Hedda Gabler
Hedda, the daughter of the great General Gabler and the pregnant wife of Jörgen Tesman, is a beautiful, aristocratic, intelligent woman, loaded with social grace and a steely, clear, dispassionate charisma. She is 29…
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Jörgen Tesman
Tesman is Hedda’s husband and the holder of a University Fellowship in cultural history: he specializes in medieval domestic crafts. He is a slightly plump, bearded, and bespectacled man of 33. Tesman is a…
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Ejlert Lövborg
Tesman’s rival for a prestigious professorship, Ejlert Lövborg is a visionary historian and sociologist. He is also, like Hedda herself, ill-adapted to modern life—in his case, he is unable to drink in moderation. The…
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Mrs. Thea Elvsted
Mrs. Elvsted is a slight woman with soft attractive features, large blue eyes that tend to protrude with a scared, questioning expression, and almost whitish-yellow hair that is unusually rich and wavy. She is a…
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Judge Brack
Judge Brack is a shrewd and respected man in society, a cynical old bachelor, and a regular guest at the Tesmans’ villa. He is a gentleman of 45, stocky and elastic in his movements, with…
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Miss Juliane Tesman (Aunt Julle)
Jörgen Tesman’s paternal aunt, Juliane Tesman is a good-looking, conventional, chatty woman who cared for her nephew after his parents’ deaths. Though Jörgen is an adult when the play begins, his Aunt Julle, some…
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Berte
Berte is a plain, kindly, dedicated maid of a “somewhat countrified exterior” who served in Juliane Tesman’s household before transferring into the service of Jörgen and Hedda. Miss Tesman and her nephew are…
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Mademoiselle Diana
Named for a Greek goddess of hunting and (ironically) chastity, Mademoiselle Diana is a redheaded singer and the madam, or procuress, of a brothel in town. She never appears onstage. During his wild drunken debauched…
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Minor Characters
Aunt Rina
One of Jörgen Tesman’s aunts, Aunt Rina is an invalid who never appears onstage and who passes away quietly toward the end of the play. She is cared for and tended to by Aunt Julle.
Mr. Elvsted
Mr. Elvsted is a sheriff who lives north of town, and is the husband of Mrs. Thea Elvsted. Mrs. Elvsted claims to have nothing in common with her husband—he treats her like useful and cheap property, she claims. Mr. Elvsted never appears onstage.
General Gabler
Hedda’s father, a famous general. He provided Hedda with an aristocratic upbringing, but she is unable to maintain this lifestyle given the state of Jörgen Tesman’s finances. Hedda still has her father’s pistols, and she enjoys holding and shooting them.
