Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Hedda Gabler


First published in 1890 and produced in 1891 to negative reviews, Hedda Gabler has become one of Henrik Ibsen's most remembered plays apart from A Doll's House, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Ghosts, and the Master Builder. This is primarily due to the rigor of the acting role of Hedda Gabler. As a character, Hedda is at once a romantic feminist but also a manipulative, conniving villain. Hedda is neurotic, a child with a stormy ego. Her superego (represented by society and her married life) clashes with her id (her impulses and desires) in Freud's psychology. She is a tempest of a character, full of contradictions and subtext that makes playing her onstage a joy for any serious actress. In the play Hedda is the wife of Jorgen Tesman, but has had an earlier love affair with her husband's rival, Lovborg. In a gentler, simpler age this sort of behavior was considered shocking and inappropriate.

Other characters in the play include:
  • Jørgen Tesman, the husband of Hedda; an academic
  • Miss Juliane Tesman, Jørgen's aunt
  • Mrs. Thea Elvsted, Jørgen's friend and Hedda's school rival
  • Judge Brack, friend of the Tesmans; a judge
  • Ejlert Løvborg, Jørgen's academic rival whom Hedda previously loved
  • Berte, servant to the Tesmans and to Jørgen as a child
The setting takes place in the interior of a reception room (like a living room, it was meant to accommodate guests)

There are four acts: each act has only one scene. The set does not change, so it's just lights up and down to indicate time passing.

HOMEWORK: Please read any one other Ibsen play in the collection and post your response on the forum (this is a graded assignment) by Monday, Jan. 7. Due to inactivity of a large portion of the class, no late posts will be accepted for a grade. Please complete your work on time.

No comments:

The Murky Middle (Even More Advice)

Aristotle wrote that stories should have a beginning, middle, and end. Middles can be difficult. You might have a smashing opening to a stor...