Hedda Gabler: Drowning in Herself

Hedda Gabler: Drowning in Herself Hedda Gabler is a mastermind of persuasion, a timid and broken girl, the first irrational and neurotic female lead of European literature, or all three. She knows what she wants and knows how to get it but neglects what she needs in exchange for a false sense of a stable lifestyle facilitated by her upbringing. In the end, what could possibly cause a woman of her class and mindset to act in masculine ways, defying all forms of femininity? Although scholars often associate boredom with her environment as a source of Hedda's manipulative behavior in Hedda Gabler, she manipulates out of necessity to control her surroundings. Whether or not Hedda is the victim or the one controlling the play, it is safe to say that she represents a product of rebellion from her Victorian setting. Based around 1890 when most plays with female roles produced a similar image; a pretty girl raised in a nice home, who can balance social class and wealth, in need of an equally aristocratic husband to marry and carry out the mundane life as a house wife. Most of these fictitious women contain undeveloped personalities that leave little to the imagination of the reader. However, Mrs. Hedda Gabler Tesman is a character that breaks molds of what post-modern women were branded as in their mannerisms and attitudes. She has depth, a past that haunts her every move and a complex psyche which proves honest reason for the outcome of Hedda’s life.
Within this lead, Ibsen created what he believed shows the type of “New Woman” rising out of the ashes of a time period when the roles of literary women did not differ much from reality. Since the rest of the characters in the play are described much more feminine and act in ways that mimic the typical woman at the time, Hedda compares herself to them and can tell that she does not fit in so she manipulates people as a way of disguising the fact that she is aware of her strange routine. She ranks the highest in social