Hedda Gabler · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen.
Skim names here — open a free preview to see character cards and Character Web beside the page as you read.
Hedda Gabler
major
Also known as Hedda, Mrs. Hedda, Hedda Tesman, Hedda Gabler, Hedda Rising, Hedda Gazing, Hedda Laughing, Hedda Stupid, Mrs. В Hedda
Hedda Tesman has returned from a six-month wedding tour to a house she never wanted, and she tells Judge Brack she has been mortally bored — dancing herself tired, she says, before accepting George. She keeps her father's portrait and her pistols close, and she recoils from the word love even as she craves some form of power over the people around her. Her restlessness turns the drawing room into a stage where other people's fates become her only available amusement.
George Tesman
major
Also known as Tesman, Mr. Tesman, George
Tesman has spent his wedding tour grubbing among old records and returns home expecting a professorship, a growing library, and a happy wife. He adores Hedda with an earnestness that never quite reaches her, and his aunt Julia fusses over him as though he were still a boy. His cheerful obliviousness — to money, to Hedda's boredom, to the rival whose work threatens his own — makes him both sympathetic and dangerously easy to deceive.
Judge Brack
major
Also known as Brack, Brack Laughing, Brack Smiling, Brack Bowing, Brack Smiles, Brack Starting, Brack Aha, Brack Vine leaves, Brack No, Brack Really, my dear Judge
Brack moves easily through the Tesmans' drawing room, offering Hedda the gossip and company her marriage denies her, and proposing a comfortable 'triangular friendship' with himself at its center. He is frank about his respect for marriage as an institution while making clear he wants the run of the house. His genial cynicism gives Hedda the one audience she enjoys — and gives him leverage he intends to use.
Ejlert Lövborg
major
Also known as Lövborg, Eilert Lövborg, Eilert, Lovborg, Eilert Lovborg, Eilert LГ¶vborg, Mr. Lövborg, Mr. В LГ¶vborg, Lövborg Smiling
Lövborg was Tesman's academic rival and Hedda's former companion in a world of forbidden talk, and he arrives back in town sober, disciplined, and newly dependent on Thea Elvsted's devotion. His manuscript — the book he believes will make his name — is the object of Tesman's envy and Hedda's fascination. He carries the memory of what he and Hedda once did together, and she has never forgiven him for ending it.
Thea Elvsted
major
Also known as Mrs. Elvsted, Thea, Thea Elvsted, Mrs. В Elvsted, Mrs. В Elvsted Rising, Mrs. В Elvsted DonвҖҷt
Thea Elvsted arrives at the Tesmans' with the anxious courage of someone who has already risked everything, confessing that she left her husband and home to keep Lövborg working. She was once a schoolmate Hedda tormented, and the old imbalance persists: Thea confides, Hedda listens with a smile. Her devotion to Lövborg's manuscript makes her the quiet counterweight to Hedda's destructive restlessness.
Juliana Tesman
supporting
Also known as Miss Juliana Tesman, Miss Tesman, Aunt Julia, Dear Aunt Julia, Auntie
Miss Tesman arrives at the newlyweds' house with a bouquet and a bonnet, eager to see her boy settled and to hear whether there are any 'expectations' yet. She has given up her own household and her longtime servant Berta to make George's home comfortable, and she cares for a bedridden sister at the same time. Her uncomplicated love for George stands in quiet contrast to Hedda's coldness, and her small economies hint at the money the young couple are already spending.
Berta
supporting
Also known as Berta, Berta Well, Berta Softly, Berta Judge Brack
Berta has spent years keeping house for George Tesman and the Misses Tesman, and the transfer to his new marriage feels less like a promotion than a quiet bereavement. She frets openly about Miss Rina's care and about whether Hedda will find her wanting, hovering at the edges of the drawing room with bouquets and small anxieties. Her loyalty and unease quietly register the household's mood before anyone else in it speaks.
Aunt Rina
minor
Also known as Rina
Tesman's elderly and bedridden aunt, mentioned but never seen on stage.
Mademoiselle Diana
minor
Also known as Diana
A singer and keeper of a disreputable house visited by Lövborg.
Sheriff Elvsted
minor
Also known as Sheriff Elvsted
Thea's much older husband, a local sheriff mentioned but not seen.
Secretary Falk
minor
Also known as Falk, the late Mrs. Secretary Falk
A deceased acquaintance mentioned in passing by Aunt Juliana.
