The world premiere was staged on 31 January at the Residenztheater in Munich. Ibsen himself was in attendance, although he remained back-stage. Hedda Gabler dramatizes the experiences of the title character, Hedda, the daughter of a general, who is trapped in a marriage and a house that she does not want. Overall, the title character for Hedda Gabler is considered one of the great dramatic roles in theater. Hedda Gabler has been described as a female variation of Hamlet. Hedda's married name is Hedda Tesman; Gabler is her maiden name.
On the subject of the title, Ibsen wrote: "My intention in giving it this name was to indicate that Hedda as a personality is to be regarded rather as her father's daughter than her husband's wife. Hedda, the daughter of a general, has just returned to her villa in Kristiania now Oslo from her honeymoon. Her husband is George Tesman, a young, aspiring, and reliable academic who continued his research during their honeymoon. It becomes clear in the course of the play that she never loved him, but married him because she thinks her years of youthful abandon are over.
Eilert, a writer, is also a recovered alcoholic who has wasted his talent until now. Thanks to a relationship with Hedda's old schoolmate, Thea Elvsted who has left her husband for him , Eilert shows signs of rehabilitation and has just published a bestseller in the same field as George's.
When Hedda and Eilert talk privately together, it becomes apparent that they are former lovers. The critical success of his recently published work makes Eilert a threat to George, as Eilert is now a competitor for the university professorship George had been anticipating.
George and Hedda are financially overstretched, and George tells Hedda that he will not be able to finance the regular entertaining or luxurious housekeeping that she had been expecting.
