The Female Quest for Power in Henrik Ibsen's a Doll House, Ghosts, And

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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

May 1993

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ISBN 0-315-91231-6 APPROVAL

NAME: Sheila Hancock

DEGREE: Master of Arts (English)

TITLE OF THESIS: "The Grand Object of Human Desire": The Female Quest far Power in Henrik ibsen's A Qoi! House, Ghosts, and Hedda Gabfer

Examining Committee:

Chair: Kathy Mezei

Associate Professor of English

Malcolm Page Professor of English

Errol Durbach External Examiner Professor, Department of Theatre University of British Columbia

May 5, 1993 PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE Abstract Of f bsen, Brian Johnston posits that, "...he is alerting us ...to inadequacies in our idea of the theatrical rendition of the world, of the way the world aesthetically is represented in the conventional theaterw("Three Stages of 'A Doll House"' 311). "Once we have recognized this," he continues "we are ready for the extension of h~smethod in the next play." While Johnston writes of Ibseds dramatic method, his concept must be extended to the leitmotiv of each work as well. In this case, however, Ibsen alerts us to the inadequacies of our ethos-- our adud rendition of the world. Each play prepares us for the extension of its theme in the next. Of great concern to the playwright was the imbalance of power at the core of the generative/sexual relationship and the far-reaching consequences of this inequity. His exploration of this concern is manifest throughout his oeuvre, but never so enigmatically as in "A ~011~ouse," "Ghosts," and "Hedda Gabler." Throughout these three works Ibsen explores not only the imbalance of power within the patriarchal institution of marriage, but, more particularly, the female desire for power as a consequence of this inequity. Through the triad of Nora, Mrs. Alving, and Hedda we come to a full understanding of their individual and collective oppression. Each possesses "an active and energetic mind," and each seeks some portion of power to compensate for the freedom they can never possess as a result of their gender. And yet, while the women are nothing alike, they are sister, mother, daughter to each other. Where the triad begins triumphantly, with Nora slamming the door on her oppression, it completes with the sterile, destructive moment of truth: a pregnant woman--a madonna of sorts, that most revered of symbols to patriarchal ideologies--shooting herself in the head. And yet

Hedda, in all her misery, with the child in her womb, is the future. The gesture is defiant, yet Hedda functions not from defiance, but defeat. The message is clear: the generative/sexual relationship based on power can only vitiate itself in its perpetuation of sterility, rather than fecundity; destruction rather than creation.

.-. lll For my mother, my sister, and my daughter

Page 2

..because of Freud's blindness to the nature of inequality the heart of the sexual relationship he left unexplored sickness at the heart of this relationship, and so could perceive the immense social consequences that flow from Serious distortion or repression in this relationship t well have the most far-reaching consequences both for nature itself and the total culture that it produces. r all, it is this relationship which is the source of life. It is not reasonable to suppose that ilibrium and inequality at this juncture could escape consequences for the development of character in who inside the family receive their first and most

I impressions- (13)

to the nineteenth-century social 1 and his The Subjection of Women for the power politics within the sexual relationship.' He notes that the strength of Mill's thesis

'~ndeed, Sampson is not alone in this regard--psychoanalyst, Robert Seidenberg calls for a turning to Mill over Freud for what he terms nthe heuristic statement about the problems of women in our civilizationw (Baker 306). Kate Millett notes: "...Mill's psychology is grounded in a more lucid distinction between prescription and description than one encounters for example, in Freud, and a more intelligent grasp of the effects of environment and circumstan~e'~ fvicinus 127) , Page 3

relationship has effects which ramify into every aspect of the life of society. The thesis is that the existing marital relationship is one of subordination of the female to the male; that such a relationship is morally indefensible; that this moral defect is the lfons et origol of all the moral deficiencies of the greater society; and - - that until it is remedied and put on a basis of complete equality, it will be vain to look for any appreciable measure of human advancement in other spheres, (96)

Mill's understanding of the far-reaching problems inherent in the sexual relationship is indeed profound, Where Freud dismisses the inequality at the centre of the most basic of human relationships as anatomically derived, Mill perceives this inequality as the primary obstacle to the furtherance of civilization. Mill states:

2~nSexual Politics, Kate Millett states: What forces in [a womanls] experience, her society and socialization have led her to see herself as an inferior being? The answer would seem to lie in the conditions of patriarchal society and the inferior position of women within this society. But Freud did not choose to pursue such a line of reasoning, preferring instead an etiology of childhood experience based upon the bialogical fact of anatomical differences, ...it is supremely unfortunate that Freud should prefer to bypass the more likely social hypothesis to concentrate upon the distortions of infantile subjectivity ..." (180). However, Freud criticized Mill's analysis for what he considered to be a failure to acknowledge inherent temperamental differences between the sexes, Page 4

That the principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes--the legal subordination of e sex to the other--is wrong in itself, and now one of the ef hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the

as pointing out the "far-reaching consequencesB1of this ble power distribution, Mill illuminates the immediate ces: a female desire for power, however spurious the wer may be, as a psychic consequence of the on/submission model of marriage. Mills notes:

An active and energetic mind, if denied liberty, will seek ower: refused the command of itself, it will assert its ality by attempting to control others. To allow to an beings no existence of their own but what depends on others, is giving far too high a premium on bending others to their purposes. Where liberty cannot be hoped for, and power can, power becomes the grand object of human

desire. (578)

More than a century later, Sampson translates Hill's ideas into psychoanalytic terms, noting that: Page 5

harmful effects the character....The up in this wa absence of fr will be the by birth the males will seek

ealth, genuine ty can only be

sary compe

a1 stability.

lves, f 100-2)

the first to articulate his dis- eenth century model of marriage, he st, Among others, nineteenth-century

Ibsen joined in the protest, Page 6

employing his own brand of social drama to illuminate the profound consequences of the traditional marriage. Eva Le mewrites:

e theme.,-that interested Ibsen most was. ..that of the erent ethical codes by which men and women live. ... n was accused of being an enemy to the "sacred ties of age." People could not understand that he believed it t be based on spiritual communion--mere tllivingtogetherw not enough. He felt that a man and a woman should, ally, go through life together as perfect equals, in fect honesty, free to develop--each in his own way into a lete human entity. (xiv-v)

ed, his notebooks resound with passages such as:

A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view. (Ibsen, From Ibsen's

Workshop 91)

-.*

3~ro~ically,though Ibsen was a great admirer of Mill's Norwegian translator, Georg Brandes, (who himself was a great admirer of Mill), Ibsen found Hill tedious, (Meyer 345) Page 7

These women of the present day, ill-used as daughters, as sisters, as wives, not educated according to their gifts, prevented from following their inclination, deprived of their inheritance, embittered in temper--it is these who furnish the mothers of the new generation. What is the

result? (Ibsen, From IbsenisWorkshop 185)

-0-

A mother in modern society ...[is] like certain insects who go away and die when she has done her duty in the

propagation of the race, (Ibsen, From IbsenlsWorkshop 91)

Indeed, women--particularly wives and mothers--are a marked presence within his oeuvre, My discussion will confine itself to his domestic dramas, in particular A Doll House, Ghosts, and

Eeddzi Gabler, These plays have been singled out for various reasons: within each there exists a central character whose main function is that of wife and, additionally, is or will soon become that of mother; within each the theme of marriage is central; within each the action is confined to one or two rooms within the home of the central character; each comes close to respecting the unity of time--indeed, we are witness not to the events of which the various stories are made, but rather to the denouement of each, While each of these features is important and will be discussed as it proves pertinent, what is of Page 8

particular importance to my discussion of these three plays is Ibsen's interest in the female quest for power as an immediate consequence of the patriarchal institution of marriage.

readily apparent structure of A Doll House presents a sed in an oppressive relationship with a dominating in turn hands her over to an oppressive relationship inating husband, Her children will perpetuate the ' t as she is perpetuating it. Less obvious within the ructure is Nora's desire for power, however apocryphal may turn out to be, as a consequence of her f Ghosts, written immediately after A Doll House, I'I had to write Ghosts. I couldnlt stop at A Doll

fter Nora I had to create Mrs. ~lving"(Meyer 490). Mrs. like Nora, enters an oppressive marriage and attempts, , to leave it, unlike Nora, Mrs. ~lvingis forced r marriage and in a potent rage puts every ounce of o securing absolute power over her dissolute husband. Hedda Gabler is a strange case. Of her, Ibsen wrote, "There lies deep poetry at the bottom of Heddals nature...She wants to lead a man's lifem (Jacobs, 427) . Hedda longs not for the spurious power of Nora Helmer, nor the genuine, yet female power of Mrs. ~lving. Hedda longs only for what she perceives as the genuine article: male power. Hedda's desire for power is not derived from her participation in a marriage marked by domination and Page 9 Page 10

