Analysis of Hedda Gabler Play Written by Henrik Ibsens - Essay Example

For Hedda, this marriage to Tesman is a sham and she simply cannot bear to live with him. Coming from a wealthy family from a higher social class, she has more refined tastes, a better sense of the world, and a completely different way of thinking. She doesn't submit to passion like Tesman does and is usually disgusted by exaggerated expressions of joy Tesman. Not only does she suffer from unwanted love, but she is also clearly bored with her existence.

As a woman of a wealthy well-known family, she had been accustomed to a different kind of life- one that Tesman cannot give her. Hedda is bored out of her wits and this results in her developing dangerous habits. One such habit is playing with pistols as we see in one scene where she equates fiddling with pistols with complete boredom. When Judge Brack tells her not to play with pistols, she responds with a sheer sense of exasperation: "Then what in heaven's name would you have me do with myself" and when he inquires if she had had any visitors, she retorts, "Not one.

I suppose all our circle is still out of town." (p. 284) This boredom leads to complete loss of mind as the woman starts contemplating suicide and finally kills herself. Married to Hedda was a professorship aspirant, Jurgen Tesman. Tesman is a coward. He wants to please Hedda and is dying to attain professorship but he fails to understand his inner cowardice. He feels inferior to Hedda and his constant efforts to please her have only backfired. She is simply disgusted by him and his attempts at pleasing her have failed because they indicate weakness.

Tesman is also not as intelligent or learned as he would have believed. Eliert is his main rival and when it seems that he might just get a professorship, Tesman steals his manuscript. However, Tesman is not a bad person. He wants to abide by the law and would love to return the manuscript but in a moment of weakness, he had stolen it. This theft leads to Eliert's death and sets Tesman on the path to a brighter career. Tesman knew that with Eliert present, there was no real chance of succeeding since Eliert was a young man of considerable intelligence.

He is the main rival of Tesman. He loves his work to death. It is the loss of his work that results in the tragic event of his untimely death. Eliert respects Mrs. Elvsted who had tried to help him with his work and to avoid hurting her, he tells her nothing about the theft and instead says he had torn it. Hedda encourages him to kill himself because she has become neurotic and death is a fantasy for her. Eliert takes the pistol but doesn't kill himself. His death is an accident and the lack of beauty of his death causes Hedda to kill herself.

The person who had helped Eliert throughout his career was Mrs. Elvsted. Thea Elvsted is a lonely woman suffering from a loveless marriage. She cannot bear to stay neglected and thus moves from one man to another in search of affection. But she is a weak and timid person who is quite the opposite of Hedda. Hedda is manipulative while Thea is selfless. She seeks to gain the affection of men in her life but doesn't try to manipulate them. Hedda is however not the only manipulative character in the story.

Judge Brack is as much an opportunist as Hedda. He is happy to take advantage of people and their situations. He is a good match for Hedda's manipulative tactics.