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Hedda Gabler, the proud daughter of a general, has just returned from her honeymoon with George Tesman, a decent but dull scholar she married out of boredom…
Hedda Gabler, the proud daughter of a general, has just returned from her honeymoon with George Tesman, a decent but dull scholar she married out of boredom. When Eilert Løvborg, a brilliant former admirer who has given up drink and written a remarkable book, reappears in their lives, Hedda sets out to control his fate, with her father's pistols close at hand.
Context and significance
First performed in 1891, the play is one of the greatest roles for an actress in modern drama, and Hedda remains a mystery: bored, cruel, trapped and fascinating. It is less about ideas than A Doll's House and more about character, and it still holds audiences.
About the author
Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) was born in Skien in Norway; his family lost its money when he was a boy, and at fifteen he became a pharmacist's apprentice. He worked in theatres in Bergen and Christiania with little success, and then spent twenty-seven years in Italy and Germany, where he wrote his greatest works.
His verse dramas Brand and Peer Gynt were followed by realistic prose plays about modern life, A Doll's House, Ghosts and Hedda Gabler, which shocked audiences and changed theatre forever. He is often called the father of modern drama.