Hedda Gabler Paper

I found the feminist view of Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” to be very interesting. Throughout the paper Farfan appears to praise and condemn Hedda’s character. Farfan describes Hedda as a “great role for women in the dramatic repertory.” At the beginning of this discussion Farfan explains Hedda’s character from the feminist point of view. She explains that Hedda’s strong personality and independence made her great for plays and for womens sufferage movement as the play showed an independent and powerful woman. However, further into the discussion Farfan explains that Hedda’s suicide at the end of the play was not well taken by other feminists “since she lacks the courage and conviction of the many suffragists who endured such hardships as jail sentences and forced feedings.” I found this interesting because in the critique there is no mention of why she commited suicide as that was a very important part of the play. As she did it because she lost her power and this was the only way that she could have stayed in control I found it interesting that the Feminist view looked on it so harshly. In this paper a lot of it talked about “Hedda Gabler ” in the form of actually a performance and the changes they made. In this discussion of “Hedda Gabler” they focused on Hedda’s personality and “imagined Hedda would have been had she somehow existed outside Ibsen’s play.”

Farfan, Penny. "From "Hedda Gabler" to "Votes for Women": Elizabeth Robins's Early Feminist Critique of Ibsen." Theater Journal 48.1 (1996): 59-78. Print.