Chapter 1 "My Secret Joyw: Female Power and Subversion in A Doll House

~oll's House is about money, Elizabeth Hardwick tells

out the way it turns locks" (40). There is something to

words, but something missing as well. A Doll House is , but only insofar as money is inextricable from power economically-powered society. At its heart the play is thing and one thing only: power--the distribution of getting and holding of it; the exchange of it; and relinquishment of it. Torvald holds various kinds er Nora: the ideological power of the patriarch from culture. tradition, and religion; the legal power of over wife; the economic power of the family breadwinner; of physical strength over physical weakness; and, en the power of gratitude--for was it not Torvald who Is beloved father, and therefore Nora herself, from

~R.v. Sampson defines power as follows: "By power is meant the production of desired consequences in the behaviour or belief of another, where the intent to exercise personal ascendancy is present in the one producing the effects. Motive is all important, although the motive may be unconscious. Usually the victim of another's power will be aware of at least some sense of psychic constraint. But this is not necessarily the case. The victim may have long since come to accept her position and regard it as natural1* (233).

Page 12

are issued by Nora, the more playful of the two, towards Torvald. Nora refers to Torvald only by his Christian name--a name which, incidentally, bears an endless tradition of divinely-sanctioned male power: the name llTorvaldlpis derived from the Old Danish, llThorvalldr,llmeaning *'Thorlspowertt (Yonge 301). Within Scandinavian mythology, Thor was the central God and connected very closely with the family dwelling. In scandinavian Mvtholosv, H.R. Ellis Davidson notes:

...the high seat pillars ...where the head of the family ...would sit, were sacred to the god. They appear to have represented the guardian tree of the family house, which, in turn was the symbol for the luck of the family and its continuation, a symbol which has lived on in Scandinavian and Germany up to modern times. ... The cult of Thor was linked up with men's habitations and possessions, and with

the well-being of the family and the community. (71)

Thus, Torvaldls very name invokes the ideology of the patriarchy--a power, endorsed by tradition and religion, translated into law, and awarded to the family patriarch simply by virtue of his sex. Further, Torvald is not named merely for the god, but for the power the god wields--a power that held particular significance for men and their possessions and Page 13

inual use of seemi ul epithets when is significan ords replace

her status

rn for the s

lade

words to her that it is more than enough--but a demonstration of his power nonetheless. The economic power he wields is unmistakable--the exchange is fraught with Torvaldls complete control of the family pursestrings: he gives her money, but balks when she spends it. The implication is that the money, even after it has been given, never becomes hers; she must justify its expenditure, even for necessities. Torvald is drawn from his study not because he Page 15

r the opportunity to ic power. Ironic ics--an entirely male

gh economic Page 16

forming the wf ds: she fumbles at his coat buttons and cannot: look him in the eye. certainly, the money will go to the moneylender Krogstad, but there is something contained in the subtext of Nora's request: money represents power within their marriage--lorvald has established that over and over again. Her request for a gift of money (to be differentiated from money to be spent on housekeeping and carefully accounted for to her husband) is equal to a request for a share in the power distribution of the relationship. Though Nora's upbringing and marriage have left her bereft of any expectation of equality within her marriage, a part of her cries out for it. Torvald throws Nora verbal crumbs of equality with his various proclamations: tlWefvemade a brave stand up to now, the two of us,, . (126); "So we '11 share [whatever comes], Nora, as man and wife. That's as it should be" (161), but his words are hollow, and Nora's sense of his insincerity forces her to seek a share in the power distribution through subversive means.

The various kinds of power that Torvald wields over his wife, though oppressive to Nora's psyche, are minor in comparison to the principal power he wields over her and subtly taunts her with whenever the occasion arises, and indeed, even when it does not. Nora is indebted to Torvald for the saving of her cherished father's reputation. Though Nora may be inclined to forget this power, Torvald, most certainly, is not. Indeed, this power is Page 17

power that Torvald held over his skylark and his invariably comes when Nora asserts herself. The her father comes during the initial exchange uring Act I. Though the audience is not yet lvement in salvaging Nora's father's t the reference is profound. Immediately est for a gift of money (which, as set out ed as a small bid for a share in the relationship), Torvald attempts to cussion in this area and thwart future referring to her father and, with it,

ower over Nora :

ne. Exact ather was.

5~obinYoung suggests that there is evidence that Torvald was forced out of his Ministry position and has "come close to professional ruinw himself because of his past dealings with Nora's father: What Torvald has done, it seems, is to enter some kind of exculpatory report ('turned a blind eyef) then resigned his post and married the offender's daughterM (77). Page 18

Torvaldls next reference to Nora's father comes during an argument in which Nora is displaying what Torvald calls "the most incredible stubbornne~s.~Again, Torvald wishes to close out the on and refers to "the old memories.** Since a reference father does not belong in this discussion, Nora naturally

understand his meaning; he must be more specific: "Of

you're thinking about your fathern (159). Nora ly becomes more submissive and indeed, even refers to of gratitude to her husband:

all right. Just remember how those nasty gossips wrote the papers about papa and slandered him so cruelly. I think they'd have had him dismissed if the department hadn't ent you up to investigate, and if you hadn't been so kind

and open-minded to him. (159-60)

Nora, in fact, uses Torvaldlsreference to influence her husband, referring to his kindness in the past. But Torvald has no need for exhibiting "kindness and open-mindednessv to gain power over his wife--he has it already. Instead, he employs a form of emotional blackmail when he tells Nora: "Your father's

career was hardly above reproach. But mine is,.." (160). The

subtext is just this: Your father was guilty, but I saved him. For this reason, you must concede to me. Torvald again refers to continues to insist. replying, "Aren't I your husband?Ii (1831, the implication being that certain rights belong to him and will be exercised at his discretion only,

Yet Nora accepts this power of physical strength over physical weakness as much as she accepts TorvaldYs ideological and economic power--indeed, she even perpetuates it as is evident in the Christmas gifts she brings for the children. For the boys she brings a sword, a horse, and a trumpet--instruments associated with battle and therefore physical violence and oppression; for her daughter, she brings a doll and a dollbed--the instruments of wife- and motherhood, and therefore, within the context of the nineteenth century models of these institutions, of submission. "And so cheap!" she tells her husband. Certainly, she means the toys are inexpensive, but they are cheap in a deeper sense also: they express a cheapness of thought, of upbringing. Ironically, Torvaldis accusations during the final. act that Nora is unfit to raise their children are correct, but for reasons diametrically opposed to those he gives. Torvald has little to do with the raising of the children; it is Nora who, through her children, will perpetuate the cycle of powerful men and powerless women. In his notebooks,

Ibsen expressed his dissatisfaction with the nineteenth century anode1 of motherhood: Page 21

These women of the present day, ill-used as daughters, as sisters, as wives, not educated according to their gifts, prevented from following their inclination, deprived of their inheritance, embittered in temper--it is these who furnish the mothers of the new generation. What is the

result? (Ibsen, From IbsenlsWorkshop 185)

The result is that Nora and Torvaldls children will be brought up in the same way their parents have been. Nora thinks no further

- than what she has experienced through her own upbringing, and this is what makes her gestures so effortless, so cheap. She has been brought up to accept her powerlessness; her daughter will be brought up in the same way. Her sons, by virtue of their sex, will be awarded power, the cultural basis for which originates in their superior physical strength which Nora reinforces with her gifts of war. As Mill notes, '#Laws and systems of polity ...convert what was a mere physical fact [female muscular inferiority] into a legal right, give it the sanction of society, and principally aim at the substitution of public and organized means of asserting and protecting these rights, instead of the irregular and lawless conflict of physical strengtht1(475). In effect, the boys are internalizing the I1mere physical factw

[through, among other things, the war toys given to them by their Page 22

mother) of their sex into what will become, as they mature and become husbands and fathers, their "legal rightN under the C "present system."

