Monday, September 12, 2011
Post #1, Hedda Gabler
The scene in which we are introduced to Hedda Gabler, we can already sense that she is annoyed and nearly disgusted with Tesman and his family. It is clear that Hedda does not love Tesman, and resents her marriage for a promised financial security. Hedda seems to fear a life of boredom, and is constantly searching for beauty and excitement--even if she has to orchestrate it herself. Creating such drama is fairly easy for Hedda, being that the men and women in this play are unaware of the malice she secretly possesses. They think very highly of her, confide in her, and the men are all very much so attracted to her. Even though Hedda finds that no man has ever been exciting, bold, or courageous enough for her, she is still inexplicably attracted to Lovburg. Perhaps a newly found opportunity for control over Eilerts fate, adds to her twisted attraction to him. Nearing the end of the play, Hedda has successfully created an amazing scandal. She is completely overjoyed thinking that Eilert has shown the ultimate sign of beauty and courage by killing himself. Upon discussing in secret with Brack, she discovers that his death was not self-inflicted. She also realizes that she no longer has control and shall be eternally in debt to Brack, for he knows that the pistol used was Heddas. The reason she ended her life may have been her curiosity to see first-hand why courage was so elusive, or maybe the realization that her grand scheme was coming to quite a messy, disappointing end. Perhaps she simply wanted to prove that she had courage and the ultimate control of her life.
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I like your thoughts on her suicide meaning "the ultimate control of her life," for I find myself warming up to the idea. I agree that the other characters are unaware of Hedda's emotions; however, the male characters--I find--see the faint glimmers of Hedda Gabler. Ejert seems the closest in understanding Hedda, but his timidness and pining of Thea thwart the hand-to-hand joining of Hedda and him. Brack sees Hedda trapped, and exploits it to seduce (even blackmail) Hedda. Finally, Jorgen knows that Hedda is unhappy and tries his best to make her happy. However, such attempts fail and only make the divide between the couple even greater.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely true that the other characters are unaware of their feelings and how Hedda manipulates them. I think it's interesting to note that earlier in the play when Hedda was talking to Judge Brack that she said she hated scandal and would avoid it when that's all she wants to do and succeeds at it. I also agree that she does this out of boredom because the lifestyle is completely different from what she's used to.
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