Compared to the written play, the film adaptation of Hedda Gabler really brought the characters to life. In the film adaptation, George was portrayed with many feminine traits, his tone and voice lacks the maturity of someone his age and reminds me of a playful child. I overlooked this distinctive feature when reading the text and assumed George was given enough masculine traits for his role as the head of the house. In contrast, Hedda Gabler fits well with my visual presentation of her, but more dominating.
Throughout the film, Hedda Gabler had demonstrated superiority to every character she had interacted with or had mentioned. In the scene with Juliane Tesman, Hedda was shown inattentive about the conversion between George and Juliane, rather more focused on the arrangement of her home. It is only polite to show interest in the conversion for Juliane is not only the guest but a family member of her husband. Such details were not mentioned in the text and I was left assuming that Hedda was respectful to aunt Juliane. The text portrays Hedda as somewhat respectful to aunt Juliane during their first interaction, extending her hands to Juliane; things only got sour as George brought the slippers over to her. In comparison, the film reveals Hedda’s true character rather fast and adds additional dialogue between each characters. In pg 788, Hedda states “that maid won’t last, Tesman.”. In the film however, Hedda states “will you never get on with this servant George.” Hedda speaks in a rather informal tone in the film compared to the formal tone of the text. Furthermore, Hedda is portrayed as rather very aggressive in the film, but more ladylike in the text.
In my perspective, the film adaptation of the play is superior to the written piece. Each character is given more life compared to the limited visualization the text provides. Hedda in particular really plays her role and demonstrates dominance over the rest of the characters in the film.
Kevin, I’m not sure the question is which version is “superior”; I think it’s more a question of how the film chooses to interpret the original text. In this case, I think you are correct to point out that the film establishes some aspects of Hedda’s personality more quickly than those same aspects might emerge when one is reading the text. We therefore are quicker to come to an understanding of Hedda’s character and its limitations or shortcomings.