The toys which Nora gives to her daughter are not, in themselves, necessarily indications of Nora's perpetuation of a cycle of oppression. They are merely a doll and a dollbed, but Nora says of them, "...they're nothing much, but she'll tear them to bits in no time anywayw (127) [my emphasis]. Implicit in the violence of this remark is Nora's own frustration at her powerlessness and, in turn, the powerlessness and oppression under which her daughter will inevitably suffer. Indeed, Nora uses this expression several more times throughout the play to indicate her psychic tension. At the beginning ~f Act two, Nora says of the masquerade clothes which represent the frenetic playacting she's been made to perform to gain favours from her husband, vfIvdlove to rip them in a million pie~es!~'(154). Only moments later she says of the promissory note, once her "secret joyw and now only a reiteration of her powerlessness at the hands of male power, "And [I] can rip it into a million pieces and burn it up--that filthy scrap of paper! If (158) . And finally, during the closing scene, when Nora's frustration at the powerlessness she has endured throughout her marriage is at its peak, she says, "1 could tear myself to bitsn (195). Though, in her assumption that her daughter will tear the doll and dollbed to bits, Nora

Page 24

Page 26

take out a loan. But at that, Kristine, he nearly

exploded. He said I was frivolous, and it was his duty as a man of the house not to indulge me in whims and fancies--as I think he called them. Aha, I thought, now youlll just have to be saved--and that's when I saw my chance. [italics

mine] (136)

Within Nora1s words, the all-powerful Torvald is easily perceived: the young wife is overruled by the "man of the houseN whose duty is "not to indulge [her] in whims and fanciest1(136) . Nora's I1chancefWas she calls it, is the opportunity to deceive her husband (and, in fact, to justify her deception) in arder to gain power over him--to, in a sense, retaliate againat the man who calls her frivolous; who calls her honourable intentions "whims and fancies." She has attempted the route of submission--the cajoling, the begging, the crying-all of the things that have made her realize her powerlessness. With his flat refusals she has no choice but to do anything she can to save him. Her "chancew is her chance at power within the relationship. Nora, a woman of what Mill would term, "an active and energetic mind," must find an outlet for her year of oppression. st have thought only: ice, and: how get the money, ather's knee, was turned down en she does

Nora not Page 28

Freud would have called a "slip of the pen.w6 Nora forges her father's name as guarantor on her promissory note--a note which she has promised to pay out in full. The forged signature is s, but the date appears to be in another hand, written ly," and indicates that the endorsement of the note hree days after the signatory's death. The ss of the forged endorsement indicates her overt

to patriarchal power--a power which decrees that "a

borrow without her husband s consent" (135); the the dating process indicates her unconscious toward the power of the father. Further, in misdating aims the transaction as entirely her own--if and gery is discovered, the date is her insurance policy ne else claiming responsibility for it. Torvald , "You could not have done this without the help of (in effect taking a share in the responsibility by to the patriarchy) because she has proof that she

Page 30

Tell me, Doctor--is everyone who works in the bank dependent now on Torvald?

-0. Yes, that's really immensely amusing: that we--that Torvald

has so much power now over all those people. (140)

Nora's slip of the tongue reveals her intention: just as, through Krogstad, she has secret power over Torvald; through Torvald she now has secret power over Krogstad. Ironically, Nora's power, like her hostility, is entirely passive (and thus, contradicts itself) : she has no more intention of making use of her power over Krogstad than she has ever had of making use of her power over Torvald. The central importance to Nora's power is the empowerment it gives her: she can tolerate Krogstad's cold demands for the money she desperately scrapes together each quarter by quietly fantasizing that she holds this horrid man's livelihood and reputation in her power--again, the power involves economics and honour,

Nora is elated at what she bslieves is her sudden and unexpected monopoly of the power market--she has power over each of the two men who have previously held her in their power. That her power is secret seems not to concern her--she defiantly eats macaroons openly and tells Dr. Rank and Mrs. Linde, ''Now there's Page

the world that I have an enormous desire Her desire? To tell her husband lVto hell and be damnedw

nation but n the decorous

r violate the good of expressing the Page 32

.,,Torvald, with all his masculine pride--how painfully humiliating for him if he ever found out he was in debt to me, That would just ruin our relationship. Our beautiful, happy home would never be the same. .*. ...maybe sometime, years from now, when Ism no longer so attractive,.,when he stops enjoying my dancing and dressing up and reciting for him. Then it might be wise to have something in reserve. (136-7)

Consciously, Nora has worked out the unfolding of her secret: it will be kept until her sexual power wears itself out, after which she may reveal her ace in the hole- Yet Nora does not behave like a woman who holds power over her husband in any way. In fact, her frenetic posing and playacting appear to reveal a woman whose only power lies in her sexuality. She convinces herself that this "femalew power is merely a facade--what she wants Torvald to believe: he may call her "scatterbraint*and dtspendthrifttt;he may scold her and treat her like a child; she may resort to complicated manipulations and maneuverings to gain his attention; but none of this matters-it is all an act which sfre readily performs.

Page 34

n Mrs. Linde asks Nora how much of her debt she has paid a tells her, "That's hard to say, exactly. These s you know, aren't easy to figure, I only know that I've

all I could scrape togetherN (137). One would assume an who has devoted as much energy as Nora has into ether quarterly payments would know to the crown the f her debt, but Nora is rather unconcerned in this Her concern lies only in paying off enough each quarter debt secret. The debt in itself is meaningless to meaning lies only in the power its concealment gives

ther, her obligation to make payments on the debt reveals a world she would not have access to but for the debt. esponsibilities; she must find ways to earn money copying, working late into the night. And Linde, *-,,it was wonderful fun, sitting and ng like that, earning money. It was almost like being a mann (137)- Nora's deed seems to garner power for her from all quarters. Not only ltoes she gain secret power over her husband

~~ghthe original transaction and the secrecy surrounding it, she ertperiences personal empowerment through the repayment of the debt. Through working and earning money Nora secretly breaks out af the doll-mold: she is capable of taking care of herself.

Page 36

attraction can be located within the extreme need he has for her--his need becomes her power base. Just as Nora calls her covert power her "secret joy," Kristine calls the power that she's known by working to support someone else (in essence, the power of economic dependency) her "best and only joy." "To work for yourself, she says, 'Ithere1s no joy in that. I1No joy" can only mean, in this context, Ifno power.f1 Only moments before this

- exchange Krogstad has asked her to "step asiden in her position and allow him to keep his employment. "No," she tells him, "because that wouldn't benefit you in the slightestw (177). Her

-- intention, it seems, is to continue in the position that once belonged to Krogstad and support his family from this position. Thus, she will not only possess economic power over the family, but the power of gratitude owed to her as the saviour of a

"half-drowned man, hanging onto a wreckf1(177). lo While Krogstad will retain the ideological power awarded to him on the basis of his gender, Kristine will assume both economic power and power over his reputintion within the relationship. Hope for their relationship runs high if only for the reason that they launch their relationship from an equal power base. Further, they have loved each other. Had they been married when they were first in

lo~ouSalomevs contention that Mrs. Lindels motive in seeking a partnership with Krogstad is I1to be used up in service to others, to bring warmth and happiness and comfortvt(48) lacks credence when one considers that Kristine has refused to give up her position at the bank for Krogstad.

y any illusions Nora might hold regarding the influence her sexual power allows her with his terse reply: ItCome on, she does that anyway.

Torvald's dismissive remark crystallizes the truth of Nora's powerlessness. On an unconscisus level, Nora understands her position, but her frenetic maneuverings hide the truth at least as much from herself as from her husband, Her powerlessness and oppression have atomized her psyche: she functions on various levels in the only way the disempowered female can. Where Torvaldvs security regarding his power position allows him linear functioning, Nora's equivocal feelings regarding her disempowerment force her to respond to any one situation with a variety of responses. Within the space of a few lines, Nora's position can change radically, as evidenced by her conversation with Krogstad regarding the power she holds over her husband:

Nora : Oh, one does have a tiny bit of influence, I should hope. Just because I am a woman, don't think it means that-- . ..

Torvaldrs initial reaction is to the fact that his wife has managed, even under his persistent and unrelenting guard, to secure a portion sf his power. Further, she has cavalierly passed a portion of this power on to a man who would threaten his praf&siornl power as ~ell--~'I'min a cheap little grafter's hahds; he can do anything he wants with me, ask for anything, play with me like a puppet--and I can't breathe a wordw (188). A loss of power is unbearable to Torvald. A loss of power at the hands of his wife is anathema, Nora's actions, therefore, constitute high treason within the kingdom of his doll house.

