Norwegian version of this page

Hedda Gabler (1890)

   

Brief description

Hedda Gabler was the last of Ibsen's plays to be published while he was living abroad. It was written in Munich in 1890.

It is uncertain when Ibsen first had the idea that resulted in Hedda Gabler. In the summer of 1889 he was in Gossensass – this was his last stay in this small Alpine village in the Tyrol. It was here that he made the acquaintance of 27-year-old Emilie Bardach from Vienna. His relationship with her culminated in him falling in love with her in spite of the great difference between their ages. After Emilie Bardach's return to Vienna and Ibsen's to Munich, they wrote a number of letters to each other. In one of these, dated 7 October 1889, Ibsen writes: «Eine neue Dichtung fängt an in mir zu dämmeren. Ich will sie diesen Winter vollführen und versuchen, die heitere Sommerstimmung auf dieselbe zu übertragen. Aber in Schwermuth wird sie enden. Das fühle ich. – Es ist so meine Art.» [read the letter in HISe with Norwegian translation]

It is not certain whether Ibsen is referring to Hedda Gabler here, or to another play that was never completed. In another letter to Emilie Bardach, dated 19 November 1889, he writes: «Ich bin gegenwärtig mit Vorarbeiten zu der neuen Dichtung recht eifrig beschäftigt. Sitze fast den ganzen Tag an meinem Schreibtisch. Gehe nur Abends ein Bischen aus. Träume und erinnere und dichte weiter.» [read the letter in HISe with Norwegian translation] However, there is no clear indication that Hedda Gabler is in process in this letter either.

A fairly large amount of material on Hedda Gabler – notes, sketches of plans, drafts – has been preserved, but most of it is undated. The first draft is entitled «Hedda». The first act is undated, but the second act was begun on 13 August 1890. At one point Ibsen put this draft aside and on September 6th started on a fresh draft of the second act.

Other dates in this manuscript show that on 22 October the fair copy of the first act was completed. The next day the fair copy of the second act was begun, and on 11 November that of the fourth act. According to a letter Ibsen sent to August Larsen at Gyldendal in Copenhagen, the fair copy of the play was ready on 16 November 1890.

Quite late in the process of writing the play, Ibsen changed the title from «Hedda» to «Hedda Gabler». In a letter dated 4 December 1890 to Moritz Prozor, who translated the play into French, Ibsen explained why he had chosen «Gabler» instead of «Tesman»: «In that way I wanted to indicate that as a personality she is to be regarded more as her father's daughter than her husband's wife».

Further down in the letter Ibsen writes:

In this play I have not really tried to deal with so-called problems. My main purpose has been to describe human beings, human moods and human fates on the basis of certain conditions and views prevalent in society

Hedda Gabler was published by Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag (F. Hegel & Søn) in Copenhagen and Christiania on 16 December 1890 in an edition of 10 000 copies. The reaction to the book was almost exclusively negative. The critics found nothing but an «enigmatic» and «incomprehensible» female character. There was no suggestion of social reform, nothing edifying, no obvious symbolism. The critics outdid each other in condemning the chief character. In the newspaper Morgenbladet Alfred Sinding-Larsen wrote: «All in all, Hedda Gabler can hardly be called anything but a sinister creature of the imagination, the author's own creation of a monster in the shape of a woman, without any corresponding model in the real world».

In fact Gyldendal was not the first to publish Hedda Gabler. On 11 December 1890 the English publisher William Heinemann issued the play in London – in the original language – and in only 12 copies. He did the same in the case of all Ibsen's subsequent plays. The background for this was that Heinemann had noted Ibsen's growing popularity in England. He had at last become a success there, almost two decades after his introduction by the literary critic Edmund Gosse. A production of A Doll's House at the Novelty Theatre in Kingsway marked his breakthrough in the theatre. The play was directed by an Irishman, Charles Charrington, and the part of Nora was played by Janet Achurch. The first night was on 7 June 1889 and was of enormous importance in establishing Ibsen's reputation in England.

