hows in the character of Thea a woman in the same environment who is able to overcome oppression. Unlike Gabler, Thea learns that human relationships are healing. Thea is able to learn this from a man (Eilert) just as he learns from her. She says that she has "made a new man of him" and he has made a . . . real person of me." In the Marxist point of view, such a healing relationship would be very difficult while the capitalists (mostly men) were still in power. The news of Thea's happiness eats at Hedda's heart and inspires her to her most evil deeds. Found out, she kills herself.
At the same time, Gabler is far more oppressed than Thea, because Gabler's father was an evil man who raised her to be selfish with no feeling for others. She has been taught by her environment to be completely dependent on what other people think of her. She is not capable of doing what she wants in life, because this would force her to be independent of what others think of her.
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