Henrik Ibsen highlights a sense of entrapment in the play Hedda Gabler by employing several dramatic techniques that often reassert the implications of dialogue, thus enhancing the understanding of each character’s state of mind among the audience. Ibsen primarily uses the character of Hedda, a bourgeois woman trapped in a loveless marriage to convey this feeling of confinement by presenting her as a woman who seems deeply frustrated with the narrow and restricted expectations of the 19th-century society. Through her mindset that is always conflicted between her duty to behave with the utmost propriety and her desire to break free from these expectations, Ibsen exposes the idea of psychological entrapment which is supported by the dialogue, …show more content…
By admitting to succumb to societal expectations of getting married at the ‘right age’ as suggested by Hedda herself in, ‘I'd danced myself out. My time was up’, Ibsen captures the essence of Hedda’s character which is to contain her inner feelings under layers of fabricated complacencies to avoid any disregard from society. This is illustrated by the stage directions in Act one when she is alone in the room, ‘Raising her arms and clenching her fists as if in a frenzy’, that reveal her frustration concealed behind her meticulously feigned calmness that she displays to everyone in the play. Through this, Ibsen presents the suffocating and entrapping atmosphere of the 19th-century society where women were looked down upon if they would express their opinions or frustration. Ibsen employs stage directions such as, ‘she pulled back the curtains from the glass door and stands there looking out’ to portray the strong urge of Hedda to escape from the monotony in her life as shown in this case where she is irked by her husband’s callous obsession over his old slippers. This act of opening the curtains connotes Hedda’s longing to escape her orthodox life and her designated role of a docile and unassertive wife. An extension to these feelings of entrapment is the fact that Hedda is endowed with a …show more content…
Elvsted are linked by the underlying theme of entrapment as they both have a contrastive approach towards dealing with societal expectations. Despite being subjected to the same social code; both the characters sharply contrast in terms of their exhibition of courage. Ibsen presents Mrs Elvsted as a woman who possesses the strength to go against the values and criticisms of the 19th-century society and pursue her happiness, whether this be her act of ‘pack[ing] her things’ and leaving her husband forever or her indifferent attitude to what society would think of her as she says, ‘…they must say what they like’. Although Hedda like Mrs Elvsted is trapped in the societal decorum, she does not possess the courage to break free from these dictations of the society and consequently, face a scandal. Her inadvertent astonishment at Mrs. Elvsted’s bold act of enquiring about Lovborg is evident by the dialogue ‘But Thea, could you bring yourself to do that?’ Ibsen through this significant dialogue reiterates the extent of entrapment that welled up inside Hedda and, therefore, implies the envy she felt towards Mrs Elvsted who was a ‘free’ woman. However, towards the end upon realising that the strings of her freedom are with Brack, she decides to end her life; something that only she has control of. This cowardice act of committing suicide has been contrasted to Thea’s courageous act of