Another personality which can be revealed from the main character is heartless. This personality is revealed through the scene when Hedda is sitting
alone and burning the manuscript on the fire stove. [Hedda listens a moment at the door. Then she goes across to the writing-
table and takes out the manuscript in its package. She glances inside the wrapper, pulls some of the sheets half out and looks at them. Then she
goes across and sits down in the easy-chair by the stove with the packet in her lap. After a moment, she opens the stove-door and then the pocket.]
HEDDA [throwing some of the leaves into the fire and whispering to
herself]. Now I am burning your child, Thea. You, with your curly hair. [Throwing a few more leaves into the stove.] Your child and
Ejlert Lovborg’s. [Throwing in the rest.] I’m burning it – burning your child.
p. 345 In this excerpt, Hedda is revealed as a heartless person through her speech that
says, “Now I am burning your child, Thea.” The manuscript, in fact, belongs to Lovborg, and she is burning it as if burning a child of Thea Mrs. Elvsted and
Lovborg. We can see the reason why the script is regarded as a child through the following scene.
MRS ELVSTED. Do you know, Ejlert, this, what you have done to the
book – all my life, it will seem to me as if you had killed a little child.
LOVBORG. You are right. It is like murdering a child. p. 342
Mrs. Elvsted and Lovborg consider the script as their child because they were working together to make it. If it is considered as their child, it means that the
script is very precious to them. However, Hedda has destroyed the manuscript on purpose and she clearly knows that it is really precious to Elvsted and Lovborg.
That is the reason why Hedda says that she is burning a child instead of burning a manuscript.
Her heartlessness is also shown in the other scene when Hedda is giving something to Lovborg as souvenir.
[She goes to the writing-table and opens the drawer and the pistol case. She comes back to Lovborg again with one of the pistols.]
LOVBORG [looking at her]. Is that the souvenir? HEDDA [nodding slowly]. Do you recognise it? It was aimed at you once.
LOVBORG. You should have used it then. HEDDA. There it is. Use it yourself now.
LOVBORG [putting the pistol in his breast pocket]. Thanks. HEDDA. And beautifully, Ejlert Lovborg. Promise me that.
p. 344
In the scene, Hedda gives Lovborg a gun as a souvenir. What Hedda does to Lovborg is showing her heartlessness because by doing that, she is provoking
Lovborg to commit suicide. Her provocation to Lovborg is also shown through her speech, “There it is. Use it yourself now.” From those scenes, Hedda is
classified as a heartless person. The next characteristic on the main character that is going to be analyzed
is ungrateful. This characteristic can be observed through the scene where the conversation between Hedda and Brack happens in Act two.
HEDDA. Oh, he did all right. Rummaging in libraries is the most
entrancing occupation he knows. Sitting and copying out old parchments, or whatever they are.
BRACK [with a touch of malice]. After all, that is his vocation in life.
Partly, at least.
HEDDA. Oh yes, quite; it is. And of course then one can – But as for me
No, my dear sir. I was excruciatingly bored. p. 298
The ungrateful characteristic is shown by using one of Reaske’s ways of characterization which is the dialogue between characters, in this case between
Hedda and Brack. In the dialogue, she is expressing her ungratefulness by telling her boredom with Tesman in the business trip to Brack. Through what she does,
we can see that Hedda does not have any intention to put her interest in what her husband is doing and accept everything from her husband. Instead she just keeps
saying that she was bored with what her husband was doing in the trip.
B. The Tragedies in the Story
After identifying the characterization of the main character in the previous analysis, this study will discuss the tragedies that appear in the story. As explained
in the definition of terms and the theories on tragedy, tragedy is basically related to a condition where a person is experiencing destruction, suffering, or distress
due to some reasons and problems. In this study, the writer is going to discuss some events in the story that reflect on the kinds of tragedy which usually happen
in the real life. There are two subtopics that will be discussed in this part. The first
subtopic will discuss on the tragedies which are experienced by the main character, Hedda Gabler. The tragedy in Hedda’s life happens in her marriage life
with Tesman and also in a condition when she commits suicide. The next subtopic will give discussion on the tragedies that happen in Lovborg’s life. The tragedy in
his life happen when he is in desperation due to his career and also in his death.
1. Hedda’s Tragedy
The first discussion is the tragedies that happen to Hedda. The tragedy which is going to be discussed first is the unhappy marriage in Hedda’s life. The
scene can be found in Act Two where a conversation between Hedda and Brack happens.
HEDDA. Oh, he did all right. Rummaging in libraries is the most
entrancing occupation he knows. Sitting and copying out old parchments, or whatever they are.
BRACK [with a touch of malice]. After all, that is his vocation in life.
Partly, at least.
HEDDA. Oh yes, quite; it is. And of course then one can – But as for me
No, my dear sir. I was excruciatingly bored. p. 298
This scene shows that Hedda is not happy in her marriage through her saying that she is excruciatingly bored. She cannot stand with her husband who always deals
with his works and libraries. That is why, for her having such a husband only puts her in boredom. This reflects to one kind of tragedies that usually happens in
someone’s life where one cannot be happy in his or her marriage life, which later may end up divorcing.
Another scene that represents Hedda’s unhappy marriage can also be seen in another dialogue between Hedda and Brack.
