She is actually amused at how much Tesman tries to succeed professionally and dismisses his attempts at frugality. She marries him, not because she loves him, but because she felt it was time for her to be married. Hedda believed that she was past her prime in terms of beauty and thought Tesman would be successful. It is quite appropriate that Ibsen titled the play after Hedda’s name before marriage, “Hedda Gabler.” Despite marrying Tesman, she never relinquishes power and never considers herself subservient to her husband. Not once does she allow Tesman to refer to them as “we” and only calls him by his first name, George, once throughout the play. Tesman and Eilert are competing for a professorship and after Tesman reads Eilert’s manuscript, Tesman admits that he is “jealous” of Eilert because he could never produce such work. When Tesman learns that Hedda has burned Eilert’s manuscript, he was mortified at first, but when Hedda says, “I did it for your sake, George” (1273), Tesman is ecstatic at the prospect that Hedda might have shown some affection for him. In turn, Hedda is disgusted at Tesman altogether because not only is he ignorant, but as soon as Hedda reluctantly tells him about her pregnancy, he completely forgets about Eilert’s manuscript. Tesman’s lack of character and shallowness come to the foreground her, two reasons why Hedda wishes that she never married Tesman to begin
She is actually amused at how much Tesman tries to succeed professionally and dismisses his attempts at frugality. She marries him, not because she loves him, but because she felt it was time for her to be married. Hedda believed that she was past her prime in terms of beauty and thought Tesman would be successful. It is quite appropriate that Ibsen titled the play after Hedda’s name before marriage, “Hedda Gabler.” Despite marrying Tesman, she never relinquishes power and never considers herself subservient to her husband. Not once does she allow Tesman to refer to them as “we” and only calls him by his first name, George, once throughout the play. Tesman and Eilert are competing for a professorship and after Tesman reads Eilert’s manuscript, Tesman admits that he is “jealous” of Eilert because he could never produce such work. When Tesman learns that Hedda has burned Eilert’s manuscript, he was mortified at first, but when Hedda says, “I did it for your sake, George” (1273), Tesman is ecstatic at the prospect that Hedda might have shown some affection for him. In turn, Hedda is disgusted at Tesman altogether because not only is he ignorant, but as soon as Hedda reluctantly tells him about her pregnancy, he completely forgets about Eilert’s manuscript. Tesman’s lack of character and shallowness come to the foreground her, two reasons why Hedda wishes that she never married Tesman to begin