–What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
–Discuss the role of Thea in the play? What function does she serve?
–What role does class play in Hedda Gabler?
–What does Lovborg’s death mean to Hedda?
–Do you feel sympathetic to Hedda? Why or why not?
17 thoughts on “Ibsen, Hedda Gabler”
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Do you feel sympathetic to Hedda? Why or why not?
I honestly do feel bad for Hedda because as humans we all mess up and deceive others for our own benefits. She was no different and looked for adventure and thrill in everything and everyone. Ultimately she acknowledged what she did and wants to show everyone what a beautiful death really looks like by shooting herself in the head, as opposed to in the chest. Through all the disappointments she has had with the possible affair of Tesman with Mrs. Elvsted and by being attacked earlier by Tesman. She grows aware of the honest truths and events life has to offer which she obviously cannot handle, maybe because she is pregnant.
What does Lovborg’s death mean to Hedda?
When Lovborg signals his intention to kill himself, Hedda’s response is telling. She says, “Eilert Lovborg – Listen to me now – Can you see to it that – that when you do it, you bathe it in beauty?”
She has romanticized his suicide as a courageous, final act of self-determination, freely chosen. Of course, that delusion is destroyed the same way her delusion about Lovborg’s sobriety is destroyed: he failed to act as she imagined. In both episodes, rather than taking charge of his life and freeing himself of his demons, Lovborg is overcome, judged harshly, and ultimately destroyed.
–What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Hedda is very possessed and liked to control people around him. So she wants Lovborg to resume drinking first because she wants to better rule and manipulate him. and secondable she was jealous because when she was with him Lovborg was a drunk and disorder man but now he turned up his life to a good person being with Thea his new lover. By seeing him so happy and organized Hedda feels so sad and envious .
What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Hedda’s jealousy and desire for power motivates her to encourage Lovborg to drink again. She is jealous because when she was with him he was a mess but now that he is with Thea he is a better person. She also has this desire of power over people and her getting him to drink again shows how she can easily manipulate someone and control them to get them to do what she wants them to.
–What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Hedda encourages Lovborg to resume drinking because of the controlling quality she possesses. She has this desire to shape someone’s destiny, thus, she tries to shape Lovborg’s destiny by encouraging him to resume drinking. Hedda also realizes that Thea is the reason for Lovborg’s change in habits and she is jealous that Thea is the one to tame Lovborg and not her. For that reason, she attempts to get him back to his old ways to control him and possibly be the one to tame him again.
–What role does class play in Hedda Gabler?
Class play a big role in Hedda Gabler. It determines wether you follow your heart and happiness or not. Because Hedda and George got married simply because that is what those with good class did and not because they loved each other. Although George and Hedda could not afford it, they tried to keep their house decorated with expensive things to show their class status. Finally, Hedda decided to commit suicide before letting her reputation get ruined. Class was what motivated the main characters to do and act the way they did.
–What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking is her desire for power and control over someone’s life. When Lovborg and Hedda were lovers, he frequently went to parties and drank. However, now with Thea, Lovborg is reserved and calm, refusing to drink and party. Seeing how Thea changes Lovborg’s behavior, Hedda desires to change them because she can’t bear the fact of someone else controlling Lovborg’s life. She wants to be in control and be the “puppet master.”
What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Hedda encourages Lovborg to resume drinking at the bachelor party because she before, when she was speaking with Thea Elvsted, she said she wanted to control someone’s destiny for once. By pushing Lovborg to go to the party, in a way, she is controlling his future. Also, she is upset that when she was with Lovborg, he was drinking and he didn’t display any husband qualities. After Lovborg gets with Thea, he has changed his way of life. Hedda is upset that she wasn’t able to change Lovborg but that Thea was able to.
–Do you feel sympathetic to Hedda? Why or why not?
Hedda’s strong dominant personality seeks to have power and control over other people. Her need of being “creme de la creme” and her want to control people’s destinies possesses her to become quiet envious of Thea who is the opposite. Seeing that Thea holds attributes such like youth, beauty, health (voluminous hair), gentleness and kindness, Hedda becomes enraged when she sees that such a “naive” person like Thea holds quiet an influence on Lovborg. Knowing that Thea’s gentleness and kindness helped Lovborg to stop drinking upsets Hedda, as she was never able to “cure” his bad habits when they were formerly dating.
