Ghosts

Religion features heavily throughout the play as Ibsen details the complicated relationship between Helen and Pastor Manders. As they prepare for the opening of Helen’s orphanage in honor of her husband, they confront the past and debate the present dilemma presented by the return of Helen’s son, Oswald. These conversations expose the pastor’s undeterred allegiance to social conventions and his judgment of those who rebel. Through his criticism of Pastor Manders, Ibsen offers a commentary on the hypocrisy of religious figures who condemn laypeople while maintaining a double standard for themselves.

An old friend of the Alving family, Pastor Manders enters the play excited to carry out Helen’s plans to honor her late husband and abide by society’s constricted view of a woman’s duty. Upon viewing Helen’s choice of secular reading material, Manders criticizes Helen for not practicing self-restraint and for corrupting her mind. Meanwhile, the pastor obsesses over his reputation, instead of his duty as a spiritual leader. He worries about how he is perceived by the clergy and press, which leads him to abandon plans to purchase insurance for the orphanage. Ibsen demonstrates that Manders lacks the self-restraint to control his self-absorption while admonishing others. In addition, Manders upholds Christianity-based misogynistic views toward women, endorsing a double standard that requires women to be sexually pure and to bear the moral failings of the men in their lives in unwavering faithfulness. Despite Jacob’s proven history of iniquity, Manders repeatedly attempts to convince Regina to live with her father and work in the hostel for sailors Jacob hopes to create. Despite her husband’s proven history of infidelity, Manders chastises Helen for considering exposing the truth of her husband’s misconduct to their son, Oswald. Repeatedly, the pastor absolves men of their sins while scolding women for their independence.

To solidify his criticism of Manders and his hypocrisy, Ibsen highlights the pastor’s shortcomings in Act III. Convinced by Jacob that he caused the fires at the orphanage and worried that his decision not to insure the building will be criticized, Pastor Manders agrees to fund Jacob’s plans to build a hotel in exchange with Helen’s orphanage money for Jacob taking the blame for the fire—a corrupt and self-serving quid pro quo. Jacob preys upon the pastor’s weakness by warning him about how “the newspapers won't be for handling your Reverence very gently” (54) once news of the pastor’s role in starting the fire spreads. Ibsen hints at Jacob’s history of tricking Manders for self-gain in Act I when Regina asks her father “What are you going to fool Pastor Manders into doing, this time?” (8). Through Jacob, Ibsen emphasizes the pastor’s ineptitude and hypocrisy.