Week3Day1:Hedda GablerIV,EarlyModernistDrama

ENGL201:IntroductiontoModernism

Schedule

• Housekeeping:• Todaylastdaytodropfor100%reductionoffees!

• Take-AwayfromLastClass(5mins)• Activity:MappingActIV(20mins)• DiscussionofActivity(20mins)• Video+Wrap-UpQuestions(5mins)

Takeaways

• ThemalecharactersinHedda Gabler actasfoilstoHedda.

• Intellectualpropertyisoneofthethingsatstakeinthesymbolofthemanuscript

[InIbsen’splays]childlesswomendeveloparhetoricofmaternitytodescribetheirrolesintheproductionofworksofart.JustasTheareferstothebookshehelpedLøvborg towriteastheirchild…Yetthetruenatureof[hercontribution]isrevealedbyThea’sdespairingquestiononlearningthatLøvborg hasnofurtheruseforher—’WhatamItodowithmylife,then?[vii,246]…[Her]roleismoreaccuratelythatofmidwifeormusethanmetaphoricalmother;iftheyweregenuineartists,itgoeswithoutsayingthattheycouldgoontocreatefurtherworksalone.TherhetoricofartisticmaternityshowsThea…tofallbetweenthetwostools,asitwere,ofthenineteenth-centurydivisionoflabourwhichassignedartisticcreativitytomenandchildbearingtowomen.AlthoughThea[has]failedtoparticipateineitherarea,themythofmaternityaswomen’sdestinyissopowerfulthattheyappropriateitslanguageincompensatoryfashiontodescribetheirartisticmidwifery.

(GailFinney,“Ibsenandfeminism,”TheCambridgeCompaniontoIbsen,102-3)

“midwivesofmodernism”

- BonnieKime Scott

MappingActIV

• Getintogroups.• Draw/MapthemovementofcharactersaroundthestageinActIV(pp.346-364)

• Whatperspectiveworksbest?• Bird’seyeview,audienceview…

• Howmanydifferentsketchesdoyouneed?• Isthislikeafootballplay?Isthislikeastoryboard?

• Whattextualevidencedoyouneed?• Useasmuchpaperasyouwant.

DiscusswithClass

• Whatdecisionsdidyoumakeandwhy?• Howdoyourstagingdecisionsrelatetotextualevidence?

• Aretheresymbols,shapes,orgesturesthatreoccurinthetext?• Howdoaspectsofcharacterizationintensifyorfallaway?

Alla Azimova asHedda Gabler(1906)