This dark psychological drama was first produced in Norway in 1890 and depicts the evil machinations of a ruthless, nihilistic heroine: the infamous Hedda Gabler. Readers will discover a masterly exploration of the nature of evil, along with the potential for tragedy that lies in human frailty. A true masterpiece.
Hedda Gabler
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up-Ibsen's classic is well served by the talents of Juliet Stevenson and seven other British actors, all veterans of the Royal Shakespeare Company, stage, and film. With excellent diction and generally convincing emotion, the polished cast conveys the dark despair that touches everyone in the play, and eventually overwhelms Hedda. Brief, but pleasant music gently marks the end of each act, and sound quality is good throughout. Exceptionally complete liner notes make it easy to find a specific track, and there's plenty of playbill-style information about the performers and the play. While this recordings is not a must buy, it will be a helpful audio component to classes studying the work of Norway's great 19th century playwright.
Barbara Wysocki, Cora J. Belden Library, Rocky Hill, CT
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Barbara Wysocki, Cora J. Belden Library, Rocky Hill, CT
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Drama in four acts by Henrik Ibsen, published in 1890 and produced the following year. The work reveals Hedda Gabler as a selfish, cynical woman bored by her marriage to the scholar Jorgen Tesman. Her father's pair of pistols provide intermittent diversion, as do the attentions of the ne'er-do-well Judge Brack. When Thea Elvestad, a longtime acquaintance of Hedda's, reveals that she has left her husband for the writer Ejlert Lovborg, who once pursued Hedda, the latter becomes vengeful. Learning that Ejlert has forsworn liquor, Hedda first steers him to a rowdy gathering at Brack's and subsequently burns the reputedly brilliant manuscript that he loses there while drunk. Witnessing his desperation, she sends him one of the pistols and he shoots himself. Brack deduces Hedda's complicity and demands that she become his mistress in exchange for his silence about the matter. Instead, she ends her ennui with the remaining pistol. The work is remarkable for its nonjudgmental depiction of an immoral, destructive character, one of the most vividly realized women in dramatic literature. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Hedda Gabler lives in an absolute prison. Her idylic residence is a prison, her marriage to a hopeful "ilustrious intellectual" is a prison, but above all, she lives imprisoned by herself, trapped by the social parameters that demand her to live the way she does. Hedda just can't figure out how to get out of that tedious state. She's intelligent, cold, severe; Gabler has an almost prodigious capacity to obtain all the information she inquires about the people around her; she manipulates them, she seems to get involved, but she simply tries to take advantage of the situation. Apparently, she doesn't feel much, but in reality, Hedda is in constant turmoil - her involvement has to do, almost exclusively, with what she just cannot allow herself to do.
For this woman, being able to have some sort of "power" over someone becomes the most exciting of all experiences, however - there's a point when she no longer will be able to manipulate the situation on her favor, she will realize how many forces have power over her; therefore, she will simply do the most congruent and coherent of things, as unexpected and shocking as the outcome of this play could possibly be.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio Cassette
Henrik Ibsen was truly the Father of Modern Drama! His plays are much more "in-tune" with today's life than many scholars want to believe or will admit. Hedda was a powerful woman, who on the surface appeared to be confined by a dress, imprisoned in man's house, and smothered by a male-dominated society. It would appear that Thea Elvstead was the woman with more control, but this is not true. Hedda was a calculating "bitch" who dared (quite shrewdly) to cross over her set in stone "boundaries," manipulate others, and stand back and watch others lives be destroyed as a result. But when she is backed into a corner by the "new" creative couple (George & Thea) and Judge Brack, she takes the final power into her own hand. How ironic that the power is her late father's pistol. How tragic is her death when it was the ultimate control of a destiny that she so strongly desired? Henrik, you were a true visonary!!!
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Angelique
Format:Hardcover
Aw Contrare my friends, Hedda was not bored, but trapped. A woman before her time, as most of Ibsen's female characters, unable to yield to the societal norms of the day. A strong, well educated woman existing in a time when permission to go out and about had to be asked of the dominant male of the house. The insurgence of the Industrial Revolution was taking place, the world was changing quickly, and with it old manors and chivalry was being extincted. These mores which Hedda had been raised to cling to were falling away for the world, but not for Hedda. They ran concourse to the blood in her veins.
Despite an inner strength of character and longing to dominate, inspire, and influence, she found herself torn between the new world and the way in which she was raised. Those values and their presence is signified by the silent character of her father, in the form of a picture that is continually refferred to.
When Hedda is overshadowed by Mrs. Elvstead in Lovborg's life she scrambles to make her mark, to have some influence. The nature of that inspiration is of no interest to her. As a madman who longs for fame and finds it in a violent act, Hedda does what she does for the power/influence in it, but not out of malice. Though we, the audience, may judge what her actions may have lead to, this is a moot avenue of perspective. It is "why" she does what she does that makes her such an intriguing character.
Despite an inner strength of character and longing to dominate, inspire, and influence, she found herself torn between the new world and the way in which she was raised. Those values and their presence is signified by the silent character of her father, in the form of a picture that is continually refferred to.