In his rage, Torvald resorts to a show of power in its most primitive form--with physical force: he locks the door, holds her back, and berates her. Further, he refers to the source of his primary power over Nora--her father's reputation: "...All of your father's flimsy values have come out in you, No religion, no morals, no sense of duty-- Oh, how I'm punished for letting him off! I did it for your sake and you repay me like this" (187). He immediately begins a reorganization of their life based on the fact that Nora is capable of high treason:

Page 44

her divergent purposes and lets her see that she is

Vear[ing] [her] self to bits. It In walking away from the marriage, she does the only thing she can to begin the process of pulling herself together. Further, she halts the perpetuating cycle of powerless women and powerful men into which she has fallen. Her children will not be party to the power struggle that their parents1 marriage tried so hard to disguise because - Nora will walk away from them to prevent it.

Thus, when Torvald ttforgiveslthis Itfrightened little songbirdn Nora understands the subtext of his forgiveness and will have none of it. Torvaldispromise of redoubled protection and repetitive forgiveness translate to redoubled vigilance toward protecting his power monopoly and repetitive reiterations of her transgression. Indeed, Torvald has access to a further avenue of power over Nora through what he perceives as her transgression, and one cannot doubt that, given the opportunity, he will use it in the same way he has used her father's transgression to secure a further powerhold in the past. As ill-equipped as she is for any other life, clearly Nora, a woman who, for eight long years, has invested the essence of her very being into securing some small bit of power for herself, a woman of "an active and energetic mind," cannot tolerate this kind of future with Torvald. Neither will she tolerate it for her children, Nora is heroic, not in selflessly saving her husband's Page 45

niche for herself as

ng the horror of a

s heroic in Page 46

Chapter 2 "The unquenchable power that was in himw: emale Rage and the Appropriation of Male Power in Ghosts

osts, written immediately after A Doll" House, Ibsen had to write Ghosts- I couldn't stop at A Doff's

r Nora I had to create ms. Alvingm (Neyer 490). Mrs. in essence, the Nora who did not leave; the Nora of

arousm German production of 1880 who falls to her knees ight of her sleeping children. Like Nora, Mrs. Alving is

possessed of an "active and energetic mindm (Mill, 578) by virtue of her gender, is denied the liberty of that

arly in her life Mrs. Alving, again like Nora, enters an

ve marriage and attempts, after one year, to leave it,

ora, Mrs- Alving is forced back into her marriage and, in rage, puts every ounce of energy into securing absolute r her dissolute husband. Where Nora's psyche has been the process of keeping her power secret, Mrs. ingBsrage focuses her psyche into the single-minded pursuit of her goal: complete and total power. Her task is much easier than Nora's--her husband does not keep the close watch that Nora's does over his patriarchal power. The young Captain Alving had been, as Mrs, Alving herself admits, little more than a child Page 47

rt of their marriage-- child with the power

class male by of his gender, social Page 48

The play opens ten years after the death of Captain Alving. Mrs. Alving has had ten long years to reflect on her reign of power and further to reflect on the sacrifice she has made to it: she has given up the opportunity to mother her true son, Osvald. With the return of her now adult son and the knowledge that, through the venereal disease her son has inherited from his profligate father, he will soon return to an infant-like state of helplessness, Mrs. Alving must choose between love for her son and complete power over him. If she chooses love, she will perform the task Osvald has set out for her: she will administer a Iarge enough dose of morphine to put him out of his misery, If she chooses power, she will override Osvald's request and spend the remainder of her life taking care of him--exerting the complete power of the mother over the infant. Her past has taught her to value power over love, but her relationship with her now adult son has taught her the value of love. The curtain comes down before her choice has been made.

The play opens with a scene between Mrs. Alving's maid, Regina E31gstrand, and her father. Though the audience has not yet been introduced to Mrs. Alving, the scene is effective in offering the audience a mini-version of the events that occurred Page 49

efuses to go r profligate

nd (in this case

ghosts of the Page 50

As Regina, as representative of the young Mrs. Alving, leaves the stage, the mature Mrs. Alving enters. The scene that follows between Mrs. Alvinq and Pastor Manders illustrates the events that have effectively changed the young wilful wife into the self-actualized widow that Helen Alving appears to be. And yet, the events are invariably inverted--we find out about Mrs. in the face of patriarchal authority she backs down:

Manders : I've read quite enough about these writings to disapprove of them. Mrs. Alving: Yes, but your own opinion--

Manders : My dear Mrs. Alving, there are many circumstances in life where one has to entrust oneself to others. That's the condition of this world, it's all for the best. How else could society function? Mrs. Alving: That's true; maybe you're right.

Though Mrs. Alving knows that Manders' argument against the offending books lacks substance since he has no true knowledge of their contents, and further that one must never bfentrustoneself to othersb1 (214), she retreats from the argument in defeat. The event prefigures Mrs. ~lving'sconcession to Mandersl inane argument against insuring the orphanage. This is where her cowardice lies--her past has been dictated by entrusting herself to others; she has come to understand that her biggest mistake has been, as she herself notes, "1 never really listened to myselfn (235), and yet when put to the test, she hasn't the courage of her convictions. Both incidents prefigure the play's concluding scene wherein Mrs. Alving must make a decision based on what will be perceived as morally right by the society she

Page 55

to her son that she managed to extinguish the "joy of her husband, but what she does not admit is that had she ain would invariably have expunged her joy of erning spirit of willfulne~s.~She was, merely, power struggle that was their marriage. In cusations, Mrs. Alving calmly explains the Mr. Manders, now 1'11 tell you the at one day you were going to hex old friend (228). Though her husband's life comes ostensibly as a e behaviour Manders has challenged, the eals a certain pride. His accusations e, yet she has sworn that 'lone day" . The implication is that in her secret d herself with the thought that the man who he extent of her gifts--that she le "Court Chamberlain.

to Manders, was as dissolute after as he had been before. Her life with him was a "constant battlew until she discovered his indiscretion with her servant, after which she "had a weapon against himw (230). Until her discovery of the indiscretion, the power struggle between husband and wife had been meaningless since Captain Alving had held all the true power in the relationship: the small amount of Page 56

sexual power she held by virtue of her age and gender amounted to little beside the ideological power accorded him by virtue of his , social class, and financial status. The power she in leaving the marriage (similar to the power Nora holds

lams the door during the final scene of A Doll House) was out by the fact that she returned, in essence, a woman. Not only had he full possession of male power, sed the knowledge that she could not leave him for she e else to go--this had already been proven. For a essed of "an incorrigible spirit of willf~lness,~~a can ttnever...bear the least constraint," the situation iably, have been intolerable. The incident she between her husband and her maid could only have come ing to Mrs. Alving.

Just as Nora bides her time for her chance at power, so, too, does Mrs. Alving. Just as Nora tells her friend, tt...thatts when I saw my chance," (136) so Mrs. Alving tells Manders, 'INOW, you see, I had a weapon against himtt(230) . But where Nora's desire for a small portion of power had come out of only one short year of powerlessness within a marriage to a man she loved, Mrs. Alvingls desire for power came out of nine years of oppression within a marriage to a man she despised. Her desire was not for a small portion of power, but for total power. She would exact revenge not only for her years of powerlessness but Page 57

for the rejection she experienced from Manders--the man who forced her back into the intolerable marriage and gave her husband further power with his rejection of her. She tells Manders of her triumph:

.,:Then I swore to myself: that was the end! So I took charge of the house--complete charge--over him and everything else, Because now, you see, I had a weapon against him; he couldn't let out a word of protest. It was

then I sent Osvald- away- He was going on seven and starting to notice things and ask questions, the way children do. All that was too much for me, Manders. I thought the child would be poisoned just breathing this polluted air. That's why I sent him away- And now you can understand, too, why he never set foot in this house as long as his father

lived- No one will know what that cost me. (230)

Rum the experience of mothering her infant son she learned the only true power a woman of her society was able to possess: the power of the mother over the infant--the power of life and death- In choosing to conduct her relations on the basis of power over that of love, she chose power over her husband over love for her son. The instinctual feeling she possessed that her child would be "poisonedm in the polluted atmosphere of the

