Hedda Gabler Research Paper

Henrik Ibsen wrote about the feminist movement even though he was not a feminist himself. Throughout his works of literature, he preferred to describe the issues women had within society. In Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen portrays a scenario of a woman trying to defy the gender roles in her society by describing how the protagonist, Hedda Gabler, attempts to manipulate the men in her life, through false love and alcohol, in order to maintain control in a society favorable to men. Hedda Gabler takes place in Oslo, Norway during the 1890s. The setting is integrated in the Victorian society, a type of society that had a strict code of morals and ethics that focused mainly on gender roles and how people should act toward their families. Ibsen wrote

While many other women were destined to become housewives or maids, Hedda’s father, a general, gave her a different set of beliefs. These beliefs gave Hedda a sense of power that allowed her to have no tolerance toward someone attempting to control her. General Gabbler basically raised to act like a man. Having inherited the traits of the man, she finds it unacceptable that she has to be submissive like the other women in society, lacking compassion and berating people weaker than her. Hedda’s cold nature and hatred for the weak make her turn to manipulation as a way to keep herself entertained. She specifically aims her hatred and evil nature toward two main victims, George Tesman and Eilert Lovberg, classifying her as a “femme fatale”, a woman who has both beauty and intelligence and is able to use these traits to manipulate men that get involved with her, ultimately leading to their demise. By being a “femme fatale”, she turns her beauty and intelligence into a dangerous weapon for men, thus negating the hatred she has of being a woman with no power in her society. She used her father’s teachings to create the sense of power that make her a “femme fatale.” This sense of power inspires her to enact vengeance on the men that have held her back in her life, attacking the Victorian standards by becoming a woman with power, thus switching up the gender role standards forced upon