"Ghosts" is a drama in three acts by Henrik Ibsen, published in 1881 in Norwegian as Gengangere and performed the following year. The play is an attack on conventional morality and on the results of hypocrisy.
"Ghosts" tells the story of Helen Alving, a widow who is haunted by the many mistresses of her deceased husband and by her son who has inherited syphilis from his philandering father. "Ghosts" is a scathing indictment of Victorian society in which Ibsen refutes the notion that if one simply fulfills one's duty rather than following one's desires then a good and noble life will be achieved. Scandalous in its day for its frank discussion of venereal disease and marriage infidelity, "Ghosts" remains to this day an intense psychological drama and sharp social criticism.
