The lighting also reflects the two different themes of the play: secrecy and repression. Light represents life, or rather, Hedda’s possible pregnancy; and mothering is a role that Hedda, as a woman, is expected to fulfil. Consequently, when Ibsen directs the stage to be covered with “morning light” and the sun to be “shining in at the glass door”, he is using this dramatic component to suggest that such a duty is restricting Hedda. What’s more, Hedda objects to “[opening] the verandah door” and the “flooded” sunlight. This not only indicates that she is disinterested in fertility and thus her role, but also that she would rather opt to be walled within an enclosed space: she does not want to open herself to the outside world. This perhaps is a result of her desire for secrecy. Hedda refrains from divulging her deepest secret, which is whether or not she is pregnant. This remains undisclosed throughout the whole play.
However, on the contrary, the lighting onstage also reflects how Hedda is being restrained. Hedda chooses to “draw the curtains” over “[shutting] the door”. She unrelentingly taps the window. She still “draws the curtains aside” to “[look] out”. Her movements suggest that she wants to get out of her house. This links back to the idea that she is being bottled up and entrapped in the limited space of her home, the place to be for women at the time.
On this account, Ibsen’s onstage lighting represents two different notions: that Hedda keeps her secrets private, and that Hedda is being penned up in her house, restricted by society’s expectations.
Costumes and props are also used to represent the theme of repression. Ibsen describes Brack to be “tastefully” dressed, meanwhile suggesting that Brack has to have the proper look of a judge – a member of the elite society at the time. His title defines what he is supposed to wear and how he is supposed to look. He is restrained by his social status and has to comply with its dress code. On the other hand, Lovborg wears “black” because he, as a reformed individual, most probably feels as though he should dress appropriately so that society would not form negative judgments against him. He is being suppressed by society’s expectation.
On top of this, Ibsen also uses certain props such as General Gabler’s pistols or flowers to highlight the social pressure. The pistols are a reminder of Hedda’s upbringing and rank, which dominate and influence her actions. The fact that she has been raised and educated by a high-class society makes it obligatory to speak in a polite manner, to “offer her hand” to acquaintances, to wear “tasteful” and exquisite “gowns”. Meanwhile, the flowers symbolize Hedda’s feminine responsibilities, which curtail her personal freedom and limit her social opportunities.
Not only has he taken advantage of stage directions, Ibsen has also formulated powerful dialogue between the characters to play up the conceptions of secrecy and repression in his play. For instance, he has incorporated a fair amount of ellipses in the conversations between Hedda and Brack, meanwhile referring to their unspoken thoughts and feelings. These represent the theme of secrecy, regarding as things are much often left unsaid between these two characters – they rarely blurt out their minds with openness; and the context of their discourse are often ambiguous and unconfirmed. For instance, Hedda unrelentingly hesitates and breaks off from her disclosure, which confesses that “the most unbearable thing of all…. everlastingly having to be together with… with the self-same person…”. Here she leaves her reflection and sentiment half unspoken. The fact that she feels trapped by her marriage with Tesman is only implicitly expressed, but Brack is to understand this almost immediately without having heard the straightforward and crystal clear recount. This only accentuates the confidentiality between the two: they rarely have to spell out what their private affairs, yet they still understand each other perfectly well.
Moreover, the text is also composed of racy and suggestive double entendres. Ibsen constantly plays with words and the meanings of words throughout the play and has embraced a number of undertones in his play. Brack and Hedda speak of a train “journey” which is clearly a symbol of the relationship between Hedda and Tesman. The “journey”, being observed as a trip involving “…sitting there, just two people along in the compartment…!”, distinctly is a connotation of Hedda’s distress and displeasure towards her marriage. Ibsen then mentions Brack’s sexual reference to “[jumping] out”, [moving] around a little”, and stretching one’s legs, which implies Hedda retiring from her marriage to engage in a love affair. The sense of confidentiality is once again accentuated by such implicitness. The use of symbolic double entendres, although explicitly indicating that their manners are risqué and flirtatious, makes the sensation of adultery between Brack and Hedda an innermost and undisclosed matter.
However, to look at this aspect with profundity, Ibsen’s intention is much more complex. The theme of secrecy that he exhibits is actually closely connected to the theme of repression he has earlier established. Hedda refuses to refer to her marriage in an upright manner because she’s afraid society will frown upon her purely economic and egocentric marital intentions: she’s married Tesman for personal benefits, not for love. Such revelation is probably an enormous controversy at the time, regarding as the 19th century society highly valued romance, while Victorian marriage customs esteemed marriage love foundations. At the same time, Brack’s private conspiracy to overthrow Tesman and wreck his marriage has to be subtle because in public he labels them to be bosom friends; and so to conform with social etiquette, Brack has to be subdued and tactful in his every move towards his chum. What’s more, both characters refuse to directly discuss adultery – continually having to refer to it as the “triangle” – because they are not willing to risk anyone finding out. Adultery, by Victorian standards, was most probably immensely scandalous a taboo, as the society at that time esteemed monogamy and fidelity. Consequently, it can be concluded that the urgent sense of secrecy that is formulated in Ibsen’s play - is the evidence of conformance: the characters are constantly plotting against one another, yet they have to keep these schemes subtle because they cannot risk breaking standards, or rather - the customary code of courtesy of their time.
Ibsen’s themes reflect the intensity of the occurrences of the play. The core of “Hedda Gabler” is a blur of severe duplicity, and fraud, while at the same time - oppression, and conformity. The personae, especially our heroine - Hedda, simultaneously get sucked into a chaotic whirlwind where they persistently pull each other’s leg but are pressured to do so secretly due to social restrictions. Ibsen vividly illustrates an explicit conflict between defying customs of conduct (cheating, and deceiving) and conforming to customs of conduct (doing so in complete secret). For this reason, the theme of repression can be regarded as a backdrop of social circumstances for this ‘core’ of events: Ibsen portrays the repressive society to be a structure of conventions that the characters constantly have to both conform and defy. Shaping the play’s analogy in this fashion allows Ibsen to epitomize the complexity of humanity, and the intricacy of society. Meanwhile it also allows him to incorporate true-to-life societal issues in his realist play: each individual is a product of their social circumstances and thus is downright a conformist, yet, underneath the pretentious façade, they still continually strive to break social norms.