Hedda Gabbler (version by Brian Friel)

Wow, what a play!  I think my mouth was left gaping at the end of the book (play).  A few random thoughts:

• I see parallels between Hedda and Eilert.  They both seem to want so much in life but do not seem able to get too far beyond their stagnation and paradoxes in life and especially with their inability to fully connect with others on a meaningful level.  A product of their nature or nurture?  Or both?  Can Eilert not become the man he wants to be but seemed unable to towards the end of his life?  And Hedda, is she really trapped?  How much of it is self-inflicted?  Or is the responsibility just to much to bear?  Human, all too human seems apt here.
• I see parallels between Judge Brack and Hedda.  They are both predatory and manipulative individuals.  Each showed no care at the suffering the caused in others. e.g. Hedda and the death of Eilert as well as that of Aunt Rena and Judge Brack's indifference/coldness to Hedda's death.
• George Tesman reminds me of a cross between Charles Bovary and Ivan Ilych.  He is wilfully blind to Hedda's rudeness, arrogance to him and to others.  He does all the "right" things in life.  He has one of the most desirable women.  He is in awe and Hedda can do no wrong - her power over him and others is both disastrous and magnificent.
• Eilert's vices and brilliance evoke many other such geniuses with tormented lives - Syd Barrett, Amy Winehouse, Skip James, etc.
• The theme of women trapped in the unhappy institution of marriage intrigues me.  In this story, Hedda did not marry out of love.  Would marriage would have seem so appalling had she married out of love?  Or would her expectations never be met, set too high like Emma Bovary's?  
• Women still take on their husband's surname after marrying in today's age!!  And yes, in death, Hedda Tesman reverts back to Hedda Gabbler.  Did she think that she had regained her freedom by giving up (hope) on life?
• Hedda seems preoccupied with the beauty (of the lack thereof) in Eilert's death.  Madame Bovary'ish?  Needs everything to be perfect and beautiful - unable to accept life as 'human, all too-human'?
• Hedda yields enormous power over others - she takes pleasure in her influence on them.  She controls others since nothing else seems to matter to her.  But when the tables are turn and Judge Brack blackmails her, there is no pleasure.
• George seems to be on the middle fence, ready to jump to any side that suits him.  Thinks Hedda immoral for burning Eilert's manuscript one minute, the next minute, think her moral and fabulous when he thinks she did it out of love for him. 
• A lot of co-dependency within the story.  Thea and Eilert, Eilert and George, Hedda and George - each person seems wrong for the other, yet they stay together - kind of like Didi and Gogo in Waiting for Godot.