Despite of being written in the late 19th century, the protagonist Hedda from the Norwegian drama “Hedda Gabler,” has multiple overlaps with Lady Macbeth, a character from William Shakespeare’s play, “Macbeth.” These parallels are interesting because both women come from different time periods, yet struggle with similar problems and desires.
As seen in Henrik Ibsens “Hedda Gabler,” Hedda is a complex character who comes from an upper middle class family and is married to Tesman, who comes from the lower middle class. Throughout the story, Hedda is not afraid of showing her high expectations and attitudes towards the kind of wealthy life she wants to live. Lady Macbeth, in this case, also has a high status in society, however, just like for Hedda, what she has is not enough and she seeks a greater lavish life. Both Hedda and Lady Macbeth also share similar characteristics in that they both are women of words (who can manipulate those around them), have beautiful appearances, as well as have desire for control. In addition, both Lady Macbeth and Hedda don’t express eagerness for having children and becoming mothers. For Lady Macbeth, having children is unsuitable because it will make her more compassionate, a trait that intervenes with her plans to have power over her husband, Macbeth. Although later she gets pregnant, Hedda is also not eager to have children because she doesn’t believe that taking care of them will make her happy. As we can see, in the two instances, both women have a complicated relationship when it comes to following the standard gender roles of the society during their time periods.
This strive to have power and a fantasy life is what actually leads both Hedda and Lady Macbeth to their own self-destruction and strategy. By the end of the play, Hedda commits suicide because she is trapped in her marriage and trapped in the house. Throughout the play, we saw that Hedda was constantly bored and could not find a meaning in her life, thus in the very end her actions ended up collectively trapping her. In Shakespeare’s play, Lady Macbeth succeeds in having the King killed, yet ends up losing her mind because of the guilt that she feels over her actions. Clearly, the plays “Hedda Gabler” and “Macbeth” represent how authors from different time periods explore similar issues in society as well as human nature.
