Comment on Ibsen’s presentation of Women in Hedda Gabler.
Hedda Gabler, a play by the highly acclaimed realist playwright Henrik Ibsen, is set in 1890 in the household of The Tesman’s.
The play sheds light on the principles and social conditions of the 1890’s (which is during the Victorian Era) and does so through the feature of three main women who are connected but come from different backgrounds and personalities. These women are Hedda Gabler, her Aunt Julle and her character foil, Thea Elvsted. Ibsen presents each of these women differently and it is clearly noted that Hedda is portrayed, to some extent, as a New Woman from a high social standing who shows disregard toward the limits that society imposes on her, yet is troubled at the thought of rebelling against social expectations and opinions. And her Aunt Julle is represented to be a middle class woman who conforms to society’s expectations and to some extent imposes them on Hedda, and Thea Elvsted is a character foil for Hedda, a mirror opposite from a lower social standing who brings out Hedda’s complex flaws and is to some extent a New Woman too.
In the first instance, it is clearly depicted to us that Hedda is a General’s daughter and hence, we are led to believe that she comes from a wealthy and elite background. Also, she is dressed elegantly, “in a tasteful, somewhat loose-fitting gown” and her figure is “aristocratic and elegant”. We also take note of the fact that she is married to a man whose family she has no respect for; perhaps because they are from a lower class, as she mistakes her husband’s aunt, Aunt Julle’s hat to be the maids and later reveals to the audience that she did so intentionally to show her aversion towards the family due to their lack of social standing. Hence, it is clear to us in the first instance that Hedda, with her “steel grey and cold” eyes, is a very detestable, unaffectionate and dispassionate person. Her unaffectionate persona is shed light on as she “offers her hand” to her husband’s Aunt, and she refuses to greet her appropriately, also we are apprised of her unaffectionate persona as she takes no interest in her husband’s love for a pair of slippers that are of sentimental value to him, “thank you, they wouldn’t appeal to me.”
She also seems to be an outcast in her own home, as she stands at the doorway to make her entrance until her husband notices her, therefore, we see that she is on the threshold of the Tesman’s familiarity, and is reluctant to enter freely.
Hence, from the above mentioned facets of Hedda’s personality, we see that she rebels in vain hope that she can express her unexpressed feelings through these hostile statements and actions and Ibsen portrays Hedda to be so, merely because he is shedding light on Class Warfare of that time.
In addition to that, Ibsen represents Hedda to have a violent, demonic and jealous facet to her personality. This is portrayed through several instances, one being her openly stating her desire to occupy herself with her “pistols” and using it to playfully threaten Mr.Brack, not only does she threaten, but gives it to Eijlert Lovborg in hope for him to end his life “beautifully” where as she cannot differentiate between death and beauty, and upon hearing about his death she doesn’t not even feign concern as she ponders over why he didn’t shoot himself in the temple out of courage. Not only did she hand him the pistol to end his life, but she has, prior to this, “threatened to shoot him”. And her manipulative, demonic aspect shines through as Thea recites the story of Eijlert’s unknown ex lover threatening to shoot him, and Hedda is “cold and collected” and immediately interrupts her, “Oh Rubbish! People don’t’ have such things here” and this indicates that not only does she lie about her being in possession of pistols, but interrupts her in addition to lying in order to shadow that perhaps she was previously involved with Eijlert and wishes to keep it a secret.
Her desire to utilize her pistols is her way to experience power and freedom, and her machinations expose the audience to her demonic and jealous nature. She offers to burn Eijlert’s and Thea’s manuscript in order to find some way to increase the chances of brighter future prospects for her husband, since he cannot make sufficient headway on his own and this doesn’t benefit her, so that leads us to believe that she is exceedingly selfish and in need of power. When she does burn the manuscript out of spite and jealousy, she exclaims “Now I’m burning your child Thea! With your curly hair! I’m burning…I’m burning your child.” The aforementioned phrase depicts a hint of violence within her, and her jealousy is depicted when she conceals an “involuntary sneer” when Thea talks of her constructive involvement in Eijlert’s life.
Not only is Hedda mildly demonic, but she is extremely manipulative, she has a pretentious friendship with Thea and forces her to into telling her every detail of her relationship with Lovborg, and she has a pretentious relationship with Lovborg, to whom she hands the weapons that he’ll use to end and ruin his life, Alcohol and a Pistol. Hedda has no concern for Thea, as she instigates Lovborg to go the party, and instigates an argument between the two, then she “passionately grips Thea in her arms” and says “I think I’ll burn your hair off after all.” Perhaps her violence and need to be in power comes from her need to find an expressive outlet and a means of being free, she longs for freedom and has all this while been exposed to being a Generals Daughter, and now has no social life nor no social standing and is limited by her position as a woman. Hence, we can see that, even though Ibsen wishes to portray Hedda as a New Woman to some extent, a woman who WISHES to push against the limits of society, she still takes no initiative steps towards her freedom because she simply CANNOT. She is depicted to be barren and sterile as she has no keen desire to expand her knowledge horizons, unlike Thea, and (this makes Thea more of a character foil of Hedda’s) she shows no interest in the manuscript. Yet she still defies a prototypical Victorian era woman who conforms to society, because she has a “lust for life” as Eijlert states. Yet she has a dread for scandals, and that is why she takes no initiative steps, and her involvement in Eijlert’s death is a scandal, and this leads to her fall in the end, her death.
Hedda is portrayed to be so because Ibsen wishes to shed light on the societal views of that point in history, Hedda’s traits and her boredom allow her to carry out her own devilish machinations because that is rebellion against the restrictions of society and because she lacks purpose and inspiration in her life, she is helpless. Yet, she wishes to be in power. She is seemingly a new woman, who scorns society and cannot change it. She is a victim of societal pressures, for example, she has no maternal instincts and feels no motherly inclination, yet she is perpetually reminded (and dreads) her pregnancy, “it’s already September…” Yet Mr.Brack insinuates that she MUST have a child by another year, “we’ll talk about it in a year’s time, at the latest.” She is also expected to have an orderly domestic and married life, yet she feels no inclination to shower her husband with love, for she feels no passion for him, and she also has interests in unfeminine domestic life (such as hobbies regarding her pistols) and this is looked down upon at that point in time. Her lack of inspiration allows for the sadistic in her to appear, and for her to gain importance and power. However, her own machinations have their consequence and soon Mr.Brack has power over her, “Dearest Hedda, believe me, I shall not abuse the position” yet the very idea that she is subject to his whims and fancies, “Brack stands over her, leaning against the armchair”, makes her despise him for taking her freedom away because she loves it too much, and hence, this results in her death. Mostly because she has nothing left, even her husband has moved on to Thea. Thea is perhaps the only one who in the end receives it all. She is a character foil to Hedda, someone who is a new woman to some extent, but doesn’t desire for the kind of freedom Hedda does, she is independent, has a keen interest in expanding her educational horizons, and yet is dependent on a man and much more subtle than Hedda. She conforms to society and to some extent, much like Hedda, is concerned about society’s thoughts and opinions. However, even though she seems impressionable and docile, and is a character foil to Hedda, the end result is that she receives everything and is thereafter rendered, conniving and influential.
Therefore, we can conclude that the women present in Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler”, are made to represent in some form, society and its pressures and are indeed, different to each other yet share some similarities.
