By Payton Gnas

August Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata is strange and confusing.  It feels dreamlike, and the characters act in unpredictable, semi-psychotic ways. However, Stephen C. Bandy argues that the play is not random or meaningless. Instead, it is built on clear biblical references that help explain its structure and themes while offering a new perspective through the eye of Buddhism. When we look at the symbolic connections between the various religions, the play becomes much easier to not so much understand as appreciate for its elusive nature

The first clear reference to Christianity appears in the opening scene. The Student asks the Milkmaid for water at a well and calls her a Samaritan woman. Bandy connects this moment to the story in the Gospel of John, where Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4). In the Bible, Jesus asks for water and then offers “living water,” which provides spiritual life. In Strindberg’s play, the Student also asks for water, but he does not offer salvation. In the final act, the Cook says, “You suck the juices out of us and we out of you. We take the blood and give you back water with coloring. This is colored water.” This line can be interpreted in many ways, but the connection between blood and water gives a dark, morbid twist to the wholesome story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Even though the Milkmaid washes the Student’s eyes, the Cook has already tainted the water. It can also be a symbolic reference to inherited evil and the kind of blood one is born into. This demonstrates one of the play’s central ideas: Strindberg takes biblical stories and transforms them, replacing redemption with hopelessness in the face of evil.

Another clear biblical connection is the character Jacob Hummel. His name matches the biblical patriarch Jacob from Genesis. Bandy shows many similarities between the two. Both Jacobs are connected to deception and have complicated yet similar family problems. Both have troubled marriages. Both are powerful figures in their households. Most importantly, both are physically lame. In Genesis, Jacob becomes lame after wrestling with an angel. In the play, Hummel uses a wheelchair. These details suggest that Hummel represents a dark version of the biblical Jacob. His house becomes a symbol of a fallen and corrupted family.

The Ghost Sonata was written during a mystical period in August Strindberg’s life, when he was questioning religion and spirituality. Strindberg had grown bitter toward Christianity and no longer trusted its teachings. At the same time, he was heavily influenced by the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, whose ideas about unseen spiritual realities shaped Strindberg’s imagination. He was also interested in Buddhist beliefs on detachment. These competing influences created a very interesting outcome, resulting in a play that reflects spiritual uncertainty. The religious symbolism throughout the drama reflects Strindberg’s own crisis of belief.

Strindberg was also influenced by Swedenborg’s interpretation of biblical stories. Swedenborg believed that Jacob’s injury symbolized inherited sin and moral weakness. This idea helps explain the “Hummel family of vampires.” The family members are trapped in guilt, lies, and sin of all kinds. The house itself represents a broken humanity passed down from one generation to the next, as referenced earlier with the Cook: “This is colored water.” The Student can be seen as a Christ-like figure. He arrives with a sense of purpose. He speaks about truth and even talks directly about Christ at the end of the play. However, unlike Christ, he saves no one. Adele dies. The house does not find redemption. Instead of bringing hope, the Student discovers corruption. Strindberg takes the structure of the Christian story but removes its promise of salvation.

The play is structured in three distinct locations: the street, the house, and the hyacinth room. On the street, the air is filled with illusion and hope, as the Student encounters the world with fresh eyes. When the action shifts into the house, that optimism begins to unravel; secrets are exposed, and the household’s increased immorality becomes apparent. Ending the play in the hyacinth room marks the Student’s psychological and spiritual death. It can be theorized that the Student begins to resemble Hummel as his character falls down a path of no return, tainted by the sin of the world Strindberg created for him.

The repeated references to Buddha, however, help provide a different kind of resolution. Buddha represents peace through detachment and release from suffering. Instead of saving the world, Buddhism focuses on freeing the self from desire and pain. In the world of the play, where Christian salvation feels empty or impossible, especially in the Student’s ending monologue, Buddha offers a quieter and gentler escape. By introducing Buddhism, Strindberg suggests that true peace may come not through redemption, but through letting go. As Adele, the Young Lady, lets go and passes on, we are met with the painting The Isle of the Dead by Arnold Böcklin. This painting symbolizes the journey the soul takes to the afterlife. Ultimately, August Strindberg introduces this piece as a deeply symbolic exploration of humanity’s sinful nature and inevitable demise. His interpretation of Buddha and the Bible adds a small layer to this highly complex work of art known as The Ghost Sonata.

Works Cited

Bandy, Stephen C. “STRINDBERG’S BIBLICAL SOURCES FOR ‘THE GHOST SONATA.’” Scandinavian Studies, vol. 40, no. 3, 1968, pp. 200–09. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40916935. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.

The Bible: Authorized King James Version. Edited by Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, Oxford UP, 2008.