# Hedda Gabler — Hedda Gabler character guide

> Hedda Gabler in Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen.

**Role:** major

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

**First appearance:** 0002-hedda-gabler

## Snapshot

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

## Who they are

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.

## Relationships

### [Judge Brack](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/hedda_gabler_se/characters/judge_brack)

_psychological_

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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/hedda_gabler_se/characters/george_tesman)

_family_

George is Hedda's devoted but intellectually inferior husband, whose adoration and domesticity suffocate Hedda, leading to her contempt and boredom.

### [Ejlert Lövborg](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/hedda_gabler_se/characters/ejlert_lovborg)

_psychological_

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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/hedda_gabler_se/characters/juliana_tesman)

_family_

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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/hedda_gabler_se/characters/thea_elvsted)

_rivalry_

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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/hedda_gabler_se/characters/mademoiselle_diana)

_rivalry_

Hedda views Diana, a former lover of Lövborg, with contempt and jealousy, seeing her as a vulgar rival for influence over men.

### [Sheriff Elvsted](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/hedda_gabler_se/characters/sheriff_elvsted)

_social_

Hedda has a distant, formal acquaintance with Sheriff Elvsted, Thea's husband, whom she regards as a dull provincial figure.

### [Secretary Falk](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/hedda_gabler_se/characters/secretary_falk)

_social_

Hedda has a minimal, dismissive acquaintance with Secretary Falk, a minor bureaucrat she considers beneath her notice.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/hedda_gabler_se/characters/hedda_gabler
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/hedda_gabler_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/hedda_gabler_se/characters