Allving home came nut from the fact that he might witness her Page 58

husband's behaviour (Captain Alving was in her power now), but from the fact that power had become the only commodity within the household: her love for the child could be used against her and d not risk her husband gaining a stronghold. That Alving dy begun to use the child in the power struggle against s evident in Osvald's only reminiscence of his father:

distinctly remember him taking me on his knee and me smoke his pipe. Itsmoke,boy," he said, "smoke it al!" And I smoked for all I was worth, till I felt and the great drops of sweat stood out on Then he shook all over with laughter-- ... in and carried me off to the nursery. I d I could see you were crying. Did father

play such tricks? (226)

Her true child, Osvald, was sent away so that all her energies could be expended on the control of the man she would turn into a child. Further, in gaining complete control over the man who had once held her mercilessly in his power she, as a consequence, gained access to his male power. Where he had tried to suck the %pirit of willfulnesss1from her and failed, she would succeed in sucking the Itjoy of life* from him, Further, she would make it Page 59

His work--which he had apparently performed somewhat

tten through it if it hadn't been for worked, I can tell you, All the all the improvements and

those were his doing? He, sprawled all

reading old government- journals! No, I can as I who got him moving whenever he and it was I who had to pull the in his old wild ways or

misery. (230)

joy of work that an infant-like

eir support of the patriarchy and Page 60

gender inherent poEer. 4

And yet, to attribute Hrs. Alvingls thirst for power vely to the years she spent in her oppressive marriage is

ook one of the basic aspects of her personality. Though iage would accentuate her need to control, one might

that the characteristic existed prior to her e. She tells her son that his father, when she married little mare than a "child--...he was a child then, Her further admission to Manders that Captain Alving was a "fallen manss at their wedding might indicate that his on lay not only in his fortune, but in his dissipation as

at might be construed as an attraction to infantile men and a trend towards further infantalizing them is reinforced by her relationship with Pastor Manders. Manders possesses the

te of an infant, and yet he takes pride in it,

%&a Zeineddine points out that Vbsen relates newspapers to an attitude of corruption and debauchery in which Lieutenant Alving lies on the sofa and reads an 'old government gazette1. But the artist in Oswald, who advocates the free marriage and sunshine in artistic circles abroad while criticizing 'our model husbands and fathers*, *crumples a newspaper1, presumably because he sees in it: forged values and forged relationsH (41). '~n fact. the hasic need to control may have been learned at her xaatherCsknee as evidenced by Mrs. Alving's offhand remark that it was her mother and two aunts who promoted her marriage to Alvhg* Page 61

d-like innocence. He that he is "s

, so too came the

r husband, she no longer had ower of the mother over the Page 62

,,,The sums I've contributed year after year to the orphanage add up to just the amount--I've figured it out exactly--just the amount that made Lieutenant ~fvingsuch a good catch at the time.

Page 64

his illegitimate daughter, and a collection of orphans, a large number of whom will have been born out of a relationship similar to that of Captain Alving and Mrs. Engstrand. Further, she asks Pastor Manders to bless the symbolic separation of the Alvings just as, twenty-nine years before, he blessed their union. Her only regret, one might imagine, is that she cannot turn back the clock on her son--she can never regain her son's lost childhood.

-- Strangely, her perverse vision will soon be accommodated even in this. One is oddly reminded of Halvard Solness, The Master Builder, whose visions invariably become his reality.

Yet even within her unconscious reconstruction of the past Mrs. Alving remains a coward, The respectability that surrounds the symbolic llseparationwagain belies the truth. A home for orphaned children seems hardly the place for a soul as profligate as Captain Alving's. Somehow the angry ghost of Captain Alving seems to walk the halls of Rosenvold and take his revenge any way he can. His spirit inhabits his son who cannot seem to work; who sits around all day drinking wine, smoking cigars and his father's pipe, and who seduces Regina, the housemaid and only available woman. The ghosts have dug their heels in and will not be exorcised. It is as though, in order to purge the ghosts of the past--not only of captain Alving, but of past ideologies and traditions--Mrs. ~lvingmust first purge her own ghosts, the ones that value power over love; the cowardly ones that hide the truth

Page 66

enterprise becomes clear to her. She cannot reconstruct the past precisely because, as Rolf Fjelde notes "...it is forever unalterably, a frozen landscape of choices that can never be revived and reversed..." (199). Fjelde continues:

Nothing can amend the eventual retribution of an evaded or misguided choice in the past. This, his starkest of tragic

- actions, concentrates its object lesson of horrors to put the most urgent premium on the moment and the supreme worth of choosing when it counts: right now, in the present, out of the integrity of oneis whole being, in the light of an unflinching regard for all the factors and circumstances

involved. f 199)

The money Mrs. ~lvingset aside for the respectable "Captain

Alving Memorial Home for Orphansnsfinds its way into Jacob P;ngstrandis hands. With the money, Engstrand intends to open a brothel of sorts for wayfaring seaman--a place he will call, appropriately, "captain Alvingss Home.1f Regina follows, hoping for a share in her father's legacy or, at the very least, she tells Mrs. Alving, m...if things go really wrong.,.a house where

[shelffldo just fine, ,,, In 'Captain Alving's Homeu' (269).7

7~ikeNora, Regina, whose very name means power, slams the door on an intolerable and oppressive existence, If she must take prostitntion, she will take it on her own terms, not anyone else's.

administer it: at the first sign of an attack, she is to give him

Further, in overriding her son's choice of death, she would

exert a further power over him--a power which would confine him to perpetual infancy, similar to the power she once exerted over her husband. However, where her husband was constrained within the prison of his dissipation, her son will be imprisoned in his illness. She is, in a sense, handed complete power by her son with one condition attached: that she must give it up. Though

Page 70

Chapter 3

Gabler seems, at first blush, to have little to do with this issue. Certainly, it seems that had Nora Helmer or Helene Alving a husband alung the lines of George Tesman, the question of power within me relationship would not have been an issue. There is no question of who holds the power in the Hedda Gabler-George

Tesman union: it is Hedda from start to finish. And yet Hedda t from the other plays in Ibsen9s oeuvre. To reiterate: mothers of the new generation. (185) Page 74

er and his domineering influence an Heddas (50).3 In fact, the portrait exists as representative of the long dead General as an actual presence in the play. His presence is as Heddatsown and, in fact, more real than the presence of distracted husband. He lives in his portrait and in his and, most profoundly, in Heddafs dissatisfaction and The play is called, significantly, Hedda Gabler a is an independent woman but because she is erfs legacy and as unconnected to George Tesman as anyone, She will never be other than Hedda Gabler edda Gabler is her particular prison,

is conspicuous by her absence, While General esides over every scene in the play and he is frequently, Krs. Gabler receives not one mention. assume that she died in childbirth or shortly ng concrete to lead us to this ied as Hedda will-by her own hand, erely epitomizes Ibsen's concern with nineteenth century mothers as reflected in his notes for A Doll

3~eimedinemakes the further point that "Because it is a visual effect, it may be possible for the interpreter to relegate this telling effect ta the background. To keep visualizing the setting is to esncumitantly keep the thematic concern of Xbsen clearly focused and to see the actions of the characters and of Hedda, particularfy in relation to the image, as it were, of the Eather* f 50) . Page 75

mother in society, like certain insects who and die when she has done her duty in the propagation of

(Ibsen, From Ibsenls Worksho~, 91). In any event, we nfcrrmation regarding her existence: she is a From her non-presence we can infer that she provides role model for her daughter.

eneral Gabfer we are told much. He was a general in the which we can infer a love of law and order, an o the ideology of the patriarchy, a belief in the authority and brute force. Further, we understand that held a highly respectable position in society. elmer and Captain Alving, he enjoyed the power the upper middle class male by virtue of his gender, tion, and wealth. For our purposes, we must further imilarity to Torvald Helmer and Captain Alving:

d of plays, Nora, Mrs. Alving and Hedda represent ons of the female response to the all-powerful

re Nora is the young matron experiencing the power le of her marriage in the present, and Mrs. Alving, the crone who re-examines her marriage of many years before, Hedda is

the product of these r==iages, We must, therefore, extend the

charil~terizatimsof Tervalld Heher, which we receive in the flesh in A Doll House, and Captain Alving, which we receive retrospectively in Ghosts, to General Gabler. Ibsen need not Page 76

offer a tedious retrospective of General Gablerls relationship with his daughter; we understand the kind of man he is from IbsenEsprevious characterizations of this type of man--he need only offer the accoutrements: the portrait, the pistols, and the title--all of which illustrate his love of power.

