Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler

            Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen can most definitely be seen as a modern work of drama, if not because of the setting or the plot, then because of the dynamic characters that help to deliver the themes with simple clarity. Hedda Gabler (preferably Hedda Tesman) is the title character and her qualities match up to the likes of a Hamlet or a Macbeth. Right from the beginning Ibsen write Hedda to be as unlikeable as possible, to get the audience to distain her immediately. This is to counter act the feelings that you will grow to have for Hedda as the reader starts to understand her position and why she might be unhappy. First things are first though, and in the first scene the first impression we get of Hedda is that she’s a control freak who can’t be satisfied. Hedda complains about there not being enough sunlight, she complains that her husband’s (George Tesman) aunt has left her hat on the table and even goes far enough to say it looked like it belonged to the maid. Add in Hedda’s gossiping and her fondness of getting other men besides her husband alone and she must be looking like a pretty sleazy character. Then the reader starts to find out why Hedda might be lashing out: she’s pregnant and in denial about it, she doesn’t actually like her new house, and as a matter of face she doesn’t even want to be married to George in the first place. When these facts come to light it is almost easy to sympathize with Hedda, even though she is still the same cynical woman that we met in the beginning of the play. We just know more about her situation and the context behind her life and that is why she can be seen as a sympathetic character, one that could be easily identified with any woman in our modern era.  I don’t think there is anything I would change from this play to make it more contemporary, mostly because readers need to realize that themes and lessons that stories bring us are universal and heed to no era in time.

            Hedda’s main problem is that she feels as if she has no control over her life and she desperately needs to have control or her sanity starts to slip. One main reason why the maid, Berta, feels as if she can never please Hedda is because Hedda is purposefully changing what she wants Berta to do so that she can have control over their relationship. No matter what Berta does she is going to be wrong because Hedda is being stubborn on purpose. Another event where Hedda realizes that she has no control over her life is when Eilert Lovborg, a friend and former lover of Hedda’s, gets extremely drunk and forgets about her friend Mrs. Elvsted. Hedda was trying to manipulate these two people into getting together and when her plan backfires she goes inward to herself and tries to understand why she isn’t happy with her life. The final straw is when Judge Brack blackmails her into doing his will for keeping fatal information about Hedda quiet. With this last action Hedda decides that there is no way she can fix the mess that is her life and she decides to end it with a “beautiful” death to the head, presumably. Why did Hedda kill herself? She ws heavily depressed throughout most of the play and that is another huge reason why she lashed out multiple times at innocent people. Hedda wanted to be lonely, by herself so that she could have some control, but she is cursed with being the center of attention and that just brings her more out of control.