Respond to any of the following critical commentaries on Ibsen's Hedda Gabler:
A. “Hedda is neither a monster or a saint … simply a tragic character who is destroyed by the unharmonious and irreconcilable contrasts in her own character.”
B. “Hedda is not a vampire-woman. If she is dangerous, it is because she stands at bay. She is frustrated at every turn. Her plight is desperate. All her aggressions are aroused; she is defending her inmost life.”
C. “Hedda has no source of richness in herself and must constantly seek it in others, so that her life becomes a pursuit of sensation and experiment; and her hatred of bearing a child is the ultimate expression of her egotism, the sickness that brings death.”
D. “Bound in as Hedda is by the literal and figurative corsets of the day, it’s easy to understand how, years before, she had been eager to live vicariously, channeling her libido into listening to Lovborg’s tales of his debaucheries, while at the same time too terrified of her own sexual desires to respond to his overtures.”
B. “Hedda is not a vampire-woman. If she is dangerous, it is because she stands at bay. She is frustrated at every turn. Her plight is desperate. All her aggressions are aroused; she is defending her inmost life.”
C. “Hedda has no source of richness in herself and must constantly seek it in others, so that her life becomes a pursuit of sensation and experiment; and her hatred of bearing a child is the ultimate expression of her egotism, the sickness that brings death.”
D. “Bound in as Hedda is by the literal and figurative corsets of the day, it’s easy to understand how, years before, she had been eager to live vicariously, channeling her libido into listening to Lovborg’s tales of his debaucheries, while at the same time too terrified of her own sexual desires to respond to his overtures.”
11 comments:
C. Today when I was saying that suicide is like the ultimate sacrifice...i meant for yourself, the person who is doing it.- like you sacrifice yourself, for yourself...which in turn would mean its a selfish pursuit. So yeah. I think that Hedda's choice to shoot herself in the temple is the ultimate sacrifice to her own egotism. Hedda is so set on experiencing another life, one that she can't have as a woman in that particular society that her life DOES become just a giant search and experiment for sensation. She totally does live vicariously through Lovborg initially and her disgust at his death/suicide proves how highly she regards independence and free will and lack of inhibition. She allows herself to believe that she will always be in control and if for some reason she's not...she needs to regain it. She's in a sense "power-hungry", just not in the political position sort of way. Her unhappiness at bearing the child really does stem from her egotism. She may have chosen to get married and engage in intercourse but she definitely didn't choose to grow a human in her stomach. Yeah, most people would assume that when you have sex you recognize the intial purpose as procreation and acknowledge that the outcome may be just that- but Hedda has disdain for the baby nonetheless. She hates the idea of growing someone else inside her- sharing herself. Egotism really is ultimately what brings her to her suicide.
B. Well, I think that it is not possible to say, “If she is dangerous, it is because she stands at bay.” She is most defiantly a danger to at least herself, as seen in her suicide. Committing suicide is most certainly not standing at bay; her inability to act may have pushed her towards suicide. It is interesting however, that by killing herself she is also standing at bay and not acting. She is making it so she doesn’t have to make decisions about her life and act on them. I do agree though that suicide was a desperate attempt to avoid having to make decisions.
D. I love the that first sentence saying she's bound by literal and figurative corsets. Anyway, I for the most part agree with the commentary and, ultimately, I think her bound feeling ultimately led to her killing her self. She was confined to the lifestyle expected of her as a woman when she really wanted to live like her male companion Eilert. In a way, her suicide was her releasing herself from the "corset" life had stuck her in. I also agree with her living vicariously through Eilert and how she wanted him to be the person to quench her thirst for excitement. I don't know if I agree with the statement that she "channeled her libido into him." I don't think that the reason she gets so much pleasure out of his stories is anything sexual, I think she is more or less in awe of the freedom he has and desires it for herself. She is a lot like Nora, who gets compared to a bird trapped in a cage. Overall, Hedda is unable to live the life she desires so she feeds off of Eilert's life and at the conclusion of the novel makes the decision to take control of her life.
A. I kind of agree with A. Hedda is human. Human beings are not perfect and make mistakes, some more than others. But to say she is a tragic character is a little overkilled. I dislike Hedda almsot as much as I dislike Cianflone (just seeing if you were reading this haha). But I get it. Women were treated poorly, she needed control...blah blah blah. It's human nature. However, she is not "destroyed by the unharmonious and irreconcilable contrasts," she destroys herself. She does all of these things to herself. In being human she has the free will to NOT kill her baby and by killing her she loses all respect from me. She may be made with flaws, but it is the resposibility of the human to overcome these flaws and even if one can't..to do the last great thing they can to help the future (i.e.protect the child).
C. The claim by point C makes a lot of sense. I think that Hedda is simply a boring person. In a sense, I think she realizes that her life lacks any sense of richness and has to seek "entertainment" through other people's lives. She is entirely aware of her condition and thus projects her needs to be "amused" upon Lovborg and her husband. Hedda is like that bully who is repulsed by his or her own life and takes her plight out on other people to make herself feel better. So maybe Hedda is not as egotistical as I thought and rather just miserable and possibly a little mentally ill. She is almost like a melancholy who is never pleased with her life. Finally, maybe her suicide is not the ultimate act of her selfishness. In Hedda's mind, her suicide could be the greatest act of SELFLESSNESS and LACK OF EGOTISM. It's a crazy idea, but maybe by the end of the play she comes to the realization that she does not want her child to be born into a world that would give it a miserable,evil, control-freak mother, pushover father, and creepy "third wheel" Brack. In a sick demented way, Hedda could envision as her suicide as the greatest sacrifice for her unborn child. But that's a stretch, assuming she is that mentally unstable.
A. At the beginning of A Doll's House, Nora seems completely happy. She seems to be happy with her marriage, speaks with excitement about the extra money Torvald's new job will provide, and enjoys the company of her children and friends. However, when Krogstad's blackmail and the trauma that follows begin, they open her eyes to her unfulfilled and underappreciated potential. Nora comes to realize that she has been putting on a show throughout her marriage. She has pretended to be someone she is not in order to fulfill the role that Torvald, her father, and society have expected of her. Nora begins to show that she is aware that her life is at odds with her true personality by defying Torvald in small ways. As the play progresses, and as Nora's awareness of the truth about her life grows, her need for rebellion escalates, ending in her walking out on her husband and children to find independence.
C. I would have to agree with the first part of this quote--that Hedda has no excitement in her life and seeks it in others for joy. She tries to life her life through Lovborg, and stoops to a low level of humanity when she is disappointed in the way in which he commits suicide. I mean he just killed himself! She is unsympathetic in that situation. I understand that her life is kind of dull, but it is what you make of the situation. She knew that she was marrying to a household that was "lower" than hers...so I don't know how she could have thought that her life would somehow be better or the same. As for the second part of the quote, I would have to agree that her resentment against her pregnancy does shed light in her egotism. But also, again going with the idea of "it's how you look at a situation", she could turn her child into a positive, exciting aspect of her life. I know that she feels that a child will take away her freedom, but it can also bring a whole new set of exciting opportunities.
I'm doing B, and i'v got to say, i kind of agree with allie. Clearly Hedda is not a vampire-woman, because first of all vampires can live for a long time, and second of all we know that Hedda did not last for too long, since she committed suicide.
We all have the interpretation that vampires are dangerous blood-suckers. Hedda proved to us that her character isn't dangerous by choosing NOT to stand at bay. The way i interpreted it was "standing at bay" was continuing to live life. She is not dangerous because her life is over.
I agree with c because Hedda is stuck in her childhood, she has not grown up and has not taken any responsibilites of her own, so she has nothing to be proud of. she looks for her own satisfaction in others, Eilertin particular. Between looking to eilert's suciude for beauty and her refusal to bear a child, both which prove her trajedic fault, egotism.
A I feel that this commentary reflects the play the strongest out of all of them. Hedda's death is a birth of her tragic flaw: the unstable and self-contradictory nature of her character. Hedda feels an uncontrollable want to live a life like the red-headed singers. She wants to have late night parties, to play with pistols, and to go out drinking. But she knows that high society won't accept her just as they don't accept the singer, and she couldn't handle if that occurred. So, she wants that life but at the same time does not want it. This inability to find balance leads to her need to control others - Lovborg and her husband, for example. But she realizes that she cannot control the people that she wants to. Lovborg did not do what she wanted him too. Her husband is under the influence of Thea by the end of the novel. Furthermore, she is pregnant, which is the ultimate loss of control. And so, suicide is her final option, and it is her tragedy.
A. I have to agree with Stewy on this one. I dislike Hedda almost as much as I dislike Mr. Cianflone (haha, just messing Mr. Cianflone, trying to get you to play in the basketball game). But I disagree a bit with A. Yes, Hedda is the reason for all the problems in her life. But I believe she is a bit more of a monster than a saint. She definitely does have an evil side to her. The "unharmonious and irreconcilable contrasts" are not a sufficient enough reasoning for her tragedy. And I don't agree with the fact that she is a tragic character. She married Tesman, she chose the "safe" life. It's her fault that she is living this life and not a life of adventure. This is why she wants Lovborg to kill himself beautifully, she doesn't have the courage to do it. Nor will she do it because for her it would not be an advantage for her. She only married Tesman because of the benefits, and she doesn't see suicide as a benefit. So she really isn't a tragic character. She is just one that is greedy. She only cares about herself. That is why she is upset about being pregnant. She isn't a real monster, but neither is she a saint. But she creates her own problems, she is not a tragic character. Hamlet was a tragic character, she is just a bit greedy and pretty insane.
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