Mrs. Alving: "But I am inclined to think that we are all ghosts, Pastor Manders; it is not only the things which we have inherited from our fathers and mothers that continue to live in us, but all sorts of old dead ideas and old dead ideas. " beliefs and things like that. They are not really alive in us, but they are still rooted and we cannot get rid of them, just pick up a newspaper and when... read it I seem to see ghosts slipping between the lines. I would think there are ghosts all over the country - as countless as grains of sand And we, all of us, are so pitifully afraid of the light plagiarism Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayIn this key passage from his play "Ghosts," playwright Henrik Ibsen uses Mrs. Alving's monologue to vividly convey her growing dissent. towards the traditions and social norms that pervaded Norway during the late 19th century. The play was written as a social commentary and Ibsen anticipated some controversy at the time of its release and was intent on expressing his views on the human condition of the time. Throughout the work "Ghosts", and especially in Mrs. Alving's memorable monologue, he blames the dominant ideology of Norwegian society for its oppressive atmosphere and ideals. Clearly outdated and hypocritical social expectations are still perpetuated and strictly adhered to by the majority. , ruining their integrity and morality. Throughout this scene, Mrs. Alving mentions her cowardice several times, eventually pointing out that it is the "ghosts" who force her to hide the truth from her son. Ibsen defines these ghosts as “all sorts of old dead ideas and old dead beliefs,” using the parallelism to point out that current traditions and norms are in fact archaic. The repetition of “dead” highlights the decay of these values, implying not only that these ideas are imperfect, but also that they do not fit the present. However, they continue to persecute and oppress the community. Ibsen extensively uses the binary opposition of “dead” and “alive” to blur the line between characters and ghosts. Similar to the dominant ideals that are “not really alive… but… rooted all the same”, the characters will live in the present, but will remain trapped in a repetitive cycle of the past, unable to progress. The social expectations held by the Norwegian public seem to limit any possibility of freedom and personal fulfillment. They appear everywhere, as implied when Mrs. Alving states, "I seem to see ghosts slipping between the lines" of the newspaper. The newspaper motif highlights the constant presence of conventions in the media, and Ibsen uses the gentle alliteration of “gliding ghosts” to further emphasize the unconscious oppression of people. After the monologue, Pastor Manders criticizes any deviation from this restrictive and dominant ideology, exclaiming that Mrs. Alving's problems stem from the "terrible, subversive, free-thinking books" she reads. Ibsen contrasts the harmful connotations of the first two adjectives with that of “freethought,” clearly demonstrating that freedom of thought and expression has been condemned, while the archaic ideals promoted by the mass media are accepted. The darkness of the setting also reinforces the idea that this society clings to outdated beliefs and traditions that discourage openness and change in the community, which leads to fixation with reputation and lack of honesty. Ibsen uses Mrs. Alving's monologue to highlight the gulf between truth and ideals and the futility of aspiring to society's ideals. He complains:.