Hedda Gabler

Post-Reading
What we will cover/do together:
• What?
• Ideologies and representation
• Themes and ideas in the text
• How?
• Characters
• Staging/setting
• Aesthetic - realism
• Language, style, generic conventions (both form and content/style)
• Intertextuality
• Why?
• Links to context, audience, purpose, effect…
• Tying it all together
• Writing paragraphs/essays
Context and Ideology
Ibsen’s Modern Theatre
Questions to ask when learning how to use
the term 'ideology'
What do we mean by ideology?

• Is it about power?
• Is it an “umbrella” term?
• Is it one idea or a complex set of ideas?
• Is it a "system of thoughts and actions"?
• Does it work to the advantage of particular groups of people?
• Might it be shared even by people who are disadvantaged by it?
Ideology – an ‘umbrella’ or broad term
ATAR Literature Glossary definition:
“A system of attitudes, values, beliefs and assumptions.”

From Brian Moon’s Literary Terms:

“Ideologies are systems of thought and action. They may work to the
advantage of particular groups of people and might be shared even by
people who are disadvantaged by them.”

See scanned document with relevant sections of Moon’s book.

Name the ideology and unpack it
No use just saying the text presents an ideology – what ideology is
presented and how?

e.g. a humanist ideology.

You must also discuss the relevant aspects of the ideology.

e.g. the critique of sexist attitudes that forms part of a feminist

ideology.
Arriving at ideology – examining the ‘What?’
in a text
• Events, people places
• What happens?
• Ideas?
• Values and Attitudes
• Beliefs
• Representations

What can we say about an ideology that underpins the play?

What about an ideology that is scrutinised?

Let’s Discuss Representation
WHAT?: Ideology – some
suggestions/approaches
• Bourgeois/class/Marxist
• Patriarchal/gender/Feminist
• Humanist
• Individualist – social dissident (subversion/criticism)
• Religion (or ‘anti’ – Ibsen was an atheist)

Group work…
Group Work - Ideologies
• Research the/an ideology to do with group’s assigned lens/focus (ensure this
research is relevant to our study)
• Linked/related to Ibsen’s values, attitudes, beliefs, ideas, etc.
• Outline key aspects of the ideology (relevant to our study)
• Linked/related to Ibsen’s values, attitudes, beliefs, ideas, etc.
• Find and analyse textual examples that can be seen as
reflecting/promoting/challenging/criticising/endorsing/representing or being
‘underpinned’ by the aspects of the ideology
• Remember – representing something doesn’t automatically mean promoting it… keep
this in mind when deciding what Ibsen is doing with/to the ideology you are assigned.

Present to class – provide either a handout or PPT for everyone (can be uploaded
to our class OneNote).
Class – Bourgeois Ideology
The play can be read as a deconstruction of the mythology of the 19th century bourgeois marriage. Put together
a short presentation on how the play deconstructs or challenges Bourgeois attitudes, values, beliefs and ideas
(that contribute to or make up the ideology).

It can also be considered as a criticism of 19 th century class structures (and values and attitudes related to class
dynamics).

• Hedda – an aristocrat? Marries ‘down’; her father – a General; aristocrat

• Judge Brack – position of power; aristocrat
• Mrs Elvstead was a governess
• Jorgen was/is his aunts’ investment – had to work hard

Group 1 – Present your findings to the class…

Audience(s) – Women
In London in the 1890s – Ibsen’s plays were very popular among women; he is seen many as a feminist
and contributing to first wave feminism (think suffragettes).

(Everyone) read: “Hedda is all of us”: Late-Victorian Women at the Matinee (by Susan Torrey Barstow -
available on Connect as PDF).

“A hundred years later, we can appreciate his prescience. For it is clear that the Ibsen matinees of the
1890s contributed to the creation of turn-of-the-century feminism, a feminism that would later realize
itself in the theatricalized struggles of the Edwardian suffragette movement.”

“In contrast [to the melodramatic heroine’s] the contemporary, middle-class heroines of Ibsen and his
followers seemed to live not in a fantasy realm, but in the spectators’ own world. Ibsen’s heroines do
not face starvation, shipwreck, or attack by wild animals; instead, they struggle against the thralls of
domesticity and the confines of traditional femininity. Their trials are the ordinary, familiar trials of
pregnancy, childbirth, the double standard, sexual frustration, and, perhaps above all, boredom. When
string men appear, they tend to threaten the Ibsen heroine rather than offering her rescue and
security.”
Gender – Ibsen as Feminist (or ‘proto-
feminist’)

Group 2 present your findings…

Humanist

Ibsen has been known to describe himself as a humanist, particularly

when asked if his plays were feminist.

Group 3 present your findings…

Individualist

Individualism is often compared to humanism.

Group 4 present your findings…

Religion

Ibsen might be described as an atheist.

Group 5 present your findings…

Themes and Ideas in the Text – What?
• Brainstorm themes/topics/issues explored in the text

• Turn them into ideas in the text (what is being

suggested/conveyed/promoted/criticised/represented?)
• You can feel free to link these to any of the ideologies we have investigated
(when you come to write about the play)
Group Work – How?
• Characters
• Hedda
• Jorgen
• Men
• Women
• Classes
• Staging/setting
• Language, style, generic conventions (both form and content/style)
Aesthetics – Realism
Genres - Multiple
• Well-made play and problem play
• Realism
• Tragedy
Intertextuality
Why?
Use the work we have done to write some paragraphs

Must lead/link to why… (give you interpretations in relation to purpose,

audience, context, etc.)
Close-Reading Preparation
• Practice extracts
• Review available resources on Connect and ensure you familiarise
yourself with appropriate metalanguage for analysing drama
• Analysing the extracts closely – some things one might be able to
focus on (in relation to the ‘HOW?’):
• Genre – both form (play/drama – a well-made play and a problem play) and
content (domestic realism, tragedy, etc.)
• Character construction (and representation) through, dialogue, actions,
symbolism, stage directions, etc.