How Can the Pressure to Belong Create Rejection, Rebellion and Non-Conformity?
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- Category: English: Plays
- Date Submitted: 11/14/2013 10:21 AM
- Pages: 2
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Pressure to belong in a world which is distasteful can definitely cause rebellion and non-conformity. In Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler, many characters choose to non-conform to please their own satisfaction. Ibsen's use of dialogue and symbolism assists in demonstrating how reminiscing of belonging to a place can cause confusion within a person.Hedda was a wealthy woman with a great family background, until she marries Mr. Tesman. When she is chained down to this man she starts to become unstable and reveals how truly devilish she can be. From manipulating her loved ones to down-right killing them. These incidents occur because of jealousy and boredom and society's expectations of living a normal plain life.
Hedda’s first act of sordidness is first presented when she talks to her husband’s aunt, claiming the maid is unsuitable because “She’s left her old hat behind her on the chair.”, when it was Miss Tesman’s hat. Later finding out she knew that it was Miss Tesman's all along and she just wanted to insult her, shows how bored Hedda was. She is unhappy with her marriage and by lowering herself to an average man, she rejects familiarising with the family.
Retreating to an ideal fantasy, living through others and manipulating those around her, Hedda is still a woman trapped in 1890 Norway. She is seen as a rebel due to her being restricted by the social standards she despises. We see this best through Hedda’s "deathly" fear of "scandal." The threat of scandal is the reason she broke things off with Eilert in the first place. According to society, she had to marry someone. She doesn’t love her husband as there is no deep connection. However she "doesn’t expect to be unfaithful, either" because she can’t run the risk of a scandal. This pressure of keeping up appearances is seething with rage inside as Hedda "moves about the room, raising her arms and clenching her fists as if in a frenzy." In Act IV she again "clench[es] her fists in despair" and declares that...
Hedda’s first act of sordidness is first presented when she talks to her husband’s aunt, claiming the maid is unsuitable because “She’s left her old hat behind her on the chair.”, when it was Miss Tesman’s hat. Later finding out she knew that it was Miss Tesman's all along and she just wanted to insult her, shows how bored Hedda was. She is unhappy with her marriage and by lowering herself to an average man, she rejects familiarising with the family.
Retreating to an ideal fantasy, living through others and manipulating those around her, Hedda is still a woman trapped in 1890 Norway. She is seen as a rebel due to her being restricted by the social standards she despises. We see this best through Hedda’s "deathly" fear of "scandal." The threat of scandal is the reason she broke things off with Eilert in the first place. According to society, she had to marry someone. She doesn’t love her husband as there is no deep connection. However she "doesn’t expect to be unfaithful, either" because she can’t run the risk of a scandal. This pressure of keeping up appearances is seething with rage inside as Hedda "moves about the room, raising her arms and clenching her fists as if in a frenzy." In Act IV she again "clench[es] her fists in despair" and declares that...