Analyze of Hedda Gabler's drama

The title : Hedda Gabler

The author : Henrik Ibsen

Theme :

The theme of the play can be described as a conflict between society and the individual. Hedda wants to satisfy her "crowing for life" yet she is held back by stultifying, empty social norms. She highlights the universal problem of women in a male-dominated society where women must either marry and be good wives and mothers and bear children or they slip into spinster-hood like Aunt Julia who looks after Tesman, her invalid sister Rina and after her death, other invalids. Mrs. Elvsted marries an unloving elderly man, as her only option was to remain penniless and fend for herself. However, Hedda is not as able as Mrs. Elvsted to break the social conventions and risk ostracism. It is for this reason she heads off Lövborg with her pistols and marries Tesman who represents respectability. But this very respectability drives her to boredom, denies her maternal instincts, and destroys the manuscript conceived by Mrs. Elvsted and Lövborg. Since Hedda cannot break free from social conventions like Mrs. Elvsted nor escape Brack's inexorable hold on her because she fears scandal. She must commit a valiant suicide, as it is the only course open to free her from the restriction of society

Setting :

1.      Place

The scene of the action is in Dr. Tesman's villa in the West End of Christiania (Oslo) in Norway. The entire action of Hedda Gabler takes place within a single setting, consisting of a drawing room and an inner room that can be seen through a doorway at the back.

Plot

1.      Beginning

Initial Situation

Hedda is miserable, and probably pregnant. George is going to get a post as a professor. Aunt Rina is sick and will likely die soon.

2.      Climax

Hedda burns Eilert's manuscript/brain-child.

3.      Resolution

Hedda shoots herself in the temple.

Characterization

Major character : Hedda Gabler

Minor character :

George Tesman -

Miss Juliana Tesman -

Mrs. Thea Elvsted –

Judge Brack -

Eilert Lövborg 

Point of view : the author as a third person

Moral lesson : we must to try to fight for the rights

Hedda Gabler Summary

How It All Goes Down

Meet Hedda Tesman. She’s kicking around in Norway in the 1890s, so she’s very repressed, both socially and sexually. She’s the daughter of the now-deceased General Gabler, which means she grew up rich and privileged. Now she’s married to George Tesman, a would-be professor and a bit of an academic bore. Hedda has just returned from her six-month honeymoon with George and is settling into married life in the house he has bought specifically to please her, though it meant stretching beyond his means financially. On top of the boredom and repression, Hedda is in all likelihood pregnant, though she won’t admit it despite several hints from George’s Aunt Julie, a kind older woman who takes care of her invalid sister Rina.

Conflict enters the scene when Mrs. Elvsted visits to the Tesmans on a trip to the city from her country home. She’s there looking out for a guy named Eilert Løvborg, a recovering alcoholic who tutors her children. Hedda, the master of manipulation, soon gets Mrs. Elvsted alone and coerces her into admitting the truth: she and Eilert are somehow involved, and she wants to leave her husband for him. Eilert has just published a book – he’s in the same field of history as Mr. Tesman – and Mrs. Elvsted has followed him to the city to make sure he doesn’t fall back on his old drinking ways. She begs the Tesmans to look out for him, since George is his colleague and friend.

Shortly after, Judge Brack, the big man around town, comes by and flirts with Hedda. It’s clear he’s interested in her. Everyone keeps asking Hedda the same question: why has she, the best catch in town, married a bore like George? Hedda admits that 1) she had to marry someone and 2) she thought George, through his scholarly pursuits, would be famous some day.

Eilert eventually stops by the Tesmans and we discover that Hedda has a history with him; they used to be intellectual buddies the way that Eilert now is with Mrs. Elvsted. When Hedda broke off their friendship/budding romance, she did so to avoid the scandal of hanging out with a questionable, renegade alcoholic like Eilert. She also threatened to shoot him with one of her father’s pistols. Now that he’s with Mrs. Elvsted, Hedda decides to entertain herself by causing some trouble. She tells Eilert that Mrs. Elvsted was afraid he would drink again – in other words, she doesn’t trust him. This angers Eilert, who promptly starts drinking again. He goes out to a party with the Judge and Hedda’s husband George, but not before revealing a tantalizing and plot-thickening tidbit: he’s written another book, this one using information from the past to predict the future. He’s written it with the help of his new muse, Mrs. Elvsted. He has the only copy, a hand-written manuscript, with him now and will read some aloud tonight.

