Ibsen is sometimes considered the originator of "modern" drama. What are some features of this play which might justify this label? What in this context may be meant by "modern"?
What would have been some startling or shocking features of this play in 1881? How would a portrayal of the effects of syphilis have been relevant to political and social debates of the time?
What are implications of the title, "Ghosts"? In the original Norwegian the meaning of the title, Gengangere, was closer to "revenant"--is this a more accurate representation of the play's contents?
How does the play present the theme of heredity? What would Ibsen's readers or audiences have assumed about hereditary transmission of venereal disease?
According to more recent science, could Captain Alving have transmitted it directly to his son? (would have infected his wife, who in turn transmitted it to her fetus during pregnancy)
Why, for the purposes of the play, do you think it is his son and not his daughter Regina who inherits the disease? Does she "inherit" any other aspects of her father? (Oswald inherits the disease and she inherits his selfish and immoral character)
What allusions to modern literature are included in the play, and in what context? (they have brought Mrs. Alving confirmation of her inmost thoughts)
What do we learn in the opening scene? Why does Jacob Engstrand try to persuade Regina to help him in forming a Sailor's Home?
In the process what is revealed about his attitudes and their family past? (her mother's liaison, her father's bad behavior to his wife, Regina's distaste for him, his desire to exploit her sexually)
What themes does this first scene develop which help frame the rest of the play?
Why do you think Ghosts has a three act structure rather than the usual five?
What are some symbols embedded in the play? (rain, mist, sun, Jacob's crooked leg, the burning of the orphanage) What is important about the conflagration of the orphanage and its timing? (occurs directly before public ceremony and as full truth regarding the past is about to emerge)
Would you describe the characters as blunt (if not always honest) in their interactions? What is the dramatic effect of so much directness?
Was the fire accidental, and if not, whom do you suspect of setting it, and for what purpose?
What role is served by Pastor Manders? What values motivate his behavior? What function does the expression of these values play in the plot?
Why do you think a clergyman is chosen to express the attitudes he proclaims? Which aspects of Norwegian/bourgeois/European society does he represent? (demands for respectability and conformity, authority of state as well as church)
Are there ways in which Manders is a hypocrite? Selfish? What are some results which have followed his actions and advice?
Is Manders a good spiritual advisor? A good financial advisor? On what grounds does he show sympathy and trust in Jacob Engstrand? Disapproval of Mrs. Alving?
What do we learn of his attitudes on class and gender from his disapproval of a potential marriage between Regina and Oswald? (when he objects to marriage with a fallen woman, Mrs. Alving reminds him that he had desired her to remain with a fallen man)
What is added to these scenes by the information that Pastor Manders and Mrs. Alving had each felt attraction toward the other in the past? Do they seem well suited to one another or potentially compatible after the lapse of years?
What ironies result from Pastor Manders's allegedly moral financial decisions? Why does Mrs. Alving call him a baby? What motivates him to agree to finance Engstrand's Soldier's Home? (Engstrand claims he has seen him drop a smouldering spark--that is, that he is responsible for the fire in the orphanage. He likely fears an inquest.)
What do we learn about Captain Alving's past? How does his wife describe his character before and after the marriage?
In the final act, what explanations of his motives does she give? Is his love of the "joie de vivre" intended as a defense, and if so, on what grounds? (Norwegian society represses freedom in everyone, makes life a series of unpleasant duties)
Why does Mrs. Alving all herself a coward? To what extent does she overcome this trait as the play progresses?
What actions has Mrs. Alving performed to salvage her husband's reputation? What effect did these have? (engaged in philanthropy, orphanage planned, her son exiled from home) Were some of these actions motivated by her own desires? (wishes to expunge her husband's presence in her life; all his money will go to the orphanage) Were all of these choices necessary to preserve public appearances?
To what extend does Mrs. Alving exercise free will and to what extent is her adult life determined by her society?
What does the play suggest about conventional attitudes toward a woman's duties?
Do you see resemblances in plotting or themes between Ghosts and other Ibsen plays you have read? For example, are there some resemblances with A Doll's House? (outsider/friend's discovery of secrets in the home; marriage under false pretenses; unequal status of woman; blackmail; exposure of upper-middle class bourgeois world; subplots of flirtation and venereal disease; class divisions and snobbery; wife attempts to leave home; secrets, concealment and lies; themes of exposure and attempt at honesty)
What is the importance to the play of the theme of incest? Of promiscuity?
What is added to the play by the presence of Regina? What are her motivations and what do we learn about her character? Do Mrs. Alving and Oswald judge these correctly? (yes, both understand an essential self-interestedness in her character)
Are honesty and truth presented as unmixed virtues throughout the play? What kinds of truths need to be told--and do they bring liberation?
Which of the characters are we expected to like or identify or sympathize with? Why do you think such a high proportion of the dialogue features Jacob Engstrand and Pastor Manders?
Is it important that Oswald is an artist? What do we learn about his past and his values? (lived a happy bohemian life; his friends were good people who lived in common law marriages, lacks conventional censorious judgments)
What happens in the final scene? Is the conclusion open-ended? Do we know what Mrs. Alving intends to do?
Why do you think Ibsen chose to end the play in this way? How might the audience have reacted if Oswald had killed himself, or if we had witnessed his mother giving him the fatal pills?
To what extent is Ghosts a feminist play? What choices have been offered Mrs. Alving in life? Do the problems of Ibsen's female characters here and in plays such as Hedda Gabler and The Lady From the Sea represent broad existential human issues?
What views on the nature of society and truth does Ibsen expect his readers or viewers to take from the play? Is Ghosts an effective play, and if so, in what ways?