Throughout Henrik Ibsen’s play, Hedda Gabler, the characters of Miss Tesman and Hedda Gabler are portrayed as foils. Miss Tesman is the embodiment of an ideal woman of the middle class during the Victorian era. On the other hand, Hedda expresses the ideals of a woman of the Victorian upper class. Ibsen’s use of these characters as foils expresses the social divide that classism of the Victorian era brought forth.
Though Miss Tesman is polite and amicable, Hedda’s condescending diction reveals that she looks down on Miss Tesman; she treats her as an inferior because Miss Tesman is born into the middle class while Hedda is forced to marry into it. For example, when she first meets Miss Tesman, Hedda complains about Miss Tesman’s “early...call,” …show more content…
After Tesman discusses his financial difficulty, Miss Tesman reveals that she has gifted Tesman a mortgage through her annuity. Tesman is astounded by his aunt’s sacrifice and Miss Tesman tells him that she is happy to “smooth [his] way for [him],” and she then goes on to call him “dear boy” (1. 14). Tesman’s relationship with Miss Tesman resembles that of a child and a parent, so Miss Tesman’s maternal tendencies are illustrated through her interactions with him, as she fulfils the role of a loving mother in place of his deceased parents. Because she so willingly sacrifices her well-being for Tesman’s happiness, Miss Tesman illustrates her charitable nature. She also uses terms of endearment to refer to Tesman, such as “dear boy,” further expressing maternal attachment to her nephew (1. 14). Miss Tesman “of course” makes the long trip to see Tesman “in spite of [her] having had...proper night’s rest” because it “makes no difference to [her]” (1. 5). The connotation of her diction implies that she naturally places Tesman’s happiness over hers as she sacrificed her good night’s sleep in order to see how Tesman was doing; she conveys that even though she is older and more frail, it is of no consequence to forfeit her well-being in order to see Tesman (1. 5). …show more content…
Women of the high class were not typically motherly as they had servants to look after the children, so Hedda embodies this aspect of Victorian society. Hedda shows her cruel apathy to child-like figures when she is “burning [Lovborg and Mrs. Elvsted’s] child” after giving Lovborg her pistol and lies about having the manuscript (3. 151). Because Hedda takes pleasure in destroying the “child” of Lovborg and Mrs. Elvsted, she expresses that she fosters no motherly aspects to her character, and instead, she is apathetic to the well being of children (3. 151). Women of the upper class during the Victorian era were ideally seen as the cold and calculating managers of the household, managing the household servants and socializing with other societal elites; hence, they were not renowned for their feeling of empathy towards children, as the nursemaid fulfilled that need. Furthermore, when Miss Tesman comments on how Hedda is in a “splendid condition” and how she has “filled out,” Hedda tells Miss Tesman to be quiet and changes the topic of the conversation (1. 20). Miss Tesman’s diction implies that Hedda is pregnant, as pregnancy is typically viewed as a good thing in Hedda’s position, hence the splendor of Hedda’s condition and when women become pregnant, they start to gain weight, hence the “[filling] out” (1. 20). Hedda, on the other hand, does not show any form of motherly
Though Miss Tesman is polite and amicable, Hedda’s condescending diction reveals that she looks down on Miss Tesman; she treats her as an inferior because Miss Tesman is born into the middle class while Hedda is forced to marry into it. For example, when she first meets Miss Tesman, Hedda complains about Miss Tesman’s “early...call,” …show more content…
After Tesman discusses his financial difficulty, Miss Tesman reveals that she has gifted Tesman a mortgage through her annuity. Tesman is astounded by his aunt’s sacrifice and Miss Tesman tells him that she is happy to “smooth [his] way for [him],” and she then goes on to call him “dear boy” (1. 14). Tesman’s relationship with Miss Tesman resembles that of a child and a parent, so Miss Tesman’s maternal tendencies are illustrated through her interactions with him, as she fulfils the role of a loving mother in place of his deceased parents. Because she so willingly sacrifices her well-being for Tesman’s happiness, Miss Tesman illustrates her charitable nature. She also uses terms of endearment to refer to Tesman, such as “dear boy,” further expressing maternal attachment to her nephew (1. 14). Miss Tesman “of course” makes the long trip to see Tesman “in spite of [her] having had...proper night’s rest” because it “makes no difference to [her]” (1. 5). The connotation of her diction implies that she naturally places Tesman’s happiness over hers as she sacrificed her good night’s sleep in order to see how Tesman was doing; she conveys that even though she is older and more frail, it is of no consequence to forfeit her well-being in order to see Tesman (1. 5). …show more content…
Women of the high class were not typically motherly as they had servants to look after the children, so Hedda embodies this aspect of Victorian society. Hedda shows her cruel apathy to child-like figures when she is “burning [Lovborg and Mrs. Elvsted’s] child” after giving Lovborg her pistol and lies about having the manuscript (3. 151). Because Hedda takes pleasure in destroying the “child” of Lovborg and Mrs. Elvsted, she expresses that she fosters no motherly aspects to her character, and instead, she is apathetic to the well being of children (3. 151). Women of the upper class during the Victorian era were ideally seen as the cold and calculating managers of the household, managing the household servants and socializing with other societal elites; hence, they were not renowned for their feeling of empathy towards children, as the nursemaid fulfilled that need. Furthermore, when Miss Tesman comments on how Hedda is in a “splendid condition” and how she has “filled out,” Hedda tells Miss Tesman to be quiet and changes the topic of the conversation (1. 20). Miss Tesman’s diction implies that Hedda is pregnant, as pregnancy is typically viewed as a good thing in Hedda’s position, hence the splendor of Hedda’s condition and when women become pregnant, they start to gain weight, hence the “[filling] out” (1. 20). Hedda, on the other hand, does not show any form of motherly