Week 6 Literary Analysis, "Hedda Gabler" Act 1

   For the Literary Analysis reading this week I chose to read Act 1 of, "Hedda Gabler" By: Henrik Isben. Henrik Isben (1828-1906), was a Norwegian play writer who was known for bringing interest back into the theatre with plays that used controversial themes. His plays stood out bringing excitement to people because he used the element of realism for his themes. Isben wanted to make a play that was like a Greek Tragedy and the one play that had the most to do with realism and a comparison to a Greek Tragedy was the, "Hedda Gabler". The play is about a 29 year old woman named Hedda marries a scholar named George Tesman, both who just got back to their new home after six month honeymoon. But even though it would make sense that after getting married and going on a tremendously long honeymoon they would be happy, instead the relationship is not as glamorous at least for Hedda because she is used to a upper class lifestyle. Hedda is the daughter of a general who got to live in an extravagant lifestyle getting anything she wanted which shows in the play because she is very arrogant and manipulative. Tesman on the other hand came from a lower lifestyle and had worked hard to get to be a scholar. Tesman is polite and very much in love with Hedda always trying to please her. As Act 1 of the play progresses it shows how Hedda is very careful in the way she interacts with others because she wants people to open themselves up to her so she can make the other characters her puppets. In one of the scenes in the book a woman named Elvsted who was an old crush of Tesmans, comes over to Tesman and Hedda's so she can beg Tesman to write a author named, Lovbrog who is visiting the town because his new book is booming. Hedda senses that Elvsted is hiding something through her jumpy behavior and tells Tesman to go write the letter right away. Hedda is not interested in Elvsted's letter being written but she saw this opportunity to get Tesman out of the room so she for herself could figure out what Elvsted really wanted. To get Elvsted to talk Hedda treated her very kind which Elvsted was not used to from Hedda because Hedda used to pull her hair when she would go by on the stairs. But because of Hedda's charm and manipulation Elvsted gives in spilling that she ran away from her marriage to the town so she could see the author named Lovbrog. It turned out Lovbrog and her were lovers and she wanted to be reunited him. Hedda is asked to promise she wouldn't tell anyone nor tell Lovbrog about her running away from her husband. This promise is later to be played like a card at a poker table against Elvsted to Lovbrog but this is revealed in the other Acts, not Act 1 as assigned. This scene in particular though really sets up the rest of the play and acting as a foundation of Hedda's manipulative nature.Hedda is a very interesting character because she is able to so easily trick people getting them to spill out everything to her which she then uses to hold over their head. Overall I think the main elements representing the play were manipulation, naiveness, and most of all realism because while reading, "Hedda Gabler" I could get a sense of how the author is setting up the story and characters to slowly spiral into a Greek Tragedy type of story which is exactly howthe author Isbek wanted the story to portray, a Greek Tragedy.