The Demise Of Hedda Gabler By Henrik Ibsen

The Demise of Hedda Gabler In the play Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen, Hedda Gabler has just married Jurgen Tesmen. They are returning from their six-month honeymoon. Hedda comes from an elite and wealthy family due to her Father’s military status as a General. She was raised by her father and was not as feminine like most women during her time. She had lots of money and freedom to do what she desired. Throughout the play Hedda is not satisfied with her new life as a housewife and she becomes really manipulative and deprived of life. Hedda Gabler’s cruelty emerges from deprivation because she is forced into a new lifestyle that she is not accustomed to, throughout the play she refuses to conform to her new role as a housewife, which eventually …show more content…
Hedda feeling like she cannot escape makes her feel terrible to the point she cannot do anything about it. Hedda tells Judge Brack, “You can’t imagine how many times I longed for a third person on that trip. Ach, huddled together alone in a railway compartment. Fortunately, the wedding trip is over no. [Shaking her head] Oh no, it’s a very long trip. It’s nowhere near over. I’ve only come to a little stopover on the line (803).” The “long trip” is a metaphor for her marriage. Hedda knows that there’s no way out of her marriage because divorcing is not an option. The only way to get out of this marriage is death, which is the route that Hedda takes at the end of the play. The feeling of entrapment led her to kill herself because it was the only way …show more content…
Hedda not only refuses to conform to the life of a housewife, but she refuses to give birth to any children. Judge Brack mentions to Hedda about having children, “When you find yourself facing what one calls in elegant language, a profound and solemn calling. A new calling, my dear little Mrs. Hedda. Quiet, you’ll never see anything like that. We’ll talk about in a year’s time, at the very latest. I don’t have any talent for that, Judge. I often think I only have one talent, one talent in the world. And what is that may I ask? Boring the life out of me” Hedda explains to Judge Brack that she doesn’t have the talent or interest to have children and the only talent she has is being bored to death. Women at the time were expected to wed then have children. Because she does not want to have children she said that she is bored to death. This boredom leads to her manipulating people, and thus killing