Repeated images and symbols are frequently used in dramas to contribute to the development of the themes. The repetition of a certain image in the context of the play attaches metaphorical significance to a physical object. "Hedda Gabler," a play written by Henrik Ibsen contains many such elements, all of which further the critical analysis of the constraint exerted by a patriarchal, bourgeois society of nineteenth century Norway on a woman who "thirsts for life." The resulting struggle between her inner desires for freedom and her own conformist attitudes has corrupted her perception of the meaning of life.
The setting of "Hedda Gabler," which remains unchanged through the play, is significant symbolically as it demonstrates the domestic cage into which Hedda, as a woman and wife, had been cast. The dark, sombre colours of the drawing room presents the "monotonous landscape" that constitutes her prison, relieved by a glass door that looks out onto "autumn foliage." Through the entire play, the audience is visually reminded of the symbolic representation of the spiritual barrenness of the house, which opens out to deteriorating life - "all yellow and withered," nearing the season of death. This casts ominous overtones on the actions of the characters in this setting.
In addition to this effect is the origins of the house itself, revealed through dialogue that it had once belonged to the late Mr Falk, a cabinet minister. This draws the concept of class stratification into the society of the time and the class-consciousness that is ingrained into every member. That the house "reminds one of the departed" symbolises the decline of the power of the aristocracy in the 1890's, taken over by the stoical bourgeoisie. Hedda, once a former member of the higher classes, has been forced to marry down into a lower class, which she speaks contemptibly of. She finds her life to be one without purpose besides "boring herself to death" and that middle class morality has effectively eliminated whatever social power she once had as General Gabler's daughter - in effect, a "lady."
Her frustration at her powerlessness and dependence on an obtuse scholar is best represented by the repeated image of her "looking out the glass door." The glass door, in itself, presents only a tenuous, easily breakable barrier between her entrapment and the outside world. She longs for freedom, to catch a "glimpse of a world that one wasn't allowed to know about" but this transparent barrier confines Hedda. The image of her "walking nervously" across the enclosed, claustrophobic space of the drawing room to look out or "tap nervously" on the glass door stresses that the society in general has imprisoned her due to its restrictive definition of femininity.
That Hedda struggles against the role of subservient wife and loving mother can be explained by her masculine upbringing and the strong father figure that dominates her sub-conscious. Both these are symbolized by the portrait of General Gabler which peers imposingly from the inner room, representative of Hedda's sub-conscious, to dominate the entire stage setting. Though she never once mentions her father, it is obvious that her craving for power and alignment with male desires are stemmed from him. Hence, Hedda's character and life seem to be wholly determined through this strong connection with a military past, which emphasizes conformity and discipline. There lies the chief reason as to her mortal fear of scandal - "I never jump out." She, then, is also a woman trapped by her past.
The pistols, giver to her by her father, are symbols of masculine power and aggression. They give Hedda the power of life and death, one she uses to the detriment of others around her in the selfish desire to give meaning to her life. They inspired momentary fear in Judge Brack in his first visit to Hedda, his unsavory intentions indicated by his using the back way. More importantly, they are the instruments through which Hedda can exert her control over another "human being's fate," Lovborg's - not to life but to death, which has to "shimmer with spontaneous beauty." The idea of beauty in suicide reveals the distorted ideals that Hedda holds. Ironically, the pistol also brings about her downfall as it was used as the medium through which Brack could bring her under his control.
Towards the end, as the illusion of her power over another is shattered, shown by her disgust in response to Lovborg's accidental death, she reaches out to the final illusion wherein she commits an act, which she deems courageous. In her distorted ideals, shooting herself through the temple with the pistol was necessary for her to gain freedom but it in itself is also an act derived from her past. Committing suicide by shooting oneself through the temple is glorified and deemed the highest form of honour in the military code when all is lost. The act could also be romantically beautified - an idea again taken from her father's influence. Hedda has finally retreated deep into her inner sanctum, where, in the presence of the General, allowed the past to ultimately reclaim her life.
