Hedda Gabler is the main character in Henrik Ibsen’s play, Hedda Gabler. This play is a drama written in the 1890’s, in Norway. Medea is also the main character of a play, Medea, written by Euripides. This play is a tragedy written in about 430 BC, ancient Greek, Athens. Hedda Gabler and Medea are both manipulative women who interfere with the lives of others; however, Hedda manipulates because of her desperation for freedom whereas Medea manipulates because of her desperation for revenge. Hedda does not care for the feelings of others. She encourages people to do inappropriate things because she can and has the type of power over people. She wants to be something other than the stereotypical woman in their society. Some people cannot help …show more content…
She has to fight for what she desires, like most people. Medea has to fight for what she wants as well but at one point she must fights herself in regards to her own children. Now back to Hedda. George isn’t paying any attention to Hedda and has dedicated his life to recreating the burned manuscript, along with Mrs. Elvsled. George doesn’t want or let Hedda help with the recreation. George has dedicated his life to helping Mrs.Elvsled with the manuscript, which gives the impression that Hedda will be ignored and replaced at some point. What is she to do with herself then? She’s upset and bored and doesn’t know what she is to do with herself. She plays her piano but George does not approve of the song she decided to play. That pushed her over the edge; sick and tired of not being able to do what she wanted. She was done being controlled; therefore, she took her pistol and shot herself in the temple. She killed herself in the most painless and beautiful way. Medea did something similar, in heart. She knew her children were going to be harmed and be forced to suffer for her actions; therefore, she kills them herself. She would rather them experience the fastest, least painful death than the one the government would have in plan for them. She had this control over their lives and hoped they would gain something better in another life after this one. Add quote about killing children. (Euripides 35). Hedda has no control over her life, but she has control over her own death. Killing herself gave her that one true moment of control, this action was pure and all her
Euripedes tugs and pulls at our emotions from every angle throughout The Medea. He compels us to feel sympathy for the characters abused by Medea, yet still feel sympathy for Medea as well. These conflicting feelings build a sense of confusion and anxiety about the unfolding plot. In the beginning, the Nurse reveals the recent background events that have caused Medea so much torment: "She herself helped Jason in every way" (13) and now he "has taken a royal wife to his bed" (18). Right away we are angry with Jason for breaking his wedding vows, and we are building up sympathy for Medea as the Nurse describes her acts of suffering. When we first see Medea, she speaks passionately to the women of Corinth and convinces them to side with her. She evokes their sympathy by drawing further attention to her suffering and speaking in terms that bring them all to common ground. Aegeus becomes Medea’s first victim when he, unknowingly, provides the final building block in her plan for revenge against Jason. We sympathize for Aegeus in his ignorance. Medea now has confidence in her plan, so she reveals it to the women of Corinth. She is going to send her children to Jason’s bride with a poisoned dress that will make her die in agony. We are still compelled to sympathize with Medea at this point because she has justified her reasons for seeking revenge. However, the princess is oblivious to Medea’s plot; she will accept the gift for its beauty then meet an unexpected, agonized death. The image of pain and agony elicits our sympathy as well. Medea presents her most perverse speech when she explains how she will kill her own children then flee Corinth. Alone, these acts provoke pure disgust, but Euripides has developed Medea’s character as a coercive force; we still sympathize with her for her plight, yet we also hate her for her decisions. The women of Corinth try to persuade her away from this morbid choice, but their arguments are ineffective. Euripides employs stichomythia in the exchange between the women and Medea to show Medea breaking down boundaries between self and other, which prevent sympathy (811-819). Euripedes focuses on suffering, ignorance, and rhetoric to leave us torn in our sympathy for every character.
In both works the protagonists act in opposition to the established cultural roles society has dealt them. In ancient Greek society, women were controlled by their father before they were married, and controlled by their spouse once they were married; Medea opposes this convention and ultimately succeeds in overthrowing it. In fact the theme of reversal of gender roles pervades the entire text. This is exemplified when at the end of the play Medea domineeringly states, “Now of...
...racterization all combine to reveal Medea’s true character throughout the play. She is first revealed as an evil, wicked person that only seeks vengeance and revenge in order to get back at Jason for using then leaving her. Throughout the play different characters, especially that of the chorus helps contribute to how the different view of Medea’s character changes and develops. With the indirect/direct characterization of Medea with other characters being used to characterize her, the audience begins to develop an idea as to why she did what she did, and how she justified the mix of emotions she had. Medea is a women passion, so enraged by betrayal so dear to her heart, that she acts based on her passion and rage even when these irrational thoughts controlled her to kill her own brother, her own children, Glauce and her father, king Creon. She followed through.
Medea is often very demanding in getting what it is that she wants; Antigone, will do what she need to do in order to get what she wants. With Antigone she is defies the law of a king to uphold the law of her spiritual belief. In the middle of the night she lives the house and sneaks into a field to bury her dead brother. Medea killed many people, including her own sons and a princess, in order to only spite her unlawful and cheating husband. The two women are like alligators, waiting motionless for the right time to strike. In the case of Medea, swift, violent strikes. And with Antigone, a cool collected precise one. These women are always determined to get what they want.
