Ibsen's Hedda Gabler is Still Relevent

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen is the second Ibsen piece I have read. My experience with Ibsen has been limited to The Doll House, which I was not a fan of.  I found Nora to be ridiculous and her epiphany at the end of the play to be too startling and to sudden for someone who lived her life as a ‘the perfect Victorian wife.’ I found that ending to be poorly written and as a result, I have not perused much further interest in Ibsen.

I am not overly impressed with Hedda Gabler although I find this plot to be more tightly constructed and complex, I again could not stand the main female characters. I am beginning to think making annoying female characters is characteristic of Ibsen. Despite, Hedda’s obnoxiousness, she is still reflected of certain aspects of modern society.

Hedda Gabler was written in the 1890s, but the main character whom the play is named for is hardly out of date. Hedda is very ambitious for herself and her husband George Tesman. Though it is doubtful she ever had any romantic feelings for Tesman( I believe she married him more out of connivance than anything else),Hedda’s ambition for him is not that different from modern ambition.

In this modern global society, you have to do so many things to become a Professor at a University, which is what Tesman ultimately wants. You have to ambitious to get to that position and Hedda pushes her husband as far as she can. Hedda is also ambitious for herself, having married Tesman she sees all the nice things she can get from it, like a new piano, an expensive house, an expensive honeymoon, a horse, and a high social life.

These pressures to have a lucrative job that affords you nice material goods like foreign cars, diamond rings, big houses, and expensive vacations still exists. Many people like Hedda will do anything to get these jobs for themselves or their spouses. For Hedda that means destroying competition and manipulating everyone around her to set her husband up with an easy promotion.  When it fails, she kills herself to save her husband any embarrassment and to avoid being black mailed.

The level of competition in Academia is also very current. It seems it is impossible to keep up with every trend and every new work published in any one discipline. So Tesman’s love of books is unsurprising.

Few things would need to change to make this play modern in my opinion. The fashion in the costumes would have to change, and some of the wording, like ‘calling’ on someone would have to change. Tesman’s job would certainly have to politics, but other than that, I do not see much need for changes.  

Hedda Gabler is old, but it is hardly a museum piece. It also has a bit of gender bending that is ahead of its time. It is clear in this marriage Hedda wears the pants, and her husband is merely a puppet for her to get what she wants. If Ibsen should be created with anything in this play, is the fact that character Hedda is ahead of her time.