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Hedda Gabler and Other Plays
In these three unforgettably intense plays, Henrik Ibsen explores the problems of personal and social morality that he perceived in the world around him and, in particular, the complex nature of truth. The Pillars of the Community (1877) depicts a corrupt shipowner’s struggle to hide the sins of his past at the expense of another man’s reputation, while in The Wild Duck (1884) an idealist, believing he must tell the truth at any cost, destroys a family by exposing the lie behind his friend’s marriage. And Hedda Gabler (1890) portrays an unhappily married woman who is unable to break free from the conventional life she has created for herself, with tragic results for the entire family.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
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About the author
Henrik Ibsen
2,226 books2,099 followersHenrik Johan Ibsen was a major Norwegian playwright largely responsible for the rise of modern realistic drama. He is often referred to as the "father of modern drama." Ibsen is held to be the greatest of Norwegian authors and one of the most important playwrights of all time, celebrated as a national symbol by Norwegians.
His plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when Victorian values of family life and propriety largely held sway in Europe and any challenge to them was considered immoral and outrageous. Ibsen's work examined the realities that lay behind many facades, possessing a revelatory nature that was disquieting to many contemporaries.
Ibsen largely founded the modern stage by introducing a critical eye and free inquiry into the conditions of life and issues of morality. Victorian-era plays were expected to be moral dramas with noble protagonists pitted against darker forces; every drama was expected to result in a morally appropriate conclusion, meaning that goodness was to bring happiness, and immorality pain. Ibsen challenged this notion and the beliefs of his times and shattered the illusions of his audiences.
His plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when Victorian values of family life and propriety largely held sway in Europe and any challenge to them was considered immoral and outrageous. Ibsen's work examined the realities that lay behind many facades, possessing a revelatory nature that was disquieting to many contemporaries.
Ibsen largely founded the modern stage by introducing a critical eye and free inquiry into the conditions of life and issues of morality. Victorian-era plays were expected to be moral dramas with noble protagonists pitted against darker forces; every drama was expected to result in a morally appropriate conclusion, meaning that goodness was to bring happiness, and immorality pain. Ibsen challenged this notion and the beliefs of his times and shattered the illusions of his audiences.
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August 2, 2019Αφορμή για ν' αγοράσω αυτό το βιβλίο ήταν η καταξιωμένη ηθοποιός Πέγκυ Καρρά όπου στο επεισόδιο με τον Πύρρο τον βορειοηπειρώτη κλέφτη σαλαμιού ετοιμαζόταν για να πάρει τον ρόλο της Έντα Γκάμπλερ.
Η Πέγκυ στάθηκε αφορμή και για άλλα θεατρικά που διάβασα: Τρεις Αδερφές (στη Μόσχα αδερφές μου, στη Μόσχα), Αντιγόνη (Ω τάφε μου, κρεβάτι νυφικό μου) και φυσικά τις Βάκχες του Ευριπίδη (βρίσκομαι ήδη στον Κιθαιρώνα)
Της χρωστώ πολλά που μ' έβαλε στο θέατρο (έστω και σαν αναγνώστη)
Αγόρασα αυτό το βιβλίο το 2011 διάβασα την Έντα Γκάμπλερ αλλά μετά το παράτησα. Και τώρα είναι που θα μιλήσω για τον Ίψεν.
Θυμάμαι πριν χρόνια ανέβαζε ο ΘΟΚ τους Βρικόλακες του Ίψεν και η μάνα μου, εγώ, μια φίλη της και διάφοροι άλλοι πήγαμε να δούμε τους Βρικόλακες περιμένοντας να δούμε βαμπίρ που ρουφάνε αίμα. Αντιθέτως οι Βρικόλακες ήταν εσωτερικοί. Στα Αγγλικά το διάβασα πολύ αργότερα όταν ήδη είχα διαβάσει και την Έντα και το Κουκλόσπιτο (απ' τ' αγαπημένα μου θεατρικά) Στα Αγγλικά και στα Νορβηγικά οι Βρικόλακες είναι φαντάσματα (Ghosts, Gengangere), τώρα γιατί στα Ελληνικά έγιναν Βρικόλακες ποιος ξέρει.
Αν δεν έχεις φύγει ήδη από το εγωκεντρικό μου παραλήρημα, τώρα είναι που θα μιλήσω (επιτέλους) για το πώς μου φάνηκε το βιβλίο.
Περιείχε 3 θεατρικά όλα γραμμένα στα τέλη του 19ου αιώνα (1870-1890)
Το πρώτο ονομάζεται (Τα στηρίγματα της κοινωνίας | Samfundets Støtter | 1877) και ασχολείται με την διαφθορά στους πλούσιους και ισχυρούς της κοινωνίας και το πώς φθάνουν εκεί που είναι με όχι και τόσο καθαρές δουλειές. Ο Κάρστεν Μπέρνικ είναι ένας διεφθαρμένος πλοιοκτήτης του οποίου η εικόνα του καλού οικογενειάρχη θα σπάσει όταν έρχονται από την Αμερική η κουνιάδα κι ο κουνιάδος του απειλώντας τον ότι θα φανερώσουν τις πομπές του και θα τον καταστρέψουν. Μ' άρεσε που στο τέλος με κάποιον τρόπο ήρθε η κάθαρση αλλά έγινε κάπως βιαστικά.
Το δεύτερο ονομάζεται (Η αγριόπαπια | Vildanden | 1884) όπου ο ιδεαλιστής γιος ενός βιομηχάνου προσπαθώντας να αποκαλύψει το ψέμα πίσω από τον γάμο του φίλου του του καταστρέφει τη ζωή με πολύ βαριές συνέπειες. Εδώ ο Ίψεν θέλει να δείξει ότι η αλήθεια δεν φέρνει πάντα καλά αποτελέσματα αν δεν ειπωθεί με τρόπο και ξέροντας ότι το πρόσωπο θα τη δεχτεί με ωριμότητα. Δυστυχώς δεν την πήρε με καθόλου καλό τρόπο την αλήθεια ο φίλος του ιδεαλιστή και έπραξε ένα σοβαρότατο λάθος που έφερε την καταστροφή με την ανωριμότητα του και τον εγωκεντρισμό του. Θύμωσα και παρόλο που μ' άρεσε σαν ιστορία μου φάνηκαν υπερβολικές οι αντιδράσεις του στο άκουσμα της αλήθειας, υπερβολικές στο σημείο του ψεύτικου.