As his only child, Hedda has access to this power and learns value it above all else. Further, her father raises her as he raise a son. He teaches her what he knows: to ride and ot like a man. We further sense that within his teachings is lesson that, since there is no access to power for the , all things female are worthless. Because of her unique ing, Hedda cannot identify with the female world, which has been misrepresented to her, and is forced to identify only with a world in which she can never belong. She therefore develops a masculine gender identity: the result is profound self-hatred. Ibsen hints at this in his notes where he says of Hedda, '*she wants to lead a man's lifeE1(Jacobs, 427). Not only is Hedda trapped within her gender, she is trapped within a male conception of her gender (derived, we might speculate, from internalization of her father's conception of the female as powerless). The result is that she stibscribes to a kind of female misogyny--she cannot help but loathe her very existence. And so she grows to adulthood, believing in her heart that the only thing worth being is male and the only thing worth having is Page 77

Hedda is an ugly reality; manhood a beautiful ideal" (50). Further, Hedda is confined not only by nineteenth century definitions of womanhood, but by her own limited point of reference: she understands the feminine (and therefore herself) from a masculine perspective, as it were. Heddais masculine gender identity explains her mortal dread of scandal. The nineteenth century masculine defines the feminine by the degree of propriety with which she is associated. There could be no hint of scandal surrounding a woman since paternal identity was difficult to prove and the primary function of a future wife was as vessel for male progeny. Conversely, Thea, who has succeeded in becoming "a human being,*$ does not fear scandal after leaving her husband since she does not define herself from a male and therefore limited point of reference. Hedda conceives of herself only as what she is not, never as what she is.

As unequipped as she is, when Hedda reaches that particular age when women blossom, she is thrust suddenly into society to avail herself of a husband. And yet, the ever resourceful Hedda finds a way around the powerless female existence of wife- and raotherhcrod, As a sexually attractive, socially prominent young woman, Hedda enjoys no end of male attention and, with it, sexual power over those who hold the male power she so envies. But her power is fleeting: her sexual power rests entirely upon her sexual attractiveness--a short-lived commodity in the life of an tive female. Rtlther, with her father's death, she loses his power. She has heen doubly betrayed by her father m she learned to value only maleness and only the power with maleness. Her gender disallows her from the odity and his death disallows her access to the And so, at the rather advanced age of twenty-nine, with tance and no prospects, she has only two options: she gn herself to spinsterhood (a clearly unacceptable nce it would disallow her access to any male power) or od. The choice is clear: at least as a wife Hedda will over one man and access to his male power, and he will retain the respectability to which she has accustomed (for all her male aspirations, Hedda is no She allows herself to be courted by George Tesman--a man malleable and respectable; a man through whom she may gain the financial and social power of the wife of a socially prominent man, and she may even, perhaps, gain vicarious political power. Hedda originally understands that George is about to embark on a very promising and rather profitable career; they have made a bargain to live in society and keep a "great housem; he has promiced her a butler and a new riding horse; and she believes Yike everyone else, that he [is] going to be quite famous one dayn (725)- We sense, however, that Heddass vision becomes tarnished very early in her short marriage to George Page 79

made the mistake of believing that George, in his er as much as she does, when in fact, he This much she has learned on her tedious on arriving home, they learn that the him is in jeopardy, their finances are

re is little hope of enjoying a large social a new riding horse. She is further vague hopes of a future political career for

--if I could get Tesman to go into

Tesman! No, I can promise you--politics

out of his fine.

ink it's really out of the question that

he could ever be a cabinet minister? Brack : ...to be anything like that, he'd have to be fairly wealthy to start with-

Hedda : (rising ifttptiently) Yes, there it is! It's this tight little world I've stumbled into--(Crossing the room.) That's what makes life so miserable! So

utterly ludicrous! Because that's what it is. (729-30) Page 80

I She has access to none of the male power--political, financial, I social, or otherwise--she had envisioned. The only power she has r an effeminate man she can barely tolerate--a man who has interest in the male power she so covets. Indeed, when Mrs. Elvsted if she has power over her husband, Hedda with disgust, "Yes, what a bargain that was!" Hedda8s e to her disappointment is antithetical to the response ght expect from a nineteenth century matron pregnant with st child, In an entirely male gesture, she eases her ation through a show of physical power: she stands in the f her father's pistols. In the same way that s to a show of physical power when his

challenged, Iledda resorts to her pistols. They are physical strength and her surrogate phallus--the male in

st basic fonu,

George Tesmangsupbringing has been vastly different from

Eeddars. Where she has been raised by a domineering, authoritative male, George has been raised by two maiden aunts and their devoted female servant in a home where love, rather man power, was the ~afingprinciple. The aunts, significantly, have never married and therefore have no experience in the power politics involved in the nineteenth century domination/submission model of marriage. From the aunts, George has learned to place Page I31

love and to gain satisfaction from pleasing the people him. One senses that even his profession was chosen to ts* expectations of him, Since he has been raised Id where no value has been placed on power, understanding of it. George concerns himself with other people's happiness as with his s out "with a touch of scorn," "Tesman always ng about how people are going to make a livingt1 gh most critics dismiss George Tesman as on of him as such is more because we see than because of anything concrete. ons contained in his dialogue--the ?"--indicate a willingness to please in ct unanimous agreement as General Gabler no

'stein Haugom Olsen notes that "What is remarkable about Hedda Gabler,-..is that in this play Ibsen calls into question the faniliar Ibsenite values of lust for life, courage, defiance, and sublimity. In Hedda Galer, these qualities are indistinguish- able from Lovborgfs dissipation and debauchery, and Heddafs cowardice, insensibility, and contempt. At the same time, society is much more benign in Hedda Gabler than in other plays by Ibsen dealing with these themes. The immediate reaction of the reader with his Ibsen-specs on is to mumble that Tesman is weak and insignificant, and to accept Heddals judgment of him. But Hedda's judgement must be balanced by a proper appreciation of Tesman's virtues and of the tesmanesque background against which Hedda acts. ... Tesman provides the background necessary to perceive the artistic point of Heddals status, values, and att%tudesn (609-lQf . Page 82

Though each of Heddass relationships within the play are marked by her desire to dominate, the Tesman family, of which she is now a member, is completely oblivious to her power plays. Indeed, before Hedda even comes on the scene we are made aware through the initial exchange between Aunt Juliana and Berta of to control every situation. Much like the opening scene House where the power politics of the marriage are

ed, the opening scene of fiedda Gabler offers telling into the motivations of the central character and her Though Hedda has arrived home only very late the evening, already the maid expresses distress that she to her new mistress's liking since she is "so very

" (696). Further, she has been told by Hedda that st be referred to as "Doctor Tesman" at all times though Berta has known George since his childhood, We sense from the

exchange that Hedda treats Berta merely as a paid servant, not as the Tesmans perceive her, which is as a beloved family retainer. In her relationship with Berta, there is no question of who holds the power as Berta is the servant and Hedda the mistress. Hedda has no need to be polite to her, nor to manipulate her into doing her will since she is responsible for Berta8s livelihood and will therefore treat her as such. a different ma der member of

t not consider

id for leaving the door full well that Aunt Juliana n some fresh air and sunlight. ow such familiarity in her ceding to Hedda and -

Page 84

volunteering to close the door. But this is not the response Hedda expected and her reply' indicates an alarm that the situation does not warrant: Wo, no--don't! (To Tesman) There, dear, draw the curtains. It gives a softer light" (703).

