Ibsen and Strindberg †Hedda Gabler and Miss Julie Argumentative Essay Example For Students

Ibsen and Strindberg – Hedda Gabler and Miss Julie Argumentative Essay Compare and contrast the characters of Hedda Gabler and Miss Julie in the plays by Ibsen and Strindberg. Support your findings with comments on the writers attitudes to their characters. August Strindberg and Henrik Ibsen were both great playwrights of the 19th century, and both played a large role in the evolution of modern day naturalism/ realism. The plays I will be discussing are Ibsens Hedda Gabler, (1890) and Strindbergs Miss Julie (1888). In Karens lecture on Strindberg, she told how the two playwrights were rivals in a sense, mainly caused by Strindbergs attitudes on social issues- Namely his thoughts and theory on the role of women in society. Thus, I am lead to believe that Hedda Gabler was written by Ibsen as a direct retaliation to Strindbergs Miss Julie, just as Karen believes that Strindbergs The Father was written as a reply to Ibsens Ghosts. Although both plays end with the suicide of the leading character, the circumstances by which they occur are very different. In order to take these plays in their full context, it is important to examine the lives of the playwrights and see just how much of their own thoughts, beliefs and feelings are reflected in their plays. I feel this is particularly important in the case of Strindberg. I was intrigued by Karens lecture on Strindberg, in particular the rise of his misogynist attitudes and his state of mental health. His attitudes are reflected in Miss Julie quite clearly. Strindberg believed that Women were a secondary form, which can be seen through reading his preface to the play. The translation of the play I examined was from the Drama Classics (D.C) Series. I found a very interesting piece of writing in this version of the play; In an editors note, it is explained that the translation was based on the original text, and contained some rants which were not included in most published versions. The most interesting of these was a part in the preface which was not in the other versions, it reads as follows;Theres a view, current at the moment even among quite sensible people, that women, that secondary form humanity (second to men, the lords and shapers of human civilisation) should in some way become equal with men, or could so be; this is leading to a struggle which is both bizarre and doomed. Its bizarre because a secondary form, by the laws of science, is always going to be a secondary form . .the proposition is as impossible as that two parallel lines should ever meet.I find these comments quite astounding, and there are no shortage of similar comments in his preface. Karen explained how Strindberg also believed that when a woman was menstruating, it meant she was in an altered state of mind. In his preface, Strindberg gives this as one of the possible reasons behind Julies suicide. An understanding of these attitudes is vital to fully understand Miss Julie and make the connection between Julie and Hedda. As I touched on earlier, Strindberg developed a hate towards Ibsen, as he saw him as a promoter of feminism. Karen spoke of Ibsens Ghosts, in which a woman spoke out against a dead man. Strindberg did not like this, as the male had no chance to defend himself. As a result, he wrote The Father. In this play, Strindberg makes all the female characters out to be dislikeable and narky. It is this which leads me to believe that Hedda Gabler was written by Ibsen as a reply to Miss Julie. I will attempt to display my reasoning behind this theory, analysing the title characters from both plays and demonstrating the writers attitudes being displayed throughout the play. To me, Miss Julie seems to be a true Battle of the sexes play, in which the male inevitably wins. Throughout the play, a power game is being played by Jean and Julie. The character of Julie is what Strindberg would describe as a half-woman- that is, she does not know her place in society and tries to dominate a male. Strindbergs preface touches on this issue;Modern feminists thrust themselves forward, selling themselves for power, honours, distinctions and diplomas as women once did for money.She is socially superior to Jean in that she is from an aristocratic family and Jean is her fathers servant. She tries to assert herself over Jean from the very start of the play when she demands that Jean dances with her. She even claims herself to be Fireproof (D. Drug Addiction In The Work Place Essay The daughter of a General, Hedda is a natural leader and does not easily fit the mould of a housewife. She emphasises this by constantly denying her pregnancy whenever Jorgen mentions it (that is, mentions it indirectly, eg. saying how she is rounded). She longs for control over everyone she comes in contact with. It seems to me the only reason she married Tesman was because she would have financial security as Tesman had an impending professorship, whilst at the same time still have the ability to dominate a dull academic. She gets power by manipulating her husband, and at one point even tells Mrs Elvsted; I want the power to shape a mans destiny. This is clearly the opposite to Strindbergs Miss Julie, where Julie had the desire to be dominated by a man. Hedda becomes jealous of Mrs Elvsteds relationship with Tasmans rival Lovborg, which is intellectual and creates a child in the form of a manuscript. I find it interesting how she gains power over Lovborg when he comes to visit. Lovborg recalls the past; Did you feel love for me? A flicker a sparkfor me? (D. Cp.57), but this flirting does not have an effect on Hedda, even if she would like to respond, she spurns his advances, thus giving her superiority over Lovborg, much as she does with Judge Brack, her confidant. He tells how Hedda has always had power;And Hedda, the things I told you! Things about myself. No one else knew, then. My drinkingdays and nights on end. I sat there and told you. Days and nights. Oh Hedda, what gave you such power? To make me tell you.. .things like that? (D.C p.58)It is Heddas jealousy for Lovborg and Mrs Elvsteds creative relationship which causes her to become destructive and destroy the manuscript, rather than see it back into Lovborgs hands, with the ever powerless Jorgen believing she did it for his sake. As she is burning the manuscript she displays her resentment towards the relationship;Look, Thea. Im burning your baby, Thea. Little Curly hair! Your baby.. .yours and his. The baby. Burning the baby. (D.C p.88)I struggled to fully understand why she urged Lovborg to kill himself, but in this context I can only speculate that it was to further consolidate the end of the relationship between Miss Elvsted and Lovborg, of which she was so envious. By the end of the play, Hedda has relinquished all of her power. Lovborgs death backfired and Hedda ended up losing the dominance over Jorgen, as he and Mrs Elvsted devote their lives to resurrecting Lovborgs manuscript and Mrs Elvsted hopes to inspire Tesman as she did Lovborg. Brack then establishes power over her through her fear of scandal, blackmailing her in a sense to agree to his terms of living. He could destroy her at any moment by releasing the information that the gun which killed Lovborg belonged to Hedda. She finds this thought unbearable; Im still in your power. At your disposal. A slave. I wont have it. I wont (D. C p.105) So Hedda, unable to live under the control of others, plays a final tune on the piano before taking one of her fathers pistols and shooting herself. Although both Ibsens Hedda Gabler and Strindbergs Miss Julie ended with the suicide of the leading character, the circumstances by which the suicides occurred were most different, and particularly in the case of Miss Julie, the writers personal thoughts were prominent in the outcome. Julie ended her life after a deep underlying yearning to be dominated by Jean and in the end displays her inferiority by begging Jean to give her permission to end her life. This is unlike the circumstances in Hedda Gabler, where Hedda maintains her dignity and status to the very end. Unlike Julie, she cannot bear the thought of being under the control of others. This is why I speculate that Hedda Gabler could very well have been written by Ibsen in direct reply and contradiction to Strindbergs Miss Julie. I am sure that Henrik Ibsen would have found a lot to disagree upon when it came to the ideas and philosophies contained within Strindbergs Miss Julie, not to mention the plays preface.