Το τρίτο ονομάζεται 1890 (Έντα Γκάμπλερ | Hedda Gabler | 1890) κι εδώ βλέπουμε μια απογοητευμένη γυναίκα παγιδευμένη σ' ένα γάμο και μια ζωή που δε θέλει, κι έτσι για να βγει από την βαρεμάρα παίζει με τη μοίρα κάποιων ανθρώπων που πάλι θα φέρει τραγικά αποτελέσματα. Δυστυχώς η Έντα σαν χαραχτήρας δεν μ' άρεσε σχεδόν καθόλου διότι εκμεταλλεύτηκε καταστάσεις και ανθρώπους στο τέλος δεν την λυπήθηκα, ανακουφίστηκα με ό,τι έπαθε.
Υποκειμενική κριτική; Μα έτσι είναι το θέατρο, σου βγάζει συναίσθημα που δεν είναι πάντα αντικειμενικό.
7/10
Η Πέγκυ στάθηκε αφορμή και για άλλα θεατρικά που διάβασα: Τρεις Αδερφές (στη Μόσχα αδερφές μου, στη Μόσχα), Αντιγόνη (Ω τάφε μου, κρεβάτι νυφικό μου) και φυσικά τις Βάκχες του Ευριπίδη (βρίσκομαι ήδη στον Κιθαιρώνα)
Της χρωστώ πολλά που μ' έβαλε στο θέατρο (έστω και σαν αναγνώστη)
Αγόρασα αυτό το βιβλίο το 2011 διάβασα την Έντα Γκάμπλερ αλλά μετά το παράτησα. Και τώρα είναι που θα μιλήσω για τον Ίψεν.
Θυμάμαι πριν χρόνια ανέβαζε ο ΘΟΚ τους Βρικόλακες του Ίψεν και η μάνα μου, εγώ, μια φίλη της και διάφοροι άλλοι πήγαμε να δούμε τους Βρικόλακες περιμένοντας να δούμε βαμπίρ που ρουφάνε αίμα. Αντιθέτως οι Βρικόλακες ήταν εσωτερικοί. Στα Αγγλικά το διάβασα πολύ αργότερα όταν ήδη είχα διαβάσει και την Έντα και το Κουκλόσπιτο (απ' τ' αγαπημένα μου θεατρικά) Στα Αγγλικά και στα Νορβηγικά οι Βρικόλακες είναι φαντάσματα (Ghosts, Gengangere), τώρα γιατί στα Ελληνικά έγιναν Βρικόλακες ποιος ξέρει.
Αν δεν έχεις φύγει ήδη από το εγωκεντρικό μου παραλήρημα, τώρα είναι που θα μιλήσω (επιτέλους) για το πώς μου φάνηκε το βιβλίο.
Περιείχε 3 θεατρικά όλα γραμμένα στα τέλη του 19ου αιώνα (1870-1890)
Το πρώτο ονομάζεται (Τα στηρίγματα της κοινωνίας | Samfundets Støtter | 1877) και ασχολείται με την διαφθορά στους πλούσιους και ισχυρούς της κοινωνίας και το πώς φθάνουν εκεί που είναι με όχι και τόσο καθαρές δουλειές. Ο Κάρστεν Μπέρνικ είναι ένας διεφθαρμένος πλοιοκτήτης του οποίου η εικόνα του καλού οικογενειάρχη θα σπάσει όταν έρχονται από την Αμερική η κουνιάδα κι ο κουνιάδος του απειλώντας τον ότι θα φανερώσουν τις πομπές του και θα τον καταστρέψουν. Μ' άρεσε που στο τέλος με κάποιον τρόπο ήρθε η κάθαρση αλλά έγινε κάπως βιαστικά.
Το δεύτερο ονομάζεται (Η αγριόπαπια | Vildanden | 1884) όπου ο ιδεαλιστής γιος ενός βιομηχάνου προσπαθώντας να αποκαλύψει το ψέμα πίσω από τον γάμο του φίλου του του καταστρέφει τη ζωή με πολύ βαριές συνέπειες. Εδώ ο Ίψεν θέλει να δείξει ότι η αλήθεια δεν φέρνει πάντα καλά αποτελέσματα αν δεν ειπωθεί με τρόπο και ξέροντας ότι το πρόσωπο θα τη δεχτεί με ωριμότητα. Δυστυχώς δεν την πήρε με καθόλου καλό τρόπο την αλήθεια ο φίλος του ιδεαλιστή και έπραξε ένα σοβαρότατο λάθος που έφερε την καταστροφή με την ανωριμότητα του και τον εγωκεντρισμό του. Θύμωσα και παρόλο που μ' άρεσε σαν ιστορία μου φάνηκαν υπερβολικές οι αντιδράσεις του στο άκουσμα της αλήθειας, υπερβολικές στο σημείο του ψεύτικου.
Το τρίτο ονομάζεται 1890 (Έντα Γκάμπλερ | Hedda Gabler | 1890) κι εδώ βλέπουμε μια απογοητευμένη γυναίκα παγιδευμένη σ' ένα γάμο και μια ζωή που δε θέλει, κι έτσι για να βγει από την βαρεμάρα παίζει με τη μοίρα κάποιων ανθρώπων που πάλι θα φέρει τραγικά αποτελέσματα. Δυστυχώς η Έντα σαν χαραχτήρας δεν μ' άρεσε σχεδόν καθόλου διότι εκμεταλλεύτηκε καταστάσεις και ανθρώπους στο τέλος δεν την λυπήθηκα, ανακουφίστηκα με ό,τι έπαθε.
Υποκειμενική κριτική; Μα έτσι είναι το θέατρο, σου βγάζει συναίσθημα που δεν είναι πάντα αντικειμενικό.
7/10
August 19, 2024
بنیانگذار تئاتر مدرن، مهمترین نمایشنامهنویس اروپایی بعد از شکسپیر، هنرمند جنجالی و رادیکال، برملاکنندهی رکود زندگی خانوادهی بورژوا، پدر تئاتر واقعگرا، مدافع حقوق زنان و دیگر عناوینی که سالهاست در توصیف ایبسن استفاده میشوند.
