Hedda Gabler and Other Plays

A collection of four plays by the famed playwright, including Hedda Gabler, which features one of the most infamous women characters in theaterA Penguin ClassicOne of the most renowned playwrights of all time, Norwegian-born Henrik Ibsen was an influential figure in the development of realist theater. Hedda Gabler, arguably Ibsens greatest work, is a tumultuous and sweeping play about a woman contending with her own dissatisfaction at the turn of the nineteenth century. Considered by many critics a heroine as complex and tragic so as to rival Hamlet, Hedda finds her life in disarray after the sudden appearance of her husbands rivalher former lover, Eilertand, consumed by jealousy toward Eilerts new paramour, triggers the chain of events that will lead to the plays ultimate, shocking conclusion. The Wild Duck, The Lady from the Sea, and Rosmersholm, though lesser known, are no less provocative or brimming with psychological complexity; together, these four plays serve as timeless explorations of identity, society, power, and freedom. Four of Ibsen's most important plays in superb modern translations, part of the new Penguin Ibsen series. In these four unforgettably intense plays, Henrik Ibsen explores the complex nature of truth, the tension between freedom and responsibility, and the terrible pull that the past exerts over the present. In The Wild Duck, an idealist destroys a family by exposing the lie behind his friend's marriage. In Rosmersholm, a respectable man is driven to extremes by guilt over his wife's death, while in The Lady from the Sea a woman is caught between her family and the enticement of the wild sea. And in Hedda Gabler, one of Ibsen's most famous and vivid anti-heroines struggles to break free from the conventional life she has created for herself, with tragic results. The new Penguin series of Ibsen's major plays offer the best available editions in English, under the general editorship of Tore Rem. The plays have been freshly translated by the best modern translators and are based on the recently published, definitive Norwegian edition of Ibsen's works. They all include new introductions and editorial apparatus by leading scholars. Vol. 1: Peer Gynt and BrandVol. 2: A Doll's House and Other PlaysVol. 3: Hedda Gabler and Other PlaysVol. 4: The Master Builder and Other Plays