For the majority of the first and second acts Hedda appears to be in control of those around her, manipulating them as she pleases or in other she was the “cock of the walk”. Although this trend does continue through acts three and four a shift in control is visible as her relationship with Judge Brack develops. Unlike Lovborg, Judge Brack is the only character that manages to take control away from Hedda and corners her into an unknown realm. This shift in power initially begins on page 823 when the use of the expression “the cock of the walk” is first mentioned. There is a plethora of interpretation of this saying but to Hedda it signifies a potential loss of control over Judge Brack. This expression plays to be extremely influential on the rest of the events that follow and lead up to her death.
Another character who Hedda looses control over is Tesman and its another factor that motivates her to kill herself. Tesman, devoted to make amends with Lovborg’s death, takes on the responsibility to aid Mrs. Elvsted publish Lovborg’s work. Hedda quickly feels helpless at the fact that he will not be around. She feels powerless over Tesman and its evident when she says “Cant you find any use of me here” only to be pushed away into Judge Brack’s hands.
In addition, the events that transpired with Lovborg’s death leave Hedda at the mercy of Judge Barck. Before shooting herself she directs her final words to Judge Brack and says “Yes, that’s what you’re hoping for, isn’t it Judge? You the one and only cock of the walk” (838). This particular line signifies that Hedda is no longer in control, therefore, driving her to kill herself. The tragic ending in Hedda Gabler is quite controversial because it is hard to explain if Hedda’s decision to kill herself was an act of bravery or a cowardly way to escape from a bitter reality. Nonetheless, it is certain that Hedda’s death was greatly influenced by her receding control over those around her.
Hedda’s death is definitely a result of her manipulative nature in the story. The irony is that it was Hedda’s intense desire to manipulate that made her powerless in the story. Her manipulation gave George a greater cause then serving her ,and Bracks the means to finally have his way with her. Another ironic turn is how Bracks by trying to enforce his role in the “triangle” completely destroys it. This begs the question of what significance does this theme of the more you desire,the more you lose hold in the story.
Hedda’s fate at the end of the story was in large part due to her personality. As the daughter of a general, Hedda enjoyed all the splendors of life. This spoiled her however, and forged her controlling, materialistic and prideful personality. It’s not only control that Hedda loses over George, but also attention and affection. Hedda originally married George because of how much he fawned over her, which gave Hedda a sense that she was above him. However, when George believes that Hedda burned the manuscript for him, Hedda becomes disgusted because it seemed like she was working for George’s favor instead. As a result, when George is with Thea, it can also be seen that Hedda is below Thea, greatly offending her. Hedda’s suicide seems to be multi-faceted; for one, she was made to feel below Brack at the end, and killing herself would allow her pride to believe she won over Brack at the end by destroying his plan to control her. Hedda’s death also fixed her mistake in Lovborg’s death, where on p. 833, Hedda wanted Lovborg to die by bullet through the temple. Emulating this on herself allowed Hedda to feel fully in control, and as a winner.
While her death may be due to a loss of control, I feel like she was able to regain that control by choosing to die and how to die. Hedda was admiring the fact that Lovborg willingly shot himself, hopefully in the temple, before learning otherwise from Judge Brack. She believes that that is a beautiful way to die, and to free oneself from life’s restraints. After being cornered by Brack, and losing hold over Tesman, Hedda definitely lost control, like you mentioned. Additionally, Hedda points out how Thea is now working with Tesman like how she worked with Lovborg previously. I find that the combination of this need to regain control and her belief in suicide is why Hedda chose to die the way she did – beautifully and freely in control.