تا قبل از ایبسن، درام اروپایی متاثر بود از تئاتر «خوشساخت» فرانسوی. نمایشنامههایی صرفن بر پایهی حوادث و رازهایی که تماشاگر از آنها باخبر است اما شخصیتها نه. ساختاری کمابیش بینقص و فرمولوار که در نهایت پایان مدنظر مخاطب را به او ارائه میداد و تا حد امکان از شخصیتپردازی و روانشناسی پرهیز میکرد. یک جذابیت ایبسن این بود که از همین قالب استفاده کرد — نمایشنامههای او همواره پر از رازهای مگو هستند که برملا شدن یا نشدنشان زنجیرهی وقایع را شکل میدهد — اما از جایی به بعد مسیر ایبسن به طور کامل عوض میشد. برخلاف سنت قرن نوزدهمی که دوست داشت تماشاگر طبقهی متوسط راضی و سرگرم از نمایش از سالن بیرون برود، ایبسن میخواست مخاطب بورژوای خود را تا حد امکان آزرده و مضطرب کند، خواه با طرفداری از آزادی و حق انتخاب زن، یا با نشان دادن ریاکاری و فساد بانکدارها و روحانیت مسیحی، یا حتا با رقم زدن پایانی دلخراش و غیرمنتظره.
جدیدترین ترجمههای انگلیسی از ایبسن را نشر پنگوئن انجام داده.
Hedda Gabler and other plays
در این کتاب (که یکی از چهار کتاب مجموعه است) به جز هدا گابلر، مرغابی وحشی، رسمرسهلم و بانوی دریا هم ترجمه شدهاند. مارتین پوکنر — که «جهان مکتوب»ـش را بیدگل ترجمه کرده — مقدمهای نوشته بر کتاب با محوریت ایبسن و ادبیات جهان. اینکه چطور آثاری به زبان نروژی — که رویهمرفته چهار میلیون گویشور در جهان داشته — تا این اندازه در اروپا محبوب و معروف میشوند. اینکه ایبسن را در نگاهی کلیتر، باید در کنار اوگوست استریندبرگ، کنوت هامسون و جایزهی نوبل دید، سالهای قدرتنمایی اسکاندیناوی، در ادبیاتی که دیگر ملی نیست و نمیتواند باشد، زیرا برای خوانندهی همعصر و جهانوطن به لطف پیشرفت فناوری و البته استعمار، به اندازهی داستانهای چینی، عربی و سانسکریت جذابیت ندارد.
(برخلاف این تصور که نمایشنامه برای اجرا شدن است و نه خواندن، کارهای ایبسن هر کدام یک سال قبل از اولین اجرا در هشت تا ده هزار نسخه چاپ میشدند. پدیدهای که نشان میداد مخاطبْ تئاتر را جدیتر از قبل میبیند و دوست دارد علاوه بر دیدن نمایش، «متن» آن را هم برای خود داشته باشد.)
(ترجمههای فارسی ایبسن فراواناند. احتمالن ترجمههای بهزاد قادری در نشر بیدگل را دیدهاید. جالبتر اما پروژهی اختصاصی دانشگاه اسلو برای ترجمهی دوازده نمایشنامهی ایبسن به هشت زبان است که بخش فارسیاش به همت میرمجید عمرانی، استاد این دانشگاه، انجام شده و در طاقچه بینهایت و فیدیپلاس هم موجود است)
تا قبل از ایبسن، درام اروپایی متاثر بود از تئاتر «خوشساخت» فرانسوی. نمایشنامههایی صرفن بر پایهی حوادث و رازهایی که تماشاگر از آنها باخبر است اما شخصیتها نه. ساختاری کمابیش بینقص و فرمولوار که در نهایت پایان مدنظر مخاطب را به او ارائه میداد و تا حد امکان از شخصیتپردازی و روانشناسی پرهیز میکرد. یک جذابیت ایبسن این بود که از همین قالب استفاده کرد — نمایشنامههای او همواره پر از رازهای مگو هستند که برملا شدن یا نشدنشان زنجیرهی وقایع را شکل میدهد — اما از جایی به بعد مسیر ایبسن به طور کامل عوض میشد. برخلاف سنت قرن نوزدهمی که دوست داشت تماشاگر طبقهی متوسط راضی و سرگرم از نمایش از سالن بیرون برود، ایبسن میخواست مخاطب بورژوای خود را تا حد امکان آزرده و مضطرب کند، خواه با طرفداری از آزادی و حق انتخاب زن، یا با نشان دادن ریاکاری و فساد بانکدارها و روحانیت مسیحی، یا حتا با رقم زدن پایانی دلخراش و غیرمنتظره.
جدیدترین ترجمههای انگلیسی از ایبسن را نشر پنگوئن انجام داده.
Hedda Gabler and other plays
در این کتاب (که یکی از چهار کتاب مجموعه است) به جز هدا گابلر، مرغابی وحشی، رسمرسهلم و بانوی دریا هم ترجمه شدهاند. مارتین پوکنر — که «جهان مکتوب»ـش را بیدگل ترجمه کرده — مقدمهای نوشته بر کتاب با محوریت ایبسن و ادبیات جهان. اینکه چطور آثاری به زبان نروژی — که رویهمرفته چهار میلیون گویشور در جهان داشته — تا این اندازه در اروپا محبوب و معروف میشوند. اینکه ایبسن را در نگاهی کلیتر، باید در کنار اوگوست استریندبرگ، کنوت هامسون و جایزهی نوبل دید، سالهای قدرتنمایی اسکاندیناوی، در ادبیاتی که دیگر ملی نیست و نمیتواند باشد، زیرا برای خوانندهی همعصر و جهانوطن به لطف پیشرفت فناوری و البته استعمار، به اندازهی داستانهای چینی، عربی و سانسکریت جذابیت ندارد.
(برخلاف این تصور که نمایشنامه برای اجرا شدن است و نه خواندن، کارهای ایبسن هر کدام یک سال قبل از اولین اجرا در هشت تا ده هزار نسخه چاپ میشدند. پدیدهای که نشان میداد مخاطبْ تئاتر را جدیتر از قبل میبیند و دوست دارد علاوه بر دیدن نمایش، «متن» آن را هم برای خود داشته باشد.)
