Luciana MachadoDrama An Oppressing Society In the society portrayed by Henrik Ibsen in the play Hedda Gabler, social problems display their important role in the outcome of the text. This is one of the main characteristics of Modern Drama, in which Ibsen is known to be a pioneer. The author shows how social issues affect the main character of the play, Hedda, and how she ends it all with suicide, the most powerful form of her self-destruction Society forces a certain conduct upon people in which many cannot deal. Thea, a docile but ardent woman who went to school with Hedda even though they were never friends, is actually the real courageous character because she faces her troubles instead of running away from them, like Hedda does. The society of nineteenth century idolizes the image of submissive, passive and pure women. Typically, this kind of play contained the same collection of characters-including the overbearing father, the innocent woman in distress, the jealous husband, the loyal friend, the cruel villain who underwent predictable crises involving lost letters, guilty secrets, and mistaken identity, but Ibsen changed this technique. Instead of being superficial types, they are complicated people whose problems the audience can identify with. The reader can learn something about himself through the intrigue and tension onstage. In addition, the way the play is written is very compressed. It takes place in one location (the living room) over a period of three days and the five major characters are closely related, having their lives and roles mirror or contrast with each other's. One character cannot act without affecting each of the other and that is the type of intrigue Ibsen conveys to the
reader. Roles of power are normally given to men in such a society. This play is known for its general appeal, and the strong impact it had in the male dominated society, by showing not only that a woman could break free from her restraints, but that men were actually quite powerless in the face of a strong woman. Hedda and Thea, the two female leads, possess within them, both admirable and detestable features that in fact scare men off. Thea makes them aroused while Hedda repels them. Hedda, the protagonist, exhibits a mixture of masculine and feminine traits due ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
reader. Roles of power are normally given to men in such a society. This play is known for its general appeal, and the strong impact it had in the male dominated society, by showing not only that a woman could break free from her restraints, but that men were actually quite powerless in the face of a strong woman. Hedda and Thea, the two female leads, possess within them, both admirable and detestable features that in fact scare men off. Thea makes them aroused while Hedda repels them. Hedda, the protagonist, exhibits a mixture of masculine and feminine traits due to her unique background under General Gabler and the social traditions forced upon her. Even though her father, General Gabler was a military man of a high rank, Hedda cannot take pleasure from his position for she is a woman. This is probably what triggers her needs for dominance, the allusion to her father. She rejects references to her pregnancy as a reminder of her gender. When Tesman asks "Have you noticed how plump Hedda's grown, and how well she is? How much she's filled out on our travels?" (act 1, pg 132) Hedda replies angrily: "Oh be quiet!". She is reminded not only of her feminine role of mother and nurturer, but also as wife and "appendage" to Tesman. "And to think it was you who carried off Hedda Gabler! The lovely Hedda Gabler!…now that you have got the wife of your heart."(act 1, pg 131) As a woman of the aristocracy, Hedda has always been "ran after", "always had so many admirers" and has been "acquired" by Tesman as wife. Ibsen utilizes an inverse of traditional gender roles within Hedda and George Tesman's marriage to emphasize Hedda's masculine traits. She displays no emotion or affection towards her husband Tesman. This appearance of indifference is a characteristic that is usually common in men, although is completely explicit in the play. Tesman says "My old morning shoes. My slippers look!