Sexism In Hedda Gabler

Great Essays
Hedda Gabler is a work of literature focused on realism. Ibsen depicts in his writing an accurate representation of everyday life at the time period the play was written in. This was an unfortunate time where women were not regarded outside their houses, and were enslaved in gender roles. Hedda, the daughter of General Gabler felt obliged to marry Tesman, and eventually was left feeling depressed, finding life with him to be tedious and dull. Throughout the play, Hedda is repressed socially and sexually. Hedda dreams of a beautiful life that can measure up to a certain standard, but unfortunately never receives it. Her tragedy ends not only with her own suicide, but with her insistence that Ejlert, too, must have a beautiful suicide. I will …show more content…
Hedda Gabler was written in 1980, a time where women were kept in their places, away from economics and politics. A women’s place was at home, and nowhere else. Hedda, the main character of the play becomes the embodiment of this sexist time period. Hedda, all her life had been raised by her father, a privileged man in the Norwegian upper-class, and did not struggle with these orders as much. She had grown up around guns and men her whole life and had never felt mistreated or different. However Hedda learned to use the guns as dangerous and toys. Growing up with men, it is no surprise to see Heddas masculine side. “The room at the Tesmans” – Act Three, “The room at the Tesmans” – Act two, “A spacious, handsome and tastefully appointed reception room” –Act one. Since women at this time were seen to be fragile and below nowhere outside the house, can emphasis on the female oppression in the 19th century and can relate to why Hedda has a desire for a beautiful death. The beauty that she locks makes her crave it. “My intention in giving it this name was to indicate that Hedda as a personality is to be regarded rather as her father’s daughter than her husbands wife” – Henrik Ibsen. Hedda Gabler is called by her father’s name rather than her husbands. Hedda is proud of her true identity as a “Gabler” and actually strongly dislikes her …show more content…
She rejects Loveborg for her reputable husband, Tesman. “Why, of course she is. General Gablers daughter. The way she was used to having things in the Generals time. Do you remember her riding along the road with her father? In that long black habit? And with a feather in her hat?” Act 1 page 168. Hedda has struggled to fit into this society and lives to manipulate and make others miserable. In doing so her aim is to create the life that she wants; to feel and taste power in her blood. After her dreadful marriage to Tesman, Hedda felt like a prisoner. It is interesting to see how the play was all staged at home. Act 1 “ A spacious, handsome, and tastefully appointed reception room, decorated in dark colours.” Act two, “The room at the Tesmans, as in the first Act, except that the piano has been removed and an elegant little writing dest with a book shelf put in its place. Act three, “The room at the Tesmans.” And finally, Act four, “The same room at the Tesmans”. This emphasizes Heddas imprisonment in her home and her lack of freedom which she craves. Naturally, Hedda begins to go insane being stuck at home for so long. She attempts to entertain herself by causing various problems throughout many people in the home. Problems with the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    1.) Chapter 2: "a penalty, which in our days, would refer a degree of mocking infamy and ridicule, might then be interested with almost as strong a dignity as the punishment of death itself" pg 44 This quote shows us how in their time period being shamed was on the same scale of death. This also shows how much they cared of what others had thought of them. They would use this form of punishment.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    People began to see humans as, “animals reacting instinctively to the physical and hereditary forces that work on them,” (383). This deep thinking is reflected in literature through realism because it is not only concerned with an individual, but the way that individual thinks and why. Ibsen’s realism particularly focused on this by exploring moral dilemmas, which the audience sees repeatedly in Hedda Gabler. The audience sees Hedda struggling with her psyche, or rather frustration at her unsatisfactory life. Hedda has to choose with how to deal with her unhappiness, and ultimately deals with it in an unhealthy way by tormenting other people.…

    • 1655 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    An Exercise of Freedom What is more important for a woman: to be a mother or a woman? This question appeared to me after reading A Doll House and Gedda Gabler written by Henrik Ibsen. The name of the main protagonist of the first play was Nora. She was a wife of a banker and their life seemed to get better because of her husband’s promotion.…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hester had to go through the problems of living in a strict Puritan patriarchy society. She proved her peers wrong by living her life like a saint and raising her daughter Pearl to become a successful, bright woman. At every choice Hester made, she stood by them and acted on what she thought what was best instead of being controlled by others. The novel portrays a feminist story because it highlights a woman who lives life against all…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hawethorne impeccably executes the utilization of language to represent Hester Prynne's outlook on not only her own existence, but that of other woman as well through the use of tone and appeal to pathos. Analyzing the passage, Hawethorne's tone, as reflected by Hester, becomes very evident quite quickly allows his views to come across puissantly to the reader; his tone not only engages the audience, but also allows them to ponder about the subject themselves. Broadly speaking, the author's tone is recalcitrant, and this is clearly displayed through Hester's own idea about the existence of women. Take the question,"Was existence worth accepting, even to the happiest among them?", as a perfect example of not accepting society's common rule…

