ipl-logo

Symbolism In Ibsen's Hedda Gabler

1332 Words6 Pages

Ibsen is believed to be the “master” of symbolism. (Styan, 1981). In Hedda Gabler, Ibsen uses symbolism to portray the internal chaos and disorder of his protagonist. Ibsen often deals with the conflict with the internal self. (Watson, 1983) Ibsen gives a new, symbolic and deeper meaning to ordinary objects such as a room, fire, the manuscript, Thea’s hair and the pistol. Each of these objects signifies a different element of Hedda’s character. Styan discusses how these symbols are integrated with the most complex character studies Ibsen had yet achieved. Ibsen explores how females are symbolically imprisoned by tradition and the wrongs of society. The Tesman home is used as a metaphor to show Hedda’s entrapment within a middle-class reality. The suffocating and distressing way in which Hedda lives her life with her new husband proves she has lost all notion of herself as free and proud. (Watson, 1983) The atmosphere in the Tesman home is characterized …show more content…

Hedda Gabler has a clear relation to the famous pistols. (Williams, 1993) They symbolize Hedda’s upbringing in an aristocratic and militaristic background and stand for her masculine nature. The pistols represent Hedda’s intense desire to be less feminine as well as the male world that opposes her. These two things at once indirectly lead to her death, and the pistols quite literally kill her. Through Hedda’s attitude toward and uses of the pistols, Ibsen constantly reminds us that Hedda “is to be regarded rather as her father’s daughter than as her husband’s wife.” The pistols serve as a constant reminder that she is Hedda Gabler still and not Hedda Tesman. The pistols represent an important characteristics the father has passed to Hedda—a desire to have absolute control over others. (McFarlane, 1989) Hedda enjoys freedom, the freedom to socialize with different people and have absolute control over them. (Habeeb,

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Pathos In The Scarlet Letter

    315 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hawthorne uses many forms of rhetoric to portray his characters, but relies heavily on pathos in the instance of Hester Prynne. She’s a member of an inherently misogynistic society, and because she’s a woman, her every act is scrutinized. As punishment for her act of adultery, Hester is ordered to adorn her chest with a permanent scarlet letter. Although the audience is well aware of the atrocity of the sin she’s committed, Hawthorne’s writing sparks a feeling of empathy within the reader. Throughout the novel, the reader is exposed to several clear uses of pathos.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In 'The Raven And Minister's Black Veil'

    641 Words  | 3 Pages

    Symbolism allows the author to create a story that would otherwise be bland and monotone. Without this dark romantic element, books, short stories, and poems would not have as much meaning nor appealing detail. Symbolism in "The Raven," "The Devil and Tom Walker," and "The Minister's Black Veil," creates layers of meaning and interesting characters. Symbolism has been used for centuries to spice up the literary world. Sometimes it is used in obvious ways, but other time it has to be thoroughly studied to be imperturbably understood.

    Read More

  • Hedda Gabler Analysis

    1031 Words  | 5 Pages

    Topic: Characterization of Judge Brack through Stage Directions and Dialogue in Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler Title: Speech and Stage Direction: Characterization in Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler 1. Introduction a) The stage directions in a play can be used to give directions to the actors and illustrate multiple features of characters. b) Henrik Ibsen utilizes this technique, alongside dialogue, to shed light on the characterization in his plays, especially in Hedda Gabler. c) The play tells a tragedy about a newly married young woman, Hedda, who tries to seek joy in her dull and tedious life but is eventually overcome with the burden of responsibility and takes her own life.

    Read More

  • Yamin Wang In Scarlet Letter

    1142 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was published in 1850. It focuses on the life of the main protagonist, Hester Prynne, living in a Puritan community. Both Yamin Wang and Maria Stromberg offer insight into The Scarlet Letter and analyze multiple aspects of the story.. Both Wang and Stromberg claim that there is an underlying ideology hidden in the texts of the book. Wang approaches the story from a feminist approach and states that Hester represents the feminism in the Puritan community, and she analyzes the Puritan’s outlook on women in their society.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Louise Erdrich's The Red Convertible

    1043 Words  | 5 Pages

    Authors use symbolism as part of their creative processes in the writing of fictional stories. “The Red Convertible” is a short story by Louise Erdrich, who uses a broad range of symbols to make her story charismatic and captivating. As we read the story of the two brothers, we learn about their relationship from adolescence to adulthood. The brothers are Henry Junior and Lyman who live on an American Indian reservation in North Dakota. Lyman is the narrator of the story and acts as the protagonist.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Patriarchal Oppression In Jane Eyre

    1638 Words  | 7 Pages

    Examine how either text represents either class or gender. Are these representations problematic or contradictory? How do they relate to the plot and structure of the novel? Jane Eyre is a female Bildungsroman written by Charlotte Brontë in 1848.

