Hedda Gabler (Webster's Thesaurus Edition)

236 Pages·2006·1.82 MB·English

by  Henrik Ibsen

HEDDA GABLER

Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®,
GMAT®, and AP® English Test Preparation

Henrik Ibsen
Translation by Edmund Gosse and

William Archer

PSAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit Scholarship
Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT is a registered trademark of the College
Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE, AP and Advanced Placement are registered
trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT is a
registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book
nor endorses this book, LSATis a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither
sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved.
Hedda Gabler

Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®,
GMAT®, and AP® English Test Preparation

Henrik Ibsen
Translation by Edmund Gosse and

William Archer

PSAT® is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT® is a registered trademark of the
College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE®, AP® and Advanced Placement® are
registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book,
GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated
with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council
which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved.
ICON CLASSICS

Published by ICON Group International, Inc.
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www.icongrouponline.com

Hedda Gabler: Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®, GMAT®, and AP®
English Test Preparation

This edition published by ICON Classics in 2005
Printed in the United States of America.

Copyright ©2005 by ICON Group International, Inc.
Edited by Philip M. Parker, Ph.D. (INSEAD); Copyright ©2005, all rights reserved.

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PSAT® is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT® is a registered
trademark of the College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE®, AP® and
Advanced Placement® are registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither
sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management
Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a
registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither sponsors nor endorses
this product. All rights reserved.

ISBN 0-497-25263-5
iii
Contents

PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR..........................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................3

PERSONS REPRESENTED..............................................................................................13

ACT I..............................................................................................................................15

ACT II.............................................................................................................................63

ACT III..........................................................................................................................109

ACT IV..........................................................................................................................139

GLOSSARY...................................................................................................................167

Henrik Ibsen 1

PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR

Designed for school districts, educators, and students seeking to maximize performance on
standardized tests, Webster’s paperbacks take advantage of the fact that classics are frequently
assigned readings in English courses. By using a running thesaurus at the bottom of each page, this
edition of Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen was edited for students who are actively building their
vocabularies in anticipation of taking PSAT®, SAT®, AP® (Advanced Placement®), GRE®,
LSAT®, GMAT® or similar examinations.1

Webster’s edition of this classic is organized to expose the reader to a maximum number of
synonyms and antonyms for difficult and often ambiguous English words that are encountered in
other works of literature, conversation, or academic examinations. Extremely rare or idiosyncratic
words and expressions are given lower priority in the notes compared to words which are “difficult,
and often encountered” in examinations. Rather than supply a single synonym, many are provided
for a variety of meanings, allowing readers to better grasp the ambiguity of the English language,
and avoid using the notes as a pure crutch. Having the reader decipher a word’s meaning within
context serves to improve vocabulary retention and understanding. Each page covers words not
already highlighted on previous pages. If a difficult word is not noted on a page, chances are that it
has been highlighted on a previous page. A more complete thesaurus is supplied at the end of the
book; Synonyms and antonyms are extracted from Webster’s Online Dictionary.

Definitions of remaining terms as well as translations can be found at www.websters-online-
dictionary.org. Please send suggestions to [email protected]

The Editor
Webster’s Online Dictionary
www.websters-online-dictionary.org
1 P S A T ® i s a r e g i s t e r e d t r a d e m a r k o f t h e College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT® is a registered trademark of the
College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE®, AP® and Advanced Placement® are
registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book,
GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated
with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council
which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved.

Henrik Ibsen 3

INTRODUCTION.%

From Munich, on June 29, 1890, Ibsen wrote to the Swedish poet, Count Carl
Soilsky: "Our intention has all along been to spend the summer in the Tyrol
again. But circumstances are against our doing so. I am at present engaged upon
a new dramatic work, which for several reasons has made very slow progress,
and I do not leave Munich until I can take with me the completed first draft.
There is little or no prospect of my being able to complete it in July." Ibsen did
not leave Munich at all that season. On October 30 he wrote: "At present I am
utterly engrossed in a new play. Not one leisure hour have I had for several
months." Three weeks later (November 20) he wrote to his French translator,
Count Prozor: "My new play is finished; the manuscript went off to Copenhagen
the day before yesterday. . . . It produces a curious feeling of emptiness to be
thus suddenly separated from a work which has occupied one's time and
thoughts for several months, to the exclusion of all else. But it is a good thing,
too, to have done with it. The constant intercourse with the fictitious personages
was beginning to make me quite nervous." To the same correspondent he wrote
on December 4: "The title of the play is Hedda Gabler. My intention in giving it
this name was to indicate that Hedda, as a personality, is to be regarded rather as
her father's daughter than as her husband's wife. It was not my desire to deal in
this play with so-called problems. What I principally wanted to do was to depict

