Hedda his manuscripts. When Thea took her place
Hedda GablerHedda Gabler is a more modern tragic figure. Like Job, she has gone through pain and suffering. Just as many of the Greek tragic figures and Job confront their Gods, Hedda Gabler confronts the controlling forces in her life.
She needs control and in order for her to gain control over her life she commits suicide and does it beautifully to fulfill her romantic quest. It is implied, though never clearly stated, that Hedda grew up without a female influence. Her father who was a General raised her around guns. She was socialized to be more violent than lady-like. Hedda, as all women in her time, was restricted by society.
She married Tesman because that was expected of her. She had no way of surviving on her own. She had courted Lovborg before meeting Tesman. She called herself a coward because she denied Lovborg and gave in to the influence of society. When she lost Lovborg, she loss purpose, and meaning and that created her boredom. Page 2Her marriage to Tesman was not what she wanted for herself. She wanted much more.
Hedda did not want the restraints put on her by society. She thought she could live through Tesman. To Hedda, he was boring and too caught up in his work she wanted him to join politics because that was what she wanted to do but was forbidden because she was a woman.
He was not rich enough to do so and that destroyed her dream. Hedda would not settle for living homebound. Hedda was Lovborg’s inspiration in one of his manuscripts. When Thea took her place as Lovborg’s inspiration, she felt hurt. Hedda wanted something that Thea now had: happiness. Thea was satisfied with being Lovborg’s secretary and inspiration. Thea had put her whole soul into the manuscript and looked at it as her child.
When Lovborg tells Thea that he has destroyed his life, he also tells her he destroyed the manuscript. Thea looked at it as him killing their child. Hedda makes a comment about Lovborg being heartless for destroying the manuscript when Thea had put her whole soul into it. It is ironic since she is going to be the heartless one that destroys the manuscript and Lovborg’s life. Hedda burns the manuscript.
She wants to destroy all life and this is Lovborg and Thea’s life. This is tragic because Lovborg and Page 3Thea suffers the loss of this “child” they had created. Hedda now feels like she is gaining control over something. She influences Lovborg to commit suicide.
Hedda wants things to be beautiful and romantic and asks him to kill himself beautifully. When Hedda finds out that he is dead, she asks if he shot himself in the temple. Lovborg had shot himself in the bowels, which is the worst place for him to shoot and die beautifully. Society said women were only good for bringing life into the world and raising it properly. Hedda wanted nothing to do with life and so in the view of society, she was a waste. Hedda’s purpose was to bring life into this world.
She denied the idea of being pregnant. She had an inability to create life. She even went as far as to destroy it. By committing suicide, Hedda ended what could have been a life inside her. It does not matter whether or not she was pregnant because she had the potential to create life. It the view of society, it was a waste because Hedda’s purpose was supposed to be creating life and she did not do that. The restrictions society put on Hedda forced her into suicide because she felt trapped.
She was a strong willed woman. Hedda did not want to live a life controlled by society. She was not like Thea, able to settle for being someone’s secretary.
Hedda needed to Page 4be in control of her life. The only way she could be in control was by taking her life. Hedda was also on a romantic quest. Throughout the whole play, she fought for romanticism. She wanted Lovborg to die beautifully but he did not.
To fulfill the romantic quest and to break free from the world she was trapped in; Hedda shot herself in the temple. This is why Hedda Gabler is a tragic figure. She had no other choice but to end her life. She would have had to go on suffering in a world that she was trapped in. It was appropriate that Brack said in the last line in the play “people don’t do such things” because it shows that Hedda was not like everyone else. She was able to rebel against society and take control over her life. Even if her only choice was suicide, she was taking control over it.
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