallen man. Here the fical thoughts of Pastor are shown.

 Do you think Alving was any purer when I went with him to the altar than Johanna was when Engstrand married her?But Pastor Manders considers this two situations very different. 

Manders tries to convince her that atleast her marriage was with proper law and order.She then tell Pastor that she considers herself coward coz she can't tell her son about his father truly. She also can't let Oswald fall for Regina.

 - Ghosts! When I heard Regina and Oswald in there, it was as though ghosts rose up before me. But I almost think we are all of us ghosts, Pastor Manders. It is not only what we have inherited from our father and mother that "walks" in us. It is all sorts of dead ideas, and lifeless old beliefs, and so forth. They have no vitality, but they cling to us all the same, and we cannot shake them off. Whenever I take up a newspaper, I seem to see ghosts gliding between the lines. There must be ghosts all the country over, as thick as the sands of the sea. And then we are, one and all, so pitifully afraid of the light.

Then Engstrand enters, he came to talk to Pastor. But Pastor questions him about reality of Regina. Engstrand told about Mr Alving order to him of not disclosing the truth. 

Notes

✓Bottom part of Norwegian land - Scandinavian countries ( bleak cold weather) - fjord

 ✓Geography is very important to pay attention to

✓ Language to upgrade one's class

✓They were at Rosenwolt estate. 

✓She wants to go to town but when she got opportunity from Engstrand she refused going there with him. 

✓The orphanage represent the high number of unacceptable children - economic reasons or children born out of wedlock. 

✓Mrs Alving gave the same amount for Orphanage which she got in marriage to remove the inherited money from Mr Alving. She is trying to create her personal private space which seems virtually impossible. 

✓There are several strands which Ibsen has tried to reveal which takes the play forward.

✓When I heard Regina and Oswald in there, it was as though ghosts rose up before me. But I almost think we are all of us ghosts, Pastor Manders. It is not only what we have inherited from our father and mother that "walks" in us. It is all sorts of dead ideas, and lifeless old beliefs, and so forth. They have no vitality, but they cling to us all the same, and we cannot shake them off. Whenever I take up a newspaper, I seem to see ghosts gliding between the lines. There must be ghosts all the country over, as thick as the sands of the sea. And then we are, one and all, so pitifully afraid of the light.

✓Adhee adhuree- Mohan Rakesh ( Hindi drama)

✓Norwegian title of the play- Gengangere ( those who walk again= the revenants( dead walking)) 

✓Ghost seen as absence of light= dark, not life sustaining

 ✓Engstrand lives by his wits he fools manders and make the situation work for him..

✓Almost all the characters in the play are victims of either misconceptions or sins committed by others.

✓As Clurman puts it : “Ghosts possesses a compact force almost buoyancy, a kind of hope against hope. It is that of a person battered, battled and all but destroyed who still moves with a certain assurance as though destined to victory.

✓And this rhythm of will, feeling and insight underneath the machinery of the plot is the form of the life of the play, the soul of the tragedy” (Francis Fergusson. Idea of a Theatre.Princeton University Press, 1972. Page 151,

✓Ibsen’s fundamental conviction was that “The individual’s inner self is the wellspring or true warrant for all just action. The interposition or rule of official authority or dogma by state,church, partly, traps the person in one manner or another, cripples the self, destroys authenticity and spells spiritual rule. External authority can be valid only if it wins the assent of the individual soul”.

(Clurman-Ibsen Macmillan Press 1977)