Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler is a play by Henrik Ibsen, first performed in Munich in 1891. It tells the story of Hedda Tesman (Gabler is her maiden name), the unhappy daughter of a general who is trapped in a marriage she doesn't want to be in. Feeling that she was at the time of her life when she needed to settle, she marries George Tesman, but has no love for him. When his academic rival Eilert Løvborg shows up, it stirs emotions from the past. Whilst George seems to accept things in a pragmatic manner, Hedda sees the potential for her already miserable life to become even more so with the financial restrictions the couple must now endure. As a result of this, she gets caught up in an ultimately tragic game of jealousy. The reason for the title being her maiden name instead of her married name was Ibsen's intention 'to indicate that Hedda as a personality is to be regarded rather as her father's daughter than her husband's wife.' Considered one of the great roles in theatre, Hedda has been played by actresses such as Ingrid Bergman, Diana Rigg, Maggie Smith, and Cate Blanchett. It has also been adapted as a film several times.

Part of the Encyclopaedia Britannica’s Great Books of the Western World set.

This book has 30,534 words, and was originally written in 1891. This is a translation by Edmund Gosse and William Archer.