Hedda Gabler: Comparing the film to the text

I have always enjoyed watching the film versions of stories after reading them. In doing so, I find that it is quite common for directors to keep the same plot but tweak characters and the roles that they play throughout the film. After forming my own interpretations from reading the text,  it was interesting to see how certain characters were portrayed in the film version. After watching the film version of Hedda Gabler, I found certain character changes to have a significant effect on how I viewed the main character, Hedda throughout the story. The film did a better job at capturing her true emotions. It emphasized Hedda’s dishonesty towards men even more so than the text. Something that I did not fully grasp from the text was just how manipulative her personality was. Of course the text did describe her as cunning, but the film was able to truly shift my attention to this. In addition, while reading Hedda Gabler, I understood Hedda to be much younger than she seems in the film version. The text actually tells us that she is twenty-nine years old, whereas in the film she seems much older. From this information, I was more focused on her youth and beauty while reading. However, while watching the film I was more fixated on her influence as this dishonest and calculating character. Another significant change in the film version was the absence of Berta. Berta, the Tessman’s housemaid, was given a larger role in the text. In the film she seems to be much less significant. Overall I enjoyed watching the film after reading Hedda Gabler. It was interesting to see the alterations of the main character Berta, while forming new interpretations of the play as a whole.