Hedda Gabler Summer Work Post

Hedda Gabler – By Henrik Ibsen

Over the summer holidays, I have read the play Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen.

First impressions

When I first received the play-book, the first thing I did was to read the blurb to get a feel of what the play would about; I noticed that it states that she just arrived home from her ‘extended honeymoon’. From this, I understood that she had just got married, however when I began reading the book, I wondered why the title of the play was ‘Hedda Gabler’ and not ‘Hedda Tesman’. This led me back to looking at the blurb where it states that she is unhappy and she feels confined by her marriage. I wondered if maybe the title was ‘Hedda Gabler’ because she feels as if the only way to get power over men, by being known as her father’s daughter instead of her husband’s wife, is not to commit to changing her name therefore reminding her of her old life before she was married.

Again, before reading the book, I looked for suggestions of what the play would be about. I decided to look at the front cover for clues; the front cover shows a lady wearing old-fashioned clothing looking out of a window. Due to the clothing worn, I could already assume that the book would be set in the early twentieth-centaury when women were not seen to be equal to men. Moreover, the fact that she is looking out of the window suggest she is does not feel as if she has freedom in her home.

Personal Response

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this play. I feel as if it was not only interesting but I also feel as if it educated me in the freedom women felt that they lacked in the time in which the play is set.

Characters

My favourite character in the play was Hedda. This is because I feel as if she really set herself apart from the rest of the characters; she was independent, confident, and she was not afraid to voice her opinion. As women in this time period did not have a lot of freedom, she is not submissive but she is intelligent and unpredictable. To me, she was the most enjoyable character to read about, as it was difficult to predict what she would do next! It is obvious that Hedda is from a higher class than him, which leads me to wonder: Is she unhappy in her marriage due to the class barrier?

I found George Tesman to be another complex character. He appears to be very in love with Hedda so he is very protective of her. However, not once does George say that he “loves” her; this shows that George sees Hedda not as a person but as an object or a trophy. This also supports that women were a lower class to men. On Page 17, the fact he uses ‘thing’ instead of ‘person’ when discussing Hedda when he says ‘She’s the best thing in my life’. When he is talking about the honeymoon to Miss Tesman on Page 14 and 15, he is more focused on academia than the honeymoon as he keeps confusing the two, meaning he sees academia to be more important than Hedda. Moreover, on Page 19 and 20, he is focusing on her physical attributes when he mentions her weight, which further links to objectification.

The Story

The narrative is especially interesting when considering the relationships of power, especially in relation to women. Whilst Hedda initially had power over the men who were interested in her, shown by her fierce independence, she loses this control once she becomes married. Through marriage, she experiences a loss of power, which is significant considering the unequal power relations between men and women during this time period. This loss of power is also shown when Hedda feels she is a slave; this is linked to when Judge Brack tells Hedda that he knows that the gun that Eilert shot himself with belonged to Hedda but he would keep it quiet, meaning that he would have something over her for the rest of her life. The idea of a slave is another example of one person having dominance over another. I think Hedda killing herself is a tragic example of her feeling trapped and trying to regain control (and power) back in her subordinated situation.

The Situations

There are numerous situations that occur in Hedda Gabler.

The most major of the situations is the final scene when Hedda takes her life into her own hands. Referring back to the previous paragraph, I think this was a very powerful scene in the sense that Hedda decided to end her life rather than being trapped in a loveless marriage and also power held over her by Judge Brack.

The Feel of the Play

The general feel of the play seemed rather dark as it felt like the audience was seeing the play from Hedda’s perspective therefore when there were happy occasions or things happening, the audience didn’t feel happy in those moments as they felt almost trapped in Hedda’s mindset therefore seeing things from her joyless life unable to enjoy the happy moments.

Throughout the play, I felt myself feeling sorry for the character of Hedda throughout, as her voice seemed to be unheard. This led me to want to read on further to discover if her voice would be ever heard – Of course she was finally listened to at the end when she finally regained power.