ABSTRACT
The chapter contains a reading of Hedda Gabler that emphasizes the concept of female masculinity. Having been raised to be more of a man than a woman, Hedda enacts a female masculinity that clearly sets her apart from other women. She lacks a vocation in life, which has brought about an existential despair. In an echo of the demonic Rosmer, Hedda desires to exert control over others, in particular forceful men. The chapter argues that this desire is the driving force behind her behavior toward Løvborg in particular. The argument is made that Hedda’s project of rehabilitating Løvborg suggests a crisis of contemporary masculinity. Tesman is Hedda’s antithesis in that he represents a male femininity that is detrimental to the survival of bourgeois patriarchy. Standing in opposition to Hedda, Tesman, and Løvborg is the assessor Brack, who represents an intact patriarchal tradition. Brack’s dismissal of Hedda’s efforts at emasculating him and his successful entrapment of her set Hedda on the path to suicide. The chapter concludes by remarking on the essential wastefulness of Hedda’s death, a reading in opposition to a tradition in Ibsen scholarship of regarding her death as a tragic or even heroic act.