Hedda perhaps had expected Aunt Juliana to become argumentative and the power struggle could escalate until Hedda proved victorious. But Aunt Juliana has no understanding of this power competition and her concession to Heddals will makes Redda look petty and nitpicking, Hedda follows with a comment that the room is in need of fresh air "with all these piles of flowersN

(7031, though she is well aware that many of the flowers are gifts from Tesmanss aunts. Though Hedda's cut is followed by an invitation to sit, Aunt Juliana senses Hedda's insincerity and makes ready to leave,

Though momentarily victorious in her power play, Hedda's strategy is thwarted when Juliana distracts Tesman with her gift of love--his old bedroom slippers embroidered by his invalid aunt. To Hedda, the slippers are a reminder of the debt that Tesman owes his aunts and she misinterprets the action as a power strategy on the part of Aunt 3uliana--if Tesman is indebted to his aunts, then she is also. Hedda counters by humiliating TesmanBsaunt: she feigns anger at the maid for leaving her hat on a parlour chair, knowing full well that the hat belongs rather Page 85

aunt to comment on r suggestion of lacated, but

ect she is no

is indicated

..,iIedda moves about the room, raising her arms and clenching her fist as if in a frenzy. Then she flings back the curtabs from the glass door and stands there, looking out. (705)

2- Mrs. Elvsted is a different matter to Hedda. She wants ation from her and will therefore treat her with kid gloves she is no longer needed, after which she will cast her to d. Her desire for power over every individual she comes ntact with is so great and so longstanding that she is ee almost instantly which tactic will work to gain the in any given situation. She manipulates each toward this end. She senses immediately that Thea is unused to kindness and will be 'ly manipulated by most meagerly show of it- Thus, Thea enters the 11 frantic concern just below the surface, Hedda makes "greeting her warmly,11and complimenting her on her rs, She *Idraws Mrs. Elvsted down on the sofa and

rw (708); kisses her cheek, and insists on being her first name. She strokes Theals hands, gradually er out and procuring the necessary information. All of are in stark contrast to her meeting, only moments Tesman8s aunt, In fact, while her exchange with her new relative is inappropriately cold and distant, her exchange with a woman she barely knows is inappropriately familiar. The two exchanges work well side by side to illustrate Heddals resourcefulness in the power game: she will behave in whatever manner the situation warrants to gain complete power in the situation, By the time Thea leaves, she believes she has gained a new friend and ally; she has rather put herself into the Page 87

power of Hedda Gabler. Like an family, Thea y mark for Hedda, eems that Thea has ssion through0 to Sheriff title), she

the procureme rather upon ve. Ironically, love for Eilert him, a power which he readily

ship with Judge Brack, Hedda tastes a little power. Brack, unlike the Tesmans or Thea

Elvsted, places a high value on power and makes it his business to procure as much of it as humanly possible, In Brack, Hedda fkds her match and enjoys the small power she holds over him- Their seemingly good-natured banter is fraught with double-entendre and bargaining over the terms of their future Page 88

relationship. That he proposes a "triangular arrangementt1is not

abhorrent to lfedda as long as she holds the power. However, as Is the Judge much later in the play, she is Vhoroughly

-that [he has] no kind of hold over [her]" (756), ially one might wonder why Hedda did not set her e Judge--a man at once well-established and t can be reasoned that Brack lacks Tesmanls

ty. That he is powerful and that she might have had that power is incontestable, but she would have held r over the Judge, just as, though she had access to ower, she had little power over him, Ironically,

Tesman was easy prey for Hedda--she easily gained hint--she has no access to power through him. Further, als little interest in sharing, connubially or , any portion of his pawer--his interests lie solely in

Eilert Lovbarg, however, is, again, a different matter.

Hedda: is drawn to Lovborg not merely for the ideological, ecanomk, and physical power that is his birthright, but for the power of freedom he possesses as a function of his gender. While not all of his gender choose to step outside the bonndaries sf acceptable society, any z~aystep outside these kmundaries and still remain soeialby acceptable. For Hedda, this is the ultimate power and yet it is also the most elusive to her. While Page 89

a woman might have access to male power through her father or husband, this power of freedom, by its very nature, can never be extended to her. Thus, Hedda is fascinated by it and has made

it her business to experience this power vicariously, through Lovborg. Ibsen targets the vicarious nature of Heddafs desire in the following passage:

,.. She wants to lead a man's life. But then comes hesitations--the inherited deep-rooted beliefs ,.. One marries Tesman but one occupies one's imagination with Lovborg. One leans back in onefs chair, closes one eye, and pictures his adventures. .,.. She cannot do it herself--cannot take part in the other one's goal--so she

shoots herself, (Jacobs, 427)

Thus, Hedda is thrilled when, in her boredom and dissatisfaction, she discovers that Lovborg will soon re-enter her life. Through Lovborg, Hedda, prior to her marriage, had managed to realize vicariously all her male fantasies of living a debauched life free from the constraints of bourgeois

6As Victoria Woodhull notes in her essay Virtue: What It Is, and What It Is Not," =We cannot render the terms 'libertine' and 'rake* as opprobrious as men have made fmistressfand 'courtesans. ... The world enslaves our sex by the mere fear of an epithet; and as long as it can throw any vile term at us, before which we cower, it can maintain our enslavementgf(~ckneir, 147) . Page 90

convention. To Hedda, Lovborg has come to represent her male

self; to Lovborg, Hedda has come to represent the missed chance--the seduction that never was, Thus, when they face each

other for the first time after Hedda's wild threats against Lovborg, each is disappointed in the other. Hedda sees a man feminized through reformed living and the maternal influence of a good woman; Lovborg sees a woman who has thrown herself away in a mediocre marriage. When they discuss their past relationship, we understand that even then the relationship was operating on two different planes: while Lovborg believed he was seducing Hedda, she was actually gaining a secret knowledge from him--a knowledge that normally only a man would be party to:

Lovborg: Yes, Hedda--and the confessions I used to make-- telling you things about myself that no one else knew of then. About the way I'd go out, the drinking, the madness that went on day and night, for days at a

time. Ah, what power was it in you, Hedda, that made me tell you such things? ... Interrogating me about--all that kind of thing!

Iiedda : And to think you could answer, Mr. Lovborg, Lovborg: Yes, that's exactly what I don't understand--now, looking back, But tell me, Hedda--the root of that bond between us, wasn't it love? Didn't you feel, on Page 91

your part, as if you wanted to cleanse and absolve me --when I brought those confessions to you? Wasn't that it? No, not quite.

: What was your power, then? Do you find it so very surprising that a young girl--if there's no chance of anyone knowing ... That she'd like some glimpse of a world that .-.That she's forbidden to know anything about.

So that was it? Partly- Partly that, I guess.

: Companionship in a thirst for life. But why then, couldn't it have gone on?

But that was your fault. (738-9)

We understand from their conversation that while Lovborg- believed Hedda was in love with him and wanted, in fact, to reform him, Hedda wanted nothing of the sort, Heddals gratification in the relationship lay in the vicarious power she experienced through his tales of debauchery. She had used the power of her sexual attractiveness to access Lovborg's power. When Lovborg had tried to consummate what he understood to be in large part a seduction, the horrified Hedda threatened him with her fatherfspistols. The horror that Hedda experienced was derived not from the impropriety Lovborg * s actions, but Page 92

from the fact that her good companion would suddenly reduce her to female status-in effect, reduce her to the level of the women whose seductions he had so readily conveyed to Hedda. While she threatened to shoot him with her father's pistols, she could not follow through--her fear sf scandal would not allow it. And yet, Lovborg of the events long past, "That wasn't my worst

hat nightm (740). Heddals cowardice lies in her longing for and denial of freedom--her masculine gender identity longs for the power that comes with Lovborg's freedom and yet it will not allow her, as a female, to experience it.

Further, Hedda has held power over Lovborg--this much is abundantly clear from their conversation. Thus, when Thea tells Redda that she has succeeded in garnering flsomekind of power1'

(714) over Lovborg, Hedda is incensed. Her disappointment at Lovbargpshaving allowed himself to fall under the power of so innocuous a creature as Thea--a woman who cannot truly appreciate the possession of power--is profound, With Lovborg's acknowledgment that Thea has indeed gained power over him through her devotion to him, the play's action is reduced to a power struggle over the fate of Eilert Lovborg.

Thus, the meeting between the three is marked by Heddals manipulations and power strategies. Again we see Hedda at her most resourceful. When Thea, with a hint of proprietorship, Page 93

reiterates Lovborgls refusal to imbibe, Hedda insists that he partake. When he refuses her, the battle is on, Hedda will not be refused and, after noting that *I..,I have no power over you at

allw (742), she employs a new strategy: she suggests that a glance of derision has been issued by Judge Brack at Lovborg's ence. Though Lovborg weakens slightly, he again refuses. resourceful Hedda then employs knowledge of his and relationship imparted to her by Thea earlier in the day. estion is that Thea has been disloyal and Lovborg under the knowledge that the woman upon whom he is dependent perceives him as little more than a child. triumphant as Lovborg toasts both Thea and Hedda, drinks es of punch, and departs for an evening of more

Ironically, while Lovborg is vaguely aware that a struggle is being enacted over his fate, Thea is completely oblivious.

