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. Soon after, I heard Alving come in too. I heard him say something softly to her. And then I heard – [With a short laugh] – oh! it still sounds in my ears, so hateful and yet so ludicrous – I heard my own servant-maid whisper, "Let me go, Mr. Alving! Let me be!" (1.405)
These are the same words we hear later from Regina, when Oswald pursues her. Ibsen places a number of echoes in the play – Captain Alving's pipe, the overturned chair in the next room – to make Mrs. Alving feel as though she's in a haunted house.
Quote #5
MRS. ALVING. [Under her breath, but firmly.] No. But then this long, hateful comedy will be ended. From the day after to-morrow, I shall act in every way as though he who is dead had never lived in this house. There shall be no one here but my boy and his mother. (1.439)
Mrs. Alving is determined to bury her husband's memory once and for all. There's an assumption of control there that almost feels like hubris.
Quote #6
MRS. ALVING. [Hoarsely.] Ghosts! The couple from the conservatory – risen again! (1.443)
Hearing Regina say just the same words Johanna said so many years ago, Mrs. Alving is momentarily alarmed. But in her industrious way, she'll come into Act 2 full of ideas, searching for a way to solve the problem.