1. What is the full name of the play's title character?
**Hedda Gabler**
2. What year was the play first performed?
**1890**
3. In what country was Henrik Ibsen from?
**Norway**
4. What genre of plays is "Hedda Gabler" typically classified as?
**Realism**
5. What is Hedda's maiden name?
**Tesman**
6. Who does Hedda marry at the beginning of the play?
**George Tesman**
7. What is Hedda and George's relationship to each other?
**Cousins**
8. Where did Hedda and George honeymoon?
**Munich**
9. What prestigious university did George attend?
**Berlin University**
10. What subject did George study?
**History**
11. What is George working on at the beginning of the play?
**A thesis on the mediaeval period of Norway**
12. Who introduces Thea Elvsted to Hedda?
**George**
13. What is Thea's relationship to George?
**Former classmate**
14. What does Thea confess to Hedda about her former relationship with Eilert Lövborg?
**They had an affair**
15. Where does Thea say she last saw Eilert Lövborg?
**A dancing hall in Munich**
16. Who is Judge Brack and what is his relationship to Hedda?
**An old suitor of Hedda's/family friend**
17. What does Judge Brack try to coerce Hedda into doing?
**Having an affair with him**
18. Who is Eilert Lövborg and what is his history?
**A former lover of Thea's who was once a respected scholar but fell into alcoholism and dissipation**
19. Where is Eilert staying in the present time of the play?
**At Mrs. Elvsted's house**
20. What does Hedda arrange to have Eilert do for her amusement?
**Recite his work to her guests at her home**
21. What mysterious event occurs off stage in Act II that significantly impacts the plot?
**Eilert gets into a drunken brawl and is shot dead**
22. Who says the line "People don't do such things!" in reference to Eilert's death?
**Thea**
23. What discovery is made about Eilert's manuscripts at his home after his death?
**They have disappeared**
24. Who does Thea suspect of taking Eilert's papers?
**Judge Brack**
25. What does Hedda confess to doing with Eilert's manuscripts after his death?
**Burned them in the stove**
26. Why does Hedda burn Eilert's manuscripts?
**To keep them from being used to reform him and revive his career, which she sees as humiliating to her**
27. What symbolic prop does Hedda increasingly focus on throughout the play?
**A pair of pistols**
28. What does Hedda do with the pistols near the end of the play?
**Shoots herself with one of them**
29. Where in the house is Hedda's bedroom located?
**Upstairs**
30. What is significant about the layout of Hedda's house?
**It has many doors and unclear lines of sight allowing for dramatic entrances and exits**
31. How many acts is the play divided into?
**4 acts**
32. In what European country was the play first performed?
**Germany**
33. In what capital city was the play first performed?
**Munich**
34. In what year was the English translation by William Archer first published?
**1891**
35. What famous actress created the role of Hedda at the play's premiere?
**Slotte Dagny Juel**
36. What unconventional choice did Ibsen make by having the play conclude with Hedda's suicide?
**It broke conventions by not having a moral lesson or redemption**
37. In what century is the play set?
**19th century**
38. Does the play specify what country it is set in?
**No, but it is implied to be Christiania, now known as Oslo, Norway**
39. What line of work was Ibsen in before becoming a full time playwright?
**Apothecary**
40. What famous quote is attributed to Ibsen about the purpose of a play?
**"A play should be a mirror held up to nature"**
41. What is the first word spoken in the play?
**George**
42. How does Hedda greet George when he first enters in Act 1?
**With a bemused smile but no warmth or enthusiasm**
43. What color dress is Hedda wearing when she first appears on stage?
**Black**
44. Hedda is described as _______ by other characters.
**Bored/dissatisfied with her marriage and new role as a housewife**
45. What does Hedda refer to married women as?
**"Brood mares"**
46. Who serves as Hedda and George's maid?
**Berte**
47. What positive developments does George excitedly tell Hedda about at the start of the play?
**He has been offered a prestigious new job which will allow them to move to town**
48. What does Hedda refuse to do when George suggests having a child?
**Conceive/be "fruitful"**
49. How does Hedda respond when George asks what she did with her day?
**Evasively/that she was bored**
50. Why is Hedda unhappy with her marriage to George according to her internal monologues?
**She finds him dull/pedantic and resents being tied down**
51. How does Hedda react when Thea Elvsted initially comes to visit?
**Rudely/with disdain**
52. What activity does Hedda first suggest Thea and her engage in together?
**A drive in the country**
53. How long have Thea and Hedda known each other?
**They haven't met before the present day**
54. Why does Thea come to see Hedda?
**To get advice about Eilert**
55. What is Hedda's opinion of Thea, according to her internal thoughts?
**She considers her plain/insipid**
56. How does Hedda talk about Eilert Lövborg when Thea first brings him up?
**Disparagingly, referring to his past dissipation**
57. Why is Thea so concerned about Eilert's whereabouts according to what she tells Hedda?
