ENGL 314 Lecture 3: Hedda Gabler
12 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
Hedda gabler was published in late 1890, and started to be performed in 1891. The way ibsen had started to withhold information about his characters in his plays was most annoying to the audience at the time. When hedda shoots herself at the end of the play, the event is often kept out of the view of the audience when performed. This is symbolic of the fact that our understanding of the act is unclear. Judge brack gets the last word in the play saying, "people don"t do such things," this act (hedda killing herself) was deemed inconceivable, the phrase also reflects the audience"s reaction to the event. He was writing for an audience that needed to pay attention to the little details, teaching them how to watch and understand the plays he writes. He built ambiguity and subtext into his characters which was ibsen"s strength in writing his plays.
