Hedda Gabler Influence On Society

884 Words2 Pages

Alexandre Dumas once wrote, “If…I can exercise some influence over society; if, instead

of treating effects I can treat causes…” The mind and mental processes can affect and shape

human behavior. This is shown in the novel Hedda Gabler. In this novel, the author, Henrik

Ibsen, portrays Hedda as a manipulative and unhappy woman who is trapped in marriage. Like

Dumas, Henrik Ibsen concerned himself with problems of human behavior and morality in

society. The symbols and images in Hedda Gabler really show his naturalistic depiction of a

woman that is constricted by her society. This really shows how it was taking life away from

individuals. Also, the following articles show how society can really impact someone and how it

may affect him.

First, Hedda liked to manipulate others because she felt as if she didn’t have

independency. She tried to make the people around her feel powerless and trapped, so that she

could release her anger, which would certainly fill the “hole” in her, since she herself felt trapped

in her marriage. She is always living in the past. She always would respond to people very

rudely due to the fact that she didn’t feel independent. General Gabler’s pistols are an important

symbol in this novel. They show how she was brought up in a militaristic way and how she had a

masculine nature. She really wanted to be less feminine. However, she wasn’t able to handle her

own emotions and thought that her life was worthless at that point. She thinks that she would

find more peace in death than in life. So, the pistols literally kill her. All of these examples really

show how society can impact someone.

The article “The Pressures of Media and Society on Body Image” is a great article that

shows...

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..., if one thinks about it, the human mind and the emotional center can really

affect someone’s behavior. However, all of this can easily tie to society. Society put so much

pressure on us and also influences us far beyond we think about. In the novel Hedda Gabler,

Hedda is stuck in a marriage that she doesn’t want to be in. Making it worse is the fact that

society during those times always thought of women as second to men. As we know, this has

significantly changed, as today, women have many of the same occupations and jobs as men do.

However, I believe that there is still room for improvement, as many people can still be sexist,

even today. The articles also show how society can affect a person. More people need to have

the characteristic of being an individual or else they will never be able to be themselves, which

isn’t good for them, or society.

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