How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue. We used Edmund Gosse and William Archer's translation.
Quote #7
HEDDA
[In a low voice.] Oh, what a sense of freedom it gives one, this act of Eilert Løvborg's.
BRACK
Freedom, Mrs. Hedda? Well, of course, it is a release for him—
HEDDA
I mean for me. It gives me a sense of freedom to know that a deed of deliberate courage is still possible in this world,—a deed of spontaneous beauty. (4.191-3)
This is evidence for our "Hedda lives vicariously" theory. Thinking she can never act this way, Eilert’s death is the closest she gets to independence.
Quote #8
HEDDA
But what do you think your husband will say when you go home again?
[…]
TESMAN
[Shrieks to BRACK.] Shot herself! Shot herself in the temple! Fancy that!
BRACK
[Half-fainting in the arm-chair.] Good God!--people don't do such things. (4.302-3)
Hedda shows her bravery by being willing – finally – to break social boundaries and, like Mrs. Elvsted, to do what "people don’t do."