Hedda as the Modern Woman

The article called Hedda the “international type,” which is interesting because her societal ideals constrain her so much. Her only purpose as a woman in her time and place is to be a wife, and this bores her and frustrates her. But because the play is essentially a character study of Hedda, her character and her struggles against her society can easily be adapted to any play relating to feminist issues. She’s bored she feels confined, she is quite a strong character and Tesman constantly patronizes her.

Her marriage with Tesman reminds me of Scoop’s marriage with Lisa. Hedda actually mirrors Scoop by settling for “a secure six.”  She married Tesman, who provided financial security and some freedom. She also doesn’t want to have to compete with Tesman, and she is able to manipulate him to a certain extent but usually in a petty way. Scoop initially is able to be satisfied with a spouse who is a “secure six” as he gets to be the dominant one in the relationship, and he has a wife that looks up to him.  But unlike scoop Hedda isn’t able to get this same satisfaction, because of her gender. Despite having the more dominant personality she still has to answer to her gender role. She has to be patronized by a man who has a weaker personality then she does, which creates a lot of boredom and frustration on her part, and gives her none of the power she craves. She has to be manipulative for her entertainment and small powers, for example getting annoyed with Tesman’s aunt’s hat and getting her to buy a new hat and her tempting Brack but not actually doing anything with him.

The article mentioned “she had nothing to take her out of her self not a single intellectual interest or moral enthusiasm.” Which I agree with but what are her options? We can see that all the female roles in the play revolve around taking a serving role. Her foil, Mrs. Elvsted is interested in being a muse and aid to Lovborg, which Hedda can’t honestly do for her husband. Tesman's aunt devoted herself to raising Tesman, and even Berte devotes herself to serving Hedda. Hedda is always put on a pedestal, people are always trying to serve her and please her. But they don’t let her feel empowered and they can never please her. She doesn’t want to be a servant or else she wouldn’t have married Tesman, but she can’t stand being a trophy either. Her hobby becomes manipulation and vicariously living through others.