Memory of Water and Ghosts: Themes and Key Points

• The texts provided discuss the overarching themes and key points of the plays Memory of Water and Ghosts

Memory of Water

• Explores family history, relationships, and their impact on individual identity and the cathartic release from repressed emotions

• Realising individual flaws is a key theme in Memory of Water

  • Mary: exhibits a longing for and guilty feelings related to her mother

    • Vi acts as a projection of Mary's perspective of her mother, revealing Mary's guilt and regret
    • Mary struggles with humility, always seemingly wanting more.

  • Catherine: battles with her sense of self-identity

    • Catherine feels excluded and resents Vi, which is at the root of Catherine's resentment, leading to a fragmented relationship.
    • Catherine seeks attention and love from others due to her strained relationship with her mom

  • Teresa: struggles with uncertainty about her future

    • Teresa compares herself to Mary and yearns for Vi's attention
    • Her job in alternative medicine, though similar to Mary's, is perceived as less refined, leading to an inferiority complex.

• Vi believes family dysfunction is unavoidable across generations

  • Observable traits and behaviors are passed down through generations

• The play features moments of confrontation and realisation

  • Teresa confronts Mike about his relationship with Mary during his marriage

• Discussions about illness reveal characters' desires for attention and care

• Parallels exist between Mary's situation and her deceased mother

  • Only after her mother's death does Mary contemplate their relationship and her own identity

• Memory is portrayed as imperfect

  • Selective and subjective, lacking a clear distinction between the important and trivial

• Winter acts as a symbol

  • Representing separation, reflection, hopelessness, stagnation, and the frozen nature of memories
  • Mary's yearning for the past; memories are static and difficult to access showing emotional reflection

Ghosts

• The play examines the effects of societal pressures on individual desires

• Symbolism of the sun connects to nature and foreshadows a tragic ending

  • When Oswald dies of syphilis the sun embodies freedom, marking the end of the Alving family's cycle of futile history due to immoral actions
  • Oswald suffers due to his father's immoral actions

• Authorial choice: builds tension towards revelations, highlighting societal hypocrisy

• Ghosts symbolise inherited disease and enduring moral decay

• Happiness is secondary to fulfilling societal expectations

• "Duty"*: an expected obligation to Captain Alving

  • Mrs Alving equates “happiness” with a sense of self and self-identity

• Mrs Alving sent Oswald away to protect him from Captain Alving's immoral actions

  • "Poisoned”: Mrs Alving believed immorality could be transmitted through exposure

• Oswald blames his self, inheriting familial immorality, contributing to the dysfunctional cycle

• Family secrets, like Mr Alving's infidelity, cause Oswald to blame himself for his syphilis

• Symbolism of ghosts represents inherited disease

• Family history haunts individuals, hindering their pursuit of happiness and self-fulfilment

• Moral degeneration reveals how social pressures stifle independent judgment