Question

Explain the following statement with reference to the context.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Answer 1

This line refers to the following dialogue:

"For shame! You would never go and set a snare like that for your readers; you are not a spider!"

These words are uttered by Dr. Stockmann‘s daughter, Petra, who angrily criticises Hovstad, the editor of the local newspaper, on discovering that Hovstad is willing to compromise his ideals in order to publish a story just because it will sell more papers. When confronted by Petra, Hovstad defends his actions. The above dialogue is then uttered by Petra in an effort to convince Hovstad not to fool his readers.