Mi’esha Straughn
Dr. Willis
1 March 2018
English 272
The World against Hedda Gabler
“A more repellent personality would be hard to imagine, and yet Hedda Gabler is one of the eternal fascinators in literature” (Isherwood). Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler is a classic literary work that continues to remain popular in classrooms everywhere. Because Ibsen’s works focused mainly on women and their role in society, “they were both popular and independent because they served women as spectators, actresses and dramatic protagonists who served a further purpose by providing space for the observation and critique of staged femininity” (Barstow). The theme of masculinity and femininity became a staple in Ibsen’s works. Some readers believe
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For example, her true feelings toward Tesman, her true feelings for Lǿvborg, her manipulation of her husband, and her sickening behavior. After reading Hedda Gabler, one immediately notices the way Hedda treats Tesman and his family. She treated Tesman’s aunts with extreme disrespect by insulting them, and not even trying to see Tesman’s terminally ill Aunt Rina. Hedda even laughs at the effort Tesman put into getting her “the house of her dreams”. When asked about if she was happy about finally living in her “dream home”, Hedda responds, “You also believe that myth?” (Ibsen 1505).Without even taking Tesman’s ideas, feelings, and money into account, on a whim, Hedda makes it known what she wants and is less than appreciative when it is given to her. Not only does this show Hedda’s lack of consideration for others, but it also shows her need to maintain her class rank. Because she is the daughter of General Gabler, Hedda has always lived lavishly, and she refuses to live any other way. Her need to maintain this sense of power puts stress on everyone, especially Tesman and Aunt Julie, who made arrangements to get Hedda what she wants. From this, the audience can see how desperately Hedda wants to maintain her social class, no matter what sacrifices have to be made to get it. Another example of when Hedda made it clear that she wanted to maintain a certain social class is when she is …show more content…
"Hedda Is All of Us": Late-Victorian Women at the Matinee." Victorian Studies, vol. 43, no. 3, Spring2001, pp. 387-411. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5080653&site=ehost-live.
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Ibsen, Henrik. Hedda Gabler. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature, by Martin Puchner et al., W.W. Norton & Company, 2014, pp. 1482–1538.
Isherwood, Charles. “Hedda Forever: An Antiheroine for the Ages.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Jan. 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/theater/18ishe.html.
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Hedda Gabler is a text in which a very domineering society drives a woman to her suicidal death. Many argue that Hedda’s death is an act of courage, as rebellion against the rules of the society, however other believe that Hedda’s actions show cowardice, as she is unable to cope with the harsh reality of the her situation. Hedda's singular goal throughout the play has been to prove that she is still in possession of free will. Hedda shows many examples of both courage and cowardice throughout the play, differing to the character she is with.
Although Ibsen has alluded to the fact that he was not a part of the women's movement, his brave portrayal of women in their socially confined positions can earn him the title of 'feminist writer.' In two of Ibsen's most famous works, A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler, the main characters are females who strive to be self-motivated beings. Because of the male-oriented society that dominates their lives, which resembles the world women had to deal with at the time when Ibsen created his works, the confined characters demonstrate their socially imposed roles. "Ibsen's Nora is not just a woman arguing for female liberation; she is much more. She embodies the comedy as well as the tragedy of modern life," insisted Einar Haugen, a doyen of American Scandinavian studies, over twenty years later, after feminism has resurfaced as an international movement (Templeton 111).
This passage from the denouement Henrik Ibsen’s play, Hedda Gabler, before Hedda’s suicide, is an illustration of the vulnerability and defeat of the impetuous and manipulative titular character. Ibsen develops Hedda’s character by uncovering details about the conflicts between Hedda and the other characters, Judge Brack, Mrs Elvsted, and George Tesman which highlight Hedda’s transformation from an individualistic to despairing individual, conveying the theme of freedom and repression in society.
Ibsen created an environment for women to question the society they lived in. Nora and Hedda, two feminists living in a masculine household bereft of happiness, desired to evade their unhappy life at home under the guidance of a man. Eventually, both women escaped from their husband’s grasp, but Hedda resorted to suicide in order to leave. Nora agreed with Lois Wyse by showing her strengths with pride to everybody, while Hedda hid her strengths like a coward by killing herself. Ibsen used numerous literary elements and techniques to enhance his writing and to help characterize the two protagonists.
7. Rekdal, Anne Marie. " The female Jouissance An Analysis of Ibsen's Et dukkehjem. Expanded Academic ASAP. Methodist College , Fayetteville , NC . 30 Octuber 2005
The characters in the play are consistent with the stereotypical ones of the Victorian era. Women were expected to get married and stay at home, being seen as unintelligent and fragile. Hedda Gabler is neither of things, thus emphasizing Henrik Ibsen’s point of female oppression in the Victorian era. Hedda’s character does not present the typical affectionate trait a woman would have towards her husband; The idea that women were supposed to get marriage and have children early during the Victorian era. The male role was expected to be extreme dominance over the woman, and to be the bread winner. Henrik Ibsen’s reflection of the Victorian era in the story, Hedda Gabler emphasizes on the social standards imposed upon women and men. The play questions the power dynamics distributed between the two genders, the concept that a woman’s proper role in her marriage is to tend her husband, while the man’s role is to provide for the family and uphold its reputation. Henrik Ibsen presents two characters who are victims of this drastic social code and the measures of both characters have to take in order to structure their ideals around a strict society. When both characters ideals conflict with the social mores of society, the result is often unsatisfying or tragic. For example, Hedda’s lust for power in the story is a trait not often found in women during the Victorian period. The role of power is reserved for only the men in Victorian society. In order to behold power, Hedda sacrifices her stereotypical image as a woman. Hedda does not display the typical loving wife role, but rather adopts a vicious and manipulating female character trait. George Tesman breaks this stereotype as well, by depending on Hedda to get his professorsh...
