Abstract
The social context portrayed in Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts consist of characters from both the bourgeois and the working class. The play also addresses issues of gender to a large extent. This study will investigate the relationship between the social classes and gender responsibilities and traits. How one’s class affect their actions. It will further examine the importance of possessing some masculine traits by women to be able to survive in a gender-based society. This study adds to understanding the motivation that aided some drastic endeavors in the setting of the play. Using Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble as the main lens, the study, through a close textual analysis will seek out the influence of class on character, the magnitude of authority wielded by state officials and the plight of the women and men in the working-class society of the day. With Ibsen having a representation of the various social classes in his plays, especially from the Pillars of the Society (1877), through A Doll´s House (1879) into Hedda Gable (1891), as well as the vivid clash of gender, this study will assist in further examination of these other plays.