Hedda Gabler · Character

Hedda Gabler

A general's daughter who married a scholar she doesn't love, and now paces her handsome drawing room looking for something worth doing.

major

Also known as Hedda, Mrs. Hedda, Hedda Tesman, Hedda Gabler, Hedda Rising, Hedda Gazing, Hedda Laughing, Hedda Stupid, Mrs. В Hedda

First appearance: hedda gabler

As a major figure in Hedda Gabler, Hedda Gabler is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

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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.

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Character Web

10 connections

A slice of how Hedda Gabler sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Psychological
Family
Rivalry

Character groups

Protagonist
Offstage Influences & Antagonists
Servants & Marginalized Women

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Breaking point

In this scene, the emotional and psychological peak occurs as Mrs. Elvsted, consumed by dread and hope, waits…

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Relationships

Judge Brack
psychological · negative
Hedda and Brack engage in a manipulative power game where Brack seeks control over Hedda… How this plays out →
George Tesman
family · ambivalent
Ejlert Lövborg
psychological · negative
Juliana Tesman
family · negative
Thea Elvsted
rivalry · negative
Mademoiselle Diana
rivalry · negative
Sheriff Elvsted
social · negative
Secretary Falk
social · negative

Judge Brack
Hedda and Brack engage in a manipulative power game where Brack seeks control over Hedda through secrets and social leverage, while Hedda resists but is ultimately trapped by his influence.
George Tesman
George is Hedda's devoted but intellectually inferior husband, whose adoration and domesticity suffocate Hedda, leading to her contempt and boredom.
Ejlert Lövborg
Hedda exerts a destructive psychological hold over Lövborg, manipulating his insecurities and ultimately driving him to suicide out of jealousy and a desire for control.
Juliana Tesman
Hedda is cold and dismissive toward her mother-in-law Juliana, viewing her as a tiresome symbol of the bourgeois family life she despises.
Thea Elvsted
Hedda is intensely jealous of Thea's creative partnership with Lövborg and her free spirit, leading Hedda to cruelly undermine and sabotage Thea.
Mademoiselle Diana
Hedda views Diana, a former lover of Lövborg, with contempt and jealousy, seeing her as a vulgar rival for influence over men.
Sheriff Elvsted
Hedda has a distant, formal acquaintance with Sheriff Elvsted, Thea's husband, whom she regards as a dull provincial figure.
Secretary Falk
Hedda has a minimal, dismissive acquaintance with Secretary Falk, a minor bureaucrat she considers beneath her notice.

Relationship notes

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