tates: "Yes, to think--that we're already in--in September" (Jacobus 601). She also admits to Lovborg that she is a coward (Jacobus 617), and she clearly understands the sins she has committed. She has done these things as Hedda Tesman, and always there is a sense that Hedda Gabler would have been more adventurous, less cowardly, and better able to cope.
Ibsen uses the character of Hedda to create a more modern sense of tragedy. Hedda sees herself as the sort of high-born character common to tragedy, but she does not live in a world where she has that sort of social role. She cannot be the gracious housekeeper society expects, and she cannot use the military skills of her father. Ultimately, she can only see one way to make the dramatic gesture she so seeks in her life, and that is by shooting herself.
Brack makes a clear statement of the amazing nature of what Hedda has done: "People don't do such things!" (Ibsen 893). Brack has pressured he
...