James Crowell

Prof. Parvathy Bhooshanan

ENG272

02/21/2021

Hedda Gabler: Mental Health Awareness Pioneer

In Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler, he wrote about real world issues that were not openly

talked about in the late 1800s. The main reason why these plays cause such consternation and

excitement is that they introduced realism to the theater (Puchner 722). This is often seen as

one of the reasons why it would become his most famous play. This realism can be seen in the

way Hedda attempts to take control over other people’s lives by manipulating them due to the

lack of courage and control in her own life. She fears making choices that may lead to

unknown outcomes. She is unhappy with her life, which she feels is lost and without

meaningful purpose. Ibsen’s realistic references to real life mentals issues, such as anxiety and

depression, play a role in the deceitful, spiteful actions of Hedda Gabler, who is unable to find

the courage and power needed to take control of her own life.

Unable to control her own life, Hedda lashes out at others and manipulates them, giving her

that sense of power that she craves. She is afraid of taking the steps needed to lead the life that

she wants, and she grows bored, lonely, and depressed. Hedda is upset with her disappointing

honeymoon, the fact that she is not happy with her marriage, and the overall disdain she has

towards being with the same person forever. This is seen in a discussion with Judge Brack:

Brack. I wished you were back home every single day.

Hedda. The whole time I was wishing the same thing.

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Brack. You, really, Mrs. Hedda? Here I thought you were having a wonderful

time on your trip.

Hedda. Oh yes, you can just imagine.

Brack. But that’s what Tesman always wrote.

Hedda. Yes, him! He things it’s the greatest thing in the world to go scratching

around in libraries. He loves sitting and copying out old parchments or

whatever they are.

Brack. Well, that’s his calling in the world, at least in part.

Hedda. Yes, so it is, and no doubt it’s – but for me, oh dear Judge, I’ve been so

desperately bored.

Brack. Do you really mean that? You’re serious?

Hedda. Yes, you can imagine it for yourself. Six whole months never meeting

with a soul who knew the slightest thing about out circle. No one we could

talk with about our kinds of things.

Brack. Ah no, I’d agree with you there. That would be a loss.

Hedda. Then what was most unbearable of all.

Brack. Yes?

Hedda. To be together forever and always – with one and the same person. (Ibsen

744-45)

Depression is an emotional expression of a state of ego helplessness and ego powerlessness

(Bibring). Held back by fear and anxiety from the judgement that society would place on her,
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Hedda feels helpless and powerless, knowing that she is unwilling to live a life against

society’s expectations. She is taken aback that Mrs. Elvsted has made the decision to run away

from her husband and the life that she does not like.

Hedda. So you’ve really done it? You’ve really run away from everything?

Mrs. Elvsted. Yes, I couldn’t think of anything else to do.

Hedda. But you did it – so openly.

Mrs. Elvsted. Oh, you can’t keep something like that a secret anyway.

Hedda. Well, what do you think people will say about you, Thea? (Ibsen 738)

Hedda is ruled by the opinion of others. She comes from a higher class than her husband,

George Tesman, and is always concerned with the way that she will be perceived and judged.

She is held captive by the fear that she will be alienated of that judgment, and she feels

trapped inside her own home. Anxiety as part of the “human condition” is not, however,

always innocuous. It is often the root of destructive human behavior (Dreyer). Though Hedda

wasn’t concerned with the individual opinions of people, the overall ramifications of situations

did provoke her emotionally. She takes offense to a comment from Eilert Løvborg that was

seemingly directed at her:

Løvborg: And she has the courage to take action, Mrs. Tesman.

…………………………………………………………………….

Hedda: Yes, courage – yes! That’s the crucial thing.

……………………………………………….……………………

Hedda. Then I have absolutely no power over you? Ah, poor me. (Ibsen 756-57)
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Hedda takes this comment as an insult towards her, as well as a challenge. They continue to

talk and Hedda manipulates Løvborg into drinking alcoholic punch, knowing that he had given

up drinking because it made him too wild and reckless. Løvborg drinks two glasses of punch

and leaves to go to the stag party. Feeling triumphant, Hedda pictures Løvborg how she

remembers him from their past relationship, fun and wild. She feels that she has helped him

regain the control over who he really is prior to Mrs. Elvsted persuading him into sobriety:

Mrs. Elvsted. Oh, Hedda, where is all this going?

Hedda. Ten o’clock – then he’ll appear. I see him before me with vine leaves in

his hair, burning bright and bold.

Mrs. Elvsted. Yes, if only it could be like that.

