Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen – Delphi Classics (Illustrated)

Hedda. [In a low voice.] Oh, what a sense of freedom it gives one, this act of Eilert Lovborg’s.

Brack. Freedom, Mrs. Hedda? Well, of course, it is a release for him —

Hedda. I mean for me. It gives me a sense of freedom to know that a deed of deliberate courage is still possible in this world, — a deed of spontaneous beauty.

I will not look upon sickness and death. I loathe all sorts of ugliness.

Hedda. [Rising impatiently.] Yes, there we have it! It is this genteel poverty I have managed to drop into — ! [Crosses the room.] That is what makes life so pitiable! So utterly ludicrous! — For that’s what it is.

I know of no reason why I should be — happy. Perhaps you can give me one?

I had positively danced myself tired, my dear Judge. My day was done —

Reverting to Dumas’s dictum that a play should contain “a painting, a judgment, an ideal,”

What I principally wanted to do was to depict human beings, human emotions, and human destinies, upon a groundwork of certain of the social conditions and principles of the present day.

Depending on the interpretation, Hedda may be portrayed as an idealistic heroine fighting society, a victim of circumstance, a prototypical feminist or a manipulative villain, offering much scope for any ambitious actress.