Chapter 1
Act First opens in the spacious garden‑room of Mrs. Helen Alving’s country house overlooking a rainy fjord. Carpenter Jacob Engstrand, limping with a clump of wood in his boot, tries to persuade the housemaid Regina Engstrand to accompany him to town and later to a proposed high‑class sailors’ tavern he hopes to open. Regina rebuffs his advances, demanding he leave and warning him not to involve Pastor Manders. Engstrand exits, promising to return with money for the tavern. Shortly after, Pastor Manders arrives, greeted by Regina, who helps him hang his coat and dry his umbrella. He is invited into the sitting‑room where he meets Mrs. Alving. They discuss the formal deed of gift of the Solvik parcel, the newly constructed schoolrooms, master’s house and chapel that will become “Captain Alving’s Foundation” orphanage. Manders handles the papers, notes the low interest on the orphanage’s bank account, and suggests finding a mortgage. He then raises the question of insuring the orphanage buildings; Alving declines, insisting she has already insured her own estate. Manders argues the need for insurance to avoid scandal; Alving remains firm, citing a recent near‑fire in Engstrand’s workshop caused by his careless use of matches. The conversation shifts to Engstrand’s character; Manders defends him as a repentant workman, while Alving declares she will keep Regina in her house and not send her to Engstrand. Oswald Alving, the widowed son, enters, greeted warmly by his mother and Pastor Manders. He jokes about being the prodigal son and discusses his artistic career, his smoking habit, and his return home for the upcoming memorial ceremony. After a brief exchange about his father’s pipe, the family settles for dinner. During the meal, Pastor Manders begins a moral lecture, accusing Mrs. Alving of abandoning her husband and son, urging her to fulfill her duty, and condemning her past rebellion. Mrs. Alving retorts, stating that Manders knows only rumors and reports about her late husband, Captain Alving, and that he was a dissolute, immoral man. She confesses that Alving had secret affairs with the housemaid, that she was forced to endure his nightly orgies, and that she once protected him in order to shield her son. She reveals that she sent Oswald away as a child to keep him from the corrupt home, and that she has used the orphanage’s funds to erase Alving’s reputation and to prevent her son from inheriting. She also admits she plans to destroy the memorial to her husband after its unveiling, erasing his presence from the house. As she speaks, a sudden clatter and the sound of a bottle being uncorked occur; Mrs. Alving, terrified, cries “Ghosts! The couple from the conservatory—risen again!” and drags Pastor Manders toward the dining‑room, indicating a breakdown in her composure as the chapter ends.