(ترجمههای فارسی ایبسن فراواناند. احتمالن ترجمههای بهزاد قادری در نشر بیدگل را دیدهاید. جالبتر اما پروژهی اختصاصی دانشگاه اسلو برای ترجمهی دوازده نمایشنامهی ایبسن به هشت زبان است که بخش فارسیاش به همت میرمجید عمرانی، استاد این دانشگاه، انجام شده و در طاقچه بینهایت و فیدیپلاس هم موجود است)
September 27, 2015
Introduction
--The Pillars of the Community
--The Wild Duck
--Hedda Gabler
Notes
--The Pillars of the Community
--The Wild Duck
--Hedda Gabler
Notes
December 2, 2011
I have hated Ibsen for the last 15 years of my life. I was a grad student in an acting program and had to read "Ghosts." I found it melodramatic, heavy handed and just plain ludicrous. It reminded me of a creaky old mansion lousy with mould and damp. Even acting in the "Lady from the Sea"(which I liked)could not make me change my negative opinion of this master of sturm und drung. But being a student of the theatre in general and great playwrights in particular I knew I would one day have to read some more Ibsen.
Whenever I am engaged in the act of playwriting (like I am now) I like to immerse myself in dramatic literature. To read the work of others allays my fears that playwriting is simply impossible. For the last few months I've been reading Pinter, Stephen Adly Giurgis, Nicky Silver, Chekov and a bunch of others. One day last week I picked up my much neglected "Ibsen: Four Major Plays" and set to work.
I skipped over "A Doll's House," which I had read in college and dived right into "Hedda Gabler." What a feast of delights this play proved to be! It contains one of the most complex portraits of a lady outside of Shakespeare. In fact, Hedda reminds me of Shakespeare's Cleopatra in that it feels like it would take four actresses acting all at the same time to deliver a performance as nuanced and multifaceted as Ibsen's writing.
Hedda is a willfully perverse, angry, manipulative and miserable woman choked by the banalaties she finds all around her. She suffers the tragic consequences of getting exactly what she wanted out of life. Hedda has a healthy regard for social standing and conventions but needs to strike out against these valued ideals just the same. She is a big fat spider trapping and playing games with the poor flies who buzz into her path. Unfortunately for her right before the final curtain she finds herself trapped in the same webs she has so silkily spun. All this unfolds with such inevitability that one never senses Ibsen's vice like grip of plot and character until the very end.
The Rolf Fjelde translation left me a bit tepid. I thought it could have had been spicier at points. It comes off a bit starchy and more suited to the study than the stage. However this is a relatively tiny complaint. Fjelde's work never got in the way of my enjoying this glittering gem of a play. Highly recommended.
Whenever I am engaged in the act of playwriting (like I am now) I like to immerse myself in dramatic literature. To read the work of others allays my fears that playwriting is simply impossible. For the last few months I've been reading Pinter, Stephen Adly Giurgis, Nicky Silver, Chekov and a bunch of others. One day last week I picked up my much neglected "Ibsen: Four Major Plays" and set to work.
I skipped over "A Doll's House," which I had read in college and dived right into "Hedda Gabler." What a feast of delights this play proved to be! It contains one of the most complex portraits of a lady outside of Shakespeare. In fact, Hedda reminds me of Shakespeare's Cleopatra in that it feels like it would take four actresses acting all at the same time to deliver a performance as nuanced and multifaceted as Ibsen's writing.
Hedda is a willfully perverse, angry, manipulative and miserable woman choked by the banalaties she finds all around her. She suffers the tragic consequences of getting exactly what she wanted out of life. Hedda has a healthy regard for social standing and conventions but needs to strike out against these valued ideals just the same. She is a big fat spider trapping and playing games with the poor flies who buzz into her path. Unfortunately for her right before the final curtain she finds herself trapped in the same webs she has so silkily spun. All this unfolds with such inevitability that one never senses Ibsen's vice like grip of plot and character until the very end.
The Rolf Fjelde translation left me a bit tepid. I thought it could have had been spicier at points. It comes off a bit starchy and more suited to the study than the stage. However this is a relatively tiny complaint. Fjelde's work never got in the way of my enjoying this glittering gem of a play. Highly recommended.
April 27, 2024
Like The Doll House, the play struck me as overly stylized. Hedda just didn’t seem all that human. But Elizabeth Hardwick’s analysis of the play had made me appreciate how novel it was to build a play around a sociopath. Of course, we already had Iago…
October 27, 2022
Pillars of the community: good start, but very gentle denouement
The Wild Duck: very confused
Hedda Gabler: strong whole, up to the end; about power and powerlessness, boredom, nihilism, hopelessness;
The Wild Duck: very confused
Hedda Gabler: strong whole, up to the end; about power and powerlessness, boredom, nihilism, hopelessness;
August 23, 2017
The Pillars of the Community 3/5
The Wild Duck 3/5
Hedda Gabler 3.5/5
The Wild Duck 3/5
Hedda Gabler 3.5/5
February 6, 2017
I'm going to see the national theatre stream of Hedda Gabler in March, and I've been aware of the play for a while. I really enjoyed all three plays in this edition. Ibsen definitely has a style, all three plays hinge on the truth about a particular individual but their endings are very different. Often unsatisfying actually, but always poignant.
April 8, 2021
so boring & messed up😰
December 11, 2021
for hedda gabler: i can see why this would've been considered groundbreaking in the past considering its insight into the female psyche, but at points it was kind of going in circles?
May 15, 2020
I only read Hedda Gabler from this book....one of Ibsen's great plays, very good psychological character [portrayal...and very ahead of its time.
April 13, 2025
The Wild Duck: 5/5
Rosmserholm: 4/5 (but I feel like it'll improve on re-reading)
The Lady from the Sea: 5/5
Hedda Gabler: 5/5
These four plays were my introduction to Ibsen. And a very successful introduction it's been!
Rosmserholm: 4/5 (but I feel like it'll improve on re-reading)
The Lady from the Sea: 5/5
Hedda Gabler: 5/5
These four plays were my introduction to Ibsen. And a very successful introduction it's been!
April 10, 2019
I am not sure if this counts as reading the book considering we only read Hedda Gabler...
Anyway I really enjoyed this play, it was truely character driven which I loved. I also really enjoyed seeing a strong female character (despite her sadistic side), especially in a time where women had virtually no rights.
Who knew the script of a play could be so compelling?
Anyway I really enjoyed this play, it was truely character driven which I loved. I also really enjoyed seeing a strong female character (despite her sadistic side), especially in a time where women had virtually no rights.
Who knew the script of a play could be so compelling?
November 14, 2025
Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen is 2229th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, and that is a sort of relief, since I did not find it glorious, notwithstanding this, A Doll’s House is in the 409th place at the same address, and it is actually included among The 100 Best Books of All Time – The Norwegian Books Clubs have asked luminaries, Salman Rushdie, the late, regretted Umberto Eco, John Irving, Nadine Gordimer and others to list their best and then you can see the result – now for the plug: you find more than five thousand reviews on magnum opera from the aforementioned and other sites, plus notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... there are amazing things there, that is what they say, right?
