How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue. We used William Archer's translation.
Quote #7
MRS. ALVING. Yes – when you forced me under the yoke of what you called duty and obligation; when you lauded as right and proper what my whole soul rebelled against as something loathsome. It was then that I began to look into the seams of your doctrines. I wanted only to pick at a single knot; but when I had got that undone, the whole thing ravelled out. And then I understood that it was all machine-sewn. (2.89)
Mrs. Alving thanks Pastor Manders for inadvertently enlightening her. He thought it was the radical books she's reading. From improvements to the estate to her own self-education, Mrs. Alving is a motivated woman who takes the reins into her own hands.
Quote #8
OSWALD. I only mean that here people are brought up to believe that work is a curse and a punishment for sin, and that life is something miserable, something; it would be best to have done with, the sooner the better. (2.379)
Brought up mostly elsewhere, Oswald sees Norwegian culture as one of self-mortification. For him, work is something he desperately wants to do, but now can't because of his illness.
Quote #9
MRS. ALVING. They had taught me a great deal about duties and so forth, which I went on obstinately believing in. Everything was marked out into duties – into my duties, and his duties, and – I am afraid I made his home intolerable for your poor father, Oswald. (3.122)
Mrs. Alving makes a huge shift in the play from blaming Captain Alving and painting herself as the martyr, to accepting her own culpability in his demise.