Ibsen: Hedda Gabler (Volume E)

Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Skien, Norway university, Christiania “well-made play” realism

Realism Norwegian middle class bourgeois corruption ordinary language unveiling hidden motives emotional and moral truth hyper-realism

“ HEDDA : I was just looking at my old piano. It really doesn’t go with these other things. TESMAN : As soon as my salary starts coming in, we’ll see about trading it in for a new one. HEDDA : Oh no, don’t trade it in. I could never let it go. We’ll leave it in the back room instead. And then we’ll get a new one to put in here…” (p. 789). Furniture

HEDDA : “So I’m in your power now, Judge. You have a hold over me from now on.” BRACK : “Dearest Hedda—Believe me—I won’t abuse my position.” HEDDA : “But in your power. Totally subject to your demands—And your will. Not free. Not free at all. No, that’s one thought I just can’t stand. Never!” (837). Domestic Life

HEDDA : “But it so happens that George Tesman and I found our common ground in this passion for Prime Minister Falk’s villa. And after that it all followed. The engagement, the marriage, the honeymoon and everything else. Yes, yes Judge, I almost said: you make your bed, you have to lie in it.” BRACK : “That’s priceless. Essentially what you’re telling me is you didn’t care about any of this here. HEDDA : “God knows I didn’t” (p. 805). Hedda

HEDDA : “But God have mercy—People just don’t act that way!” (p. 838). Lesson

Influences

How is Hedda Gabler similar to other female protagonists of Realist works? Think about characters like Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina—do these women represent a feminist crisis taking place in the nineteenth century, or do they represent universal problems that all humans face when bored of domestic, middle-class life? Discussion Questions

What role do material objects play in this drama, and how does their importance relate to your relationship with your own possessions? Discussion Questions

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