8 out of 10
I have seen Hedda Gabler and wrote my opinion https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... some years ago, I was not thrilled and I see that I thought Hedda Gabler mean
There is a new adaptation produced by Amazon, and it has an impressive Metascore, 70 seems much more than I would have expected for this, indeed, one of the reasons why I watched some of it and then started writing these lines
The ‘new’ Hedda appeared quite sensual, philandering, at least the impression I had for the fifteen minutes or so that I watched it, I rely on The Thin Slicing Theory https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... explained in the classic Blink
The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell: we form opinions in under one minute, not that this is always correct, mistakes are made, but we do not need to see the whole thing to know we are not exhilarated
You can – on the pretentious presumption that anyone is still here – check The Harding Effect, and how so many tall people get top jobs, it was even in The Economist I listened to earlier today, it has to do with first impressions
Intellectuals https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... by Paul Johnson is a wonderful book, and you get there portraits of Leo Tolstoy, Ernest Hemingway, Jean Jacques Rousseau
More to the point, you have Henrik Ibsen in there, and these are Intellectuals that have written magnum opera – not so much for Hedda Gabler - but as human beings they could be deplorable – just like the MAGA- Hilary was right
Jean Jacques Rousseau abandoned his children at the door of an orphanage, at a time when nine out of ten died in those circumstances let me say that A Doll’s House was excellent https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... even for the under signed
Finally, the reason why I would not spend too much time with a future adaptation, just like it happened with this 2025 new version, is given by Schopenhauer “One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind. In order to read what is good one must make it a condition never to read what is bad; for life is short, and both time and strength limited.
Evidently, we find this idea in Seneca https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... who said that life is not short, the problem is that we waste time, acting as if we have an infinity ahead of us
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
8 out of 10
I have seen Hedda Gabler and wrote my opinion https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... some years ago, I was not thrilled and I see that I thought Hedda Gabler mean
There is a new adaptation produced by Amazon, and it has an impressive Metascore, 70 seems much more than I would have expected for this, indeed, one of the reasons why I watched some of it and then started writing these lines
The ‘new’ Hedda appeared quite sensual, philandering, at least the impression I had for the fifteen minutes or so that I watched it, I rely on The Thin Slicing Theory https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... explained in the classic Blink
The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell: we form opinions in under one minute, not that this is always correct, mistakes are made, but we do not need to see the whole thing to know we are not exhilarated
You can – on the pretentious presumption that anyone is still here – check The Harding Effect, and how so many tall people get top jobs, it was even in The Economist I listened to earlier today, it has to do with first impressions
Intellectuals https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... by Paul Johnson is a wonderful book, and you get there portraits of Leo Tolstoy, Ernest Hemingway, Jean Jacques Rousseau
More to the point, you have Henrik Ibsen in there, and these are Intellectuals that have written magnum opera – not so much for Hedda Gabler - but as human beings they could be deplorable – just like the MAGA- Hilary was right
Jean Jacques Rousseau abandoned his children at the door of an orphanage, at a time when nine out of ten died in those circumstances let me say that A Doll’s House was excellent https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... even for the under signed
Finally, the reason why I would not spend too much time with a future adaptation, just like it happened with this 2025 new version, is given by Schopenhauer “One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind. In order to read what is good one must make it a condition never to read what is bad; for life is short, and both time and strength limited.
Evidently, we find this idea in Seneca https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... who said that life is not short, the problem is that we waste time, acting as if we have an infinity ahead of us
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
February 11, 2022
Bril play. Bril i say. I was lowkey shippin lona and karston WAY more than i was shippin karston and his wifu. Hilmar was my fav just because everytime his nephew speaks to him he goes “Ugh!” He is so disgusted its too funny
September 20, 2017
I really enjoyed this play which isn't a surprise because I love most of Ibsen's work. He is so good at stripping away the veneer and letting you know that he is warming you up to a tragedy. You are left to wonder who it involves until later in the play but you can see the train wreck coming.
August 8, 2020
Great new translation of Hedda Gabler & Lady from the Sea.
May 20, 2024
One of my new favorite plays
August 17, 2025
Ibsen’s immortal creation: Hedda Gabler
July 22, 2024
Hedda Gabler was by far the highlight of this collection, but Pillars of the Community and The Wild Duck were both phenomenal plays too
December 19, 2024
This older edition edited, translated, and written with an Introduction by Una Ellis-Fermor was beautiful and very enjoyable. I read it in just two days! For some reason, I couldn't put it down. I realize that there is a newer 2020 book translated by Deborah Dawkin and Erik Suggevik, as well as edited by Tore Rem with an introduction by Martin Puchner; one of its biggest changes from this 1961 text is that The Pillars of the Community was replaced with The Lady from the Sea and Rosmersholm. I'm sure the most updated version is very good (I haven't read it -- yet!), though I do want to voice my appreciation for Ellis-Fermor's elegant and simple edition. I found her introduction actually good at introducing Henrik Ibsen and his play's context + literary criticism without overloading the reader too much with information, which a lot of more modern Penguin Classics tend to do (and I'm not necessarily complaining about that, it's just I did really like that the Introduction for this copy was only a few pages long so I could immediately get into the plays themselves). I liked Ellis-Fermor's notes; although few, they had nice personal anecdotes that brought out her talent as a translator and researcher. I think the way the three plays were organized chronologically was also a good choice. Concluding with Hedda Gabler was the best thing for this collection.
And now for the plays themselves.
The Pillars of the Community
This one was my favorite out of the three. I had read it before in Penguin's other Ibsen collection A Doll's House and Other Plays (2016), but I don't think I appreciated it as well as I do now. (Probably because I was so in love with ADH and another play Ghosts to notice how economical yet incisive Ibsen was in TPotC). I found the character of Karsten Bernick a bit more engaging this second time around, especially his conversations with his wife's estranged sister, who also happens to be his ex-lover Lona Hessel. I felt so bad for Betty Bernick all over again, even though
I liked the play's opening scene with the community women gathered around the State school teacher Rörlund, especially the running "joke" that they were discussing fallen women and how best to deal with them, which of course foreshadows the play's resident "fallen" woman Lona at the end of the act to "let in some fresh air." I thought it was brilliant that Ibsen managed to convey the stuffiness of conservative society, as well as some of its ridiculous rituals and beliefs (the bumbling and grumpy Hilmar Tönnesen made me snort several times. He was like a Norwegian Ebenezer Scrooge).