Tfiea, whose very name means wdivine,w is motivated only by love and, like Tesman, has no understanding of the machinations of power.' While her intelligerce prompts her statement to Hedda that "There's something behind what you1re doings1 (7451, she is incapable of understanding Heddass response: "For once in my life, I want to have power over a human beingn (745).

7~ronically, the meaning of Hedda * s name is 'warrior. Page 94

Immediately following this statement Hedda acknowledges that Thea indeed has this power when she confesses to Thea '#Oh, if you only could understand how poor I am. And you're allowed to be so rich! *' (745). wRfch,n to Hedda, can only mean rich in power. Again, in a move not unlike Torvald Helmer, Hedda then resorts to a show of brute force, proclaiming that she will "burn offw abundant hair--a salient symbol of Thea's sexual power. ion is prefigured by her pinching of Thea's arm only earlier while Thea pleads with Lovborg to refrain from joining the drinking party. 8

Hedda despises her gender as an irritating impediment quisition of true power--something to be pulled out only can be used to garner sexual power--Thea has gained a modicum of true power through her gender. Indeed, Thea, through her love for Lovborg, has both power over him and access to his power. Further, they have worked tosether, side by side, and from this Thea has learned the value of work and achievement. As

'While Thea is the only recipient of Hedda s displays of physical strength, it can be reasoned that she is the only person over whom Hedda can reasonably exert any kind of physical force. In her dealings with the men in her life, Hedda employs an extension of physical force in the form of her father's pistols--both Judge Brack and Eilert Lovborg are threatened in this manner. While we have no proof that she has actually threatened her husband with the pistols, she does threaten him with their use when, to his horror, she tells him, "Well, at least I have one thing left to amuse myself with. .., My pistols ... General Gablerls pistolsB1 ??CI•÷ % Page 95

sfre tells Eedda, her lave for Lovborg has turned her into a human being. Where Hedda wants only power over Lovborg, Thea wants only love--and yet through this love she has gained power.

As Hedda predicts, Lovborg does indeed become gloriously drunk, and loses his manuscript, the llchildllborn of his

relationship with Thea, and all of his recently acquired credibility in the process. As Hedda burns the manuscript that has found its way into her hands, she is at her most triumphant, muttering to herself as she throws the sheets into the fire, IfNow I'm burning your child, Thea! You, with your curly hair! -.. Your child and Eilert Lovborges. ... Now I'm burning--I1m burning the childg*(762). In her coup de grace Hedda hands the distraught Lovborg a pistol, her pistol, and begs him to "arrange that,.-it's done bea~tifully~~~What Hedda asks him is to create their masterpiece, their child, as it were--an act that will prove her triumph over Thea. While Theafsacts create, Heddals only destroy. While Thea enables Lovborg to reclaim his life and produce a masterpiece, Hedda, in one brief evening, pushes Lovborg toward his own destruction and destroys his manuscript. While Hedda is physically fecund, she is spiritually sterlle; Thea , though physically barren, is spiritually fertile. And so, while Hedda wins the battle, Thea will win the war. Page 96

As Hedda discovers the ugly truth of LovborgBs death--that t held any wer over him--she also learns that she is in Judge ower--a power which he promises to exert to gain sexual . To be under the power of another, especially one so as Brack--this, to IIedda, is anathema:

our hold over

arest Hedda--believe me--I won't abuse my

e, I'm in your power. Tied to your will and free. Not free, then! (Rises . No--I can8tbear the thought of it.

inevitable.

of spiritual birthing, Thea has born he notes upon which Lovborg had based his to conjoin with Thea "twinm to the Tesman, Heddals oman who places is added to her prison, Page 97 [

Hedda sees her life ahead as a living death and instead chooses for herself the beautiful death she planned for Lovborg: in her most sterile and destructive act, with her father's pistol aimed at her temple, she takes her own life. And yet, Hedda's death is tragic than inevitable--the gun has been aimed at her temple her birth twenty-nine years before,

A pregnant woman with a gun held to her temple, Hedda is the of the playwright's vision for the future of condition that it sticks to its path of mction and oppression. She is the tortured product of a that values power over love, that would oppress, even its most intimate institutions, those members of society d no power, Power breeds power: the powerful grow more 1; the powerless, more oppressed, And yet, fbsen offers the form of George Tesman and Thea Elvsted: two people ives are organized around the procurement of love, nut so, the triad completes: the patriarchal institution of marriage is condemned in Heddais self-annihilating gesture, while a new institution emerges from the union of the spiritually Page 98

Conclusion

Of Ibsen, Brian Johnston posits, ",..he is alerting us...to inadequacies in our idea of the theatrical rendition of the world, of the way the.world aesthetically is represented in the

conventional theaterm (311). IrOnce we have recognized thisIw he continues, "we are ready for the extension of his method in the next playst (311). While Johnston writes of Ibsenlsdramatic method, both within the plays themselves and within his oeuvre, his concept must be extended to the themes the playwright develops as well. In the case of theme, however, Ibsen alerts us rather to the inadequacies of our ethos--our actual rendition of the world. His call to action is both personal and collective. Each play prepares us for the extension of his theme in the next. while Nora paves the way for Mrs. Alving, Mrs. Alving prepares us for Hedda. We cannot understand the true nature of Mrs, Alving without the benefit of Nora, nor can we fully understand Hedda without first experiencing both Nora and Mrs. Alving .

l~bsenmay abandon an unresolved theme to go on to others, but he invariably returns. Pillars of Society prefigures An Enemy of the People and Joh Gabriel Borkman (both of which come much later in his oeuvre), just as A Doll House and Ghosts prefigure Hedda Gabler (which comes nine years and five plays after Ghosts),

.... Page 99

Through Nora, Mrs- Alving, and Hedda, Ibsen explores the dire consequences of the dominationfsubmission model of marriage. They are the maiden, matron, and crone, each possessed

wan active and energetic mind," each seeking some portion of r to make up for the freedom they do not, nor ever will, as a result of their gender and expected submissive role their marriages. The men they concern themselves with are r by their titles: Lawyer, Doctor, Captain, Pastor, Judge, and even Professor. The characterization Ibsen for the lawyer can extend to the Captain, the General, or e: they are interchangeable--the playwright need only tensions to the original, The titles are conspicuous rs of the ideological power this kind of man invariably Indeed, these men hold power even after their s--both Captain Alving and General Gabler hold a modicum of power and have died long before the curtains rise. are, in a sense, properties to the action of the various plays.

And yet, while the women these three plays concern themselves with are nothing alike, they are sister, mother, daughter to each other. Nora, had she stayed with Torvald, would become Mrs. Alving; Nora and Mrs. ALving had they been satisfied with their powerless existences could easily have given birth to Page 100

a Hedda. They share male domination, they differ in their ways ixcrund it. Nora is raised as a doll and passed on to a domineering husband to perpetuate her powerless existence. Her ge exists as a well-disguised power struggle, and yet in a of triumph and crystal clear vision, Nora manages to and the truth of her existence and walk away from the er marriage has become. Helene Alving also marries a g husband, but listens to the voice of convention and in the oppressive marriage. While Mrs. Alving shares telligence, she lacks her vision and her courage. an risk all and leave her marriage, she gains a sband and in turn becomes the oppressor. es her son's childhood in her pursuit of d by a domineering father, yet marries a es not value power and, further, is easily dominated. She is both profoundly bored and intensely frustrated. And yet, she is so enmeshed in the power game that she works through her boredom and frustration by exerting power anywhere she can. Where the triad begins triumphantly, with Nora slamming the door on her oppression, it completes with the sterile, destructive regnant woman--a madonna of sorts, that most o patriarchal ideologies, shooting herself in I wish necessarily to kill the child in her womb--it means nothing to her. It will die though, as a result of the wound. She kills mind: the source of her dissatisfaction, the source of her standing cf her powerlessness. Hedda has learned to value wer, but has come to finally and absolutely understand she will never possess it.

d yet Hedda, in all her misery, with the child in her is the future. The qesture is defiant, yet Hedda functions from defiance, but defeat, The message is clear: human ships based on domination by the male and submission by le, where value is placed on women solely for their and therefore reproductive potential signal catastrophe. 1 end only as it can: in sterility and destruction, Page 1

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------a "Of This Time, of This Place: Mrs. Alvingls Ghosts