Hedda Gabler: Openings and endings
13 lenses on openings and endings for Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 F11 F12 F13
F1. First line and first paragraph: what each does. Both
The first full paragraph runs to 264 words and 16 sentences.
A spacious, handsome, and tastefully furnished drawing room, decorated in dark colours. (Ch 1, para 1)
The first paragraph describes the drawing room in dark colours and autumn foliage, establishing a confined, decaying world. It sets mood and physical space for the action to follow.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1
F2. What the first page sets up: voice, world, question. AI
The first page establishes a wealthy but strained household, introduces Hedda's discontent through her boredom, and hints at past intimacy with Lovborg through Aunt Julia's comment about pistols.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1
General Gabler's daughter! Think of the sort of life she was accustomed to in her father's time. (Ch 1, para 29)
He said that when they parted, she threatened to shoot him with a pistol. (Ch 1, para 787)
F3. How many words before the lead appears? Count
First dialogue after 4,036 words. See the full lens on the book page.
F4. How many words before the first line of dialogue? Count
First dialogue after 4,036 words. See the full lens on the book page.
F5. The hook of chapter one. AI
The hook is Lovborg's return to town and Hedda's reaction to it, revealing her past connection to him and her desire to control his destiny.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1
I must live here, where Eilert Lovborg is--if I am to live at all. (Ch 1, para 747)
F6. Prologue: its job and its length. Both
No prologue: the book starts in its first chapter.
No prologue exists. The play begins directly with act 1 in the drawing room.
F7. How fast is the main story question posed? AI
The main story question emerges quickly in act 1 when Lovborg's return is announced and Hedda's interest is revealed, establishing the central tension.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1
I must live here, where Eilert Lovborg is--if I am to live at all. (Ch 1, para 747)
F8. Final chapter: which beats resolve what. AI
Act 4 resolves Lovborg's death, Brack's blackmail of Hedda, and Tesman and Thea's manuscript reconstruction. Hedda's suicide resolves her struggle for control.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 4
At last a deed worth doing! (Ch 4, para 316)
Shot herself! Shot herself in the temple! Fancy that! (Ch 4, para 615)
F9. Last line: what it leaves in the mind. Both
The last full paragraph runs to 14 words.
Hedda addresses him throughout as De. (Ch 4, para 630)
The last line is Tesman's shocked exclamation about Hedda shooting herself, leaving the reader with the image of her final act of control through death.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 4
Shot herself! Shot herself in the temple! Fancy that! (Ch 4, para 615)
F10. Loose ends tied and left open. AI
Hedda's suicide is resolved. Lovborg's death is explained. Tesman and Thea's future manuscript work is left open. Brack's fate after losing his hold on Hedda is left unresolved.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 4
F11. Epilogue: its job. Both
No chapter called an epilogue. The last chapter is 4,935 words.
No epilogue exists. The play ends with Hedda's death and Tesman's reaction, closing the dramatic action.
F12. Echoes between the opening and the ending. AI
The opening establishes Hedda's pistols and her desire for power. The ending echoes this when she uses a pistol to escape Brack's control, completing her arc from discontent to self-destruction.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 4
General Gabler's daughter! Think of the sort of life she was accustomed to in her father's time. (Ch 1, para 29)
Shot herself! Shot herself in the temple! Fancy that! (Ch 4, para 615)
F13. Length of the wind down after the climax. Count
The climax (our reading) falls in the last chapter, so there is almost no wind down.
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