On the publishing side William Archer was working on his English edition of the complete plays of Ibsen. The first volume came out in November 1890. Heinemann was interested in securing the copyright for the publication of Hedda Gabler in England. He offered Ibsen £150 for this, and the offer was accepted. In order to establish his copyright Heinemann first published the play in the original and then – on 20 January 1891 – in Edmund Gosse's English translation.

Hedda Gabler had its first performance at the Residenztheater in Munich on 31 January 1891. Ibsen was present at the first night, and is said to have been been displeased with the actress who played Hedda, Clare Heese. He thought that her acting was too declamatory. The critics were also reserved in their judgement. The play's reception by the audience was mixed, with both applause and booing. Those applauding seem to have been in the majority, but this may have been due more to Ibsen's presence than to the performance itself.

Within a short time the play was produced at a number of theatres:
- Suomalainen Teaatteri (The Finnish Theatre) in Helsinki (4 February)
- Svenska Teatern in Helsinki (6 February)
- Lessing-Theater in Berlin (10 February)
- Svenska Teatern in Stockholm (19 February)
- Det Kongelige (Royal) Teater in Copenhagen (25 February)
- Christiania Theater in Christiania (26 February)
- August Lindberg's theatre troupe in Gothenburg (30 March)
- The Vaudeville Theatre in London (20 April)

(From ibsen.net)

Plot summary

Hedda Tesman is the daughter of the late General Gabler, who died without leaving her anything. She is approaching thirty, and after some years of an active social life she has married Jørgen Tesman, who has a fellowship in the history of art. He has been brought up by his two aunts, Julle and Rina, and is now hoping for a chair at the University.

At the opening of the play Hedda and Jørgen have just returned from a six-month-long honeymoon. Jørgen has spent his time studying and working on records, while Hedda, as she confides to their friend Judge Brack, has been bored on her honeymoon. Although clearly feeling distaste towards her husband, she has become pregnant, a fact she has so far concealed from her surroundings. Jørgen is met on arrival by the bad news that he is going to have to compete for the chair with one of Hedda's former admirers, Eilert Løvborg. The latter is known to be a bohemian, gifted but prone to drinking too much. In recent years, however, he has lived quietly and soberly, and written two theses inspired by and in collaboration with Thea Elvsted.

At the beginning of the play he has arrived in the city, bringing one of the manuscripts with him. Thea, who is deeply in love with him, has left her husband and followed him. In the course of barely two days Hedda stages a number of happenings with dramatic consequences. She gets Løvborg to go to a «stag party» at Judge Brack's and get drunk.

During the festivities he loses the manuscript of his new book. Jørgen Tesman finds it and gives to Hedda to look after, but Hedda does not tell Løvborg this. Instead, she burns the manuscript and gives him one of her father's pistols, telling him to shoot himself «beautifully». Far from this, Løvborg is accidentally shot at a brothel, and Brack, who knows where the pistol came from, uses this knowledge to try to blackmail Hedda into becoming his mistress. Thea and Tesman find close companionship in the work of reconstructing Løvborg's manuscript on the basis of notes Thea has kept. When Hedda realizes that she is in Brack's power and has nothing more to live for, she shoots herself with the second of the General's pistols.

(Source: Merete Morken Andersen, Ibsenhåndboken, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1995.)

Read Hedda Gabler (in Norwegian)

In the online version of the official Ibsen edition (HISe), you can read Hedda Gabler in various formats. This content is currently only available in Norwegian. Follow the links below to read the play:

Introduction to the work (in Norwegian)

The online version of the official Ibsen edition (HISe) offers extensive information about Hedda Gabler in Norwegian. Follow the links below to read about various aspects connected to the play. 

Reviews

Here you can find reviews in full text and an overview of registered reviews in various languages. 

Translations

Theatre productions

Images

Published July 11, 2023 10:36 AM - Last modified June 27, 2024 12:15 PM
E-mail this page