Henrik Ibsen's Play 'Ghosts'

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“A thousand words will not so deep an impression as one deed.” Discuss in relation to the first two acts of Ibsen’s ‘Ghosts’ “A thousand words will not so deep an impression as one deed”, is said to put emphasis on that what you do, your actions, is more significant and shows your intentions more clearly than what you say; it can be related to another quote, “Actions speak louder than words”. In Henrik Ibsen’s play ‘Ghosts’ actions do speak more symbolically and more significantly in order to emphasis the themes of the play, especially the theme of memory and the past, which can be referred to the theme of ‘Ghosts’. The ghost of Mr. Chamberlain Alving is presented through Osvald’s actions, reminding other character like Pastor Manders and Mrs. …show more content…

For instance, in Act 1 Regina, the maid was standing ‘with an empty syringe in her hand’ as Engstrand walks in on her. The syringe being empty signifies how defenseless this character is towards Engstrand or any other characters in the play. Her weakness reflects upon her social class in the Norwegian society. In the end of Act 2, Regina sat with an ‘empty glass’ while Osvald and Mrs. Alving drunk from their glasses. When Manders walks into the room he ‘noticed her for the first time’, which shows how the working class are hidden, transparent and unnoticeable within society when compared to the people in the upper class. The Pastor only perceived Regina as she was sitting amongst Osvald and Mrs. Alving. In contrast, Mrs. Alving belongs in the higher social class but we see her as defenseless as a girl from the working …show more content…

In the first scene, we meet Engstrand as he ‘is barring his way in’ to the garden while ‘dripping wet’ this suggests the measures he takes to get the job done, he does not mind getting dirty. The verb ‘barring’ suggest his forced entry, which signifies the power he has over helpless Regina. But Pastor Manders comes in ‘carrying an umbrella’ and protected from the rain, the protection suggests how he wants nothing to do with ‘getting dirty’, which proves that he is a materialist and only cares about his reputation and the public

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