Hedda Gabler Women and Femininity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue. We used Edmund Gosse and William Archer's translation.

Quote #7

HEDDA
Do think it quite incomprehensible that a young girl—when it can be done—without any one knowing—
LØVBORG
Well?
HEDDA
—-should be glad to have a peep, now and then, into a world which—?
LØVBORG
Which—?
HEDDA
—which she is forbidden to know anything about? (2.348-52)

Hedda’s relationships with men are often about living vicariously. There is so much she isn’t allowed to do because of her sex, so she experiences it through others. You can apply the same reasoning to her attempt at crafting Eilert’s suicide to her own liking.