Lovborg’s Tragedy The Tragedies in the Story

when Tesman asks her to look at the present as a symbol of her care to Tesman so that he does not feel disappointed. The next is when Hedda is expressing her boredom with Tesman in the trip while she is having a conversation with Brack. In this condition, the elements that Hedda lacks are caring and acceptance. While Tesman is doing his work in the trip, Hedda does not have any intention to put her interest expression to what Tesman is working. It means that Hedda is doing something contradictory to the caring, which is not to care about Tesman’s work condition especially in his work. At the same time, she also lacks an acceptance towards Tesman because she cannot be ungrateful in her marriage with Tesman. She does not want to accept him in any aspect including his interest and his work. A marriage couple should be in a companionate relationship Lemme, 1995: 262, which means they have to be a company that is always beside him or her and able to accept and support each other in every aspect, such as in work, career, and more. Therefore, a happy marriage life will be maintained. Another thing that contributes to Hedda’s tragedy in her marriage life is her rudeness to a person who is a part of Tesman’s family, Miss Tesman. It can be noticed through the situation where Miss Tesman adores and kisses Hedda as a sign of her affection towards Hedda. Instead of respecting what Miss Tesman does, Hedda frees herself and shows her rudeness by saying, “Oh – let me go.” p. 275. Another rudeness to Miss Tesman is shown through the situation when Tesman warns Hedda to talk more affectionately to Miss Tesman, but she does not intend to do it by saying, “No, no. You musn’t ask me to do that...” p. 277. Besides her ignorance and ungratefulness, her rudeness is also a key to trigger the tragedy in her marriage life because she lacks warmth as an element needed for a happy marriage. When a person is not having warmth, automatically the person is not able to be kind to other people. In this case, due to her lacking a warmth, she keeps on being rude towards Miss Tesman and does not think about Miss Tesman’s feeling. As a part of Tesman’s family, she should learn to give her warmth and love to the people in the family including Miss Tesman. By doing that, Hedda can feel happier and more comfortable in her marriage life. Those are things that contributes to her tragedy in her marriage life. Her rudeness, ignorance, and ungratefulness towards Tesman and his family are caused by her mistake of choosing a husband. From the beginning, she is not in love with Tesman, but she keeps sticking with her decision to marry Tesman. As a result, she cannot live her marriage life pleasantly that makes her act unpleasantly to her surroundings. Those unpleasant characteristics that eventually bring a misfortune in her marriage life. Another tragedy that happens in Hedda’s life is contributed by her selfishness. This can be observed through the situation in Act Four where Hedda is playing a wild dance tone on her piano while everyone is still grieving for Lovborg and Aunt Rina’s death. In this case, she is selfish because she cannot place herself in the right situation and does not think about the other people’s feeling. However, her selfishness is not only shown in that situation, but also in the situation where she is committing suicide that leads to her tragedy, her own death. Her death can be noticed through Tesman’s utterance while he is shrieking to Brack, “Shot herself Shot herself in the temple Think of it” p. 363. Richard Dewey stated in his theory called pleasure and pain that basically people tend to do something pleasurable and avoid anything that is unpleasant. It means that when people are faced to the situation that is unpleasant for them, they just run away from it and do not want to suffer any consequence 1951: 187. In the story, Hedda does the similar situation. She commits suicide because she does not want to accept the consequence of what she has done. According to Judge Brack investigation, Hedda is assumed as one of the suspects that causes Lovborg’s death. It can be seen through this following excerpt. BRACK. No. But you will have to answer the question: Why did you give Ejlert Lovborg the pistol? And what conclusions will people draw from the fact that you did give it to him? HEDDA [dropping her head]. That’s true. I didn’t think of that. BRACK. Well, fortunately there is no danger, so long as I say nothing. HEDDA [looking up at him]. So I am in your power, Mr. Brack. From now on, you have a hold over me. pp. 361-362 Hedda is involved in Lovborg’s death because she is suspected to be the one who gave the gun to Lovborg on the day before he is murdered, and it is investigated that his death is caused by a gunfire in his stomach. It can be noticed through Brack’s statement, “Yes, there. With a discharged pistol that had gone off in his breast-pocket. The shot had wounded him fatally.” p. 358. Once Brack suspects her, she feels accused and guilty. She cannot stand with the fact that she is in Brack’s power. As a result, she decides to run away and avoid the consequence by committing suicide. According to the theory, Dewey states that a selfish person is a person who has a self-satisfying behavior. A selfish person will not be happy if