Hedda Gabler

A detailed Summary of Hedda Gabler

Ibsen once said, "Find out who you are and become that person," because, "To realize yourself is the highest goal a person can attain." Self realization was Ibsen's super-objective. To find self-realization was the main theme of his play Hedda Gabler. Hedda, Tesman, and Thea, all live their lives through others, therefore never reaching self-realization. Their deficiencies entail cowardice, lack of imagination and validation. They make up for it by manipulating, borrowing and dependency. Searching for themselves in each other.

Hedda lives through others by manipulation. Hedda is a coward, she is afraid of taking charge of her life and making something of herself. Since she feels a lack of control over her life, she controls others. She is unhappy because she has no control and tries to make everyone else unhappy. In the opening scene Aunt Julie comes over and places her hat in the living room, Hedda then purposefully remarks on how rude it was for the maid to leave her hat around the house. Aunt Julie's feelings are hurt deeply, since she bought the hat brand new. Hedda is also very condescending and sarcastic towards Tesman; he is completely unaware of it

Thea is Hedda's opposite because she works for moral improvement but not only for her, for Lovborg and later Tesman. When Lovborg tells her that the manuscript is gone and he has no more use for her, she responds, "Then what will I do with my life?" then later she says, "Oh, I don't know myself what I'll do everything is dark for me now." Without a companion, she feels useless. She has no one to feed off of and she is left feeling meaningless. After Lovborg kills himself, Tesman and Thea go to work on Lovborg unfinished book.

. She plays him like a deck of cards. When he asks her why she burned Lovborg's manuscript; she says she did it for you dear, since you envied it. He believes her not seeing her real motives, then he later exclaims, "Oh, I'm beginning to understand you, Hedda!"

No one seems to know who they are in this play they define themselves through other people. Hedda felt that if she killed herself it would be an act of courage but it only underlines her cowardice. Thea and Tesman are satisfied with working off each other. In the end, when they finish the book together, their work will leave them understanding themselves better.

Hedda's feeling of being out of control also effects how she interacts with the other characters. This is why she is manipulative. She manipulates the people

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 892
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts

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Hedda Gabler

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