What Is The Role Of Boredom In The Characterisation Of

Both characters marry for reasons other than love. Therese marries her cousin Camille because she had given up on hope; she had a feeling of indifference. But she also felt an obligation towards the woman who took her in and raised her. Hedda, on the other hand, “had danced [her]self out” 9 by driving away all her admirers and playing too hard to get. As a 19th century twenty nine year old woman Hedda was considered to be too old to still be not married by society. And so, she marries George Tesman out of convenience, even though he is of a lower class than she is, because she is “much too afraid of scandal” 10. Eilert Lovborg even calls her “a coward at heart” 11. Even though we see Hedda married to Tesman since the beginning of the play, Ibsen chooses to title the play Hedda Gabler using her maiden name, instead of her married name. This is to show that she is not fully accepting the fact that she is married and still seeks her freedom. Also,  Ibsen almost shows Hedda as a person against marriage, she finds that “the most unbearable thing of all” 12 is “to be everlastingly together with-with one and the same person”  13 especially “a specialist” 14 like George Tesman. Because the two characters do not marry out of love they are miserable and bored with their lives.

George tries to involve Hedda in his life so much but she takes no interest in anything he says and always brushes him off. She is portrayed as someone who does not try to adapt to her new life but just gives in to the fact that she is bored. She mentions that point several times: “I’ve been so dreadfully bored” 15, “you can’t imagine how horribly I’m going to bore myself here” 16, “boring myself to death” 17. Camille though does not try to involve his wife in his life. Zola never really shows them interacting, except for when they used to go for their walks, it is as if he too has given up on life. He was mostly interested in his job, the books he read, the Thursday evenings and Laurent.

This boredom has a different effect on both women. Along with being bored, Ibsen shows Hedda as someone with a very low self-esteem so she tries to boost it by using sarcasm and witty comments. She humiliates Aunt Julie by pretending that her hat is the maid’s hat when she had gotten it especially for Hedda not to feel embarrassed by her. She hurts Aunt Julie who thinks so highly of Hedda and is so proud to have her part of her family. Therese is different. She developed a quiet, introversive demeanour. “She developed a habit of speaking in an undertone, walking about the house without making any noise, and sitting silent and motionless on a chair with a vacant look in her eyes” 18. She later confesses to Laurent that this was all a face she used to put on. She told him: “how many nights of rage I spent! Back in my cold room in Vernon, I used to bite my pillow to stifle my shouts, and hit myself and call myself a coward; my blood was on fire and I could almost have torn my body to pieces with rage” 19. The authors let out the characters’ boredom and frustration with life in very contrasting ways, one lets it out and the other keeps it all in.

The two women also resorted to deception and manipulation. Therese’s affair with Laurent was her way of taking revenge deceiving Madame Raquin and Camille after what they did to her by locking her up and stealing her life from her. Laurent also claimed that she manipulated him into killing Camille. Hedda did what I would say is pure evil. Eilert Lovborg was sober, no more an alcoholic and was ready to restart his career with his new manuscript. But Hedda wanted him to fulfill her image of him as god Dionysus with “vine leaves in his hair” 20, so she manipulates him into ruining his life and eventually killing himself. Ironically, Lovborg fails her and does not die a beautiful death but instead dies in a disgusting horrific way.

Both authors give the characters a problem, and that is they lack motivation. Hedda has no motivation in life. She has an empty will, without interests or substantial goals. She also has a lack of imagination and so she has nothing to do but be bored. Ibsen uses her habit of firing her pistols from time to time for no apparent reason to dramatise her frustration with the emptiness of her life. Also, she has a sense of lack of accomplishments and she feels she has not fulfilled her wishes. This causes her to be envious of Mrs. Elvsted who has inspired Lovborg to write his manuscript and has helped him in the process. This is symbolized in Hedda wanting to burn Mrs. Elvsted’s hair, which is much nicer than Hedda’s hair. Hedda feels entrapped by her gender and by her ‘what will others think/say’ mentality. In the setting of the play, Ibsen has the pistols, the piano and the writing desk in the back room. These items are her only energy outlets, and having them in the back room symbolizes that entrapment that she feels. Therese also has no purpose or motivation in life. She has not accomplished anything and does not intend to accomplish anything. Zola shows her as someone who just sat around all day, “she preferred to sit doing nothing, staring into space and letting her mind wander aimlessly” 21. But then Zola introduces her way out, Laurent. . “She had never seen a real man before. Laurent, tall, strong and fresh-faced, filled her with astonishment” 22. He was a real red-blooded man. He had passions – he wants to be a painter. He has emotions – he hates his father. He has desires – he speaks openly of painting naked women and admiring their curves. Therese thought she was in love. And so, her escape from her life of boredom is the affair with Laurent, she finally has hope. Ibsen also gives Hedda a way out, Judge Brack, he is willing to have an affair with her and hints it to her several times. Hedda also flirts with him constantly, whenever they are alone, hinting the possibility of an affair but she is too afraid of scandal so she would never take such a step. She is only leading him on, simply as a form of entertainment.

Unfortunately both women want what they cannot have and do not want what they have. Hedda wants the relationship Mrs. Elvsted has with Lovborg but refuses to have that same relationship with George Tesman. While, Therese wants an affair with Laurent but when they can finally have each other and they do not have Camille in their way, she stops loving Laurent.

And because Zola and Ibsen introduce Therese and Hedda in that way it will have to lead to their tragic ending. Hedda’s only way out of her misery and boredom is to commit suicide and fulfill her own dream of a beautiful death. And Therese’s way out, the affair with Laurent, backfired on her and actually lead to her suicide with her accomplice in murder and betrayal, Laurent.  

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