Hedda Gabler
by Henrik Ibsen, Kenneth McLeish

Name: Hedda Gabler
Brand: Henrik Ibsen
SKU: 9780802138064
Rating: 3.83 (36668 reviews)

Hedda Gabler Book Cover — Hedda Gabler Cover

Highlights

Small Cast

Female

Male

American Adaptation

What readers are saying

Readers appreciate the complexity and depth of Hedda Gabler, often highlighting her as a powerful and intriguing character. Many find the play to be a significant commentary on societal expectations of women, showcasing Ibsen's progressive views for its time. The exploration of themes such as manipulation, boredom, and the struggle for autonomy resonates strongly with audiences, making it a memorable experience.

Complex and powerful character Thought-provoking themes Progressive for its time Some find it slow-paced Ending felt abrupt

Synopsis

In 1890, Henrik Ibsen premiered Hedda Gabler, a play questioning the role of women in Victorian society.

Some audiences have viewed Gabler as a woman driven to desperation simply because her world has turned out to be less charmed than she hoped.

For others, she is a victim of her times, unwilling to devote herself, as was expected of her, to the duties of home.

Jon Robin Baitz has brushed away the cobwebs, and he serves as an ambassador from Ibsen's age to our own, preserving the intensity of the original but translating it into a spare, contemporary idiom.

His adaptation provides an opportunity to understand the play through a lens shaped by feminism and a theatrical tradition beginning with Beckett.

Trapped by the conventions of her age, Gabler is both a martyr and a female incarnation of Vladimir and Estragon, longing for a salvation that will likely never arrive.