great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

In Henrik Ibsen’s play, Hedda Gabler, Hedda’s conniving character is certainly worth discussion. In Act 3 of the play, Hedda devises a plan to destroy the relationship between Eilert Løvborg and Mrs. Elvsted but it is even more important to be cognizant of how she does so. Hedda’s conniving character is strongly portrayed when she says, “No wait! Take a souvenir to remember me by,”(827). Out of apprehension, Lovborg lies and tells Mrs. Elvsted that he ripped up the manuscript that the two had worked on together. He later on, confides in Hedda and explains that he actually lost it while he was drunk, and this is essentially when Hedda’s conniving character trait is revealed. At this point, Hedda already has the manuscript, since her husband George found it and gave it to her. She chooses not say anything about it and rather continues to watch Løvborg in his state of anguish. As Løvborg is leaving, she wishes to show her “compassion” by giving him a “souvenir”, a pistol. It is Hedda’s diction in the above quote that makes her more conniving than possibly another adjective. She appears to sound very comforting, when she tells Lovborg she wants him to have a souvenir to remember her by. Løvborg goes on to attempt suicide and Hedda supports him in doing so, but it is important to keep in mind not what Hedda does, but how she does it, which is ultimately what constructs her conniving character trait.