Ghosts

"Ghosts" by Henrik Ibsen is a play written in the late 19th century. The drama unfolds around the life of Mrs. Helen Alving, who is preparing to honor the memory of her deceased husband through the unveiling of a memorial, while navigating complex family dynamics and societal expectations. The play touches upon themes of morality, legacy, and the hidden truths that haunt families, with characters such as her son Oswald, Pastor Manders, and the manipulative carpenter Jacob Engstrand. The opening of "Ghosts" introduces us to a tense household environment as various characters interact under the shadow of past grievances and unspoken truths. Mrs. Alving, with her maid Regina and Pastor Manders, discusses preparations for the memorial and reveals her thoughts on the nature of societal perceptions. Engstrand, the carpenter, makes a dubious entrance, highlighting his intentions towards his daughter Regina while stirring up tensions between characters. As they prepare for the Orphanage’s opening ceremony, underlying conflicts about familial duty versus personal desires begin to surface, setting the stage for the unraveling of secrets that will challenge the characters’ beliefs and relationships as the story progresses. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Henrik Johan Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and the most influential playwright of the 19th century, as well of one of the most influential playwrights in Western literature more generally. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, and When We Dead Awaken. Ibsen is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare, and A Doll's House was the world's most performed play in 2006.