In the play Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen the playwright effectively uses his characters to convey a fluctuation of love or hate within the audience for each character. Through the use of dialogue and stage directions he brings his characters to life, causing the audience to determine a permanent opinion on each character and their actions.
Ibsen shows the audience the personality of each character within the interactions they encounter. Characters such as Engstrand, give the audience an personality of manipulative and defiance when he speaks to others; ‘lonely and forsaken widower’ he says when he wants pity or ‘we’d better not talk about conscience’ when he knows he has the upper hand. These characteristic reveals are cleverly expressed by Ibsen through the use of dialogue. ‘No I’ll be damned if I am!’, ‘tell you what a child owes to its father’, ‘We shall see about that’; Ibsen is trying to show that Engstrand is an antagonist to the play, it seems with every word he speaks there is an underlying motive to each word. He wants his daughter Regina to go away with him and leave her life behind, yet when she refuses he claims she is ungrateful to him as his daughter and that this is her duty to fulfill. ‘Do you set yourself up against your father’ and other demeaning things spew from his mouth creating a bitter taste for the audience to handle. Not only is Engstrand a conniving person to his daughter but to Preacher Manders. ‘Jacob Engstrand may be likened to a guardian angel’ conveys a since of hierarchy for the audience as he tries to justify why others should follow what he says. His manipulative ways are clearly seen as he tries to convince Preacher Manders to help him create an establishment to reform sailors, but when he described it to Regina, it sounded more like a high-class saloon.
Ibsen constant use of detailed stage directions, ‘suppressing a smile’, ‘short pause’, ‘lowering his voice’ adds a considerable impact on the words being said by the characters. Every direction creates a better illustration for the audience to understand what is happening and how the characters feel during this situation. Mrs. Alving has a reputation to uphold in honor of her late husband, but it is more of a burden for her as she withholds secrets from everyone. She is known for ‘listening’ and being ‘more quiet’ during her conversations with the other characters in the act. This reveals her hesitant and worrisome personality because everything has to be perfect or things will begin to fall apart. If she isn’t in control of the situation then she starts to worry, ‘her face lights up with gladness’ when disapproved subjects of conversation are changed. When things do go wrong the audience can see the change in her personality, ‘springs up in despair’, ‘whispers as though petrified’, ‘shrinks back a few steps and screams’. Mrs. Alving’s personality turns into a desperate and despair as she watches her child slowly dying from his illness. Everything she has tried hide has finally come out of its closet and these are the results of her actions. These extra details enhance the scene and give the audience a better interpretation of what is happening and what emotions are being conveyed.
Ibsen develops a theme of which society invades personal lives within the play, which is emphasized with the use of techniques. Mrs. Alving is obsessed with keeping up appearances; trying to protect her late husband’s reputation even when he wasn’t the nicest to her nor was their marriage a good one. Due to this concern, she not only ends up living a lie for herself and her late husband’s children, but also builds an orphanage as a memorial to her husband’s false reputation. Pastor Manders is ruled by a neurotic concern for public opinion, that leads to his much foolish downfall to Engstrand, who tricked him into funding his sailor’s saloon. His desire to keep his public reputation high leads to his clueless actions and his unhappiness because it seems his actions are for his own benefit them for the people he is supposed to be helping. The “ghosts” or fears that come with the duty and public opinion dominate and ruin the lives of the people in this play. Mrs. Alving feels that all people are haunted by their obligation or requests from people and superstitions that exist within their community. The idea of having an obligation to family members and others around you is such a ghost.
Ibsen’s techniques help define each character individually in order have their own audience response when reading the play. They convey his interpretation of what he wanted in a way that the audience as well could understand in order to fully understand the play as a whole. The social interaction within the dialogue helps the audience interpret the play’s meaning of how society invades private life. Secrets were hidden and the truth was revealed as new issues came to light in this play, but Ibsen’s stage directions gave the actions written on paper a more lovely realistic view for the audience as it creates a clear picture in their head. Ghosts is nothing but words written on paper, but when you put a meaning behind it and techniques to enhance it the audience is able to enjoy it in a new light.
