Besides that, Ibsen also uses the smaller inner room to reflect Hedda’s self-containment and her separateness from the others. This inner room is associated with Hedda as Ibsen uses things that are related to her such as General Gabler’s portrait, pistols and the piano that are placed in it. The stage direction technique where the “piano has been removed” into the inner room suggests to the audience that it does not “fit” in the drawing room which represents the Tesmans’ bourgeois lifestyle. Ibsen’s clever techniques of provoking the audience into thinking that Hedda is a woman that is full of demands and wants, however, maybe under the fancy and sophisticated lifestyle that she portrays, lies an essential self that she possesses, waiting to break free from conforming to society’s expectations and pressures. This conveys to the audience the fact that Hedda possessed a split personality and has to repress her “true-self” through her cold exterior and composed-self as she thinks it is crucial to act “proper” in front of other people.
In a closer scrutiny, Ibsen situates the stage in such a way that it is overwhelmed with “morning light” and “the sun is shining in at the glass door” in act I – perhaps an allegory of truth, life, or possibly, Hedda’s pregnancy which is a typical role the society expects from women in that era. However, the element of light turns out to be an aggravation to Hedda as she objects the light through her expression, “Ugh...” - which suggests annoyance and disgust, followed by an additional comment that “the place is flooded with sunlight”. The fact that she despises the light and instructs her husband to “draw the curtains” perhaps indicates that Hedda has desires not to be clear and transparent to the world and that she wants to keep things hidden and veiled – which applies to the fact that she denies, resents and represses her pregnancy and the prospect of motherhood, meanwhile also refuses to be bound to the expectations of society. Moreover, in the scene where she said to Thea, “what do you think people will say about you, Thea?” indicates her being an immensely repressed individual as she is apprehensive of what the society thinks of her, which then contradicts her goal of breaking free from being compliant to society’s expectations.
In addition to that, the costumes of each character also carry a significant meaning which Ibsen effectively exploits throughout the play. In the beginning of act I, where Tesman and his Aunt Julle are carrying out a regular conversation with each other, Tesman commented that her hat is “fine and fancy” as he turns it around his hand. “I bought it because of Hedda” – she explains, and adds on “so Hedda won’t be ashamed of me, if we should happen to walk together in the street” – referring to Ibsen’s portrayal of Aunt Julle; a bourgeoisie character who is exceedingly impressed with Hedda’s superior social status and tries hard to “keep up” with Hedda’s aristocratic lifestyle and social class, thus, suggesting to the audience that she is indirectly suppressed by Hedda. Ibsen portrays Aunt Julle as a character who is restrained by her middle-class status when she is in the midst of Hedda and is obligated to comply with Hedda’s upper-class status.
Ibsen vividly solidifies the theme of secrecy as he positions Tesman in the back room to the right of another room where Hedda and Brack are carrying out an explicit conversation - saying things such as “she’d put her had down there on the chair. And I pretended I thought it was the maid’s” and “perhaps Auntie Julle brought that smell in with her” – criticising Tesman’s beloved aunt, even Tesman is in audible range. Thus, this emphasizes the secret contents of the conversation that Hedda and Brack have between the both of them. Moreover, Ibsen also pinpoints secrecy in the play by employing the doublè entendrè technique, with words like “train” and “triangle” when Brack gives suggestions to Hedda to “jump out of the ‘railway carriage’ [which actually means her marriage with Tesman], and move around a little” and also making a proposition, “if somebody climbs into the compartment” – indicates Brack his desires to have an affair with Hedda under the cover of a family friend. At first, Hedda exclaims that she never jumps out of the ‘train’ – her emphatic rejection of a sexual relationship, suggests that she feels they should abide by social customs and that she should remain loyal to her husband – again, indicating they are both repressed by the society’s prospects. However, when she accepts Brack’s counter offer of flirtation to join in the couple to form a “complete triangle” – effectively gives the audience a direct indication that the conversation between the both of them is full with sexual innuendos which is completely confidential and private.
Moving on to the stage directions, Ibsen also emphasizes to the audience the theme of secrecy when Brack goes into the Tesman’s home through the garden instead of the front door. His entrance is symbolic as it exhibits his character that possesses a dark personality, perhaps full of mystery as well as dark secrets. The similar incident happens in Act III with the only difference that this time; Brack is moving out from the house “towards the glass door” and leaves “through the garden”, “round the back way” – refers not only to his using the back entrance to the house, but to his being sneaky, secretive and devious. He also thinks that “at times it can be quite stimulating” which implies his scheming personality, as he finds dark secrets and secret affairs amusing.
Ibsen explicitly exposes stresses of modern life by setting up this play with themes such as repression and secrecy to show his audience the inner strains and conflicts that inhibit the individual during the fastidious Victorian society. He also shows the pressures, insured expectations and values of society which suppresses individuality – leaving people such as Hedda as an example, feeling repressed and constrained. In addition to that, Ibsen’s goal of intriguing the play’s storyline is also, at the same time, to enunciate the hunger for freedom from the enclosed social barriers, blemishes and downfall of men and women in Victorian society.
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