Social morality within Hedda Gabler dictated that a women should be content doing household chores and caring for men. The problem of Hedda Gabler illuminates the universal problem of woman in a society built by men. Hedda, once the best catch in town, is a woman restricted by Victorian values and trapped in a loveless marriage with a boring, boring man. Her only solace is manipulating others, which she does about 94% of the play. Tesman's character brings up questions about gender roles in marriage and in society. This is what made the play so radical at the time, and so terribly relevant today. I feel that Tesman is like a woman trapped in a man's body, just as Hedda is very much like a man trapped in a woman's body. Tesman may be the breadwinner in the marriage, but we almost get the feeling that he would rather be the homemaker. At the same time, Hedda is so bored and unhappy in her role as the homemaker that she shoots herself at the end of the play. She longs for the purpose and sense of control over her destiny that men in society have. We could go on and on about the position of women in the world today, what’s changed since the 19th century and what hasn’t. Their are still a lot of gender roles that exist today like
most CEO's and leaders of countries are male, in Education (Teachers) and child care sector are female dominated. The list could go on and on.
Hedda Gabler denies the role that women were portrayed to be, in a society of male domination. Hedda uses her marriage and her higher status for control in her society. In the play, it shows a type of disfunction within the other characters. This gives Hedda some leniency to control the people around her. Hedda hides her emotions in order to have a strong hold on everyone around her, so she can have all the focus and attention set on her. When Lovborg tries to get Hedda to explain how she could give herself away to Tesman, instead of himself. She shows Lovborg all of Tesman and her's photographs, of their trip, to order her power; then she states to his question of why, by saying, "If you keep talking to me that way, I just won't speak to you" (Ibsen 811). I agree that the characters question the gender roles of society. Hedda is a women that lones for attention, change, and a power for a voice. She feels bound to use her ability to manipulate the minds to steer her away from her true social norm. Ibsen renounces her role in society when Brack regains power over her, while Tesman directs his focus away from her at the end of the play. Then her voice and control deminishes into her own destruction. Ibsen still shows momen as a minority in society which is still in affect today.
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