From the first two acts of the play, Hedda Gabbler gets exposed to the reader as her true intentions and manipulative behaviour get revealed.

From the very introduction, Hedda is seen to have very high standards. This can be seen simply from the house George Tesman had bought solely for her pleasure. Ibsen goes in great detail describing each aspect of the house showing the value of what it was worth e.g. “Beyond the glass door, a piano. On both sides of the upstage doorway stand shelves displaying terra cotta and majolica objects” (P 782). This all seems like a very big price to pay for a lower-class scholar like George Tesman. Unfortunately for George, the house basically means nothing to Hedda as her true thoughts surface as the drama progresses.

Hedda’s arrogant mind-set is displayed on numerous occasions as she chooses to stick with her full name Hedda Gabbler to distance herself from those who she believes are beneath her in importance. Aunt Tesman even goes as far as to wear an expensive hat especially for Hedda, but only for Hedda to unintentionally criticise it. This can all be seen as examples of her stubborn relentless personality. In addition, Hedda and George do not have the best relationship. Hedda clearly believes she is of higher class and does not worry about everyday struggles such that of a Tesman’s rival, Eilert, who is back in town and stands between his chance of getting a better job. However, it is fair to say that George does acknowledge her rudeness and would like for her to see his family as her own now they are married.

Furthermore, Hedda’s manipulative behavior can be seen by the way in which she tricks Mrs. Elvsted to speak of her secrets under the impression that she cares about her personal life. However, Hedda is only satisfying her own curiosity to see if she had an affair with Eilert as they both clearly share past experiences with him. By this point, Hedda isn’t even considering the feelings of her own husband as she claims his profession bores her and she plainly views him as a “specialist”, whilst Eilert is very successful with his newly released book. This excites Hedda much more as she uses this knowledge as a gateway to get back in contact with Eilert. This is all revealed in the conversation she has with Brack, which shows a great deal of flirtatious behavior. Hedda even goes as far as to ask Brack if he can convince George to change his profession to something that is more exciting through her eyes. Hedda sates “he’s a very diligent archivist anyway. Someday he might do something interesting with all of it” (P 802), this shows she is desperate to see a change if she is ever going to have genuine feelings for him like the ones she had for Eilert when he was successful. Finally, towards the end, one can see that the woman who Mrs. Elvsted worried would shoot Eilert with a pistol was indeed Hedda. Overall, Hedda enjoys the level of control she has over Eilert, Brack and even Mrs. Elvsted as she keeps their conversations very secretive right in front of their eyes. Hedda is portrayed as a very teasing woman who enjoys company.