A Woman of Grace or Disgrace?

Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler reminded me somewhat of Willie Loman in Death of a Salesman, a play that I previously read back when I was taking my English Composition II class. In mentioning the similarities of the plays with the suicidal deaths and the fact that I find it such a display of cowardice, I perceive that the victims are weak and mentally unstable. Hedda, contrary to what one may think, is not a heroine; she is depicted as a foolishly despicable and miserably unhappily married woman who has lost control of the situation in which she has maneuvered herself into. She visualizes and thinks that to take one’s own life is a noble act of selflessness when in fact most of society views it as a selfish deed. She conveys her thoughts and feelings to Eilert Loevborg as she assists him with one of her father’s pistols and states “Here! Use it now!,” as he places the pistol in his pocket Hedda exclaims, “Do it beautifully, Eilert Loevborg. Only promise me that!” (Ibsen 1508). Here as a vivid picture of a truly deranged woman that has lost control of her mental facilities. She has no idea of what it means to live on life’s terms as she lives her life by her own egotistical devices. Hedda is at a loss for words when Brack whispers how and where Loevborg really dies with the impression that if she doesn’t want it publicized that it was her pistol then she will do as the Judge wants and says. This is revealed when Brack says, “Well, luckily there’s no danger as long as I hold my tongue,” then he goes on with his implications and in an undertone murmurs “Hedda, my dearest— believe me —I will not abuse my position,” when Hedda becomes aware of the power that Brack is threatening to use over her he casually states that “[m]ost people resign themselves to the inevitable, sooner or later” (Ibsen 1517). She realizes that when she refuses to live with the Judge’s blackmail or the scandal of it being one of the pistols to her set, she decides to do beautifully what Loevborg couldn’t: shoot herself in the head. Hedda chose death over blackmail and /or scandal and thought that she was displaying an act of bravery and grace when in fact it was just the opposite and deemed a disgraceful display of shamefulness.