Culture Conveyed Through Pastor Manders

Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen is a very culturally centered play that takes place during the 1880’s in Norway when Lutheranism was the dominant religion. The culture and religion is evident in many aspects of Ghosts, but is shown mostly through
Pastor Manders who helps guides the Alving family through their troubling times. Ibsen was able to easily relate the culture, morals and situations in his play to the culture he lived in because it was during his life (March 20, 1828 to May 23, 1906) - he published Ghosts in December, 1881. Although Ghosts was not the most adored or coveted play to see, it was probably the most infamous among all of Norway; and so Ibsen accomplished what he set out to do when he originally started writing Ghosts. He saw the evil and corruption of society in Norway and spoke out against it through his writing. Ghosts was criticized for being “a loathsome sore unbandaged; a dirty act done in public” by the Daily Telegraph (and many others) and Ibsen’s criticisms weren‘t much better, such as when the king of Sweden and Norway said that his play was not a good play. He exposed social problems that had been considered a sin to talk about. This created problems since theatre at this time was centered around promoting strict morals of family life and propriety, which was a requirement in European theatre. Ibsen’s characters ignored theatrical requirements of Europe in the 1800’s. The main characters in the play are Pastor Manders, Jacob Engstrand (a carpenter), Regina Engstrand (thought to be Jacob’s daughter and Mrs. Alving’s maid), Mrs. Alving (a widow), Oswald Alving (Mrs. Alving’s son), and Captain Alving, who is deceased but referred to often. Even in the descriptions of the characters the reader can see the chaos and confusion that was inappropriate for a play during this time. The