Ghosts

Evaluate Pastor Manders as the epitome of religious and moral hypocrisy in the drama Ghosts by Ibsen.

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A local religious figure, Pastor Manders is concerned with his reputation and the morality of his parishioners. He does not approve of the supposedly immoral behavior of Osvald in Paris, nor of Mrs. Alving's progressive reading. He once loved Mrs. Alving, but he prides himself on his ability to turn her away and send her back to her husband. At the time of the play, he is helping her to conduct the business affairs of the orphanage, but he becomes privy to her confessions about how terrible Alving actually was and what the true relationship between Osvald and Regina is. At the end of the play, Engstrand rigs it so that it seems like Manders caused the fire at the orphanage; in order to preserve his reputation (and because he is so gullible), he falls for Engstrand's gesture to take the blame if Manders will support his plan for a seamen's home.

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