Reviews

Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen

adrastheia's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A bleak piece of writing. A sad life, lived to fulfil a notion of duty. Love?

booksnpunks's review against another edition

3.0

Overall, an enjoyable play, touching on some Gothic and suspenseful themes.

ratgirlreads's review against another edition

 Ghosts is an excellent play which provides a counterpoint to one of Henrik Ibsen’s other plays, A Doll’s House.  In that play, Nora leaves her family when she discovers her husband’s self-interested, superficial nature, to attempt to become a more complete person.  In Ghosts, Mrs. Alving does not leave her husband (at the behest of a clergyman with whom she is in love, who persuades her that her duty to family supersedes all things and that a man’s transgressions cannot possibly be as bad as a woman’s), though she discovers that his failings were much greater than Torvald’s pettiness.  The results are surely more horrible than any moral or social upset that might have resulted from a woman leaving her husband—when Alving fathers a child on a servant (whose willingness in the affair is questionable) and the servant is sent away, the man who was persuaded (likely through money, regardless of his claims) to marry her and pretend to be Regina’s biological father eventually uses the position this gains him to first persuade Pastor Manders that he is the cause of burning down the orphanage, and then to use this supposed fact to blackmail him into supporting the sailors’ home which he has already indicated to Regina will not be as wholesome as he portrays it to the pastor.  Oswald is infected with an hereditary disease from his father’s dissipation, which makes him ill enough to wish to force his mother to euthanize him.  Regina, growing up ignorant of her true parentage but under her natural father’s roof, discovers it would be incestuous to realize the servant-girl’s dream of marrying the master’s son, and so chooses to throw herself into a life of dissipation, which will likely cause her some worse ending even than her mother’s.  This play may be seen as an answer to those who seek to criticize or censor the end of A Doll’s House—for surely Ibsen’s characters in that play would have fared as badly as his characters in Ghosts do had Nora chosen not to leave Torvald.  

michael__'s review against another edition

4.0

After the fairly straightforward plot of A Doll's House, Ghosts was surprisingly intricate and convoluted. After reading two of his plays, I praise Ibsen for creating an intriguing web of characters and having the ability to keep his stories tense throughout. Even when his characters are simply conversing, I can feel the tension piling on top of itself. Who knew conversations could be so interesting?

Apparently, Ibsen wrote Ghosts with the hopes of shocking those who were still recovering from his earlier works. He basically said, "Oh, you think a woman leaving her family is bad? Wait until I write about venereal diseases." He packs plenty of other controversial topics in this play as well, such as incest and infidelity.

You may never read this (it may be one of his least popular plays), but it is still highly entertaining and thought-provoking.

elisereading's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

friedefreudefredie's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Statt einer klassischen Geistergeschichte erwartet einen hier ein Drama mit noch lebenden Geistern. 
Oswald Alving kehrt nach langer Zeit zurück in die Heimat und so beginnt ein unaufhaltsamer Prozess des Aufdeckens von Familiengeheimnissen. Obwohl die meisten Charaktere recht unsympathisch erscheinen, sind die Dialoge zwischenzeitlich sehr unterhaltsam und verleihen der Handlung eine nicht abklingende Spannung.
Auch wenn Dramen nicht meinem sonstigen Leseinteresse entsprechen, habe ich "Gespenster" gerne gelesen und mich stets über den Inhalt gewundert.

bookishgoblin's review against another edition

3.0

Quite a good play, filled with the dirty implications expected from scandalous plays at the time! Rather enjoyable, even if some of the characters seemed to have a bit of a non-ending to the story, but still nicely written, rather like a Tennessee Williams play! If you enjoy realism, then go for this.

emilytyx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

kellyoneill's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

miamh's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0