Sunday, October 26, 2008
depressing
Besides being boring, Hedda Gabler is also very depressing. Hedda, Lovborg, and the old invalid lady all die within a week of each other. George is stuck in a loveless marriage until his wife's suicide. Thea is so controlled and oppressed by her husband and former employer that she has to leave him. And, the one ray of light and positive thing that happens in the play (hedda possibly having a baby) is destroyed. Wow i mean i guess ibsen demonstrates the need for social change, but did he have to do it by creating such a miserable play? even hamlet had some comic relief...
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5 comments:
lol; "get thee to a nunnery." best comic relief line ever.
Anyways, not everything is miserable. Thea and Tesman have the exciting new manuscript to write! yay...but I guess you're right. The manipulations are just vindictive, and the tone of the play just goes on a downward spiral--just like lorca. Looking at the setting again, the play starts off bright, but turns to darkness (like how pure white turns to blue in Lorca). And yes claire, it's a tragedy = depressing. Although, I have the feeling that if we acted it out and Johnny was the director, it would be hilarious :P
Yeah, I wonder why it's called a tragedy? lol.
But anyway, it was really annoying how Ibsen decided to kill like all the characters in one act.
It was a too much to soak in all in 20 pages!
Yeah I see your point especially the fact that I think this play actually happened within a two/three day time period. Life is grim but not this grim. And everything is miserable unlike what others mentioned. Thea is in a terrible position with her husband as well as with Lovborg. Tesman is naive, lost his aunt,and is envious of Lovborg's ideas/book. Even though there is some hope for Thea and Tesman at the end, they went through so much tragedy to get there, and we can't forget that Brack is still around at the end, he may ask to join that inimate circle of friends to complete the triangle. But even though it is supposed to be a tragedy, at least in shakespeare it seemed that the conflicts would eventually be resolved and the people recognized their mistakes and those left over would survive but remember those lost. I don't think Hedda or Lovborg will really be remember for who they are but more of what they represented (a famous writer, and a beautiful generals daughter) and that is more tragic than their actual deaths.
completly agree claire. this play is very sad and it lacks that spark that really connects with the audience.
And thanks for that complement David.
Well, i thought Hedda Gabler was rather humerous. Maybe it was just me lol. Anyway, everything wasn't totally depressing. I mean the love that Aunt Julie had for Tesman was admirable. The love that Thea had for Lovborg was admirable. Yes, the ending was very sad, but depressing is kind of pushing it, don't you think? As far the baby being a good thing...do you really think it would have? I mean Hedda didn't even want to acknowledge that she was pregnant, and killed herself and the baby. That tells a lot about the life that child would have had. Hedda wouldn't have loved it very much because she didn't even want it, and...it just doesn't seem like that would have been a good thing.
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