I think the TPotC had the best pacing out of all the three plays in this collection, as well as some of the best dialogue exchanges between characters. I smiled when Dina Dorf says, That part reminded me of Nora Helmer and her sad struggle to be treated as a rational human being by her clueless husband -- not merely a wife, mother or fragile doll. I hope Dina found what she was looking for after she
Lastly, I found the shipwright character Aune quite compelling whenever he appeared. He represented Ibsen's sympathies with class struggles amidst a "progressive" community, and his commentary on the new nautical technology replacing human workers and potentially harming them with their machinery was very apt. Karsten was at his most dislikable when he mistreated Aune.
The Wild Duck
Act One was quite good, especially that closing conversation between Werle and his son Gregers. I didn't expect Ibsen to portray such a vicious, edgy relationship between father and son so early on in the play, and they paralleled well with Hjalmar Ekdal's loving, albeit pitying, dynamic with his father, and likewisde Hjalmar and Hedvig.
The play kind of teetered off after Act One for me. Aside from Relling, I didn't find the characters in TWD all that compelling -- actually, I hated Gregers and Hjalmar by the end of it. I understand that theirs is a clear case of a manipulator and victim, but Even though I found Hedvig's characterization a bit flat (she really is the perfect daughter; how dull), I still felt for her and her mother when Hjalmar abandons them, only to come crawling back the next day with verbal abuses whilst simultaneously taking advantage of his domestic privileges as if nothing's changed. (There's that scene where he Hjalmar really is weak and spineless, though his role as a character was very effective. Gregers thought he was more of a man than he actually was, and when everything inevitably goes wrong so fast, I agreed very much with Relling's words on how "idealism" does more to spoil common happiness than anything else. It's certainly a good morality play, though again Hedvig was too perfect for literal and metaphorical target practice.
Hedda Gabler
I don't have much to say about this one, ironically. HG is cited as one of Ibsen's best work because of its main heroine. While I agree she's interesting, I didn't find her all that likeable. I did think she was one of Ibsen's most realistic characters though. People have compared Hedda to being as psychologically complex as Hamlet, but I'd say she's more like a more cold-hearted and selfish Lady Macbeth. I say that because, unlike Lady Macbeth, her messy destruction and overall dissatisfaction with what her life has come to are all self-made and selfish, which certainly marks her as autonomously complex individual, but not much of a substantial person in my eyes. She had no motivation other than to make everyone else as miserable as she was. I found her vain, cruelly manipulative, melodramatic, and even whining. Like with TWD, I didn't find many of the characters in HG all that intriguing. Yes, I can acknowledge Hedda Gabler is a well written female character for her time and Ibsen did a good job with her, but I just personally did not find myself on her side at any point.
And now for the plays themselves.
The Pillars of the Community
"'Look into any man you choose, and you will find, in every single man, at least one black spot that he has to cover.'
'And you call yourselves the pillars of the community.'
'The community has nothing better to support it.'"
This one was my favorite out of the three. I had read it before in Penguin's other Ibsen collection A Doll's House and Other Plays (2016), but I don't think I appreciated it as well as I do now. (Probably because I was so in love with ADH and another play Ghosts to notice how economical yet incisive Ibsen was in TPotC). I found the character of Karsten Bernick a bit more engaging this second time around, especially his conversations with his wife's estranged sister, who also happens to be his ex-lover Lona Hessel. I felt so bad for Betty Bernick all over again, even though
I liked the play's opening scene with the community women gathered around the State school teacher Rörlund, especially the running "joke" that they were discussing fallen women and how best to deal with them, which of course foreshadows the play's resident "fallen" woman Lona at the end of the act to "let in some fresh air." I thought it was brilliant that Ibsen managed to convey the stuffiness of conservative society, as well as some of its ridiculous rituals and beliefs (the bumbling and grumpy Hilmar Tönnesen made me snort several times. He was like a Norwegian Ebenezer Scrooge).
I think the TPotC had the best pacing out of all the three plays in this collection, as well as some of the best dialogue exchanges between characters. I smiled when Dina Dorf says, That part reminded me of Nora Helmer and her sad struggle to be treated as a rational human being by her clueless husband -- not merely a wife, mother or fragile doll. I hope Dina found what she was looking for after she
Lastly, I found the shipwright character Aune quite compelling whenever he appeared. He represented Ibsen's sympathies with class struggles amidst a "progressive" community, and his commentary on the new nautical technology replacing human workers and potentially harming them with their machinery was very apt. Karsten was at his most dislikable when he mistreated Aune.
The Wild Duck
"I assure you that, apart from my melancholy, which is easy to understand, I find myself as well as any man can wish to be."
Act One was quite good, especially that closing conversation between Werle and his son Gregers. I didn't expect Ibsen to portray such a vicious, edgy relationship between father and son so early on in the play, and they paralleled well with Hjalmar Ekdal's loving, albeit pitying, dynamic with his father, and likewisde Hjalmar and Hedvig.
The play kind of teetered off after Act One for me. Aside from Relling, I didn't find the characters in TWD all that compelling -- actually, I hated Gregers and Hjalmar by the end of it. I understand that theirs is a clear case of a manipulator and victim, but Even though I found Hedvig's characterization a bit flat (she really is the perfect daughter; how dull), I still felt for her and her mother when Hjalmar abandons them, only to come crawling back the next day with verbal abuses whilst simultaneously taking advantage of his domestic privileges as if nothing's changed. (There's that scene where he Hjalmar really is weak and spineless, though his role as a character was very effective. Gregers thought he was more of a man than he actually was, and when everything inevitably goes wrong so fast, I agreed very much with Relling's words on how "idealism" does more to spoil common happiness than anything else. It's certainly a good morality play, though again Hedvig was too perfect for literal and metaphorical target practice.
Hedda Gabler
I don't have much to say about this one, ironically. HG is cited as one of Ibsen's best work because of its main heroine. While I agree she's interesting, I didn't find her all that likeable. I did think she was one of Ibsen's most realistic characters though. People have compared Hedda to being as psychologically complex as Hamlet, but I'd say she's more like a more cold-hearted and selfish Lady Macbeth. I say that because, unlike Lady Macbeth, her messy destruction and overall dissatisfaction with what her life has come to are all self-made and selfish, which certainly marks her as autonomously complex individual, but not much of a substantial person in my eyes. She had no motivation other than to make everyone else as miserable as she was. I found her vain, cruelly manipulative, melodramatic, and even whining. Like with TWD, I didn't find many of the characters in HG all that intriguing. Yes, I can acknowledge Hedda Gabler is a well written female character for her time and Ibsen did a good job with her, but I just personally did not find myself on her side at any point.
