Hedda Gabler Research Paper

During the interactive oral there were four main topics within the discussion. They were time and place, social and cultural context and issues, connections between issues in the work and our current culture and experience, finally interesting aspects of techniques within Hedda Gabler. Thus the discussion allowed me to learn new things about text in almost every aspect of it, be it context or themes or techniques.
From the oral discussion I learnt multiple new things about the time and place/context related to Ibsen. This included some basic information about him and the text Hedda Gabler, including the publish date and its main task, to sketch different aspects of society. Then I was also able to learn about some of the major themes involved

Most of the easy to understand issues involved the protagonist Hedda Gabler, they included the inability within Hedda to move or change from her high aristocratic class to the middle class which Jorgen Tesman belongs to. An additional point was that Hedda did not call Tesman by his first name, Jorgen, until the very end of the play again affirming that she cannot adjust to this new lifestyle and that she still does not fully acknowledge her husband. Now to some difficult issues within the play, one was that there were a set of rules that ruled over women during the Victorian Era, these rules dictated the way a women must behave in certain situation, how she should act in general and what her tasks as a wife were. Another issue was that Hedda felt trapped in her marriage as wives were expected to provide the husband with a clean house, food on the table and to raise their children. However since Hedda is not the typical wife she felt distraught and hence cannot easily transition into her new lifestyle thus she leads on other men including Judge

These three main topics are female manipulation, femineity and hopes and dreams, these three are very relevant topics that are incredibly prevalent in developing countries and in Islamic countries. Female manipulation, females manipulating others using looks etc., is suggested within the text by how Hedda uses her good looks to use others, specific examples include how she married Jorgen and uses him more as a slave or a servant, making him by the largest fanciest available; another example is how she initially was in a relationship with Ejlert to learn about the outside life and other things she found interesting. Femininity was the second topic that was discussed, I learnt about how Hedda is not a typical female as she suppressed typically female emotions and feeling, thus she presented more masculine aspects towards others. It was also suggested that she only married because she had to, as she was a women and that was expected of a women in the Victorian Era. The final topic we discussed was about hopes and dreams, it was suggested that everything Hedda did was to set up her hopes and dreams and to ensure that she was settled in her later life no matter what. By the end of the play it is seen that she is willing to do anything to ensure that her future is secure, including burning Ejlert’s masterpiece manuscript and