Mrs. Elvsted stays with Hedda, worried sick that Eilert will drink himself silly at the party. Of course, Eilert drinks himself silly at the party. He never returns that night. While Mrs. Elvsted is sleeping, George comes back early the next morning, tells Hedda about the drunken debauchery, and shows her something: Eilert’s manuscript. It seems that Eilert dropped it while drunk and George recovered it, eager to keep it safe so he could return it to his friend once sober. When a letter comes regarding Aunt Rina’s fading health, George rushes out, leaving behind the manuscript.

Later that morning, Eilert comes running in. Mrs. Elvsted wakes up in time for him to break up with her, telling her that he tore up the manuscript and doesn’t want to see her any more. Mrs. Elvsted declares that he has destroyed their child (meaning the book) and leaves. Only then does Eilert admit, to Hedda, that he lost the manuscript. Hedda, being Hedda, says nothing about the recovered manuscript and instead gives him a pistol with which to shoot himself. She’s eager for Eilert to have a beautiful, poetic death – she wants him to shoot himself in the temple.

Finally alone again, Hedda burns the manuscript to ashes. When she confesses this to George later, he is overjoyed that his wife loves him enough to destroy the work of his professional rival. Mrs. Elvsted visits again the next morning to find out what’s going on with Eilert, and Judge Brack comes by to tell everyone that Eilert is dead by suicide. Mrs. Elvsted and George, feeling quite horrible, decide to re-write the manuscript using Mrs. Elvsted’s notes. While they start work, the Judge takes Hedda aside and tells her that Eilert didn’t commit suicide – rather he accidentally shot himself in the gut. Hedda is devastated that the great poetic death she imagined never came to pass. Brack also reveals that the pistol firing the fatal shot was Hedda’s –he recognizes it. He can keep this info quiet, but only if she does what he wants.

No one tells Hedda what to do. She shoots herself in the temple.

1. Internal Conflict
Hedda is propelled by an inner conflict, as she challenges herself with her own expectations and motives. Her desires often contrast with her ability, and her actions contradict her beliefs.

2. Conflict with other characters
As made evident throughout the play, Hedda is never quite grounded and content with her fellow characters; she despises her own marriage, is jealous of Mrs Elvsted's feminity, fears the power of Brack, and controls the actions of Lovborg.

3. Conflict with society
The expectations placed upon a woman of the Victorian era were constraining and limiting upon individual freedom. For a woman like Hedda, this environment only challenged the individual to pursue a path of rebellion. Her reaction to the baby shows her lack of interest in the responsibilties of a mother, and her attitude toward her marriage shows her view of the role of a wife. She wants to taste freedom, yet live with a reputation that integrates her into society.

Bagaimana Semuanya turun

Temui Hedda TESMAN. Dia menendang sekitar di Norwegia pada tahun 1890, sehingga dia sangat tertekan, baik secara sosial dan seksual. Dia adalah putri dari sekarang-almarhum Jenderal Gabler, yang berarti ia dibesarkan kaya dan istimewa. Sekarang dia menikah dengan George TESMAN, seorang profesor calon dan sedikit dari sebuah lubang akademik. Hedda baru saja kembali dari enam bulan bulan madunya dengan George dan menetap ke dalam kehidupan menikah di rumah ia telah membeli khusus untuk menyenangkan hatinya, meskipun itu berarti peregangan di luar kemampuan secara finansial. Di atas kebosanan dan represi, Hedda dalam semua kemungkinan hamil, meskipun ia tidak akan mengakuinya meskipun beberapa petunjuk dari George Bibi Julie, seorang wanita baik tua yang merawat valid adiknya Rina.

Konflik memasuki adegan ketika Mrs Elvsted kunjungan ke Tesmans perjalanan ke kota dari rumah negaranya. Dia ada melihat keluar untuk seorang pria bernama Eilert Løvborg, seorang pecandu alkohol yang tutor anak-anaknya. Hedda, master manipulasi, segera mendapat Ny Elvsted sendiri dan membujuk dia untuk mengakui kebenaran: ia dan Eilert yang entah bagaimana terlibat, dan dia ingin meninggalkan suaminya untuknya. Eilert baru saja menerbitkan buku - dia di bidang yang sama sejarah sebagai Mr TESMAN - dan Mrs Elvsted telah mengikutinya ke kota untuk memastikan dia tidak jatuh kembali pada cara-cara lamanya minum. Dia menimbulkan Tesmans untuk melihat keluar untuk dia, karena George adalah rekannya dan teman.