**She says he has been an inspiration to her/changed her life for the better**
58. What does Hedda insist Thea must do when it comes to Eilert, according to her advice?
**Forget about him/cut ties**
59. What does Hedda declare is the most interesting thing in Thea's story about Eilert?
**Their past physical relationship**
60. How does Hedda imagine transforming Eilert, if he came into her power?
**To suit her own desires/humiliate Thea**
61. Why does Judge Brack find it amusing that Hedda married George?
**He sees her as above George socially and finds the mismatch entertaining**
62. What does Judge Brack insinuate to Hedda that he has knowledge of?
**Something unseemly from her past**
63. How does Hedda react when Judge Brack implies he knows her former lover's name?
**Alarmed/afraid he may threaten her reputation**
64. What threat does Hedda fear Judge Brack has power over her with?
**Publishing something that could disgrace her name**
65. How does Judge Brack aim to manipulate Hedda?
**By appealing to her vanity/fears and implying he desires her sexually**
66. Why is Judge Brack so interested in Hedda according to his internal thoughts?
**He finds her perverse/corrupt nature intriguing**
67. What does Hedda do with a bouquet of flowers George brings her from his country holiday?
**Callously discards them/doesn't want their beauty to fade**
68. When Eilert Lövborg appears unexpectedly at Hedda's home, how does she receive him?
**Openly/as if pleased to see him despite her earlier disparaging words**
69. What change does Hedda note has come over Eilert since they last met?
**He seems dignified/controlled as opposed to dissipated**
70. Why does Eilert seem nervous according to Hedda's observations of him?
**He is afraid of backsliding into old bad habits**
71. What does Hedda insist Eilert must do that night at her gathering?
**Recite from his new manuscript for her guests.**
72. What taunt does Hedda use to eggs Eilert's vanity into agreeing?
**That she doubts a "great man" would hesitate.**
73. Who is the other guest at Hedda's gathering besides Eilert?
**Judge Brack.**
74. What change does Hedda notice in Eilert's demeanor after he recites?
**He seems emboldened and transformed.**
75. Why is Hedda upset by Eilert's transformation according to her thoughts?
**It threatens her power over him.**
76. When Eilert and Hedda are alone, what does she suggest they do together?
**Run off/start a new life of adventure.**
77. How does Eilert respond to Hedda's proposal?
**Politely but firmly refuses, saying his life is reformed.**
78. Why is Hedda so interested in Eilert's pistols later according to her internal monologue?
**She envisions shooting herself with them.**
79. What ominous news does Thea bring Hedda about Eilert the next morning?
**That he was found dead after a fight.**
80. When George raises the idea of adopting a child, what does Hedda say will happen?
**"The child would become her joy."**
81. How does Hedda really feel about having a child according to her thoughts?
**Horrified at the prospect.**
82. Why is Hedda so interested when Thea suspects Judge Brack took Eilert's manuscript?
**It relieves her own guilt about burning it.**
83. How does Hedda react when Thea insists something must be done?
**Dismissively, saying to leave things as they are.**
84. What plan does Hedda reveal she concocted to rid herself of Thea?
**Telling her husband Thea disgraced herself by loving Eilert.**
85. What does Hedda do with Eilert's pistols near the climax?
**Fires one recklessly around the house in a moment of hysteria.**
86. How does Hedda's husband George react to this reckless behavior?
**With concern for her mental state.**
87. After learning the truth about burning Eilert's manuscript, how does Hedda describe her action?
**A "loathsome" crime committed in desperation.**
88. During her confession, what does Hedda reveal was her motive in destroying the papers?
**To prevent Eilert's reformation and public success.**
89. At the climax, how does Hedda react when threatened with embarrassment?
**Shoots herself fatally with one of the pistols.**
90. What does Hedda's husband George exclaim when finding her dead?
**"Oh no - not that!"**
91. When and where did Ibsen write Hedda Gabler?
**In Munich, Germany between 1889-1890.**
92. What impact did Hedda Gabler have on modern theater when it was first performed?
**It scandalized audiences with its depiction of a flawed female protagonist.**
93. What is Hedda Gabler often cited as pioneering in theater?
**The modern psychological drama/theater of realism.**
94. What actress is most famous for portraying Hedda Gabler on screen?
**Glenn Close in a 1991 film adaptation.**
95. In what year was Hedda Gabler first translated to English?
**1891, in a translation by William Archer.**
96. What element of Hedda Gabler's character most shocked contemporary audiences?
**Her boredom with conventional femininity and maternal roles.**
97. What is the atmosphere and tone of Hedda Gabler generally described as?
**Ominous, with a mood of psychological tension and unease.**
98. In what year was Ibsen born?
**1828**
99. In what year did Ibsen die?
**1906**
100. Complete the following quote from Ibsen about Hedda Gabler: "Hedda is first and foremost a..."
**Hedda is first and foremost a "problem to herself."**
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