Hedda Gabler | Act Summaries

Timeline of Events

• Autumn, circa 1880

  George Tesman and Hedda Gabler return from their honeymoon.

  Act 1
• The next morning

  Mrs. Elvsted visits, anxious over her affair with Eilert Lövborg.

  Act 1
• Minutes later

  George Tesman learns he will be competing with Eilert Lövborg for a professorship.

  Act 1
• Later the same day

  Judge Brack reminisces with Hedda Gabler about the old days.

  Act 2
• That afternoon

  Eilert Lövborg arrives and announces his newly completed manuscript.

  Act 2
• Soon afterward

  Hedda Gabler tempts Eilert Lövborg into a glass of punch, then another...and another.

  Act 2
• As evening approaches

  Eilert Lövborg, George Tesman, and Judge Brack leave for their wild night out.

  Act 2
• During the night

  Eilert Lövborg gets roaring drunk, misplaces his manuscript, and hits an officer.

  Act 3
• Well after dawn

  George Tesman comes home with the lost manuscript.

  Act 3
• Later that morning

  Eilert Lövborg arrives in a state of utter despair, having lost his book and his sobriety.

  Act 3
• Soon thereafter

  Hedda Gabler offers Eilert Lövborg one of her pistols with which to end it all.

  Act 3
• Moments later

  Once Eilert Lövborg departs, Hedda Gabler throws his manuscript into the fire.

  Act 3
• That afternoon

  Eilert Lövborg is shot at Mademoiselle Diana's under suspicious circumstances.

  Act 4
• That evening

  Judge Brack attempts to blackmail Hedda Gabler for her role in Eilert Lövborg's death.

  Act 4
• Minutes later

  Unwilling to face scandal, Hedda Gabler takes her own life instead.

  Act 4

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