Hedda Gabler Study Guide
“Hedda Gabler” is an outstanding play by the greatest Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. This play can be called one of Ibsen’s most extreme and mysterious dramas. The mystery lies in the image of Hedda - a gorgeous, beautiful woman who has destructive energy influencing her surroundings.
The actions took place in 1890. Hedda Gabler is an intelligent young woman, who is able famously to ride and easily handle the heavy revolvers inherited from her father-general. At first glance, she looks like a typical heroine of a romantic work, but her image is not so simple. Outwardly, the life of Hedda is well-formed, but her inner existence is so complicated that it is not clear even to herself. Her soul rushes about in a vague, unconscious thirst for another life, another beauty.
Hedda wants to get involved in politics but she cannot, because women do not have political rights. Hedda wants to continue military service following the example of his father but she cannot, because women cannot serve in the army. Being in complete despair and aversion to this state of affairs, the heroine is trying to influence the course of history somehow, marrying a scientist who gives her great hopes, hoping that with him she will be able to do something great for humanity.
Hedda's jealousy destroys the love of Levborg and Thea. But it cannot be said that she remains the winner since she is unable to take control of Levborg's fate. The character of Hedda clearly shows the desire to dominate on men in love with her. The daughter of a general, she behaves like a man. She tries to lead the life that flows around her, but she suffers a defeat. She feels rejected from everything that surrounds her. Unable to get rid of her own contradictions, unwilling and unable to spare anyone, Hedda chooses death.
Such a bright circle of non-standard heroines and heroes will not be able to leave the reader
apathetic. Hedda Gabler is a woman that itself gives her infernal mystery in the eyes of the reader.
Author: Marian White
New Essays
Hedda Gabler In the beginning when the reader meets Hedda Gabler, one can see how she is quite a high maintenance character by how she complains that the maid has” opened the door. I’m drowning in all this sunlight. " (Ibsen 1469). Exerting her power over her husband, George Tesman, she demands...
In Ibsen’s play “Hedda Gabler,” the title character surrounds her life with three different men, each serving a different purpose. Hedda’s first romantic interest was with Eilert Lovborg. She first met Eilert when he came to visit the General, her father. During these visits...
Hedda Tesman’s motivation in Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler has been subject to much attention in critical scholarship. Many critics have argued what they believe to be a motivation for Hedda’s behaviour; however some seek to deny any motivation actually exists. This essay will...
In Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, the oppression of women in the victorian era is shown through Hedda’s resistance of those societal norms that limit her to a domestic life. It is fitting that the title of the play is Hedda's maiden name, Hedda Gabler, for the play largely draws upon...