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Back to Subjects - Theater

breaking the bonds

breaking the bonds A craving for life and the pursuit of happiness are concepts everyone cherishes in one way or another. Everyone’s goals and ambitions for the future vary from one to the next, yet each person shares a common bond, each hope for their own personal happiness. The search of the truth and the power it produces cause internal conflict during one’s pursuit of this so-called happiness. The search for this is not made without obstacles along the way. One must overcome the tribulations handed to him or her by his or her society. Often women have a more difficult time breaking through the chains that society has cast upon them. In three specific instances, Hedda Gabler from Hedda Gabler, Jessie from ‘Night, Mother, and Sally from Lips Together Teeth Apart are all strong female characters created to display a woman’s search for a way out of the bonds of her society. These powerful women characters do so in similar ways as well as different ways, each according to the plot of her own play. Hedda finds a “way out” after the internal conflict she faces concerning her true freedom in the society that distorted her, Jessie desperately searches for the truth while juggling the two sides of her character, death-seeking and life-affirming, and Sally seems to begin to face, but also unleash, the harsh truth whenever it comes to her, even at the most inopportune times. Although all of these women approach their bondage in different ways, they all seem to accomplish the same thing: a reality check. However, Sally accomplishes more than Hedda and Jessie because she “faces the music” and doesn’t give up in the end by taking the easy way out, as the other two women do. Sally, the most modern woman out of them all, has a little bit more willpower inside of her to go on with her life and simply learns to face the truth and to not In Henrik Isben’s Hedda Gabler, he masterfully portrays the main character, Hedda, as “neither a monster nor a saint . . . [she] is simply a tragic character who is destroyed by the unharmonious and irreconciliable contrasts in her own character.” Ibsen first expressed Hedda’s emotional sterility by showing how she is unable to reciprocate in a relationship. Hedda’s lack of freedom to act independently in the society that caused her to believe that she would find an answer in manipulation causes her to come face to face with reality. She is forced to realize that her efforts are futile and her manipulation is only hurting herself. Like a young child, she can only receive without knowing how to give in return. This highly intense interest with the lives of others is another aspect of her emotionally empty life. While at the same time of investigating and analyzing other people’s lives is one way for Hedda to gain some understanding of her own unsatisfied self, she ultimately reveals that she herself is very frail, fragile, and self-centered. It is this indeed that puts Hedda on her path to a tragic destruction, a path that is being taken rather quickly. Another way in which Isben displays her thirst for more in her life is when Hedda burns the manuscript. Hedda feels that somehow destroying something that she should have been able to create in the first place will make her feel better about her own life. By destroying the manuscript, Hedda also destroys those constant reminders of her own inadequicies and affirms her own unsatisfied sense of worth. “Now I’m burning your child, Thea! You with your curly hair! Your child and Eilert Lovborg’s. Now I’m burning -- I’m burning the child.” (Ibsen 288). It appears as though Hedda feels better about herself knowing that an accomplishment between two other people has been destroyed, which unfortunately is a natural human thought and behavior. Since Hedda seems to not have any positive influence in the world, she can only define herself negatively: she destroys what she cannot accept. For Hedda, happiness may be achieved by controlling the immediate environment around her. Therefore, Hedda, to ensure this somewhat demented happiness, must continuously strive for complete control and domination of the people and objects closest to her. To quench her lust for power, Hedda makes several attempts to save her tragic ending and actually satisfy her craving for a true life. She begins by attempting to control her husband, George Tesman. An easy catch, Tesman quickly falls under her “spell” and offers no resistance to her authority and is quickly manipulated and dominated by her. Then, a chain of events follows, for as soon as Hedda gets one object under control, she must move onto another to fulfill her hunger for power. Towards the end of the play, Hedda is unable to adjust to the world around her and must take her own life. She finally comes to the realization that she may never completely control her immediate surroundings and must relinquish some power. She looks to suicide as the ultimate control over her life, and sees no other way out. A conversation between Judge Brack and Hedda serves as Hedda’s white flag of surrender. Hedda: I’m in your power, Judge. You have your hold over Brack: My dearest Hedda--believe me--I won’t abuse my position. Hedda: All the same, I’m in your power. Tied to your will and desire. Not free. Not free, then! No--I can’t bear the thought of it. Never! This is where Hedda resolves her problem and breaks free. Hedda needed space and freedom from the society she let dominate her for so long. Taking her own life was the only option that involved full control over her life, so she took that option and carried it Although Jessie, the tragic heroine from Marsha Norman’s ‘Night, Mother, was a similar character because she chooses the same way to end her misery, she took her own life in the face of hopelessness and despair, rather than defeat of her self purpose. Jessie has lost her dad, her marriage, and almost all the relationships in her life. Her son is a petty theif who drifts in and out of her life as he pleases and her husband never really loved her. She was unable to hold a steady job, and her life just seemed more of a hassle to be alive and exist than anything else. Her role around the small house she shared with her mother consisted mainly of being the housekeeper and/or caretaker, and she entered into a life of spiraling despair. One could safely assume that Jessie was at the mercy of her depression before she took her life. The evening that Jessie tells her mother, the two have a very unusual conversation. The play opens with Mama rambling on about this and that, and then Jessie’s first words are spoken. Although open first glance, they seem random and insignificant, one must look at the subtext of her words. “We got any old towels? . . . Towels you don’t want anymore. How about this swimming towel Loretta gave us? Beach towel, that’s the name of it. You want it?” (Norman 9-10). Jessie asks Mama where the gun is, and they go through some small talk about guns for a while. Then finally Jessie just comes out and says that she is going to kill herself. Jessie acts like this for much of the play. She dances around issues and then she finally realizes there is no point and to just say what she needs to say. Jessie: I’m going to kill myself, Mama. Mama: You are not! Don’t even say such a thing, Jessie. Jessie: How would you know if I didn’t say it? You want it to be a surprise? You’re lying there in your bed or maybe you’re just brushing your teeth and you hear this . . . noise down the hall? Jessie: Shoot myself. In a couple of hours. Mama: It must be time for your medicine. Mama: Then what’s the matter with you? Mama: You feel fine. You’re just going to kill yourself. Jessie: Waited until I felt good enough, in fact. At this point in the play, the roles are reversed. At first, Mama was carefree and didn’t think a thing of the gun that her daughter got from the attic and started cleaning. Jessie was the one who skirted around the idea of the real issue at hand, but at this moment we see the point where Jessie gets fed up with life. Jessie is tired of being a nobody and tired of having nobody. Jessie is tired of being her mother’s caretaker and housekeeper, and not getting much appreciation. She has been shunned by not only society but even by the closest of her family. After over a year of her search for a true salvation from this horrible fate, she decides there is only one way. From the very first page of the play, it is clear that Jessie has no intentions of changing her mind or being persauded to do so by the beggings of her mother. Jessie is going to take her life this very night, and no one can stop her. This is a decision she has made all on her own over a long period of time. Jessie is proud of her decision because it is one of the first decisions that she is going to make and actually have full control over her life. She sees suicide as the only way to gain control of her full body and mind, similar to Hedda. Although Hedda sees it as the only thing she can completely control in her life, Jessie sees this as an opportunity to end her misery, and to do so all on her own. The power of truth plays a significant role in Jessie’s freedom. Although the obvious subject of the play is suicide, it actually more deeply deals with the search for truth and the necessity of dismantling the illusions that prevent us from reaching our potential. At one point, when Mama is asking Jessie why she is going to do this, Jessie explains to her mother, “Mama . . . I’m just not having a very good time and I don’t have any reason to think it’ll get anything but worse. I’m tired. I’m hurt. I’m sad. I feel used.” (Norman 22). If one looks at the play from this angle, it is evident that Jessie feels as though she has been cut short. She has lost all hope for anything to get better, and once all hope is lost, it is often difficult to continue the purpose of your actions. In this case, the purpose was Jessie’s life. Perhaps Jessie would feel differently if she had been given better opportunity to discover and fulfill her potential, as opossed to the repressive society that has chained her to her home. In deciding whether to take her life or not, Jessie yearned for the truth, just as every human at some time or another in his or life does. Unfortunately, when Jessie looked, it wasn’t there. This was very discouraging because Jessie was unable to remove the illusions and false stereotypes to dig deep into herself. She succumbed to the pressure of others, and just felt bad about herself because others had done so for so long. In taking her life, Jessie found a true sense of purpose in herself, even if it did mean it would have to be the end of her life. If one looks at the night she tells her mother of her plans, it is clear this is what she truly wants to do. Jessie has never been so communicative or happy or even so sure of herself than this night. Sadly enough, it is the thought of her life finally ending that puts her in such high spirits. Jessie sees that true happiness finally awaits her at the end of the long, dark tunnel. She sees the future with her bonds broken and true happiness in her heart. She thinks that her true happiness lies in her death, and she knows there is only one way to find out. Lips Together, Teeth Apart, the most modern play of the semester, is a story about 2 couples trying to fulfill their empty lives on one fourth of july weekend. The four people are attempting to solve the hollowness of life, fear, and love that is inside each of them. Sally, one of the two women, is a strong character who emerges slowly throughout the play. Sally is different from Hedda and Jessie in that she is a stronger character because she faces the reality with courage, not cowardliness. The reason the couples are all at the beach house is because her brother, who has recently died of AIDS, left it to her. The house is as empty and akward as each of their lives and marriages. It represents the failed hopes of all the characters, but especially Sally. The first real evidence we see of Sally’s breakthrough is when she speaks to Chloe’s kids. She has just seen a dead man that she had feared to have drowned earlier. “The reason your father doesn’t want you to go for a hayride in the rain is that he loves you and he doesn’t want anything to happen to you while he’s away and unable to protect you . . . I’m feeling very sad and angry and unlistened to right now. That’s why it’s so important you understand me. I saw a terrible thing this afternoon. I saw what happens when we’re not loved and protected and we feel so alone.” (McNally 73-74). Sally is spilling her feelings to a child who doesn’t understand anything she is saying. This is the first time Sally has really stated these feelings out loud, and faced them as a reality. Another example of Sally’s strength in realizing and facing her weaknesses is the incident by the pool. No one will actually get into the pool because they are afraid of getting AIDS, but they will not admit this to each other. “Sally: We all think it’s infected. We all think it’s polluted. We all think we’ll get AIDS and die if we go in. John: When did you develop this uncanny ability of yours to say absolutely the most inappropiate thing you could think of? Sally: Everybody’s thinking them. I’ve merely decided to say them.” (McNally 80-81). This is one of the most important statements Sally makes because it truly captures her new discovery of herself and her attempt to break through the strict bonds of society that all the other characters follow. Sally has begun to find true meaning to her life, so that she is not just a housewife who knows how to have fun. She wants her own identity as a woman, not as a wife. Instead of trying to free herself from society’s chains by killing herself, Sally more bravely stays alive to look at the issue in the face and defeat it. Bibliography: Ibsen, Henrik. Hedda Gabler. Signet Classic Printing: New York, 1992. Norman, Marsha. ‘Night, Mother. Dramatists Play Service: New York, 1983. McNally, Terrence. Lips Together, Teeth Apart. Penguin Books: New York, 1992.

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