Ghosts

by

Henrik Ibsen

Johanna Character Analysis

Johanna never actually appears onstage in Ghosts. However, she was the Alvings’ maid when Captain Alving was still alive. Mrs. Alving tells Pastor Manders that she discovered many years ago that Captain Alving impregnated Johanna. She also reveals that Johanna is Regine’s mother, and that Captain Alving gave her a large amount of money to keep this a secret. With this money, Johanna went to Engstrand and convinced him to marry her and pretend to be Regine’s true father.

Johanna Quotes in Ghosts

The Ghosts quotes below are all either spoken by Johanna or refer to Johanna. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Reputation, Judgement, and Morality Theme Icon
).
Act One Quotes

MRS. ALVING. Shortly afterwards I heard my husband come in, too. I heard him say something to her in a low voice. And then I heard. . . . [With a short laugh.] Oh, I can still hear it, so devastating and yet at the time so ludicrous…I heard my own maid whisper: ‘Let me go, Mr. Alving! Leave me alone!’

MANDERS. How unseemly! How indiscreet of him!

Related Characters: Mrs. Helene Alving (speaker), Pastor Manders (speaker), Regine, Captain Alving, Johanna
Page Number: 118
Explanation and Analysis:

That was the time Oswald was sent away. He was getting on for seven, and beginning to notice things and ask questions, as children do. That was something I couldn’t bear. I felt the child would somehow be poisoned simply by breathing the foul air of this polluted house. That was why I sent him away. And now you understand why he was never allowed to set foot in this place as long as his father was alive. Nobody knows what that cost me.

Related Characters: Mrs. Helene Alving (speaker), Oswald Alving, Pastor Manders, Captain Alving, Johanna
Page Number: 118
Explanation and Analysis:
Act Two Quotes

Ghosts. When I heard Regine and Oswald in there, it was just like seeing ghosts. But then I’m inclined to think that we are all ghosts, Pastor Manders, every one of us. It’s not just what we inherit from our mothers and fathers that haunts us. It’s all kinds of old defunct theories, all sorts of old defunct beliefs, and things like that. It’s not that they actually live on in us; they are simply lodged there, and we cannot get rid of them. I’ve only to pick up a newspaper and I seem to see ghosts gliding between the lines. Over the whole country there must be ghosts, as numerous as the sands of the sea.

Related Characters: Mrs. Helene Alving (speaker), Oswald Alving, Pastor Manders, Regine, Captain Alving, Johanna
Page Number: 126
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Ghosts LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ghosts PDF

Johanna Quotes in Ghosts

The Ghosts quotes below are all either spoken by Johanna or refer to Johanna. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Reputation, Judgement, and Morality Theme Icon
).
Act One Quotes

MRS. ALVING. Shortly afterwards I heard my husband come in, too. I heard him say something to her in a low voice. And then I heard. . . . [With a short laugh.] Oh, I can still hear it, so devastating and yet at the time so ludicrous…I heard my own maid whisper: ‘Let me go, Mr. Alving! Leave me alone!’

MANDERS. How unseemly! How indiscreet of him!

Related Characters: Mrs. Helene Alving (speaker), Pastor Manders (speaker), Regine, Captain Alving, Johanna
Page Number: 118
Explanation and Analysis:

That was the time Oswald was sent away. He was getting on for seven, and beginning to notice things and ask questions, as children do. That was something I couldn’t bear. I felt the child would somehow be poisoned simply by breathing the foul air of this polluted house. That was why I sent him away. And now you understand why he was never allowed to set foot in this place as long as his father was alive. Nobody knows what that cost me.

Related Characters: Mrs. Helene Alving (speaker), Oswald Alving, Pastor Manders, Captain Alving, Johanna
Page Number: 118
Explanation and Analysis:
Act Two Quotes

Ghosts. When I heard Regine and Oswald in there, it was just like seeing ghosts. But then I’m inclined to think that we are all ghosts, Pastor Manders, every one of us. It’s not just what we inherit from our mothers and fathers that haunts us. It’s all kinds of old defunct theories, all sorts of old defunct beliefs, and things like that. It’s not that they actually live on in us; they are simply lodged there, and we cannot get rid of them. I’ve only to pick up a newspaper and I seem to see ghosts gliding between the lines. Over the whole country there must be ghosts, as numerous as the sands of the sea.

Related Characters: Mrs. Helene Alving (speaker), Oswald Alving, Pastor Manders, Regine, Captain Alving, Johanna
Page Number: 126
Explanation and Analysis: