Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It is about the experiences of Hedda, the daughter of a general, who is trapped in a house and a marriage that she does not want. Hedda's married name is Hedda Tesman, and Hedda Gabler is her maiden name.

The play begins with Hedda's return to her villa in Olso from her honeymoon. Her husband is Jørgen Tesman, who continued his research during the honeymoon. It is clear that Hedda is not in love with him.

Eilert Løvborg is Jørgen Tesman's academic rival, a writer who just published a bestseller. In a relationship with Hedda's old schoolmate, Thea Elvsted, he shows signs of rehabilitation from his alcoholism. When Hedda and Eilert speak together privately, it becomes clear that they are former lovers.

Eilert is a competitor for the university position Jørgen has been expecting. Jørgen and Hedda have financial problems, and Jørgen tells Hedda that he cannot provide her with a regular housekeeper. When they meet Eilert, they learn he has no intention of competing for the university position, but he has spent years working on his masterpiece, the continuation of his recently published work.

Jealous of Thea's relationship with Eilert, Hedda hopes to come between them. Despite his drinking problem, she encourages him to accompany Jørgen and Jørgen's friend Judge Brack to a party. Jørgen returns from the party and reveals that he found the complete manuscript of Eilert's masterpiece, which Eilert lost while he was drunk.

Jørgen later visits his aunt, and the manuscript is in Hedda's possession. When Eilert sees Hedda and Thea, he tells them that he deliberately destroyed the manuscript. Thea is horrified, and the reader learns that the work was a collaborative effort by Eilert and herself. Hedda says nothing to them. After Eilert leaves, Hedda encourages Eilert to commit suicide, and she gives him a gun that was her father's. Then she burns the manuscript and tells Jørgen she destroyed it to secure their future.

With the news that Eilert killed himself, Jørgen and Thea try to reconstruct the manuscript from Eilert's notes, which Thea kept. Hedda is shocked to learn that Eilert's death was in a brothel, and probably accidental. His painful death contrasts with the beautiful one she had imagined. Another problem is that Judge Brack knows the origins of the pistol. He tells her that if he reveals what he knows, there will probably be a scandal. 

She realizes that he is in a position of power over her.  Hedda then decides to go to a small room and shoot herself in the head. The others assume that Hedda is just firing shots and decide to investigate. The play ends with Jørgen, Thea and Judge Brack discovering her body.

Henrik Ibsen's play explores mental illness. Hedda Gabler, a neurotic woman, is very manipulative. However, the moment Judge Brack assumes a position of power over her, she cannot accept her new circumstances and takes her own life.