— Jason Chen
The play of “Hedda Gabler” takes play during a monumental time period of the 19th century as the country is rapidly changing and innovation is booming. The storyline is interesting as it highlights the complexity of different perspectives, interconnectedness, and realism. The use of secrecy and emotional connection that the author invokes in the play is as mentioned “a world of aims and methods” or “secret system of values.” (Hedda, 725) My perception of the text while reading it ranged as the play features perspective from a multitude of different angles. The complexity of the definition of reality is challenged as Hedda is upper-middle class and wants to be in a high-class socioeconomic status. Alongside this, the term of reality seemed to be different from one another as individuals perceive their reality differently. I believe this comes from your own innate drive and identity that differentiates one perception from another as one can prioritize family, career, etc first, while another could prioritize money as the number one motivation. Peeling back the layers of reality and perception, while reading this play, it was vague to assume whether Hedda was a victim or playing a nefarious character which with more context, I believe each reader has their own opinion. Conclusively, the play portrays the many themes and symbolism incorporated in the story that show manipulation, obsession and feminism. While reading this, I believe a huge factor in understanding the play and the context of it – is to understand interpretation as it varies from person to person. A significant point brought up in the mini-lecture about the complexity of interpretation and how we succumb to these ideas whether they are factual or bias that creates reality. Additionally, it is worth noting the changing times of the setting as the world looked a lot different than what it does now in terms of the distribution of powers and women’s rights altogether.
