Reviews

this was to me a slightly more interesting continuation for a doll's house. the energy and sequences of this play are gothic and dramatic in their dissection of family and duty and guilt, and the prevailing mother/son relationship was interesting to digest! talk about boymom! uh oh! also i really like the way ibsen ends his plays. some great writing in here too.

"The longer I live the more convinced I am that we're all haunted in this world - not by the things we inherit from our parents - but by the ghosts of innumerable old prejudices and beliefs - half-forgotten cruelties and betrayals - we may not even be aware of them - but they're there just the same - and we can't get rid of them."

faizoo's review against another edition

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reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

advujovich's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

kraghen21's review against another edition

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3.0

Rating: 2.5

martereadsbooks's review against another edition

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funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

mina_re4ds's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

sakawara's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sidharthvardhan's review against another edition

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5.0

“It is the very mark of the spirit of rebellion to crave for happiness in this life.”

Till now Mrs. Alving has lived a moral live for most part; she had to struggle to live with a husband who constantly cheats on her. She kept his adulteries in secret - even sending her son away to save him. However she didn't do it because it was the right thing to do; she did it to save her reputation. 'A cowardice' she now calls it frankly, when she began to question the very roots of morality.

In fact, as the play progress, she starts seeing her husband, now dead, as a victim of the old morality. "Oh, that perpetual law and order! I often think that is what dies all the mischief in this world of ours." She now comes to believe that her husband was just a man of free spirit who just happened to be in a wrong sort of world; a world where everything that can give one happiness had to be stolen. In fact the only person who ever gained anything from the old established order was an impostor.

You shall be amazed as to how many taboos got questioned in the small play; Ibsen has to be one of most realistic writer I have even seen.

Mr. Alving's actions, though he is now long dead, are not without consequences. His family would have to pay the price:

“I am half inclined to think we are all ghosts…it is not only what we have inherited from our fathers and mothers that exists again in us, but all sorts of old dead ideas and all kinds of old dead beliefs and things of that kind. They are not actually alive in us; but there they are dormant all the same, and we can never be rid of them.

And these ghosts won't go anywhere. They are there to be; showing their gloomy faces forever:

"And this ceaseless rain! It may go on week after week, for months together. Never to get a glimpse of the sun! I can't recollect ever having seen the sun shine all the times i've been at home.

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