till she is
too weary to struggle any more.

It may not be superfluous to note that the "a" in "Gabler" should be
sounded long and full, like the "a" in "Garden"--NOT like the "a" in
"gable" or in "gabble."

W. A.

FOOTNOTES.

(1)Letters 214, 216, 217, 219.

(2)In the Ibsen volume of _Die Literatur_ (Berlin).

(3)Dr. Julius Elias (_Neue deutsche Rundschau_, December 1906, p. 1462)
makes the curious assertion that the character of Thea Elvsted was
in part borrowed from this "Gossensasser Hildetypus." It is hard to
see how even Gibes' ingenuity could distil from the same flower two
such different essences as Thea and Hilda.

(4)See article by Herman Bang in _Neue deutsche Rundschau_, December
1906, p. 1495.

(5)Dr. Brahm (_Neue deutsche Rundschau_, December 1906, P. 1422) says
that after the first performance of _Hedda Gabler_ in Berlin Ibsen
confided to him that the character had been suggested by a German
lady whom he met in Munich, and who did not shoot, but poisoned
herself. Nothing more seems to be known of this lady. See, too,
an article by Julius Elias in the same magazine, p. 1460.

Transcriber's Note:

The inclusion or omission of commas between repeated words ("well,
well"; "there there", etc.) in this etext is reproduced faithfully from
both the 1914 and 1926 editions of _Hedda Gabler_, copyright 1907 by
Charles Scribner's Sons. Modern editions of the same translation use the
commas consistently throughout.--D.L.

HEDDA GABLER.

PLAY IN FOUR ACTS.

CHARACTERS.

GEORGE TESMAN.*
HEDDA TESMAN, his wife.
MISS JULIANA TESMAN, his aunt.
MRS. ELVSTED.
JUDGE** BRACK.
EILERT LOVBORG.
BERTA, servant at the Tesmans.

*Tesman, whose Christian name in the original is "Jorgen," is
described as "stipendiat i kulturhistorie"--that is to say, the
holder of a scholarship for purposes of research into the History
of Civilisation.

**In the original "Assessor."

The scene of the action is Tesman's villa, in the west end
of Christiania.

ACT FIRST.

A spacious, handsome, and tastefully furnished drawing room,
decorated in dark colours. In the back, a wide doorway with
curtains drawn back, leading into a smaller room decorated
in the same style as the drawing-room. In the right-hand
wall of the front room, a folding door leading out to the
hall. In the opposite