Escape Hedda from Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen and Chandara from Punishment by Rabindranath Tagore are two powerful women who seek refuge through suicide. Both women face circumstances that suppress their independent spirit, and yet with their death they claim victory above all and gain their freedom. Hedda is a character of many qualities, she proves to be very intelligent and also confident with the ability to intimidate most of the characters within the play. She is also tricky in her motives, and in dire need of entertainment to rid her boredom; which has accrued due to the fact that she is a woman in a time that constrained them to the home.
Forced to inhibit her thoughts, she uses manipulative tactics to redeem some form of control over her husband and her friends. Her bold nature shows that she is unafraid and therefore adds to her power. Hedda was raised by her father, a general. Rather than learning how to cook and clean, like other women of her time, she learned to ride horses, and shoot pistols. She had a different mindset concerning life; perhaps in a different age she would have been a great leader, however the society of the time had different plans for her and so she would have to lead a life in the clutches of the social order. She was a beautiful woman who could have chosen to marry from a number of men, however she chose to marry George Tesman, a man who envied her from the beginning and was able to provide her with the luxuries of life without demanding much. This marriage would ensure that she would still be able to be fairly independent. Hedda’s freedom would not last as long as she might have desired. The restraint began with her marriage and soon was followed with the circumstances of her new life and the events that would unfold. She is in denial of her pregnancy and later tells Brack that she doesn’t want “any –