Hedda Gabler

About the book

Hedda returns from her honeymoon with the scholar George Tesman to a house and future that already seem to disappoint her. The arrival of Thea Elvsted and the renewed presence of Eilert Lovborg bring another possibility of intellectual achievement and emotional influence into that confined world. Hedda responds to what others have made together with a mixture of fascination, resentment, and a wish to determine events. Judge Brack's understanding of social appearances creates a different pressure on her freedom. Ibsen lets apparently polite exchanges carry threats and concealed purposes, making the drawing room a place of continuous struggle. The play asks what a desire for control can become when imagination, pride, fear of scandal, and limited avenues of action reinforce one another.

• Control and constraint
• Social appearance
• Destructive desire

Why read it

For a tightly constructed drama in which ordinary conversation becomes a contest over power, reputation, and the possibility of acting freely.

Play · translated by Edmund Gosse and William Archer