Ghosts Family Quotes

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 #4

MANDERS. That is a very disputable point, Mrs. Alving. A child's proper place is, and must be, the home of his fathers. (1.307)

Pastor Manders is rigid and conventional in his thinking. He can't admit there might be some factors that would move a child's proper place from the home of this father. He fights for this with Regina, too.

Quote #5

MANDERS. But I'm not talking of bachelors' quarters. By a "home" I understand the home of a family, where a man lives with his wife and children.
OSWALD. Yes; or with his children and his children's mother.
MANDERS. [Starts; clasps his hands.] But, good heavens! (1.319-321)

Cohabitation is so common now in some communities that it might be hard for some readers to understand the Pastor's shock. Try substituting something a little less established when you imagine the Pastor's resistance.

Quote #6

MANDERS. You found it troublesome to be a mother, and you sent your child forth among strangers. (1.370)

Sitting in the audience, we can't yet know the irony of this statement. We discover later that Mrs. Alving would have loved to keep her son, and only suffered his absence to save him.