One of the social issues dealt with in Ibsen's problem plays is the oppression of women by conventions limiting them to a domestic life. In Hedda Gabler the heroine struggles to satisfy her ambitious and independent intellect within the narrow role society allows her. Unable to be creative in the way she desires, Hedda's passions become destructive both to others and herself.
Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler portrays the societal roles of gender and sex through Hedda as a character trying to break the status quo of gender relations within the Victorian era. The social conditions and principles that Ibsen presents in Hedda Gabler are of crucial importance as they “constitute the molding and tempering forces which dictate the behavior of all the play's characters” with each character part of a “tightly woven social fabric” (Kildahl). Hedda is an example of perverted femininity in a depraved society intent on sacrificing to its own self-interest and the freedom and individual expression of its members. It portrays Nineteenth Century unequal relationship problems between the sexes, with men being the independent factor and women being the dependent factor. Many of the other female characters are represented as “proper ladies” while also demonstrating their own more surreptitious holdings of power through manipulation. Hedda Gabler is all about control and individualism through language and manipulation and through this play Ibsen shows how each gender acquires that or is denied.
Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen is a play about Hedda, a woman living in Christiana, Norway in the 1860’s who manipulates others, but her efforts produce negative results. During this era, there were Victorian values and ethics which were followed by almost all. The main values comprised of women always marrying and, their husbands taking care of them. Women were always accompanied by chaperone and were not allowed to be left alone with an unfamiliar male. It was Bertrand Russell who said “It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly”. This quote brings light to how Hedda acts on a daily basis where she is driven by possessions. In Hedda Gabler the theme of internal pressure is portrayed throughout the play. This can be seen through Hedda’s greed and materialism, her uncaring attitude and her manipulative personality.
Social Issues in Hedda Gabler It has been suggested that Hedda Gabler is a drama about the individual psyche -- a mere character study. It has even been written that Hedda Gabler "presents no social theme" (Shipley 333). On the contrary, I have found social issues and themes abundant in this work. The character of Hedda Gabler centers around society and social issues. Her high social rank is indicated from the beginning, as Miss Tesman says of Hedda, "General Gabler's daughter.
A close friend of George Brandes, Ibsen shared his view that only free individuals could create a free society, and that without truth there could be no genuine freedom. Ibsen believed that the morality of Victorian society was simply a façade and that "this kind of society could not satisfy the natural need of the individual for freedom." This concept of the individual in opposition to society is inherent in both `A Doll's House' and `Hedda Gabler'. In both plays, Ibsen focuses on the individual but, as is typical of realist drama, uses these individuals to "embody contemporary social problems."
After “A Doll’s House” Ibsen wrote another masterpiece, Hedda Gabler. Different from “A Doll House”, it shows none of Ibsen’s reforming zeal like the emancipation of women in “A Doll’s House”. Rather, it is about a study of a complex figure, Hedda. Hedda had a defected sense of morality. She manipulated everyone who was around her, yet we still feel pity for her. It is because she is a tortured figure caught in the midst of the society, a tormented soul who never gets a grasp of her own destiny. At last, she chose death as her solution to escape or rebel against her destiny.
Life is unpredictable and we are the one who make it. It is up to us if we want to have a good or bad life or just chose to end it. Hedda Gabler is a naturalism type of dramatic writing, written by Henrik Ibsen who narrates Hedda Gabler as a scandalous, coward, egotistical and a deceiving character who wants to have freedom to do something and achieve it. However, all the things that she wants to happened always failed. Starting from having an unwanted marriage with George out of sympathy;
Ibsen's dramatic play Hedda Gabler is indeed atypical of most tragedies, and in the traditional sense of Aristotle's definition it would not be considered a tragedy at all considering Hedda does not fall from "good" to "bad". The tragedy in this play is instead the refusal to live life by a protagonist who fails to accept the consequences of her actions and adapt to her circumstances. By attempting to control the fate of everyone around her as well as her own, she ultimately leads herself down a path of imminent self destruction. Although we as readers may not feel immediately sympathetic towards Hedda because of her callous and impulsive behavior, her story remains a tragedy of character nonetheless. Hedda wrongfully assumes that the only
There is no way to be an honest student if you have never engaged in the entertainment of procrastination. Few of the motivated people in this world realize that procrastination isn't simply pointless nonsense. It has a pattern. A process. And it is overlooked by those of another mindset called productivity. If you are a procrastinator you will already know about these concepts and perhaps will want to add some suggestions of your own. For the more productive this mindset will not come naturally so that is why you now can refer to this paper to more effectively engage in the ancient art of the idle: procrastination.