Thesaurus
daughter: (n) child, son, maiden, fascinated, obsessed, thoughtful, handwriting, record, copy, text,
young woman, daughterly, lass, hooked; (adj, v) immersed. document, Ms, holograph, transcript,
unmarried woman, damsel, miss, ANTONYMS: (adj) disinterested, palimpsest.
missy, virgin. bored, distracted, indifferent, regarded: (adj) reputed.
emptiness: (n) blankness, blank, void, unconcerned, uninterested, so-called: (adj) nominal, ostensible,
vanity, vacuity, worthlessness, inattentive, carefree. pretended, false, quasi, sham, mock.
futility, space, inanity, inanition, fictitious: (adj) bogus, assumed, translator: (n) translating program,
hollowness. ANTONYMS: (n) fictional, counterfeit, artificial, fake, transcriber, dragoman, translater,
richness, fullness, value, importance, fabulous, sham, fabricated, fanciful, program, arranger, assembler,
clutter. apocryphal. ANTONYMS: (adj) true, assembly program, computer
engrossed: (adj) rapt, engaged, intent, honest, historical, factual. program, computer programme,
occupied, preoccupied, busy, manuscript: (n, v) writing; (n) book, adapter.
4 Hedda Gabler
human beings, human emotions, and human destinies, upon a groundwork of
certain of the social conditions and principles of the present day."
So far we read the history of the play in the official "Correspondence." Some
interesting glimpses into the poet's moods during the period between the
completion of The Lady from the Sea and the publication of Hedda Gabler are to be
found in the series of letters to Fraulein Emilie Bardach, of Vienna, published by
Dr. George Brandes. This young lady Ibsen met at Gossensass in the Tyrol in the
autumn of 1889. The record of their brief friendship belongs to the history of The
Master Builder rather than to that of Hedda Gabler, but the allusions to his work in
his letters to her during the winter of 1889 demand some examination.%
So early as October 7, 1889, he writes to her: "A new poem begins to dawn in
me. I will execute it this winter, and try to transfer to it the bright atmosphere of
the summer. But I feel that it will end in sadness--such is my nature." Was this
"dawning" poem Hedda Gabler? Or was it rather The Master Builder that was
germinating in his mind? Who shall say? The latter hypothesis seems the more
probable, for it is hard to believe that at any stage in the incubation of Hedda
Gabler he can have conceived it as even beginning in gaiety. A week later,
however, he appears to have made up his mind that the time had not come for
the poetic utilisation of his recent experiences. He writes on October 15: "Here I
sit as usual at my writing-table. Now I would fain work, but am unable to. My
fancy, indeed, is very active. But it always wanders awayours. I cannot repress
my summer memories--nor do I wish to. I live through my experience again and
again and yet again. To transmute it all into a poem, I find, in the meantime,
impossible." Clearly, then, he felt that his imagination ought to have been
engaged on some theme having no relation to his summer experiences--the
theme, no doubt, of Hedda Gabler. In his next letter, dated October 29, he writes:
"Do not be troubled because I cannot, in the meantime, create (dichten). In reality
I am for ever creating, or, at any rate, dreaming of something which, when in the
fulness of time it ripens, will reveal itself as a creation (Dichtung)." On November
19 he says: "I am very busily occupied with preparations for my new poem. I sit
almost the whole day at my writing-table. Go out only in the evening for a little