HEDDA. Well, you can just imagine it for yourself. To go a whole six
months and never meet a soul even remotely connected with our circle. Not a soul to talk to about the things we’re interested in.
BRACK. Well, yes. I should feel the lack of that too. HEDDA. And then, what’s the most intolerable thing of all ...
BRACK. Well? HEDDA. Everlastingly having to be with ... with one and the same
person... ....
HEDDA. Jorgen Tesman is – a learned man, you must remember. BRACK. Admittedly.
HEDDA. And learned man are not entertaining as travelling companions.
Not in the long run, anyhow. pp. 298-299
In this conversation, another distress experienced by Hedda is shown. She is not happy in her marriage because she says that she considers her husband as
someone who is not entertaining. She feels as if that there is no chemistry between them since she says that her soul did not connect to her husband’s. Therefore,
whenever it comes to have a chat with her husband, she is not comfortable because there is nothing to talk to that interests her.
The reason why Hedda does not find any happiness in her marriage life with Tesman can be observed through this following conversation between Hedda
and Brack.
HEDDA. I had simply danced myself out, my dear sir. My time was up.
[With a little start.] Ah, no I’m not going to say that. Nor think it either.
BRACK. And, by Jove, you have no reason to HEDDA. Oh, reason [Watching him rather carefully.] And Jorgen
Tesman...one must admit that he’s a thoroughly good creature.
HEDDA. And I can’t see that there’s anything actually ridiculous about
him. Do you think there is? ....
HEDDA [with a weary expression]. Yes, so I did. And since he insisted
with might and main on being allowed to support me, I don’t know why I shouldn’t accepted the offer.
pp. 299-300 Hedda cannot find happiness in her marriage because she does not actually love
Tesman. She accepted Tesman as her husband just because her time is up. She feels that not having a husband at her age is such a shame for her. Since she meets
Tesman and finds that Tesman is, at least, a good man and he always supports her, she feels she has no reason to neglect him. This situation can be classified as a
tragedy. As explained in the theory that tragedy deals with misfortunes Gordon, 1973: 1. In this case, Hedda finds a misfortune in her marriage life; she makes a
wrong decision in choosing a husband that eventually puts her in an unhappy marriage life.
The next tragedy that happens in Hedda’s life is the death of herself. The scene can be observed at the very end of the play in Act Four.
[A shot is heard within. Tesman, Mrs. Elvsted, and Brack jump up.] TESMAN. Ah Now she’s playing with the pistols again.
[He pulls the curtains aside and runs in. So does Mrs. Elvsted. Hedda is lying lifeless, stretched out on the sofa. Confusion and cries. Berte comes
in distractedly from the right.] TESMAN [shrieking to Brack]. Shot herself Shot herself in the temple
Think of it
BRACK [half-collapsed in the easy-chair]. But, merciful God One
doesn’t do that kind of thing p. 364
In the scene above, there is a tragic event happening there where Hedda is dead due to her decision to commit suicide by shooting herself. The evidence that
Hedda is dead is stated in the stage direction that states she is lying lifelessly and stretched out on the sofa. Her death makes everyone sad, especially Tesman and
Brack. Tesman’s sadness is shown in the stage direction that states he is shrieking to Brack, and Brack’s sadness is also stated in the stage direction that he is half-
collapsed after seeing Hedda’s death. In the theory, it is stated that a tragedy is dealing with the reason a man suffers Gordon, 1973: 1. It is also stated that
tragedy is related to actions that can lead to a disastrous conclusion Abrams, 1993: 212. This means that a tragedy is connected to an action that can cause
destruction or disaster. This scene is considered as a tragedy since it concerns to the physical destruction of Hedda Gabler which is caused by her act of
committing suicide.
2. Lovborg’s Tragedy
After discussing the tragedies in Hedda’s life, the next thing to discuss is the tragedies that happen to Lovborg. The first tragedy that happens to Lovborg
occurs in the scene where Lovborg is in desperation. This scene can be found in Act Three where the dialogue between Hedda and Lovborg occurs.
HEDDA. About the manuscript? LOVBORG. Yes. I didn’t tear it to pieces. Nor throw it into the fjord,
either.
HEDDA. Well, but – where is it, then? ....
LOVBORG. Suppose now, Hedda, that a man, along towards morning,
say, after a wild, riotous night, came home to his child’s mother and said: Look here. I have been here and there, in such-and-such places.
And I took the child with me. In such-and-such places. And I lost the child. Lost it completely. The devil knows what hands it’s fallen
into, who’s got it in his clutches.
HEDDA. Oh but, when all’s said and done, this – well, this was only a
book.
LOVBORG. Thea’s whole soul was in that book. HEDDA. Yes, I understand that.
LOVBORG. And so you understand also that there is no future before us,
her and me. pp. 343-344
Through the conversation above, it can be seen that Lovborg is in a great desperation due to the lost of his manuscript. The lost of the manuscript can be
observed through Lovborg’s long speech that tells about him “losing a child”. He tells Hedda about the lost of the script just as losing a child because the script is
very precious to him and also his partner, Elvsted. For him, without the manuscript, he becomes desperate and he feels that there is no future before him
anymore. According to the theory on tragedy, it is explained that tragedy deals with the reason why a man can suffer Gordon, 1973: 1. This scene can be
categorized as a tragedy because Lovborg feels the suffering or distress in his life