    Read More

  • Literary Criticism Of Hedda Gabler

    839 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hedda is unconventional in the sense that she enjoys explicitly male activities like shooting her father’s prized pistols for entertainment and is fascinated by the forbidden male world of hedonism and vitality that she is prevented from partaking in. Hedda has an insatiable appetite for life, yet suppresses these desires in order to maintain her code of conduct and stay clear of any scandal, which is her biggest fear. She suffers from ‘mortal boredom’ and she is at war with herself. Her desire for freedom makes her ruthless and manipulative – the female counterpart to Judge Brack. Ibsen portrays the influence of Freudian theory with making the unconscious

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis In Jane Eyre

    505 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imprisonment and constraint, can be felt in many different scenarios in the passage from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. However, we get these two feelings with a girl who is portrayed as an orphan in this chapter. When being an orphan many feelings can run through a person’s mind, for example abandonment and not feeling loved, or being/feeling trapped. The feeling of imprisonment and constraint in this chapter is expressed through the use of imagery and diction. Imagery is viewed in this chapter in a variety of sentences.

    Read More

  • A Doll House And Trifles Comparison Essay

    558 Words  | 3 Pages

    In comparing and contrast both drama A Doll House by (Henrik Ibsen), and Trifles by (Susan Glaspell). The authors shine a light on how a woman had no place in society in the nineteenth century .A woman place was in her home and her responsibility’s consist of taking care of her husband, her children and her home. Mrs. Wright was introduce to the reader as woman that was held for murdering her husband after a long time of abuse. Nora was introduce to the reader as woman that had everything in life.

    Read More

  • Tension In Henrik Ibsen's Play 'Hedda Gabler'

    1244 Words  | 5 Pages

    Among the difficulties nullifying their relationship, social tension arises as Hedda idolises an upper-class, luxurious life style, but working-class Tasman can’t afford the regime is wife desires. Pressure derives from Hedda indoctrinating that she is a trapped woman and thus envies Brack and other males in the play. The inadequacy of Hedda’s love and affection for Tesman is shown through Hedda’s embarrassment behind bearing Tesman’s child, as well as the determination that intimacy between the couple to be scarce. Paragraph 1: Throughout the play, Ibsen constructs social tension using dialogue and stage direction to draw attention to the barrier between prosperous Hedda and middle-class husband Tesmen.

    Read More

  • Essay On Evil In The Scarlet Letter

    719 Words  | 3 Pages

    We are all sinners. Although one may try hard not to sin, all humans eventually succumb at some time or another to sin. While people may not able to avoid the fate which awaits them, the power of free will allows people to decide how they will respond to sin. While some may respond with guilt and regret, others may react with a sense of redemption and a renewed sense of responsibility. Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American author during the 19th century witnessed the power of sin to wreak havoc not only to an individual but a whole community.

    Read More

  • Control In Hedda Gabler

    1070 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, Hedda Gabler is a woman in her late twenties who grew up in an aristocratic family during the Victorian period. Hedda was the daughter of General Gabler, and she was raised to be part of the high society social class. Hedda is very much a product of her own high society. Hedda married into a middle-class family, the Tesman’s. When Hedda married George Tesman, she entered a social situation she could not control.

    Read More

  • Social Expectations In A Doll's House

    759 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, the three-act play, set in 19th century Norway, explores the progress of Nora’s marriage as she attempts to hide her debt and forgery from her husband. Ibsen conveyed social commentary on gender roles and societal expectations, a topic still in controversy, through the use of symbolism, irony, and dramatic elements. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen presents the problems associated with the position of women in a man’s world of business as his central focus, even if other social or individual problems become more prominent as the play progresses.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Realism In Hedda Gabler

    1720 Words  | 7 Pages

    As the daughter of the late and esteemed General Gabler, Hedda requires a husband with social standing, an elegant home, money, servants, and other amenities stamping her as a refined and respectable aristocrat. However, stirring within her is a desire to live with democratic derring-do—to think and act independently, to take risks. But she largely represses this desire, preferring to maintain the appearances of propriety and stability instead. Thus, she rejects the intriguing but irreputable Løvborg for the humdrum but reputable Tesman. She lets it be known that she will not tolerate even insignificant offenses to her standards of propriety, such as Juliana Tesman’s new bonnet.

    Read More

  • Metaphors In A Doll House

    1567 Words  | 7 Pages

    In 1880s, women in America were trapped by their family because of the culture that they were living in. They loved their family and husband, but meanwhile, they had hard time suffering in same patterns that women in United States always had. With their limited rights, women hoped liberation from their family because they were entirely complaisant to their husband. Therefore, women were in conflicting directions by two compelling forces, their responsibility and pressure. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses metaphors of a doll’s house and irony conversation between Nora and Torvald to emphasize reality versus appearance in order to convey that the Victorian Era women were discriminated because of gender and forced to make irrational decision by inequity society.

    Read More

More about Symbolism In Ibsen's Hedda Gabler

Open Document