HEDDA

Alone, holding Lovborg's lost masterpiece — the "child" he made with the woman Hedda envies — Hedda feeds it, page by page, into the fire. A short, contained, ice-cold audition moment.

0:22Dramatic20s–30sAdvanced

The speech34 words · 2 beats

0:00 / 0:22

Off-book

Now I am burning your child, Thea!—Burning it, curly-locks! Your child and Eilert Lovborg's.

I am burning—I am burning your child.turn

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Speaking to: Herself; and, in her mind, Thea, whose "child" this is.
What just happened: Hedda has secretly kept the only copy of Lovborg's manuscript. Now, alone by the stove, she decides what to do with it.
Objective: To destroy — with a strange, intimate tenderness — the creation of the two people whose happiness she cannot stand.
The turn: The endearments ("curly-locks") make the cruelty worse; the caress and the murder are the same gesture.
Watch out for: A very short piece that lives entirely in stillness and control. The horror is in how gently she does it.

Full work: Hedda Gabler New to the vocabulary? What’s a beat? →

HEDDA

Hedda Gabler · Henrik Ibsen · 0:22 · 34 words

Now I am burning your child, Thea!—Burning it, curly-locks! Your child and Eilert Lovborg's. I am burning—I am burning your child.

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