What upsets Hedda?

[Gladys]

Is there an Ibsen guru out there? Having read several Ibsen plays, Hedda Gabler seems to present more puzzles than most.

I've a few tricky questions on the men in Hedda Gabler's life.

1. Why, early on, did Hedda aim the pistol at Eilert Lovborg? Had he upset her through an affair with Mademoiselle Diana? It was Hedda broke the engagement with Eilert Lovborg when matters were becoming serious. Serious in what sense?

2. Did Hedda care more for Eilert Lovborg or Judge Brack? Was she having an affair with Brack?

3. Did she love or hate Eilert Lovborg at the end? Had she, could she have, loved anyone?

4. Was her motive in destroying Eilert Lovborg merely to test her 'creative' power to fashion something of beauty? Is she an aesthete? After all, Lovborg had no designs on Tesman's professorship and had broken with Mrs Elvsted.

5. Is Hedda narcissistic? Is she self-centred or self-absorbed?

6. Why did Hedda suicide? There are so many candidate explanations: Brack's blackmail, Tesman's defection to Mrs Elvsted, Mrs Elvsted's berth with Miss Tesman, Lovborg flight to Mademoiselle Diana instead of suicide. Had Lovborg made a fool of her a second time?

[JMargelu]

Hedda commits suicide because she realized she had no control. She enjoyed manipulating everyone but in the end her plot for Lovborg went awry, Judge Brack had her in his control, and she was pregnant. Having a child would bear the ultimate burden on because everyone attention will shift from her to the child.

Hedda's behavior is very aggressive. Considering the time and setting, males were more aggressive and women were passive, behavior like Hedda's is unorthodox. Her father was a General and clearly had a great influence in Hedda's life. The pistols she owns are that of her father and she has a portrait of him in her room. Interestingly, her obsession for the pistol is symbolic of her male characteristics, and Freudian psychologists would consider the pistol as a phallic symbol representative of male dominance. The power behind a gun, the destruction it can cause, being capable to end a life, is a very empowering feeling in people. It makes one feel as if they were God, as if they were in control.

I hope this was helpful in some way.

[Gladys]

I hope this was helpful in some way. Thank you, JMargelu. I asked the question almost a year ago and, since then, I've read many Ibsen plays and have come to understood 'Hedda Gabler' better.

In particular, the contrast between Hedda's demise and the triumphal quest of frail Thea with weak Jorgen, her old flame. The happy couple find a true home with his beloved 'mother', Aunt Julia.