Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler is one of the most interesting characters in drama. She can be played in any number of different ways ranging from an idealistic heroine to a manipulative Machiavelle. The title of Ibsen's play uses her maiden name rather than her married name Hedda Tesman. This immediately makes us identify Hedda more closely with her father General Gabler, rather than her seemingly inept and clueless husband Tesman. Hedda is trapped inside her marriage as well as her own body as she is a woman in a very constricting and patriarchal social environment. She doesn't wish to be tethered to Tesman who she no longer respects as a husband. Instead she longs to lure his rival Lovborg back into his old ways of drunkenness and lethargy. What Hedda's motives are in any given situation, remain extremely ambiguous and often times up for interpretation. In fact, the reason this play is so powerful, in my mind, is because of the depth of Hedda's character and the complexity of her circumstances. Her suicide at the plays conclusion remains one of the most haunting scenes in any Ibsen play and perhaps any 19th century drama.