Hedda Gabler Lesson Plan

Why is the play named Hedda Gabler, when the titular character is now actually named Hedda Tesman?

In an 1890 letter to his editor Moritz Prozor, Henrik Ibsen wrote: "My intention in giving it this name was to indicate that Hedda as a personality is to be regarded rather as her father’s daughter than her husband’s wife." Thus, the title of the play foreshadows one of its most essential conflicts. There is an old Hedda Gabler, who lived an aristocratic life befitting the daughter of a famous general, and a new Hedda Tesman, who is suddenly facing down a life as a domestic housewife to a mediocre academic.

Describe the setting of the play. What does this setting...