Hedda. And then you’ll see – then he’ll have power over himself again. Then

he’ll be a free man for the rest of his days. (Ibsen 759)

Later that evening, in a drunken stupor, Løvborg loses his prized manuscript, and it winds

up in Hedda’s possession. She hides it from him and sees the opportunity for control. She

manipulates Løvborg into feeling that he has lost everything, and she convinces him to take

her pistol and end his life. After the destruction that she caused, Hedda has an opportunity to

return the manuscript. Instead, she burns it and gets a disturbing glee from the spiteful action

and proclaims, “Now, I’m burning your child, Thea – You with your curly hair. Your child

and Eilert Løvborg’s. Now I’m burning – burning the child” (Ibsen 771).

The final act of the play begins now, taking place in the same room with the characters

dressed in black and mourning. Løvborg has been found shot, and Hedda plays coy,
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pretending to be sad for the tragedy that took place. However, her longing for having the

power to be able to control one’s life cannot be contained:

Tesman. Tell me, how did you find out about all this?

Brack. From a police officer. One I spoke with.

Hedda. Finally – an action.

Tesman. God help us. Hedda, what are you saying?

Hedda. I’m saying that here, in this – there is beauty.

Tesman. Beauty! No, don’t even think it.

Mrs. Elvsted. Oh, Hedda. How can you talk about beauty?

Hedda. Eilert Løvborg has come to terms with himself. He’s had the courage to

do what had to be done. (Ibsen 776)

Hedda envies the courage that Løvborg had, doing what is presumed to have been done, and

this foreshadows events to come. After confessing to her husband that she burned the

manuscript and proclaiming that it was done out of devotion for him, she has a brief moment

of hope. She tells Brack that there is a sense of liberation in the act. Hedda says, “I mean, for

me. It’s a liberation for me to know that in this world, an act of such courage, done in full, free

will, is possible. Something bathed in a bright shaft of sudden beauty” (Ibsen 777)

However, this moment quickly vanishes when Brack informs Hedda that he knows what she

has done. He discreetly lets her know that if she wants this to remain their secret, she had

better do what he wants. In this moment, the crushing anxiety returns to her all at once:

Brack. Well. Fortunately you have nothing to worry about as long as I keep quiet.

Hedda. So I’m in your power now, Judge. You have a hold over me from now on.
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Brack. Hedda – Believe me – I won’t abuse my position.

Hedda. But in your power. Totally subject to your demands – And your will. Not

free. Not free at all. No, that’s one thought I just can’t stand. Never! (Ibsen

780)

Knowing that Brack has gained control and power over her, like she has done with

many other people, was too much for Hedda to handle. She has lost all hope that she would

ever be able to gain control over her life and the courage to take the actions to do what she

truly wants to do. The play ends when Hedda is unable to deal with the increased anxiety and

depression, caused by her own manipulative actions. As seen in her discussion about the fate

of Løvborg, Hedda musters up the courage to do what she feels has to be done. She goes to the

rear room and commits suicide, by shooting herself in the temple with her pistol. This was the

final act of controlling her life.

Henrik Ibsen wrote Hedda Gabler in 1890. The mental turmoil that Hedda was

afflicted with is still present in today’s society. “People do not learn how to be afraid. Being

afraid is part of being human. However, people do learn to distinguish what to be afraid of.

(Dreyer)” Hedda never did find the courage to learn how to distinguish what to be afraid of.

She felt helpless and depressed, and she let fear and anxiety control her life, leading to the

premature ending of her life. Using works like this play and other forms of entertainment as a

platform, depression and anxiety can be better brought to attention, and lose some of the taboo

associated with mental health topics. With a better understanding and ways to manage anxiety

and depression, people can help others from meeting an early demise, such of that of Hedda

Gabler.
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Works Cited

Ibsen, Henrik. Hedda Gabler. The Norton Anthology of World Literature, edited by Martin

Puchner et al., 4th ed., Vol E., New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2018, pp. 725-81.

Puchner, Martin. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 4th ed. Vol E. New York: W.W.

Norton & Company, 2018, p. 722.

Dreyer, Yolanda. “Transcending Fear and Anxiety: The Great Cleanup.” Pastoral Psychology,

vol. 67, no. 5, pp. 475–491. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11089-018-0819-z. Accessed 21

Feb. 2021.

Bibring, Edward. “The mechanism of depression.” Affective disorders: Psychoanalytic

contributions to their study, P. Greenacre. International Universities Press, 1953, pp. 13-

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