July 28, 2011
A weird story about a strange and hateful woman.
December 12, 2023
I had to read this for school and I honestly did not think I would like the play since I thought it would be difficult to read like Shakespeare. I was so wrong. For starters the dialogue (almost) sounds like conversations you'd hear in real life. Studying this in school also made me realise how much planning went into this play and how much depth there is in the words. Like it's honestly the best play I have ever read and easily the best text I have studied in school. I had so much fun going through it in class and writing about it.
To me, Hedda Gabler as a character is sort of a paradox because she constantly wants to have power over herself and everyone around her and to be free from social norms, but she never actually does anything to achieve this because she is afraid of how people will perceive her for going against societal expectations. She's such an interesting character and studying this is the best thing that ever happened to me.
To me, Hedda Gabler as a character is sort of a paradox because she constantly wants to have power over herself and everyone around her and to be free from social norms, but she never actually does anything to achieve this because she is afraid of how people will perceive her for going against societal expectations. She's such an interesting character and studying this is the best thing that ever happened to me.
September 26, 2020
It's been a long time since I've read Ibsen, back when I was studying (really) the History of World Drama in one 14 week semester.
So when we were presented with Hedda Gabler as a proto-feminist icon, I was kind yeah, okay and we were onto Wilde and Shaw and whoever was next before we could take a breath.
With more time now, Hedda comes over as an entitled brat. She fits in with the rest of the characters in these three plays who come across as just awful people, with the possible exception of Gina and the various children.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that Ibsen knew exactly what he was doing.
Most amusing, Ibsen seems to be clearly targeting the hypocrisy of the middle classes who would have been the audience for his plays. Obviously they came back for more. I am going to look into this as I read further into this. Suggestions are welcome.
So when we were presented with Hedda Gabler as a proto-feminist icon, I was kind yeah, okay and we were onto Wilde and Shaw and whoever was next before we could take a breath.
With more time now, Hedda comes over as an entitled brat. She fits in with the rest of the characters in these three plays who come across as just awful people, with the possible exception of Gina and the various children.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that Ibsen knew exactly what he was doing.
Most amusing, Ibsen seems to be clearly targeting the hypocrisy of the middle classes who would have been the audience for his plays. Obviously they came back for more. I am going to look into this as I read further into this. Suggestions are welcome.
February 24, 2021
Hedda Gabler and The Wild Duck were too similar in theme and resolution to be put together so closely. I've never read Ibsen before and I can see why these plays were popular or shocking at the time. It can be frustrating or confusing at times how the most important plot points are never spoken, but are spoken around and are insinuated with pauses and interruptions. If that were every once in awhile it would've been ok, but it seemed like ALL of the important plot points were never spoken and after a few hundred pages of that, I really longed for people to finish their sentences and just say what they meant.
November 20, 2012
Originally published on my blog here and here in June 2001.
The Pillars of the Community
Also known in English as The Pillars of Society, this play is really the start of the series of plays with social messages which so scandalised nineteenth century Europe. It is a vicious attack on the complacent hypocrisy of Norwegian small town society, especially on the "it couldn't happen here" attitude taken towards the scandals of the wider world.
Karsten Bernick runs a shipping firm in a coastal town, an important business as the railway doesn't yet pass through it. His wealth and eminence is based on a lie; by pretending that his family's rumoured hidden wealth (in fact non-existent) had been stolen by his brother in law Johan Töaut;nnesen, who emigrated to the US, he was able to persuade creditors that he was suffering only a temporary loss and compound with them until his business became more healthy. No one, not even his wife, knows the truth, but now Töaut;nnesen is returning to Norway. At the same time, two other scandals seem to be about to break; the railway is coming, and Bernick has bought the land along its route cheaply, standing to make a huge profit; and he has accepted work at his shipyard that cannot possibly be done in the time allowed, which means that shoddy repairs are likely to lead to loss of life.
It is not just Bernick who is a hypocrite; all of this around him who might be considered pillars of the community, are really as bad. The only honest adult among the characters native to the town is Bernick's foreman Aune, and he is forced by the threat of dismissal to make the poor quality ship repairs against his better judgment.
One of Ibsen's themes is the passing of corruption from father to son, and it can be seen in a mild form in this play in Olaf, Bernick's son, who is keen to travel, to take part in the modern world, and at one point is thought to have stowed away on the dangerous ship.
The main purpose of the play is the attack on the complacent superiority of the relatively unsophisticated Norwegian bourgeois, and it succeeds admirably, paving the way for the greater plays to come.
Hedda Gabler
The character of Hedda is in some ways an inversion of that of Nora in A Doll's House. Nora starts out as the quiet, dutiful wife, and is eventually driven to rebellion by the bourgeois conventionality of her husband. Hedda was a society success who married a wrong choice after the death of her father, and who is very quickly crushed by his dullness.
Hedda and her new husband, Jörgen Terman, begin the play by returning to Norway from their honeymoon. (The fact that Hedda is generally known by her maiden name is significant of her attitude to her marriage.) It is almost immediately clear from her interaction with Tesman's maiden aunts (who brought him up) that there is a wide social divide between them, and her conversation with the urbane Judge Brack reveals that there is a similar gap in terms of their interests. Brack's aim is to pressurise Hedda into accepting him as her lover, something that she is unwilling to do because she doesn't want anyone to have power over her.
This is really the character background; the plot itself is about the attempts of a former suitor of Hedda's, Ejlert Lövborg, to put his life back together after succumbing to alcoholism. While the Termans were away on their honeymoon, he has produced a book (on the history of culture), which has taken the town by storm. His rehabilitation was the result of the inspiration given him by Thea Elvsted, who was at school with Hedda but who doesn't remember her as a friend. Hedda manipulates Lövborg into returning to his self-destructive hedonism, and by taunting him about a lack of courage when he thought about killing himself when earlier rejected by Hedda, eventually drives him to suicide; at the same time, she destroys the manuscript of his new book, which should prove even more original. This is all because of jealousy over the fact that he has found true love with Thea, a girl she has always despised.
