Hedda Gabler – 1st Assignment

The written play version and the film version of Hedda Gabler , are two pieces of literature that gives you a different feeling. One of them gives you this opportunity to feel the emotion behind every line you read and on the other hand the feeling you get is natural, as if it’s something you were expecting. The text depicts this wealthy woman whom has been spoiled all her life and because she was raised with everything she becomes an arrogant woman and selfish in some way. She is absolute not happy with her marriage with Tesman and dislikes his side of the family, even though to him his aunts are the most important people to him. The interpretation of the original text versus the film are quite different because for instance during the written play Ibsen lays out every single detail from the beginning to the end. He also adds more details to the conversation that each actor has among each other. During the scene where Mrs. Elvsted is conversing with Hedda, she confesses of leaving her home and her husband behind Hedda seems to be intrigued by it and questions her with what she will do now, and Mrs. Elvsted continues on to telling her “ I don’t know yet. All I know is that I’ve got to live here where Eilert Løvborg lives if I’m going to live at all.” (795) When watching the film is something they did not include and it’s relevant because as the reader we are in disbelieve that she would leave her husband and with that what would happen to her. Instead in the film, Hedda starts asking Mrs.Elvsted since when did they start building a friendship. In the film, you can also notice that Hedda is actually more arrogant and somewhat rude than what she is depicted in the play. For example, during Hedda’s first appearance on the film she is coming down from upstairs buy you can see spot that she was going to try and avoid Mrs.Telsman by walking past by them, but during the play it does not describe that part. Therefore, when reading the play you can built the attitude of each character and the way they are depicted but during the film you can see those characteristics comes to life and they seem more of what they have been described as.