…I missed them dreadfully. Now you should see them, Hedda." His wife, who is supposed to be completely loving and caring, only replies: "No thanks, it really doesn't interest me”. (act 1, pg 131) In George Tesman, Hedda found both the perfect solution to her situation of the tedious single’s life and the inevitable curse of boredom and annoyance. George, who was brought up by his aunts, has a worn-out conversation constantly ending his sentences with the word “Eh”, something that gives away his weak character. He is completely ignorant to delicacy; failing to notice Aunt Julia's suggestive questions about Hedda's pregnancy. He is dedicated to his studies, having spent his honeymoon researching "marvelous old documents that nobody knew existed". It is with her marriage to George that Hedda's life of monotony and boredom increasingly hurts her personality and livelihood. She declares: "I often think there is only one thing in the world I have turn for… boring myself to death!" (Act 2, pg 147) and becomes obsessed with the task of finding interest and beauty in her life. To find the interest and beauty she desires, Hedda must turn to others. Living as a bourgeois and as a woman in a patriarchal society, she can have no influence on the future of her community and that is probably why she decides to maintain everything under her control. She has no control over society at large, and thus seeks to influence the characters she comes into contact with, in an attempt to imitate her father's socially “highly-thought-of” general. Hedda pretends to have been friends with Thea in order to gain her confidence, Thea finds it strange and says to Hedda during a conversation: "But that's the last thing in the world I wanted to talk about!" Hedda replies: "Not to me, dear? After all, we were at school together." Thea can only say, "Yes, but you were a class above me. How dreadfully afraid of you I was then!" (Act 1, pg 136) Once Hedda learns of Thea's worries about Lovborg's brand new dilemma, she uses it to destroy Thea and Lovborg’s bond. Hedda then manipulates Lovborg by challenging his masculinity, into going to Brack's party and regaining his drunken ways. Hedda's "reward" is to find Lovborg's manuscript, his and Thea's "child", something that was absolutely dear to both. Hedda burns it, thus destroying the child and altogether the relationship, both of which Hedda was jealous. When carrying out these acts, Hedda is constantly afraid of a possible scandal. She worries a great deal about how society will perceive her actions, an additional pressure with which she has to deal. Her fear of public judgment is demonstrated when she questions Thea by saying: "But what do you think people will say of you, Thea?" (Act 1, pg 138) The first few acts reveal Hedda's past as one of weakness because she had always been jealous of Thea, mostly for Thea has the love for life Hedda will never have. That is the reason why Hedda broke off with Lovborg, as he says and she admits, she is "a coward at heart." Hedda is unwilling, or rather afraid, to have a child: "No responsibilities for me!" she tells Judge Brack,, "Courage! If one only had that... then life might perhaps be endurable, after all...." she admits. Hedda's suicide is the last expression of her cowardice, her fear of, rather than joy in, life. It is a result of these pressures that forces Hedda to suicide. In the final act of the play, each one of these pressures grows to new proportions. Lovborg’s death, in which Hedda thought of being truly beautiful, makes her end up feeling disgusted after learning that he did not shoot himself in the temple, but instead, in his loins. She learns from Brack that it wasn’t even suicide, but an accident after all. Her distress in the end seems disproportional to her situation (culpability) because Hedda does not feel guilty for presenting Lovborg with a pistol neither does she redeem herself. The unhappy and catastrophic ending, as an element of tragedy, contribute to Ibsen’s fame as one of the greatest modern writers in history. From the ungraceful death of Lovborg and Tesman’s plan to dedicate his life to the restoration of Lovborg’s book place added stress on Hedda. The event which finally drives Hedda to take her own life, though, is the thought of Brack having power over her. The protagonist does not suffer badly and Ibsen does not make the reader feel that Hedda is vulnerable, and only afraid of facing society. The pistol, a theme that is constantly present in the text, represents a mean used to overcome, persuade, or even the get the better of another. The pistol is a fire weapon very similar to Hedda’s wishes of burning Thea’s beautiful hair (meanwhile, Hedda’s hair is medium brown, not at all abundant). Through Brack’s blackmail involving the pistol and the added gripe of knowing that she would have to spend every evening with that man. Hedda and Brack’s conversation in the final act have gone completely monosyllabic (completely pragmatic) as the tension mounts up and Hedda confesses that she would rather die than to live in the hands of Brack. He ironically says: “People say such things but they don’t do them.” (Act 4, pg 172) Hedda cannot survive with this and ends her life beautifully with a shot to the head.