There was always an important place for the individual in Ibsen's work (think of both Brand and Peer Gynt among his early plays, both about how an individual expresses himself). The social plays such as A Doll's House are often about the relationship between an individual and society as a whole, and particularly about the difference between private and public morality. By the time he wrote Hedda Gabler, Ibsen's focus has moved back to his earlier theme of the expression of individuality; the difference between Hedda and Peer is that Peer Gynt is trying to work out who he is while Hedda knows her identity but is increasingly unable to express it except destructively. She is so much the centre of the play that there is far less symbolic context than usual in Ibsen's work; the main symbols have to do with posterity and children (Lövborg's new manuscript is called his child; Tesman's aunts are tremendously excited by the idea that Hedda might be pregnant). Thus the portrayal of Hedda is of vital importance to the production of the play, and it is a pity that the one performance I have seen (Fiona Shaw in the mid-nineties) was rather marred by turning it into melodrama.
The Pillars of the Community
Also known in English as The Pillars of Society, this play is really the start of the series of plays with social messages which so scandalised nineteenth century Europe. It is a vicious attack on the complacent hypocrisy of Norwegian small town society, especially on the "it couldn't happen here" attitude taken towards the scandals of the wider world.
Karsten Bernick runs a shipping firm in a coastal town, an important business as the railway doesn't yet pass through it. His wealth and eminence is based on a lie; by pretending that his family's rumoured hidden wealth (in fact non-existent) had been stolen by his brother in law Johan Töaut;nnesen, who emigrated to the US, he was able to persuade creditors that he was suffering only a temporary loss and compound with them until his business became more healthy. No one, not even his wife, knows the truth, but now Töaut;nnesen is returning to Norway. At the same time, two other scandals seem to be about to break; the railway is coming, and Bernick has bought the land along its route cheaply, standing to make a huge profit; and he has accepted work at his shipyard that cannot possibly be done in the time allowed, which means that shoddy repairs are likely to lead to loss of life.
It is not just Bernick who is a hypocrite; all of this around him who might be considered pillars of the community, are really as bad. The only honest adult among the characters native to the town is Bernick's foreman Aune, and he is forced by the threat of dismissal to make the poor quality ship repairs against his better judgment.
One of Ibsen's themes is the passing of corruption from father to son, and it can be seen in a mild form in this play in Olaf, Bernick's son, who is keen to travel, to take part in the modern world, and at one point is thought to have stowed away on the dangerous ship.
The main purpose of the play is the attack on the complacent superiority of the relatively unsophisticated Norwegian bourgeois, and it succeeds admirably, paving the way for the greater plays to come.
Hedda Gabler
The character of Hedda is in some ways an inversion of that of Nora in A Doll's House. Nora starts out as the quiet, dutiful wife, and is eventually driven to rebellion by the bourgeois conventionality of her husband. Hedda was a society success who married a wrong choice after the death of her father, and who is very quickly crushed by his dullness.
Hedda and her new husband, Jörgen Terman, begin the play by returning to Norway from their honeymoon. (The fact that Hedda is generally known by her maiden name is significant of her attitude to her marriage.) It is almost immediately clear from her interaction with Tesman's maiden aunts (who brought him up) that there is a wide social divide between them, and her conversation with the urbane Judge Brack reveals that there is a similar gap in terms of their interests. Brack's aim is to pressurise Hedda into accepting him as her lover, something that she is unwilling to do because she doesn't want anyone to have power over her.
This is really the character background; the plot itself is about the attempts of a former suitor of Hedda's, Ejlert Lövborg, to put his life back together after succumbing to alcoholism. While the Termans were away on their honeymoon, he has produced a book (on the history of culture), which has taken the town by storm. His rehabilitation was the result of the inspiration given him by Thea Elvsted, who was at school with Hedda but who doesn't remember her as a friend. Hedda manipulates Lövborg into returning to his self-destructive hedonism, and by taunting him about a lack of courage when he thought about killing himself when earlier rejected by Hedda, eventually drives him to suicide; at the same time, she destroys the manuscript of his new book, which should prove even more original. This is all because of jealousy over the fact that he has found true love with Thea, a girl she has always despised.
There was always an important place for the individual in Ibsen's work (think of both Brand and Peer Gynt among his early plays, both about how an individual expresses himself). The social plays such as A Doll's House are often about the relationship between an individual and society as a whole, and particularly about the difference between private and public morality. By the time he wrote Hedda Gabler, Ibsen's focus has moved back to his earlier theme of the expression of individuality; the difference between Hedda and Peer is that Peer Gynt is trying to work out who he is while Hedda knows her identity but is increasingly unable to express it except destructively. She is so much the centre of the play that there is far less symbolic context than usual in Ibsen's work; the main symbols have to do with posterity and children (Lövborg's new manuscript is called his child; Tesman's aunts are tremendously excited by the idea that Hedda might be pregnant). Thus the portrayal of Hedda is of vital importance to the production of the play, and it is a pity that the one performance I have seen (Fiona Shaw in the mid-nineties) was rather marred by turning it into melodrama.
January 27, 2018
Published 1950 and still readable in 2018, which puts Ms Fermor's first volume of Ibsen translations ahead of a number of other 'Penguin Classics' from the same era. A very good place to start on your journey through the great man's output. Ibsen remains the first Nineteenth Century dramatist you should look at and these are three of his most affecting. Very strongly recommended.
November 9, 2018
not quite as strong as the other ibsen volume i have but still good. the pillars of the community is the weakest of the three but the wild duck and hedda gabler are both bleak tragedies. interesting stuff in the translators notes on how 19th century norwegian is more distant from modern norwegian than 19th century english is from modern english
November 7, 2020
only read hedda so can't speak for the rest. it was good, i guess, a nice dive into the female psyche or whatever. but did it blow my mind? not really. the themes coming out of this are quite similar to medea, honestly, and i felt like medea was better executed, but that is a completely personal preference and nothing else.
March 19, 2023
Tea & Ink/February: A book with a character’s name in the title
3.5 stars*
The ending was unexpected (ha!) but it certainly provides food for thought on a woman's place in the world and what's expected of us (still) and what's *still* entrapping us. The impact of this play is similar to Ibsen's 'A Doll's House.' I would love to see this play on stage.
3.5 stars*
The ending was unexpected (ha!) but it certainly provides food for thought on a woman's place in the world and what's expected of us (still) and what's *still* entrapping us. The impact of this play is similar to Ibsen's 'A Doll's House.' I would love to see this play on stage.
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