Hedda Gabler: The Play"A wife, a muse, a coward, a heretic," reads the Abbey Theater's description of Hedda Gabler. The play, written by Henrik Ibsen, first premiered January 31, 1891. The play premiered 6 years after the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights was created in Norway. This play, along with Insen's work "A Doll's House," were contributing forces of Norway's first wave of feminism. Today, Hedda Gabler has become a classic literary character who is often viewed under the scope of feminism, realism, and symbolism.
|
Hedda Gabler: The Play (cont.)
"Hedda Gabler was published in Copenhagen on December 16, 1890. This was the first of Ibsen's plays to be translated from proof-sheets and published in England and America almost simultaneously with its first appearance in Scandinavia," notes a the introduction of the version of the play obtained by the Gutenberg Archives. The play revolves around the titular Hedda Gabler, who becomes the newlywed Hedda Tesman. Hedda is bored with her life and battles with a lack of agency. She toys with the lives of her husband, George Tesman, Eilert Lovborg, Mrs. Elvsted, and Judge Brack. By ruining the lives of others, Hedda Gabler ultimitely brings on her own demise.
"Hedda Gabler was published in Copenhagen on December 16, 1890. This was the first of Ibsen's plays to be translated from proof-sheets and published in England and America almost simultaneously with its first appearance in Scandinavia," notes a the introduction of the version of the play obtained by the Gutenberg Archives. The play revolves around the titular Hedda Gabler, who becomes the newlywed Hedda Tesman. Hedda is bored with her life and battles with a lack of agency. She toys with the lives of her husband, George Tesman, Eilert Lovborg, Mrs. Elvsted, and Judge Brack. By ruining the lives of others, Hedda Gabler ultimitely brings on her own demise.
Hedda Gabler: The Movie
The following is a 1663 made-for-tv production of "Hedda Gabler." The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, and was directed by Alex Segal.
Hedda Gabler and Feminism
Feroza Khalid writes in her work, "Critical Review of Ibsen’s Female Character Hedda Gabler," "Although Ibsen is a renowned Feminist playwright, yet Hedda Gabler is deprived of the true feminist traits and has a number of negative aspects highlighted in her. My purpose in this research is to highlight Ibsen’s female character, Hedda Gabler as a dominant character ruling over others; having no mother-like traits and emotions which makes her a man-like character rather than mother-like." For Khalid, Hedda Gabler is not a feminist text, because Hedda Gabler is not a feminist character. Khalid argues that Hedda's lack of decorum makes her a poor feminine role model, therefore a poor feminist role model. Her fight is for nothing of sustenance for women as a whole, therefore, her fight is in vain (or perhaps in her own vanity).
|
|
In the article, Ibsen's 'Hedda Gabler' and the Question of Feminist Content in Unamunos "La tia Tula," however, Thomas Franz argues that Ibsen's text is just as feminst as Ibsen himself was, reflecting a type of feminism that was just coming about during his time. "The integration of so much of Ibsen's indisputably feminist text into Unamuno's own demands that readers cast off some of their suppositions about the pervasiveness of Unamuno's antifeminist views. However, Unamuno eventually weakens his feminist perspective by taking from his protagonist some of the vigorous sexuality, the economically mandated compromises, and the guiltless will-to-power that Ibsen had given to Hedda." Franz believes that Hedda is fighting for rights and autonomy that are lost to her due to the patriarchal society she is a slave to.
|
Hedda Gabler and Realism
The play is "rooted in the late nineteenth century's fascination with examining human behavior as a story of cause and effect, analogous to scientific studies of cause and effect." The idea is to focus on a possible set of people and circumstances; it is an attempt to represent people as they are; it’s disturbing and dark. Hedda Gabler turns from tragedy to realism, and starts a new focus in theater on real people and the tragedy of the reality of their lives. |
If Hedda Gabler is anything, it is a quiet, focused look at human nature. While the play has tragic elements, Ibsen seems to be questioning the entire genre of tragedy in his work - is there even such a thing as a tragic hero?
Jens-Morten Hanssen notes realism as:
|