Element of Naturalism in Hedda Gabler

1. NATURALISM IN HEDDA GABLER
By Henrik Ibsen
Prepared by
Hafsa Wahid
Roll # BSEng-F15-13

2. INTRODUCTION
 Ibsen is one of the fathers of Naturalistic
Theatre.
 French naturalist Émile Zola was first to
outline naturalism in literature.
 He asserts:
“Naturalism corresponds to our social needs”.

3. AIMS OF NATURALISM
Naturalism is considered as a more
particularized branch of realism.
The most important aspects of Naturalism are:
 To be a mirror of society
 Offer a precise analysis of Man
 Provide the perfect theatrical illusion

4. NATURALISM IN HEDDA GABLER
 Written in 1890, Hedda Gabler is a
naturalistic social drama by Henrik Ibsen.
 Naturalistic depiction of a woman
constricted by her society and because of
her inherent nature she keeps on sucking
the life out of other individuals.

5. TOOLS FOR NATURALISM
 Structure: Hedda Gabbler consists of four acts.
 The first act is all about introduction of the characters.
Information is given bit by bit and it resembles a
puzzle.
 Because of its structure, Hedda Gabler grasps the
audience’s interest until the end
 Language: The language of the Naturalistic theatre
should be simple, flexible and realistic.
 It must express each character’s individuality when it
comes to personality and also origins.
 Hedda’s choice of words, for instance, shows that
she is educated, comes from an aristocratic family
and is not afraid of consequences for the things she

6. TOOLS FOR NATURALISM
 Character: Ibsen’s character exploration is so
complex that Hedda does not really know what
she wants, when all she knows is what she
does not want.
 Hedda is at war with herself. She must fight a
daily battle to control her anger because she is
afraid of scandal.
 Setting: The setting and the props in Hedda
Gabler tell a story per se.
 Where props are concerned, nothing is more
important than Lovborg’s manuscript in the play.

7. TOOLS FOR NATURALISM
 Theme: Breaking down the theme into
bourgeois feminism and human spirit we might
be able to facilitate the understanding of Hedda
Gabler.
 Human Spirit: Hedda Gabler’s inner struggle is
all about who she is inside (a fiery masculine
personality), who she does not want to be (a
mother) and who she must be for society
(supportive wife).
 Some of Hedda’s impulsive actions are just
reactions of things people do to her, when they
do not even realize that they are hurting her.
 Hedda is hopeless, so she kills herself without
even leaving a good-bye note.

8. TOOLS FOR NATURALISM
 Play’s Historical Context: Ibsen commented
through Hedda Gabler on the Norwegian Victorian
Society concerning women situation; the way a
woman feels and cannot express it because of
many faux pas rules in society.
 Ibsen knew to mirror his society through Hedda’s
world: family (Tesman’s family), marriage (Hedda
and Tesman), professional ambitions (manuscript
publication), love triangles (Tesman, Hedda,
Lovborg or Lovborg, Hedda, Thea), hypocrisy
(Brack), jealousy (Hedda burning Lovborg’s
manuscript) and society’s influence on an
individual (Hedda’s fear of scandal).
 “Hedda was no saint, but she was also no demon.”

9. MIRROR OF SOCIETY THROUGH HEDDA GABLER
Societ
y
Marriage
Profession
al
Ambitions
Hypocrisy
Family
Jealousy
Love
Triangles
Society‘s
Influence

10. CONCLUSION
 Hedda Gabler, a Naturalistic product of the
environment and of intellectual change.
 Protests the way things were in Norwegian
Victorian Society
 Suggests that everyone should have the right
to think out of the box.
 Hedda Gabler was aimed at people who
needed to understand and reflect upon it
leaving aside the rotten Victorian morality.