2 h 48 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 69 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 69 pagesAbout this book
Rain hides the Norwegian mountains, but nothing can keep the past out of Helen Alving’s house.
Helen Alving is about to open an orphanage in her late husband’s memory. For years, she protects his good name by hiding the truth about their marriage. Now her son, Osvald, returns from Paris. She hopes to keep him close, but he brings a private fear into a house already crowded with secrets.
In Henrik Ibsen’s three-act play, tense conversations expose the cost of looking respectable. Pastor Manders clings to duty and fears scandal, while the young maid Regina Engstrand longs for a different life. Over little more than a day, their hopes press against old beliefs, and Helen faces what her silence means for her son.
What you’ll discover
- A mother’s difficult choices Follow Helen as love for her son collides with years of protecting her husband’s name.
- Duty under pressure Meet Pastor Manders, whose fear of gossip tests the beliefs he holds so firmly.
- A room full of tension Enter a rain-darkened house where conversation, rather than action, brings buried conflicts into view.
- Young lives seeking freedom Discover Osvald’s private fears and Regina’s longing to escape a life of service.
- Ghosts without spirits Explore the old ideas and unquestioned rules that haunt the living in this family drama.
Who will love it
For readers who love family drama, tense conversation and plays that fit in a single sitting, and anyone curious about the roots of modern theatre.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A widow prepares to honour her husband
- Duty and appearances shape the pastor
- Osvald comes home from Paris
- Regina, Engstrand and the secrets of the house
- What the ghosts really are
- How Ibsen builds a quiet storm
Who’s who
- Helen AlvingA widow who has kept a respectable front for years and now wants to honour her late husband and keep her son close.
- Osvald AlvingHer son, a painter just back from Paris, who is warm and gifted but weighed down by a private fear.
- Pastor MandersThe local clergyman and old friend of the family, who trusts duty and public opinion over his own feelings.
- Regina EngstrandThe Alvings' young maid, who is clever, ambitious and eager to escape her life of service.
- Jacob EngstrandA carpenter with a limp and a pious manner, who is thought to be Regina's father and wants money to open a sailors' home.
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Ghosts
by Henrik Ibsen · 1881
A widow prepares to honour her husband, but her son's return brings family secrets into the open.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A widow prepares to honour her husband
The play opens in the country house of Mrs Helen Alving. Her husband, Captain Alving, has been dead for ten years. Tomorrow would have been his birthday, and she plans to open an orphanage in his name. The building stands nearby, and the money for it comes from his estate.
The first scene is small. Regina, the maid, is speaking to the man she believes is her father, a carpenter named Jacob Engstrand, who has come to the house with a request. Through the window the rain keeps falling, and the mood is damp and shut in. We learn at once that these two do not trust each other, and that Regina wants to leave her father and his rough ways behind.
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What is Ghosts by Ibsen about?
It follows a widow, Helen Alving, as she prepares to open an orphanage in her late husband's memory. Her son's return and a visit from her pastor bring old secrets and the cost of respectability into the open.
What do the ghosts in Ghosts mean?
There are no spirits on stage. The ghosts are inherited habits, dead beliefs and family secrets that shape the living, passed from parents to children without anyone choosing it.
Why was Ghosts so controversial?
When it appeared in 1881, many found its frank treatment of marriage, religion and family secrets shocking. Theatres refused it, and critics attacked it, though Ibsen said he only showed what was true.
The author
Henrik Ibsen
1828–1906 · Norwegian playwright
Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. He was born in Skien, Norway, and lived in Italy and Germany from 1864 to 1891 before returning to Norway. He wrote A Doll’s House (1879), Ghosts (1881), An Enemy of the People (1882), and Hedda Gabler (1890). He died in Oslo.
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