Ibsen often stated that his work and characters really represented human beings that he knew. In a speech to the Christian students in 1874 he stated... “All I have written... I have mentally lived through. I have also written on the opposite, on that which to introspective contemplation appears as the dregs and sediments of one’s own nature” (Gallienne, XXVIII). A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabbler both were written with an internal motive to explore personalities within a social context.

Ibsen consistently denied the accuracy of being labeled a feminist, he was definitely sympathetic to the womens’ rights issues.

In Norway, Ibsen witnessed the development of a woman’s movement in the 1880\'s. It was financially necessary to be middle class and to provide for a daughter who was not married. Women, at that time, were barred from receiving an education or any dignified employment.

Ibsen states that women are judged by masculine law as if they aren’t women but men. A woman could not be herself in a modern society. Ibsen believes in the theory of Carl Jung who said that a true liberation can only come from within. Individuality is related according to Ibsen to power and money. Money represents freedom to spend what one wishes or to free oneself from worry. (Mitchell 111) Ones ability to achieve financial success and independence were shifted by ones sex. Women were looked upon as being housewives and mothers rather than breadwinners. Ibsen’s writings were considered very bold at this time. His name is and was linked to the emergence of feminist thinking in Norway. These two play depict the opposite of the dilemmas faced by women, in search of independence and self-truth. Nora, was able to look at a future and accept the need for changes, Hedda was not.

In Hedda Gabbler, Ibsen presents a woman who lacks the courage of Nora. She is faced with similar dilemmas as Nora. Hedda is condemned to a life of tameness and ordinary things and not being able to face this isolation, toys with guns, living her life through others, and attempts to overcome her inactivity. The very title of this play, Hedda Gabbler, rather than Hedda Tasman, is a striking display of opinion by Ibsen. In a letter Ibsen expresses his reason for this: “My intention in giving it this name was to indicate that Hedda as a personality is to be regarded rather as a father’s daughter then as her husband’s wife. What I principally wanted to do was to depict human beings, human emotions, and human destinies, upon a groundwork of certain social conditions and principle of the present day.” (Salome 39) Ibsen portrays as a character a woman that wants to have influence over another human being, but when she does, she despises him. There is no mention of Hedda’s mother and we see her raised in a male dominated environment. She has learnt male dominated traits, but without the education and power extended to male. She did not have a female role model. She makes no real self-discovery and we see no growth. She destroys herself in the pursuit of beauty. Hedda can’t face being under Breck’s control or being a mother to a child in the malcontent and dreary society, which she finds herself in. Ibsen dislikes Hedda for not being strong enough to overcome her search for self. Hedda is the embodiment of a conflict between the yearning for freedom and the enslavement of a narrow standard of conduct. She differs from Nora, who is viewed by Ibsen as courageous because she fears the future while Nora looks forward to it.

It is interesting that in Hedda Gabbler Ibsen employs Thea as an opposite character. Thea represents freedom and independence. Through her, Loveborg i

Some topics in this essay:
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