The prospect of this marriage, the prime reason Oswald leaves sunny Paris for Norway, turns out to be his last and only hope for the future. In this matter, Mrs Alving is no fool but, sadly, her life-long commitment to duty and probity prevails. As she remarks to Manders, many a well-bred and blessed marriage constitutes de facto incest, were the truth known.
Mrs Alving loves Oswald, even more than Gertrude Hamlet. This play is a tragedy of King Lear dimensions: Mrs Alving like well-meaning Lear, and Oswald like purest Cordelia.