Comment on Sparkbote opinion.

This is primarily a play of human relations, and because the entire play takes place in the same room of a house and all the action takes place verbally or offstage, there is little physical symbolism. Hedda's pistols are one of the few symbols. A gift from her father, the aristocratic General Gabler, they are a relic of her former aristocratic lifestyle. Thus, when she turns to the pistols to kill herself at the end, she demonstrates her frustration with the bourgeois life into which Tesman has brought her and her desire to escape back to the high-society lifestyle she left.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/heddagabler/answers/studyanswer_4.html

I agree with this analysis of Hedda's death to a certain extent. I knew she felt weird living in a lifestyle different to the one her father provided her with but i didn't see the pistols from her father was a way to get back to the life she once lived. I saw her suicide as a way to escape the problems she could face, or also a way for her to be with Eliert forever. I didn't think the pistols were a symbol as to the lifestyle she once lived, i thought it was a symbol of her control. I can agree that he death was out of some frustration, because she was trying to blow off some steam when she played the piano. Her death was definitely not on a happy not there had to be some frustration there.

Female oppression, female domination, death

Will these be reoccurring themes in the plays we read?
In both Hedda Gabler and House of Bernarda Alba, there is some type of female oppression but also female domination. Then there is the death of Hedda an Adela, two women who felt oppressed, and took their lives to escape. As the plays we read go further into time will the same themes occur when we read Lysistrata? How long did woman feel oppressed in their societies, or how long have they held a certain power, and how many have died because of the oppression they feel?
Ibsen and Lorca wrote these plays loosely based on their time periods. Adela, and Hedda could have been two real women.
As far as i know Lysistrata is about women who restrain from sex to end the war, already a theme is developed, female domination/control.

wears my hat?

The hats in the play show differences between classes. Hedda makes fun of Miss Tesman's hat out of pure enjoyment for herself. But it does show that tesman comes from a more poor background than hedda. When the judge comes to the tesman house and Lovborg too, they wear hats that show of their status and superiority as well. hedda makes a big fuss about how tacky Miss tesman's hat is, she's worried about how people would think or say if they saw that hat lying in their house. This actually offended Miss Tesman. Commenting on her hate made her whole attitude shift to happiness to embarrassment.

Love Triangle

in class we discussed a possible love triangle with Hedda, Tasman and Brack. But i see another triangle, with Hedda caught up between Brack and Lovborg, i wouldn't say it's love but a triangle of chaos. Tesman is left out because he doesn't really matter to Hedda. Hedda shows more interest in these men more than she shows interest in her Husband. Hedda has flirtatious conversations with Brack, and she is able to hold a space in Lovborg's heart. I don;t think she really wants them, but they want her, Brack has subtle control over her, Lovburg has her love, but Hedda want to have control over them both. In the end she doesn't have control over either of them.
And the triangle is deceased.

THEA

My favorite character is Thea. She wasn't in the beginning but in the end she was the woman who was really in control. Compared to Hedda Mrs. Elvsted is able to leave her husband andwork with Lovborg on publishing a book, having success. These are things that Hedda wants herself but things she doesn't have the courage to get herself. Hedda always complains that she is bored, or that she doesn't really like her marriage. Nothing is stopping her from leaving.Thea had a controlling husband, children she took care of. She left that life for something better, taking a risk and doing something most woman can't do in the 19th century, write books, and leave their husbands, most of them are too oppressed.

Hedda or HOBA?: Suicide

Hedda Gabler was a downer, it lacked something that i liked about the house of Bernarda Alba. In HOBA the plot and the ending seem more clear and justified. When Adela took her life i felt more pity towards her than i did with Hedda taking her life. Hedda was privileged, married, and had nice things, if she learned to appreciate the life she had instead of asking for more, or treating people poorly she wouldn't have taken her life. Hedda always said she was trapped but i don't see how, she never leaves her house, why is that?
Adela had a different story she had Pepe but she couldn't claim him. Adela was trapped in a home that she couldn't escape due to her mother. Adela took her life because she lost her love that gave her the drive to live in a hell with her mother. Adela's death may have seemed careless and childish, but i could understand Adela's reasoning more than Hedda's.
Hedda's reason wasn't clear like Adela's was, that the way i felt about the books in it's entirety. HOBA was clear and with Hedda GAbler i had to read beyween the lines, everything wasn't straight forward.

THE END

The ending of Hedda Gabbler was weird. Her death was unexpected. By the middle of act four we know that Lovborg is dead and Tesman's Aunt Rina is dead too. I expected something else to happen but i didn't expect it to end with another dead person. Hedda's death only seemed like an escape attempt. She was guilty for the death of Lovborg, she was trapped by Judge Brack's words and she was always so bored. Her death was just an escape, which leaves me to thinl that Hedda wasn't as hardcore as she seems. She couldn't face her problems head on, like a strong woman would be able to do.
I didn't like the ending so much, it left me with alot of questions. Like why did she play with the piano? Did she plan this death prior to knowing Lovborg was dead? What exactly persuade her to pull the trigger and take her own life? why were her last words direct towards the Judge?

A Dead Dream

At the end of Act III, Hedda has become more sneaky, and deceitful. It appears that her plans for Lovburg weren't planned out from the start but it works out in the end. Lovborg loses his credibility, his manuscript and a relationship with Mrs. Elvsted.All which could have been avoided if Hedda told Lovborg the truth about his manuscript, and if she didn't give him the first drink, that set him off, to lose his life basically in one night. By the end of Act three Hedda is so successful, in watever her goal was. She says she;s burning Lovburg's child, but what the manuscript really was a passage way to a better life, she kiled his dream, and now his dream is dead.

A Woman out of Character

In Act One we learn that Hedda is a bossy and manipulative woman. We know that she is a woman like no other, she creates fear in the people around her. In Act two Hedda continues to be manipulative, and a woman out of her "place" or character. At the beginning of act two Hedda surprised me with her "playful humor." She aims her pistol at Judge Brack, showing that she is an exception to the rules because she aimed a pistol at a Judge of all people. By the end of Act two Hedda is able to reclaim her control over Lovborg, after we learn that she was apart of his past, she was the only person that appealed to him to share his secrets. Hedda convinces him to drink, knowing fully what a drink could do to him. This isn't something women are able to do, usually its a mans choice whether or not he wants to take a drink.
What is it that makes Hedda appear to be out of character?