Oswald  Alving,  the  son  of  a  dissipated,
worthless  father,  has  been  brought  up
by  his  mother  in  ignorance  of  his  dead
parent's  shame.  Yet  he  has  within  him
the  seeds  of  a  transmitted  disease, —  the
evil  sown  by  a  previous  generation.  He
has  gone  into  the  world  to  make  a  name
for  himself,  but  he  is  forced  to  return  to
his  mother's  home.  He  drinks  to  excess,
and  he  exhibits  tendencies  to  other  more
dangerous  vices.  His  wretched  mother
sees  in  him  the  ghost  of  his  father;  she
sees  the  old  hateful  life  clothed  in  the
form  of  the  boy  she  has  reared  so  care-
fully. He  himself  feels  the  poison  work-
ing in  his  veins.  The  play  closes  upon
the  first  sign  of  his  incipient  madness.
In  this  drama,  the  mother,  Mrs.  Alving,
is  the  type  of  the  new  woman  in  revolt
against  the  hideous  lies  of  society,  be-
cause she  has  suffered  through  them.
She  is  learning  to  think  for  herself;  to
weigh  social  morality  in  the  balances.
Her  adviser.  Pastor  Manders,  has  been
called  ^the  consummate  flower  of  con-
ventional morality. »  He  is  a  type  of
the  world's  cautiousness  and  policy  in
matters  ethical;  of  that  world's  disposi-
tion to  cover  up  or  refuse  to  see  the
sins  of  society.  He  is  of  those  who
make  of  marriage  a  talisman  to  juggle
away  vice.
<  Ghosts  >  is  perhaps  the  most  remark-
able of  Ibsen's  dramas  in  its  search-
ing judgment,  its  recognition  of  terrible
fact,  its  logical  following  of  the  merci-
less logic  of  nature.
Rongon-Macquart,  Lea,  by  £mile  Zoki.
