Ghosts

Written by Henrik Ibsen

Narrated by Caroline John, Trevor Cooper and Helen Oakleigh

Controversy and hidden pasts are suddenly and painfully exposed as wealthy widow Mrs Alving prepares to open a new orphanage in memory of her seemingly beloved husband. Her treasured son Oswald’s return from Paris and her relationship with old friend Pastor Manders are no longer the source of joy they once were, as secrets are turned into a frightening and desperate reality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Copyright Group
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781780003719

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a Norwegian playwright who thrived during the late nineteenth century. He began his professional career at age 15 as a pharmacist’s apprentice. He would spend his free time writing plays, publishing his first work Catilina in 1850, followed by The Burial Mound that same year. He eventually earned a position as a theatre director and began producing his own material. Ibsen’s prolific catalogue is noted for depicting modern and real topics. His major titles include Brand, Peer Gynt and Hedda Gabler.

Reviews for Ghosts

[charles_tatum_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hey, Whoopi Goldberg isn't in this...I found the play interesting, but Oswald's hysterics were melodramatic and bordered on comical. For a better play about a dysfunctional family, read Tennessee Williams.

[jesus kun · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"people are made to believe work is something tiring, dreadful. best dealth with as quick as possible. but that's not what believed elsewhere. they cherish every breath of life." I truly felt in love.

[maxernst11 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Dilemma?s: -erfelijkheid (Oswald)-hypocrisie en burgerlijke moraal:Manders-vrouwenplicht: mrs Alving-respect voor ouders: Regina (weer erg engelachtig)-euthanasie: Oswaldniet helemaal geslaagd!

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A powerful, controversial play (like most of his), he conveys a less than sterling relationship between mother and son that disintegrates when the truth comes out and the son's mind deteriorates. The truth will always out.

[ariesblue · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

a play about Mrs. Alving a widow,who was accused by Pastor Manders,of failing in providing enough moral guidance to her son Oswald....

MANDERS. Just as you once disowned a wife's duty, so you have since
disowned a mother's.

MRS. ALVING. Ah--!

MANDERS. You have been all your life under the dominion of a
pestilent spirit of self-will. The whole bias of your mind has been
towards insubordination and lawlessness. You have never known how to
endure any bond. Everything that has weighed upon you in life you
have cast away without care or conscience, like a burden you were
free to throw off at will. It did not please you to be a wife any
longer, and you left your husband. You found it troublesome to be a
mother, and you sent your child forth among strangers.

MRS. ALVING. Yes, that is true. I did so.

MANDERS. And thus you have become a stranger to him.

MRS. ALVING. No! no! I am not.


after this conversation,Mrs. Alving was forced to tell the truth that she had kept hidden.that Captain Alving was an awful man who was unfaithful throughout his life....

there are many symbols in this play....
the ghosts which are MRS. ALVING thoughts....lies about the past and her fear to say the truth,that should be told....
Oswald last wish before dying is to see the sun light ,he kept crying out for the sun. which symbolize for the joy of life which he always seeks....
The fire that destroys the orphanage which she was naming after her husband name....that destroyed the whole building,and eliminated all the deception.....

MANDERS. And it is to this man that you raise a memorial?

MRS. ALVING. There you see the power of an evil conscience.

MANDERS. Evil--? What do you mean?

MRS. ALVING. It always seemed to me impossible but that the truth
must come out and be believed. So the Orphanage was to deaden all
rumours and set every doubt at rest.

[wonderperson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Excellently written, dark, controversial at time and now drama about all kinds of unpleasantries that affect peoples lives from 'dissipated lives' to euthanasia and using morphine to commit suicide cos of VD. I will explore Ibsens Ouvre.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Dilemma’s: -erfelijkheid (Oswald)-hypocrisie en burgerlijke moraal:Manders-vrouwenplicht: mrs Alving-respect voor ouders: Regina (weer erg engelachtig)-euthanasie: Oswaldniet helemaal geslaagd!

[lady_lazarus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ibsen's plays really take you to the end of 19th century - and make youfeel the anxiety caused by social pressures and hypocrisy and seek the power to break free from the rules and conventions and reach for something real.