Story summary
Краткое содержание: Ghosts
- Чтение: 8 мин.
- 8 parts
- Аудио скоро
A widow, a pastor and a returning son meet in a rain-soaked Norwegian house on the eve of a memorial.
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Ghosts — кратко о книге
Краткое содержание: 8 min на чтение
- Время чтения
- Около 1 h 35 min1 h 15 min fast, 1 h 55 min slow
- Длительность
- Слов: 22 800
- Страницы
- Страниц: 69104 in large print
- Уровень в библиотеке
- Средний longer sentences, everyday words
- Первая публикация
- 1881by Henrik Ibsen
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Сколько времени нужно на чтение классики · Обновлено
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Ghosts in short
Ghosts is the story of one house on one day, where a widow finally decides to reveal the truth about her marriage. Mrs. Alving built an Orphanage to honor a husband she could not respect, and she did it to protect her son.
What Ghosts is about
What happens when a respectable family hides the truth for so long that the lie starts to rot the house? In Ghosts, a rainy day on the fjords of western Norway brings a widow, a pastor and a returning son together. Tomorrow a memorial will honor a dead man whom everyone calls a model citizen.
Henrik Ibsen published this play in three acts in 1881. It is set in one room of one country house and covers little more than a day and a night. Mrs. Helen Alving is about to open an Orphanage in the name of her late husband. Her son Oswald, a painter, has come home from Paris, and Pastor Manders comes to settle the papers.
Для кого. You will love this if you enjoy family drama, sharp dialogue and stories where a single room holds a whole society. It suits anyone who asks what children owe their parents.
The story in 8 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A carpenter bargains with a maid
The play opens in a garden room with rain falling on the glass walls. Regina, the maid, stands at the door and tries to stop a wet, limping visitor from coming in. He is Jacob Engstrand, the carpenter, who says he is her father. Regina wants him gone before anyone sees him.
Engstrand has a plan. He has saved some money working on the new Orphanage, and he wants to open a tavern for sailors in town. He needs a woman in the house to keep the evenings lively, and he wants Regina to be that woman. He leans on his religious words the way a man leans on a cane.
Regina sees through all of it. She was raised by Mrs. Alving, she has learned a little French, and she thinks herself far above his world. She drives him out. Yet she has hopes of her own, and she hides them when he asks. He even guesses that young Mr. Alving may be the reason she stays.
The scene sets the rules of the whole play. Everyone speaks a half-truth that suits them, and a pious phrase can cover a selfish aim. The takeaway is that the play begins with a bargain dressed up in holy words, and it teaches you to listen for what is left unsaid.
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Pastor Manders arrives with papers and fears
Pastor Manders enters with an umbrella and a small traveling bag, and Regina fusses over him.
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The pastor scolds, and the widow tells all
Oswald comes down in a light coat, smoking his father's pipe.
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A noise from the dining room wakes ghosts
The first act ends with a small sound that undoes everything.
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Engstrand plays the humble sinner and wins
Engstrand arrives in his Sunday clothes and asks for a prayer meeting at the Orphanage that evening.
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Oswald's fear and the joy of life
Alone with his mother in the twilight, Oswald tells her something he could not put in a letter.
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What the ghosts in the story really are
The title points at an idea that runs through every scene, and it is bigger than family illness.
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How the play is built and what to watch
Ibsen keeps the whole drama in one room.
Read all 8 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Helen Alving A widow who has hidden her husband's real life for years and is about to open an Orphanage in his name.
- Oswald Alving Her son, a painter just home from Paris, who is tired, afraid and longing for the joy of life.
- Pastor Manders The family's longtime adviser, a careful clergyman who values duty, order and what the newspapers will say.
- Jacob Engstrand A limping carpenter with a talent for pious talk, who wants to open a tavern for sailors in town.
- Regina Engstrand Mrs. Alving's maid, quick and ambitious, who wants to leave the country for a more glamorous life.
- Captain Alving The dead husband, praised by the whole district, whose memorial is to be honored the next day.
How it ends (spoiler)
In the last scene Oswald tells his mother the truth. The illness he inherited is in his brain and will return. He shows her morphine pills and makes her promise to help him at the end. Morning breaks, and Oswald collapses into an empty stare, asking for the sun. Mrs. Alving, stricken, reaches for the pills and cannot decide. The play ends there, with the choice left hanging.
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Вопросы о книге Ghosts
What is Ghosts by Ibsen about?
It follows a widow, Mrs. Alving, on the eve of opening an Orphanage in honor of her late husband. Her son comes home, a pastor arrives, and long-hidden family truths come into the open over one rainy day and night.
What do the ghosts in Ghosts mean?
The ghosts are the past returning in the present. Mrs. Alving uses the word for inherited traits and also for dead ideas and old beliefs that people obey without question, even when they cause harm.
When was Ghosts written and where is it set?
Ibsen published it in 1881. The story is invented, not true. It takes place at Mrs. Alving's country house beside a fjord in western Norway, over about a day, in a single garden room.
Is Ghosts easy to read?
It is a short play in three acts, set in one room, with clear dialogue and a small cast. The scenes move quickly, and the conflicts between the characters are easy to follow.
What is the main message of Ghosts?
Ibsen suggests that hiding the truth to keep up appearances does lasting harm. Blind obedience to duty and convention can poison family life, and old beliefs deserve to be questioned.
Как сослаться на это издание
Ibsen, Henrik. Ghosts. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/ghosts.
Ibsen, H. (2026). Ghosts. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/ghosts (Original work published 1881)
Ibsen, Henrik. Ghosts. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/ghosts.
@book{ibsen2026ghosts,
author = {Ibsen, Henrik},
title = {Ghosts},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/ghosts},
note = {First published 1881}
}
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