Thea Eilert Lovborg

no power over you? Ah, poor me. But seriously now, I really think you should, for your own sake” (814). Hedda then steals his unpublished piece, and burns it, which results in Eilert telling his lover, Thea, a woman whom Hedda abhors, that he himself burnt it rather than admit to his failure. Soon after this contrived breakup, Hedda commits a worse crime and convinces Eilert Lovborg to take his own life, handing him one of her own pistols, telling him, “Here you use it now…in beauty Eilert Lovborg. Promise me that” (827).
Eventually, her ambitious actions lead to her demise, as she searches for new victims to exploit. The degenerate Judge Brack discloses that he has knowledge of her transgressions, and will use it to his advantage. In

light of this information, Erling E Kildahl, head of the Creative Arts Department at Purdue University, observes in his article, “The Social Conditions and Principles of Hedda Gabler”, that, “Hedda…is incapable of such compromise or change. The social matrix by which she was formed prohibits such alternatives-she will break before she bends” (209). According to her nature, Hedda is unable to bear the idea of being possessed by another man so she takes her father’s pistols and kills herself. Even though she idealized freedom, Hedda in the end wasn’t brave enough to completely break social norms and face the consequences.
Though Hedda’s actions were unforgivable, they are understandable, throughout the entirety of the play; her very essence aches for something better and makes her plight more sympathetic. Hedda often makes references to classical literature such as the phrase “vine leaves in his hair” , implying that as she chafes against society’s crushing expectations she is longing for something more beautiful, more meaningful, to lend her miserable existence some worth (Ibsen 817). Toril Moi, the professor of English and Theatre at Duke University, in her essay “Hedda’s Silences: Beauty and Despair in Hedda Gabler” comments on what this means, “For Hedda, to yearn for beauty is to yearn for freedom” (437). The last line of the play “ Good God people simply don’t do such things!” are spoken when Hedda goes of stage and shoots herself (Ibsen 838). Ironically, even her final moment was mandated by what she should or should not do, and it was this suffocating supremacy that ultimately led to her outrageous behavior.
Instead of giving the viewers a different set of principles through Hedda, Ibsen introduces Thea Elvsted, who is a foil to her. She is similar to Hedda in the fact that she is also subjected to the exact social conditions of their time. In her article “The World of Hedda Gabler,” Patricia Meyer Spacks, an editor for the Harvard University Press, connects the two women through Ibsen’s private letters in her statement, “ These statements certainly outline Hedda’s problems, but the phraseology, the they which obviously applies to women in general, hints that Ibsen had a broader application in mind. And there is a sense in which Hedda’s problems are duplicated, by the other women in the play” (156). The first mention of Thea is not who she is as a person but rather a statement about her hair, her looks. Hedda remembers her as “…that woman with provoking hair that everyone made such a fuss of…” (790). In the play Hedda and everyone else is dismissive of her, because of her image, the vision of the perfect Norwegian housewife; they regard her as a, in Hedda’s words, “a pretty little fool”. (789) And for a time it seems that Thea herself is dismissive of her own worth, agreeing with Hedda when she states, in response to being called a noodlehead, “Yes, unfortunately I probably am” (793). Though, outwardly Thea seems to conform to society’s expectations, she somehow succeeds in breaking through every social norm, where Hedda fails miserably. Like Hedda, Thea is sentenced to a distasteful marriage; to a man she is nowhere near fond of.
Unlike Hedda, Thea is productive; instead sitting around fretting she packs up her belongings, leaves her husband and the life she despises, never to look back, while Hedda, despite all her passion, is passive. When Hedda, aghast that Thea would even think to break societal norms, questions about the opinions of others, Thea, who couldn’t care less, simply replies, “They’ll say whatever they want, God knows. But I only did what I had to do” (795). Olsen observes, “Thea has broken the formal tie which society prizes most, the marriage tie, and has given up material security and social respectability in order to search for Lovborg and, if he needs her, to take care of him. Thea challenged the conventions of society in a way which one might have expected the aristocratic Hedda to have done,” (597). Thea has courage; she couldn’t care less what society has to say about a woman with such audacity. What little power she has, Thea uses to act positively, changing the lives of those around her, particularly that of the man she loves, helping him break his alcoholic streak, “rehabilitated him”, assisting him in writing his major works, and even acting to protect him from a potential threat. (795).
Though it is undeniable that Thea’s character revolves around men performing as inspiration for Lovborg and eventually, Tesman: Thea still manages to retain control over her circumstances and pursue happiness.

For example, Thea lives vicariously through the male characters in the play; it should be noted that the infamous manuscript that was tragically burnt was just as much Eilert’s as it was Thea’s. Lovborg himself proclaims that it was something precious that they put together as equals in a conversation with Hedda, “Mine and Thea’s, because that’s what it is” (825). Lovborg’s statement proves that, to Lovborg at least, Thea is more than an object. Thea speaks of how (795). However, he is not the only man she manages to enchant, after Lovborg’s untimely death, Thea and Tesman begin to form a bond through the project of deciphering Lovborg’s scattered notes. Tesman forms an attachment when he immediately requests that Thea assists him “Just think. What if we could sort them out. Perhaps if the two of us helped each other.” (834). This gives her confirmation that not only will she have a good position in life but also a life that she wants and has chosen for herself. Society’s rules about how a woman should behave were meant to limit Thea. Instead, it empowered her and made her strong survivor. While at the end of the play Hedda is defeated and has capitulated to the demands other pressed on her (which are either live as requested, meek and submissive, or simply cease to exist), Thea is still alive and still hoping for a better future that she is perfectly capable of creating for

herself.
The effort that women put forth to shape their own destiny and make a name for themselves was often marred by society’s lowered expectation for them. Either they succumbed to the pressure and conformed or they accepted the fact that in order to be themselves they would have to become outcasts. Hedda and Thea are examples of how one can react to such an ultimatum. Literature, like art, has always been a way for authors to express their concerns about the social issues of their time period; Ibsen is no exception, making Hedda Gabler a clear example of the effect of society’s expectation of women as a whole.