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
MRS. ALVING. But when the last insult was added; when my own servant-maid – ; then I swore to myself: This shall come to an end! And so I took the reins into my own hand – the whole control – over him and everything else. (1.411)
Mrs. Alving describes the iron grasp she had on her wayward husband. As a man with a personality drawn to freedom and pleasure, he must have resented her. In turn, she must have felt like a warden.
Quote #5
MRS. ALVING. Well, I can't help it; I must have done with all this constraint and insincerity. I can endure it no longer. I must work my way out to freedom. (2.44)
In Act 2, Mrs. Alving is still caught between her proper Norwegian upbringing and her desire for openness and honesty. She's working her way from Pastor Manders's approach to life and towards that of her son.
Quote #6
OSWALD. Then of course he had to admit that he was on the wrong track; and so I learned the truth – the incomprehensible truth! I ought not to have taken part with my comrades in that lighthearted, glorious life of theirs. It had been too much for my strength. So I had brought it upon myself! (2.276)
It's hard to know exactly what Oswald is referring to when he talks about "that lighthearted, glorious life of theirs." Free love? Alcohol? Drugs? Whatever he means, he doesn't condemn the behavior, only his own weakness.