Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her

Henrik Ibsens Hedda Gabler and Bertolt Brechts get down fortitude and Her Children Henrik Ibsens Hedda Gabler and Bertolt Brechts let Courage and Her Children present two strongly defined effeminate heroines whose affections non only adversely affect the other characters lives but excessively suggest a fundamental problem with their societies. both typifywrights establish the visible view of societys ills in the microscopic, somebody characters of Hedda and Mother Courage. Both characters have an indomitable magnetism that, on the one hand, allows them to control others but, on the other, causes them to make desperate choices that reflect a repressive society. Ibsen creates in Hedda Gabler a dominating, fiercely controlling female heroine who controls everyone in her circle, from her weak husband Tesman, to Lovborg, Mrs. Elvsted and even, to a lesser degree, Judge Brack, who reverses roles with Hedda by the end of the play. Hedda, as a chameleon figure, alternately shift s her manipulative tactics to maintain control, and each character cannot stand by away from her influence. Only when Hedda has lost control of Lovborg, does she resort to an act of sovereign self-control suicide. Judge Brack believes he has won in his battle of wills with Hedda and believes he remains the only cock in the yard at the plays end. Nevertheless, her suicide reinforces her superiority because she has claimed the ultimate position of control in the play. Judge Brack cannot assert his lustful intentions through coercive blackmail, and she will not relinquish the power to any character or realization, whether it is Tesmans gentle yet remonstrative pleas or Judge Bracks slyly conniving wiles. She defines her cause role by her self-inflicted death... ...she does assume this role, ultimately valuing profit over her childrens safety. She continues on this journey without her children even as the play ends. Both characters, Hedda and Mother Courage, express values dict ated by society. Though Mother Courages actions destroy her family and Heddas suicide destroys herself and her unborn child, both characters choose these unhealthful paths. In effect, they become like the society itself, embodying its values and motivations, its limit and corruption. Neither Hedda nor Mother Courage possess any real individual power or self-control to overcome a society that forces them to act destructively. Ibsen and Brecht represent societys power to coerce characters like Hedda and Mother Courage into accepting values that refract social ones as destructive to them as to the society that informs their characters.