Sometimes a Ghost is Just a Ghost: Agnes and Spectrality in Henrik Ibsen's Brand

The article focuses on the ghost of Agnes in Henrik Ibsen's play Brand (1866). Drawing upon different theoretical articulations of the so-called spectral turn, and most notably on Jacques Derrida's concept of hauntology, the article studies the spectral manifestation of Agnes and how it affects our understanding of Ibsen's play. Avoiding a metaphorical and/or psychological reading of spectral figures, which sees ghosts as projections of the minds of other characters, the article will concentrate instead on a "proper" or "material" ghost and study its spectrality. The article will therefore seek to answer the following research questions: what role does this seemingly secondary figure play in Ibsen's dramatic poem? If one of the characters in Brand is in fact a ghost, what are the consequences for our interpretation of the play? In the course of the analysis, this article will show that these perspectives are especially related to the Christ-like status of the protagonist, Brand, and to Agnes' agency.