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MonkeyNotes-Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
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Judge Brack enters the scene and gives Hedda the sordid details of
Lövborg's excesses, saying that at present he was in the police
station for assaulting an officer. After some time, Lövborg arrives
at Hedda's house just as Thea is waking up. He tells her to go back
to her husband because he is not going to write any more and that
he has torn up the manuscript. Mrs. Elvsted accuses him of killing
their 'child' and leaves. When left alone with Hedda, he confesses
that he had lost the manuscript during the previous night's
debauchery and feels absolutely awful about it. He confesses that
he would like to die. Hedda gives him one of her pistols and tell
him to "do it beautifully." When she is left alone she burns the
manuscript and declares, "Now I am burning your child, then!
Your child and Eilert Lövborg's."
When George Tesman recovers from the shock of Aunt Rina's
death, he asks Hedda for the manuscript. When Hedda tells him
that she has destroyed it because Lövborg was his rival, he is
distraught yet also thrilled at her loyalty. She also confesses that
she is pregnant and his joy knows no bounds. He agrees to keep
silent about the manuscript.
Mrs. Elvsted returns to Hedda wanting confirmation of the rumors
going around that Lövborg was shot and is dying in the hospital.
Brack shows up and confirms what Elvested fears: Lövborg is
dying from having shot himself in the chest. Hedda is thrilled that
he has so courageously gone ahead and killed himself. Tesman
regrets that fact that Lövborg died without bequeathing the world "
the book that would have immortalized his name." Providentially,
Mrs. Elvsted has the notes of the manuscript in her pocket and she
sits down with Tesman to reconstruct his Lövborg's book. When
Brack is left alone with Hedda, he tells her that Lövborg did not
die voluntarily. Instead he was shot in the bowels, a humiliating
and ignoble way to die, either accidentally or by a nightclub singer.
The realization dawns on Hedda that everything she touches turns
"ludicrous and mean." Moreover, the pistol can be traced to her if
Brack were to identify the pistol. Finding that she is completely in
Brack's power and fearing the inevitable scandal, she commits
suicide by shooting herself in the temple.
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