The idea of “joy of life” refers primarily to an enthusiastic embrace of everything that comes one’s way. This “overpowering” joy characterized Captain Alving, according to his widow—yet while he was alive, she despaired of his libertine pursuit of pleasure at any price. After he passes away, his widow comes to feel guilty for inhibiting and resenting him. Her difficulties in dealing with her husband’s excesses are understandable, however.

Alving’s sexual activities, in particular, had negative consequences: he contracted syphilis, which in turn affected his son, Oswald. In part because of his mother’s protective secrecy, Oswald does not understand his father’s responsibility for causing his illness. Like his father, he sees life as something to be enjoyed and finds it challenging to accept that he is seriously ill. Even Pastor Manders, who is a staunch advocate of doing one’s duty, admires the captain’s vibrant attitude.

Overall, for Henrik Ibsen’s characters, there seems to be no middle ground. They are either so committed to this joyful philosophy that they take no account of others’ feelings, or so duty-bound that they get little or no joy out of life. Mrs. Alving’s changing attitude seems to have been possible only as a theoretical perspective, not something she could have accomplished while dealing with the impact of her husband’s recklessness and infidelities.