Hedda Gabler

Ibsen's drama of a general's daughter caged by marriage, whose boredom turns cruel and then fatal.

Specifications & Metrics

author

Henrik Ibsen

type

Realist drama

era

Modern realism (1890)

language

Norwegian

setting

Christiania (Oslo), Norway

source text

The life of Emilie Bardach, Ibsen's acquaintance

acts

4 acts

Relative Scale in Plays

Core Principles & Analysis

• Premiered in Munich and Copenhagen in 1891.
• Hedda's inherited pistols tie her fate to her father's military world.
• Ibsen called her demonic rather than neurotic, resisting doctors' labels.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Hedda Gabler