–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?
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Hedda Gabler, from the opening scene where the generals portrait hangs over the conversation between her husband and his aunt and concerns itself with the movements of masculinity and trite interlocution, is her fathers daughter. This frames the class dyanmic as an attempt to please the hidden ghost of the aristocracy. This Hedda Gablers full name is the heading of the play and she never adopts the Tesman name. George represents a minor academic figure attempting to achieve scholarly stature, but the academic class will never control the power and prestige of the ruling class, it will only be a critical eye and thus always distant.
What does Lovborg’s death mean to Hedda?
Hedda says that she sees liberation for herself in Lovborg’s act. An act done with “courage” and “free will”. It seems that Hedda up to now has done what society expected of her in life and it made her feel trapped. As she says “people just don’t act that way” which is also the last line of the play. Lovborg in taking his own life chose his own method and time of going and defied societies norms.
What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Hedda’s desire to be the center of everyone’s lives and affection and her undying manipulative ways is the premise on which Hedda basically forces Lovborg to drink. She used the love and influence she once had over him to coerce him into going against his better judgement and the pleas of Mrs Elevestead. She did this to test how much power she still had over his actions and the affection he once showed to her.
What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Due to Hedda’s jealousy and ambition for power she encourages Lovborg to resume drinking. By convincing Lovborg to drink, Hedda acquires a sense of power by manipulating someone to do what she wishes. Hedda proceeds to do this because of her jealousy and anger for the changed man Lovborg turned into after he met Thea. This was Hedda’s opportunity to finally manipulate Lovborg to take him back to his past ways of drinking. Through out the story, the readers can tell Hedda’s obsession for power and this was one encounter she took to emphasize her position which describes her personality.
Do you feel sympathetic to Hedda? Why or why not?
Hedda was well aware of every choice she made, for her demise at end of it all I give no sympathy toward her. She chose the life she entered and became ungrateful nonetheless, she had a lovely home and husband who truly loved her. The manipulations and drama she creates for her own amusement is pathetic to constantly show her dominance. Though she was unhappy with the life she had, she chose it, and though was a figure of power didn’t have that so power to remove herself from that situation. To be so destructive and manipulative and to end herself in such a dramatic fashion I feel there should be no sympathy, she did this to herself.
–Discuss the role of Thea in the play? What function does she serve?
Thea serves as the counterpart to Hedda. She posses all the qualities Hedda wishes she had such as her full hair and young age. She also brings out Hedda’s jealous and envious side. Thea has the ability to control Lovbourg and has created a metaphorical “baby” with him. This is problematic for Hedda as she struggles to control her life and those around her but Thea naturally posses these traits.
What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Hedda uses manipulation and deception to control those around her. She sees that Lovborg is not the same drunk he used to be and wishes to shape and control his destiny. She knows that Lovborg is not functional as an alcoholic and wants him to return to his former self. She also knows that Thea helped Lovborg to quit drinking and she will have power of Thea if she can get him to drink again. Thea is not happy with her current life and marriage and seeks to control others to deal with her insecurities. In the end, it leads to the death of Lovborg and herself!
What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
Hedda is someone that is power hungry. She wanted the control and power over everyone and will used deception and manipulation to satisfy her needs. She used their romantic past in order to blindside Lovborg. She did this knowing that if Lovborg did drink again, she has full control over him. Getting a recovering alcoholic to give in, is not just sinister, but also shows the leangths that she was willing to go. She thrives over the fact that she can play with peoples lives and Lovborg was just one example from the text.
Discuss the role of Thea in the play? What function does she serve?
Thea serves to be the Foil character to Hedda Gabler. She is described to be the opposite of who Thea is both physically and characteristically. Thea is younger, has fuller hair and is in love with Lövborg, unlike Hedda who is described to be older than Thea, not so full hair and is not in love with her husband Tesman. Hedda throughout the whole play tried to overpower people by using manipulation and ruins Lövborg. She sees how Thea was able to have a say in changing Lövborg life in terms of his drinking problem. Thea is, in fact, able to manage her own life in a way that Hedda only wished she had as she had to succumb to bourgeois life.
Discuss the role of Thea in the play? What function does she serve?
Thea Elvsted is the parallel competitive of Hedda. She is blue-eyed, has white-gold hair, and soft pretty features, everything Hedda Gabler only wished for. The twist here is that Thea is actually married to a much older man but she is in love with Lövborg, Hedda’s husband. Moreover, she has a decent control over Lovborg which, as a matter of fact, Hedda doesn’t; this brings out Hedda’s jealous and insecure side beacuse of which she starts encouraging Lovborg to drinking again.
-Do you feel sympathetic to Hedda? Why or why not?
Yes I do feel sympathetic to Hedda. It’s obvious that she is an unscrupulous woman that manipulates everyone around her, she’s jealous of Thea and scorns the type of life she has to live. But the reason I sympathize with her is because to me she is a strong powerful woman that could have achieved so much in life if only she would have used that power to herself good, she wasted so much energy destroying the lives of others but she gained nothing from it. From the book, we can’t conclude anything about her past except for her Father and social status, but we could assume that she was alone. And the people around Hedda only reminded her of all the things she hated the most. I’m not saying that’s an excuse for her wrong doings but what if there had been someone that she really loved or someone she identified with would have been by her side. Things miight have been different. Even if not, I think she was not that evil, there was a good woman inside of her that was overshadowed by her lack of confidence.
Do you feel sympathetic to Hedda? Why or why not?
Actually, that’s hard to say, sicne Hedda is morally amibogous. On one hand , I sympathesize her to a great extent , since she is trapped in the life and life she dosen’t wnat , which is pretty sad. On the other hand, I don’t like her because she is sort of cold heartes. She always try to manipulate other chracters in the play to achieve her own gola. She bullyes Thea and make her feel insecure. She persuades lovberg resuming drinking only to show her power. As the story states: Normal people just don’t act that way .”
–What role does class play in Hedda Gabler?
Hedda is the daughter of a famous General and as a child she was brought up in luxary and in a high class. The play revolves around class and she marries someone who is of high class but not as much money as she is accustomed to. The things Hedda does are unpredictable and considered in poor taste sometimes when she is suppose to be more womanly and of higher standard. Such as the act of playing with her pistols would be frowned upon as that is not something a women of higher class should be doing.