I sympathize for Hedda for it is natural for someone to feel a certain way knowing that they couldn’t “fix” their lover and knowing that someone else did, primarily someone inferior to oneself. I too sympathize for Hedda’s pregnancy. Growing up without a mother figure, Hedda is left not knowing how to truly love, care and sympathize for others, traits that motherhood provides. She is left with strong characteristics that may be too aggressive in nurturing a child. This, along with her envy, leads her to her suicide, knowing that she will be free from seeing her husband possibly rekindling with Thea, his former lover. Hedda seeing that death is her only option to escape her boredom and unhappiness is quiet saddening.
What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Hedda is motivated by the idea of being in control of Lovborg. Since the time that Hedda and Lovborg had grown apart, Lovborg had stopped drinking and was able to pull his life together. However, when we was with Hedda, he would be drunk and very out of it. Hedda feels that when he is not in his top shape, she is able to control him so she tries to get him to resume drinking so that she can therefore be in control of him if he starts drinking again and becomes drunk all the time.
What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Hedda is motivated by her strong interest in controlling people. She likes to control and maniupulate people so they can be under her. She is also motivated due to her jealousy of Lovborg and Thea’s relationship. She is jealous that Thea was able to help Lovborg ultimately stop his poor drinking habits and have a good relatonship together, which was the opposite experience she had when they were together. When Hedda was with Lovborg, he drank till drunk and partied all the time. She wants Lovburg to resume drinking because it is a way for her to control him and as a way for her to “control somebody’s destiny.” By encouraging Lovborg to resume drinking, she can express her power to try to manipulate him back to his old self. She ultimately wants everyone to know that she is the most powerful one where she can control people and not be controlled by others.
What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Personally, I think that Hedda encourages Lovborg to resume drinking because she wanted him to be his true self, not the person that society dictates him to be. They shared a silent and private relationship in the past. What she found attractive in Lovborg didn’t exist anymore and I’m assuming that she wanted him to be his true self once more. What I also think is a contributor is Hedda wanting to be her old self as well. She’s not happily married, bored, and in need of some kind of excitement. She found it with Loveborg but I think she also wanted to find it in herself as well. She encouraged Loveborg to drink again so that she may live vicariously through him.
What does Lovborg’s death mean to Hedda?
The way of Lovborg’s death is out of Hedda’s plan. Hedda wants to control everything, include Lovborg’s death. She gives Lovborg her pistol and expects that he could die beautifully. However, she considers the way how Lovborg dies is a stupid way and not beautiful. Furthermore, this is not Hedda wants that Lovborg dies in this way. She feels sorry not about the death of Lovborg, but the way he dies. It implies that Hedda just seems Lovborg as a kind of thing, not a real person. She just wants to control him. Lovborg’s death alerts Hedda that there is not everything she could control.
Do you feel sympathetic to Hedda? Why or why not?
Yes, I do feel a bit sympathetic towards Hedda. I feel this way because of the reason behind why she acts the way she does. Apart from what the ideals of what woman should be back in those days, she rejected that norm and wanted a different life. She felt suffocated and always had to keep everything locked inside of her. She knew that there was no way out and saw death as her answer to be free from this unfairness towards her.
–What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Hedda encourages Lovborg to resume drinking to encourage him to be the person he used to be when they were in a relationship. Now that Lovborg has overcome his drinking problem with Thea, Hedda is jealous. She also encourages him to drink so that she can control him and ultimately ruin his career and the relationship that he has with Thea. For example, Hedda has possession of Lovborg’s manuscript but does not tell him. Instead she manipulates him to kill himself. Then Hedda burns the manuscript, referring to it as the burning of Thea’s child. This makes reference to the fact that Hedda might be pregnant but she struggles to find happiness, while Thea is content with Eilert and the manuscript is like their baby. Overall, Hedda does these things out of jealously.
What does Lovborg’s death mean to Hedda?
Hedda wants to control other people’s fate. She grew up from a higher class and that’s how she feels about other people. She wants to influence them. Lovborg’s death means Hedda is in control and Hedda feels accomplished and finds joy in that.
What role does class play in Hedda Gabler?
Class plays a role in Hedda Gabler. Hedda is always expecting more and this could be due to the class she came from. Even when the aunt came to visit she specifically bought a hat to impress Hedda and mentions that she bought it just incase Hedda and her were to take a stroll outside Hedda will not be embarrassed.