“Medea,” a play by Euripides, depicts the difficulties that befall women and how their suffering from mistreatment, turned her to commit violent and terrible transgressions. Medea’s display of ceaseless demoralized actions lead to the death of nearly her entire family. The text depicts powerless women that live under the rule of their husbands in a male dominated society. Medea rises against societal norms during this time by her strong belief in her own ideas, she rises to power, and begins to challenge the idea of a strong, heroic character.
As with Medea and Jason, the battle between the two lead to former's madness, leading to the death of the enemies she considered, and, unfortunately, leading as well to the death of her own children. Medea felt betrayed and left behind by her husband Jason, as well as continuously aggravated by Creon despite the fact that it was she who was in a disadvantaged position.
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.
Charlotte Bronte once said, “Women are supposed to be very calm generally, but women feel just as men feel. They need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do. They suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow minded in their more privileged fellow creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags” (Bronte). In the play Medea, Euripides diverged from the traditional role of Greek women through Medea’s characteristics and response to her plight. In delineating the role of women, Medea was unlike any other Greek character. Medea was portrayed as capable and resilient woman who would refuse to back down no matter the obstacles. Nevertheless, women in the Greek culture had very few rights. Housework and bearing children were their main obligations. They were basically no better than slaves. In the ancient Greek society, Medea would not fit well among fellow Greek women. Her role as a woman in the play was downtrodden. However, her determination and courage caused people to fear her. She was a woman who turned her back on her family and killed her own brother in order to help her husband.
...se of Medea) or indirectly (Hedda Gabler) to understand their emotions. Medea uses a lot of bitter and spiteful language, negative vocabulary and dramatic figurative language. Medea prefers to use an eloquent high-class vocabulary to manipulate, lie and play games using other characters to get reactions or persuade them to drink, to tell her secreats, to love her…, do what she wants them to do The language in each play is very effective to show their emotions, their rage and even when they’re being sarcastic or lying, there’s evidence of the emotions their hiding and what they want to achieve: revenge, power, drama, justice. Hedda and Medea are portrayed as complicated characters with many emotions, this deepens them and the audience is able to know what they are feeling and what they are capable of doing because of their emotions through the language they use.
The tragic play Medea is a struggle between reason and violence. Medea is deliberately portrayed as not a ‘normal woman’, but excessive in her passions. Medea is a torment to herself and to others; that is why Euripides shows her blazing her way through life leaving wreckage behind her. Euripides has presented Medea as a figure previously thought of exclusively as a male- hero. Her balance of character is a combination of the outstanding qualities of Achilles and Odysseus.
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.
Medea when she decides it is time for her to kill her children struggles with the idea for a minute, “…do not be a coward, do not think of them, and how you are their mother…Oh I am an unhappy women.”(Pg 40). This is how a traditional Athenian woman would think, but she would be unable to commit to her plans and kill her own children. Medea on the other hand lets her passion and hatred for Jason take over her reasonable and straight thinking self, as she kills her own children while listening to them pray to God for help.
Medea’s illegitimate marriage and the betrayal of Jason drive Medea to extreme revenge. Medea chooses to act with her immortal self and commit inhumane acts of murder rather than rationalize the outcomes of her actions. Medea see’s this option as her only resort as she has been banished and has nowhere to go, “stripped of her place”. To create sympathy for Medea, Euripides plays down Medea’s supernatural powers until the end of the play. Throughout the play Medea represents all characteristics found in individual women put together, including; love, passion, betrayal and revenge. Medea’s portrayal of human flaws creates empathetic emotions from the audience. The audience commiserates with Medea’s human flaws as they recognize them in themselves. Medea plays the major role in this play as she demonstrates many behavioral and psychological patterns unlike any of the other Greek women in the play; this draws the audience’s attention to Medea for sympathy and respect.
... takes matters into her own hands and doesn’t wait for a man to handle things for her. Also, her internal conflict that is visible throughout the entire play signify that she actually thinks for herself, and is strong enough to need to make serious decisions on her own, regardless of her gender. All of this goes back on the traditional Greek society, and helps make Medea into a play that is ahead of its time. With Euripides challenging the notion of misogyny, he creates Medea to show how powerful and dangerous a woman can be in a story, even though it was never heard of in the modern eras.
In using the name Hedda Gabler, despite her marriage to George Tesman, Ibsen has conveyed to the reader the importance of social class. Hedda prefers to identify herself as the daughter of General Gabler, not the wife of George Tesman. Throughout the play she rejects Tesman and his middle class lifestyles, clinging to the honorable past with which her father provided her. This identity as the daughter of the noble General Gabler is strongly implied in the title, Hedda Gabler. In considering the many implications of the social issues as explained above, it can not be denied that the very theme of Hedda Gabler centers on social issues. "