Ghosts

Ibsen, Henrik, 1828-1906Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.4

Word count: 136K words
Chapters: 14

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Ghosts by Henrik IbsenAuthor: Ibsen, Henrik, 1828-1906,Language: English, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: May 1, 2005

Editor's review

Ghosts is one of Ibsen's signature problem plays, centering on the family truth gradually uncovered after the widowed Mrs. Alving and her son Oswald return home. With its tightly structured dialogue and steadily mounting suspense, the play weaves inheritance, marriage, illness, and moral hypocrisy into an unavoidable reckoning. Its value lies not in offering answers but in forcing readers to confront how lies wrapped in respectability are passed down from generation to generation. Reading it conveys a strong sense of the stage: the characters' lines are both confrontation and self-defense, and it is best read in one sitting in a quiet setting. For readers interested in the origins of modern drama, critiques of family ethics, and nineteenth-century social thought, this work offers a solid textual entry point. This edition is a Project Gutenberg e-book; the English original is clear and easy to read, making it suitable as a companion to a translation or as supplementary material for drama courses, and convenient for readers to excerpt passages for reading-aloud practice.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to understand the origins of modern drama and Ibsen's problem plays
Those concerned with family ethics, moral hypocrisy, and generational responsibility
Drama students or learners who need an English script for reading-aloud practice
Readers who want to encounter nineteenth-century Nordic literature through a short play

Not a good fit for

Casual readers expecting light entertainment or a happy ending
Those uncomfortable with highly staged dialogue and concentrated conflict
Beginners who need detailed annotations or a Chinese translation

Reading tips

Read the whole play first to grasp how the suspense builds, then revisit key dialogues to see how the characters defend themselves.
Read alongside a Chinese translation and pay attention to irony and subtext in the dialogue.
After reading, write a brief note comparing Mrs. Alving's choices with family issues in real life.
If used for reading aloud, assign roles by act and pay attention to evasion and outbursts in the tone.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is Ghosts suitable as an introduction to Ibsen's plays?

Yes, but be prepared. It is short and concentrated in conflict, quickly showing the characteristics of Ibsen's problem plays; however, its themes involve illness, hidden incest, and moral hypocrisy, so the reading experience is rather heavy. If you want to get familiar with his style first, you could start with a lighter play and then return to this one.

What are the features of this Project Gutenberg edition?

This edition is an English e-book released by Project Gutenberg. The language is English, and it is a public-domain text, easy to obtain free of charge and to copy and excerpt. It usually contains no detailed scholarly annotations or introduction, so it is suitable for readers already able to read English plays, or for use as source material alongside a translation.

Do I need to know about Ibsen's life before reading this play?

Not necessarily. The play itself gradually reveals the backstory through the characters' dialogue, so you can enter the situation by reading directly. If you want a deeper understanding of its critique of marriage, religion, and respectability, you can later fill in background on Ibsen's other problem plays, but this is not a prerequisite for reading.

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About the author

Ibsen, Henrik, 1828-1906 Author

Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) was a Norwegian playwright best known for his problem plays on social issues. His works often center on marriage, family, gender roles, and individual freedom, exposing the contradictions beneath respectable surfaces through tight dialogue and steadily unfolding plots. The collection holds 51 of his works, including A Doll's House, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler, and Rosmersholm, as well as dramatic collections and translations into Finnish and Esperanto. Written in a realistic style, these plays probe their characters' inner lives, with spare dialogue rich in subtext, and helped shape modern European drama; they are still staged worldwide. Because public information is limited, biographical details are omitted here.