Thesaurus
appears: (n) appearing. fulness: (n) fullness, entirety, control, suppress, put down, bridle,
busily: (adv) actively, occupiedly, completeness, totality. keep down, subdue, restrain, reduce.
briskly, industriously, engagedly, gaiety: (n) fun, cheerfulness, ANTONYMS: (v) declare, liberate,
energetically, assiduously, lively, exhilaration, mirth, glee, merriment, incite.
officiously, fussily, meddlesomely. hilarity, happiness, joy, joviality, transmute: (v) change, metamorphose,
ANTONYM: (adv) inactively. jollity. ANTONYMS: (n) seriousness, alter, turn, convert, translate,
conceived: (adj) formed. misery, sadness. transfigure, modify, process, become,
creating: (v) create; (n) making. groundwork: (n) bottom, basis, base, aurify.
fain: (adj) willing, prepared, ready, foundation, bed, ground, footing, utilisation: (n) use, utilization,
favorable, heart and soul, prone; (adv) bedrock, fundament, background, practice, application, exploitation,
gladly, lief, readily, willingly; (v) substructure. employment, exercise, misuse, play,
optative. repress: (v) inhibit, crush, quash, development, abuse.
Henrik Ibsen 5
while." The five following letters contain no allusion to the play; but on
September 18, 1890, he wrote: "My wife and son are at present at Riva, on the
Lake of Garda, and will probably remain there until the middle of October, or
even longer. Thus I am quite alone here, and cannot get away. The new play on
which I am at present engaged will probably not be ready until November,
though I sit at my writing- table daily, and almost the whole day long."
Here ends the history of Hedda Gabler, so far as the poet's letters carry us. Its
hard clear outlines, and perhaps somewhat bleak atmosphere, seem to have
resulted from a sort of reaction against the sentimental "dreamery" begotten of
his Gossensass experiences. He sought refuge in the chill materialism of Hedda
from the ardent transcendentalism of Hilda, whom he already heard knocking
at the door. He was not yet in the mood to deal with her on the plane of poetry.%
Hedda Gabler was published in Copenhagen on December 16, 1890. This was
the first of Ibsen's plays to be translated from proof- sheets and published in
England and America almost simultaneously with its first appearance in
Scandinavia. The earliest theatrical performance took place at the Residenz
Theater, Munich, on the last day of January 1891, in the presence of the poet,
Frau Conrad-Ramlo playing the title-part. The Lessing Theater, Berlin, followed
suit on February 10. Not till February 25 was the play seen in Copenhagen, with
Fru Hennings as Hedda. On the following night it was given for the first time in
Christiania, the Norwegian Hedda being Froken Constance Bruun. It was this
production which the poet saw when he visited the Christiania Theater for the
first time after his return to Norway, August 28, 1891. It would take pages to give
even the baldest list of the productions and revivals of Hedda Gabler in
Scandinavia and Germany, where it has always ranked among Ibsen's most
popular works. The admirable production of the play by Miss Elizabeth Robins
and Miss Marion Lea, at the Vaudeville Theatre, London, April 20, 1891, may
rank as the second great step towards the popularisation of Ibsen in England,
the first being the Charrington- Achurch production of A Doll's House in 1889.
Miss Robins afterwards repeated her fine performance of Hedda many times, in
London, in the English provinces, and in New York. The character has also been

Thesaurus
admirable: (adj) fine, outstanding, ardent: (adj, n) enthusiastic, glowing; Tractarianism, theism, Socinianism,
beautiful, great, commendable, (adj, v) burning, fervent, greed, Erastianism, Adventism,
lovely, good, creditable, impassioned; (adj) keen, vehement, anabaptism. ANTONYM: (n)
praiseworthy, worthy, grand. eager, warm, acute, fervid. generosity.
ANTONYMS: (adj) appalling, poor, ANTONYMS: (adj) apathetic, cool, popularisation: (n) vulgarisation,
unworthy, despicable, contemptible, unenthusiastic, traitorous, mild, popularization, degradation,
detestable, dishonorable, rotten, frigid, dispassionate, cold, disloyal, debasement, coarsening.
unimpressive, loathsome, low. impassive, calm. ranked: (adj) stratified, hierarchal,
allusion: (n) innuendo, reference, cue, begotten: (adj) generated, biological, graveled, hierarchical, bedded,
suggestion, mention, intimation, create. hierarchic.
pointer, insinuation, implication, materialism: (n) deism, dialectical transcendentalism: (n) spiritualism,
indication, clue. materialism, desire, Sabellianism, philosophy.