Tak lama setelah itu, Hakim Brack, orang besar di sekitar kota, datang oleh dan menggoda dengan Hedda. Sudah jelas dia tertarik padanya. Semua orang terus bertanya Hedda pertanyaan yang sama: mengapa memiliki dia, hasil tangkapan terbaik di kota, menikah membosankan seperti George? Hedda mengakui bahwa 1) ia harus menikah dengan seseorang dan 2) dia pikir George, melalui kegiatan ilmiahnya, akan terkenal suatu hari nanti.

Eilert akhirnya berhenti oleh Tesmans dan kami menemukan bahwa Hedda memiliki sejarah dengan dia, mereka digunakan untuk menjadi teman intelektual cara yang Eilert sekarang adalah dengan Mrs Elvsted. Ketika Hedda putus silaturahim / asmara pemula, dia melakukannya untuk menghindari skandal bergaul dengan pemberontak, dipertanyakan beralkohol seperti Eilert. Dia juga mengancam akan menembaknya dengan salah satu pistol ayahnya. Sekarang dia dengan Mrs Elvsted, Hedda memutuskan untuk menghibur dirinya dengan menyebabkan beberapa masalah. Dia mengatakan Eilert bahwa Mrs Elvsted takut dia akan minum lagi - dengan kata lain, dia tidak percaya padanya. Ini Eilert kemarahan, yang segera mulai minum lagi. Dia pergi keluar untuk pesta dengan Hakim dan Hedda suami George, tetapi tidak sebelum mengungkapkan menggoda dan plot-penebalan berita gembira: dia menulis buku lain, yang satu ini menggunakan informasi dari masa lalu untuk memprediksi masa depan. Dia menulis dengan bantuan muse barunya, Mrs Elvsted. Dia memiliki satu-satunya salinan, naskah tulisan tangan, dengan dia sekarang dan akan membaca beberapa malam dengan suara keras.

Ibu Elvsted tetap dengan Hedda, khawatir sakit yang Eilert akan minum sendiri konyol di pesta. Tentu saja, Eilert minum sendiri konyol di pesta. Dia tidak pernah kembali malam itu. Sementara Ny Elvsted sedang tidur, George kembali keesokan paginya, menceritakan Hedda tentang pesta pora mabuk, dan menunjukkan sesuatu nya: naskah Eilert itu. Tampaknya Eilert menjatuhkannya saat mabuk dan George pulih itu, ingin tetap aman sehingga ia bisa kembali ke temannya sekali mabuk. Ketika surat datang tentang kesehatan memudar Bibi Rina, George bergegas keluar, meninggalkan naskah.

Pagi itu, Eilert datang berjalan masuk Mrs Elvsted bangun di waktu baginya untuk putus dengan dia, mengatakan bahwa dia merobek-robek naskah dan tidak ingin melihatnya lagi. Ibu Elvsted menyatakan bahwa ia telah menghancurkan anak mereka (yang berarti buku) dan daun. Hanya kemudian apakah Eilert mengakui, untuk Hedda, bahwa ia kehilangan naskah. Hedda, karena Hedda, mengatakan apa-apa tentang naskah pulih dan malah memberinya pistol yang digunakan untuk menembak dirinya sendiri. Dia bersemangat untuk Eilert memiliki kematian, indah puitis - ia ingin dia menembak dirinya sendiri di Bait Allah.

Akhirnya sendirian lagi, Hedda membakar naskah menjadi abu. Ketika ia mengaku ini untuk George kemudian, ia sangat gembira bahwa istrinya mencintai dia cukup untuk menghancurkan pekerjaan saingannya profesionalnya. Ibu Elvsted mengunjungi lagi keesokan harinya untuk mencari tahu apa yang terjadi dengan Eilert, dan Hakim Brack datang untuk memberitahu semua orang bahwa Eilert mati karena bunuh diri. Ibu Elvsted dan George, merasa cukup mengerikan, memutuskan untuk menulis ulang naskah menggunakan catatan Mrs Elvsted itu. Sementara mereka mulai bekerja, Hakim mengambil Hedda samping dan mengatakan kepadanya bahwa Eilert tidak bunuh diri - bukan dia sengaja menembak dirinya sendiri di dalam usus. Hedda hancur bahwa kematian puitis besar dia membayangkan tidak pernah datang untuk lulus. Brack juga mengungkapkan bahwa pistol menembakkan tembakan fatal adalah Hedda-ia mengakui hal itu. Dia dapat menjaga informasi ini tenang, tetapi hanya jika dia melakukan apa yang dia inginkan.