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Visceral Response Hedda Gabler

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As I viewed Hedda Gabler, I had two visceral responses during two very important scenes. My first visceral response occurred when Hedda Gabler was being questioned by Commissioner Brack about the death of Ejlert Løvborg. This scene made me feel very uncomfortable. As I watched the commissioner push and throw Hedda around, I started thinking about domestic violence. It was a scary thing to watch, and it must be terrifying to experience. When the commissioner spit his drink on Hedda, I felt physically sick. Prior to this, I really did not like Hedda, but as Hedda began to realize that she had no power to stop the commissioner, my heart softened toward her. At the end of the play, I experienced another visceral response when Hedda committed suicide in order free herself from the power of the commissioner. I watched this play just three weeks after a family member committed suicide. He was in extreme physical pain, and there was nothing that doctors could do for him. He took his own life in order to free himself from this physical pain. Watching Hedda take her own life really made me sad for my own loss. I really wanted to leave the play, but since I really needed to view the final moments, I sat glued to my seat, hoping something else would happen that would make me feel better. When that did not occur, I was actually mad. This really was a difficult play for me to watch.
Throughout the play, I noticed that I felt a connection with Berte. Berte, the maid in this story, sat in the corner for the entire play and was not really significant to the storyline. Her job was to inform Hedda Gabler and Jorgen Tesman who is entering the apartment. In a recent production of A Time to Kill at my community college, I played the part of Norma Gallo, the court reporter. During the scenes in which I was present, I sat typing on a typewriter and, like Berte, I was not very significant to the storyline. For the duration of the production, Berte is more or less a people watcher. I, too, am somewhat of a people watcher; when I am in a group of strangers, I think about who they might be and make up stories about their lives. I enjoy watching from a distance, but not being a part of what is happening. Another reason, that I

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