When Hedda is overshadowed by Mrs. Elvstead in Lovborg's life she scrambles to make her mark, to have some influence. The nature of that inspiration is of no interest to her. As a madman who longs for fame and finds it in a violent act, Hedda does what she does for the power/influence in it, but not out of malice. Though we, the audience, may judge what her actions may have lead to, this is a moot avenue of perspective. It is "why" she does what she does that makes her such an intriguing character.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By "honeydick"
Format:Audio CD
A great audio play which pulls the listener in and never lets go. As the story progresses the tension mounts and mounts until you can't take the suspense no longer. Juliet Stevenson does a superb job in portraying the manipulative but reckless Hedda and the rest of the cast are top notch. This is a brilliant presentation of ibsen's play showing the foibles of life and the dangers of desire. A wonderful audio experience to be listened to over and over again. Highly recommended. This audio book contains two CDs and is a full cast presentation of Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By joyce brown
Format:Paperback
Many people view Hedda as a heroine who was trapped in a world that was not comparable to her train of thought;however I view her as a malicious implacable twisted woman. Nothing in which she did suprised me at all. I felt no remorse in her passing but rather a deliberate sigh of relief. The only thing she ever had to offer was sarcastic insults and low blows to one's intelligence. At the age of 29 Hedda possed the strife and iniquity of a woman twice her age.
Hedda lives in a mans world having been raised by her father who was militant. She strives not to let being a woman hinder her from lifes adventures, so she goes things that most men do. She has a nick for blowing things up and anything that gets in her hands is destroyed. She made all women in her presence succomb to her aggressivenss, all men fell prey to her wit and beauty.
Hedda married Tesman to appear as if she was doing something with her life. He may have been inherently smart but he was naive to the ways of Hedda. Lovburg was a smart man and he could carry on a descent conversation with Hedda but he was pathetic in a sense. It seemed as if he lead a double life and I viewd him as being a drifter. The only person who was on her level of equal intelligence truly was Judge Brack. He understood her and read her like a book; they were literally the same person. He did find her escapades to be quite amusing but at the same time he kind of held a grudge towards her amybe from some past rendezvous.In the end his name Judge took total effect. He held Hedda's fate in his hand and she was not about to let him win that easily. Hedda didn't prove to bite as loud as her bark because she finished herself off when she lost power and control of a situation in which she started.
Hedda lives in a mans world having been raised by her father who was militant. She strives not to let being a woman hinder her from lifes adventures, so she goes things that most men do. She has a nick for blowing things up and anything that gets in her hands is destroyed. She made all women in her presence succomb to her aggressivenss, all men fell prey to her wit and beauty.
Hedda married Tesman to appear as if she was doing something with her life. He may have been inherently smart but he was naive to the ways of Hedda. Lovburg was a smart man and he could carry on a descent conversation with Hedda but he was pathetic in a sense. It seemed as if he lead a double life and I viewd him as being a drifter. The only person who was on her level of equal intelligence truly was Judge Brack. He understood her and read her like a book; they were literally the same person. He did find her escapades to be quite amusing but at the same time he kind of held a grudge towards her amybe from some past rendezvous.In the end his name Judge took total effect. He held Hedda's fate in his hand and she was not about to let him win that easily. Hedda didn't prove to bite as loud as her bark because she finished herself off when she lost power and control of a situation in which she started.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sad
Sad story. Nothing exciting about it. A selfish woman who goes completely off track in her life and reaps what she sows.
Published 1 month ago by Sandra E. Schechter
5.0 out of 5 stars
the best play -writer in the world.
I am an norwegian and it was interesting to read it in english. It is still interesting to follow the persons in the play.
Published 2 months ago by ŘYVIN RIEGE
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 Stars to Ibsen and to Shipping
Play was great, but scary because there are several women in my life that are Hedda Gabbler so it was like reading an autobiography at points. Read more
Published 5 months ago by B
5.0 out of 5 stars
wonderful
I love reading the classics. And the Kindle is the best way to enjoy. I suggest this to everyone who wants to step out of the box and into the past.
Published 7 months ago by LTH
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good
The play is really interesting and the service was great it was automatically downloaded. I really enjoyed reading this play. The kindle app really helped. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Frank
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hedda Gabler
This book is a classic because the message will always be the same, "Do Unto Others as you will have them do unto you" or more simply put, "What goes around comes around".
Published 12 months ago by Connie Barks
1.0 out of 5 stars
shipping was horrible
The book came to my house and i thought it was going to be great. After a while of waiting the book comes torn in half from the top to the middle of the book. Read more
Published on November 29, 2010 by Ikeenlover
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Stunning Drama
Considered the greatest playwright since Shakespeare by many, Henrik Ibsen is the acknowledged father of modern drama. Read more
Published on November 29, 2009 by Bill R. Moore
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent edition
Hedda Gabler is one of the greatest plays in modern theatre. The introduction is a bit redundant in places, but it gives an excellent account of Henrik Ibsen's writing process and... Read more
Published on November 5, 2006 by H. Bowman
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautifully structured play of a misunderstood woman.
This play is a very profound character study of a quite extra-ordinary woman. Hedda Gabler is an anti-heroine. Read more
Published on June 11, 2006 by S. Schwartz
