The Character of Hedda Gabler in Ibsen\'S Hedda Gabler

The Character of Hedda Gabler in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler

The first aspect of the play that hits us, the readers, is the title. Before we even read a line of this play we notice the strangeness between the name of the title character and her name in the play. In the play Hedda is Tesman's wife, but the title suggests that she is the independent daughter of the late General Gabler. Thus, Ibsen introduces the reader to this difficult character before the curtain is drawn. We instantly ask the question: why is the title "Hedda Gabler" and not "Hedda Tesman"? Perhaps Ibsen is suggesting Hedda's independence from her present situation, the situation in which she is introduced. We are drawn into speculation over Hedda's past life, the life of Hedda Gabler.

Ibsen's play is rich in random glimpses into Hedda's past. Hedda is the product of upper-class birth. She is, as I mentioned earlier, the daughter of General Gabler, whose portrait hangs over this play. And in case we have looked over the significance of the portrait in the stage directions or have overlooked it as an audience member, Miss Tesman pins our attention to it and the reality of Hedda's upper-class life: "Well, you cant's wonder at that--General Gabler's daughter! Think of the sort of life she was accustomed to in her father's time. Don't you remember how we used to see her riding down the road along with the General? In that long black habit--with feathers in her hat?" (Ibsen 2). Her upper-class birth and her past is contrasted by her choice of a husband who has neither noble blood nor lots of money. We are told that this motherless child of an upper-class general often gave in to fits of cruelty as a child: "At the finishing school the presence of a girl with a head of abundant, wavy flaxen hair irritated her and provoked her to outbursts of cruelty which had their source in equal measure, perhaps, in envy and in a deep-seated temperamental antipathy; for dearth of abundance, physically and temperamentally, is a characteristic of Hedda's nature" (Weigland 246-247).

In the twilight of her youth as a "popular ball-room belle," (Weigland 247) Hedda carelessly chose Jorgen Tesman as her husband and the six month wedding trip was all it took for her to realize her mistake. Weigland goes on to say that Hedda is completely self-centered but she doesn't have the "inner resources" to remain independent and therefore she rashly chose a husband without thinking of the consequences of her choice: "On a shopping tour she would have exercised more judgment in selecting the merest trifle than she did in the acquisition of a husband. . . What Hedda sought was a conventionally presentable husband; his individuality did not interest her in the slightest degree, she never gave it a thought of her own" (Weigland 249-250).

We understand Hedda through her body language, her facial expressions and her relationship to the set. Ibsen uses this symbolic technique to tell us much about Hedda's personality. Northam points this out early in his essay on Hedda Gabler:

We already know quite a lot about Hedda from the set and her personal appearance. An illustrative action expands our knowledge. Hedda greets her aunt coldly, and then sees the open door:

. . . Oh--there, the servant has gone and opened the veranda door, and let in a whole flood of sunshine.

Hedda, it seems, dislikes the direct impact of the bright outer world.. . . We see Hedda's cold dignity stifled by the affectionate welcome given her by the Tesman's, as we see the room swamped with bouquets; we see her curtain off the outer world, but not exclude it completely. (150-151)

In this way Ibsen contrasts Hedda with her new husband and aunt. In the opening moments of the play we see the reactions of the other characters to Hedda. They are almost in awe of the upper-class girl and her marriage to Tesman. We are also told a good deal about her past, which also lends to the incredulity that we feel over this union.

Hedda purposefully shields herself from the outside world by literally curtaining out the sun. We feel that she lacks experience in worldly matters and perhaps it is this lack of experience that leads her to her over