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although she faces many difficulties, she refuses to lose sight of who she is. She maintains her dignity and sustains her strength throughout the course of the novel. Hester does not follow the preconceived ideas on how one should behave in the Puritanical society. By following her sexual desires with Dimmesdale, she goes against the societal norms, and by doing so, goes against the bible. The biblical beliefs of others do not hold Hester back from her desires and physically represent the significance of her individuality.…

    • 1663 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hedda is a very controlling and complex character in this book. She controls her new husband into buying this grand house that she doesn’t really want. Furthermore, she tends controls Judge Brack with her sexual charisma that in no way leads to anything physical. Hedda also controls Eilert Lovborg her former affair mate which she obviously never truly cared about him just the beauty of his death. During the middle of the play we realize Heddas sanity.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Mark Van Doren’s essay he argues that Hester Prynne is not the victim of her puritan town, but the hero of the story. He emphasizes her heroic attributes and compares her to heroes of previous novels. Van Doren’s use of allusion, reverent tone, and hyperbole create a feeling of praise and puts emphasis on Hester’s heroic properties. Van Doren uses allusion to compare Hester to the heroes of the author Homer. Van Doren states that “[Hawthorne] is the Homer of that New England, as Hester is its most heroic creature.”…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Hester Prynne committed a crime of adultery against her husband who was not in the same location as her at the time when the crime was committed. Hester wants to stop the torture put on her by her husband and the pastor of the town. She wants to make a significant change in her society’s ways. Belisa Crepusculario was born into a poor family that could not care for her. She left her home to discover something better than what her family could give.…

    • 152 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Similarly the theme to Hedda Gabler is the reality that life manipulates you more than you can manipulate life. Judge Brack illustrates this theme because he is one of the only people that Hedda cannot manipulate. Both of these characters became so oppressive because of their own personal motives that drove them to act the way they do. Judge Brack can be viewed as the male counterpart to Hedda, while at the same time be viewed as her greatest enemy. Throughout the play Hedda attempts to manipulate the things, and people, in her life, however Judge Brack is the one person who Hedda can’t seem to mold.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen portrays the dangers of conforming to society’s expectations of masculinity through the good fortune and consequence met by his male characters. George Tesman and Eilert Lovborg are two of the main male characters in the play, and both have significant relationships with the title character. Their characterizations, as well as their fates, vary greatly. Neither one of the men fits perfectly into gender stereotypes, and their failings in the eyes of society are what make them analytically intriguing.…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Life is unpredictable and we are responsible for having a good or bad life, so ending our life instead of fixing it is not the right way of solving our problem. Hedda Gabler is a naturalism type of dramatic writing, written by Henrik Ibsen who narrates Hedda Gabler as a scandalous, independent, coward, egotistical and a deceiving character who wants who experienced so many problems in life. Starting from having an unwanted marriage with George and pregnancy; disappointments of controlling Lovborg’s life; black mail from judge Brack about her scandal, after convincing Lovborg to commit suicide; Hedda’s insecurity to Mrs. Elvsted; and the feeling of no purpose in life. In Hedda Gabler, Hedda is a scandalous, egotistic, and a coward character…

    • 1754 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    It is a necessity in Hedda Gabler’s life to regulate the lives of the people surrounding her; she thrives from…

    • 1284 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    When people think about parenthood now, people usually consider it as a responsibility for both parents to raise children. However, back in nineteenth century, society did not endorse that. Society believed that women had to take care of children while males could just provide money instead of actually raising their children. Since society considered the motherhood function was such an important duty for women, Ibsen, one of the promoters of the woman revolution, expresses his ideas of motherhood function in his literature works. His two plays, A Doll House and Hedda Gabler shows his point of view of motherhood function.…

    • 1387 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays