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Hedda inherited her pistols from her father, the great General Gabler, and her intimacy with them suggests the extent to which Hedda is so much more her father’s daughter than her husband’s wife. In this vein, we might say that the pistols are Hedda’s final material connection to her glorious aristocratic past—a lifestyle which is now unsustainable because of the state of Jörgen’s finances. The pistols mean much more than this to Hedda, however: they are weapons for warfare, and phallic artifacts from a man’s world which is inaccessible to women like Hedda in a patriarchal society. Hedda feels empowered and free when she holds these instruments of power and domination, as when she fires in Judge Brack’s direction when he comes through the garden. Moreover, Hedda herself is a loaded gun, so to speak, in waiting as long as she does to unleash her powers for destruction, and the pistols underscore this characterization. In the end, however, the pistols only empower Hedda in effecting her own self-destruction.
General Gabler’s Pistols Quotes in Hedda Gabler
The Hedda Gabler quotes below all refer to the symbol of General Gabler’s Pistols. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1
Quotes
Hedda: Oh, well…I’ve got one thing at least that I can pass the time with.
Tesman: Oh, thank the good Lord for that! And what might that be, Hedda? Eh?
Hedda: My pistols… Jörgen.
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Act 2
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Hedda: Hullo again, Mr. Brack!
Brack: Good afternoon to you, Mrs. Tesman!
Hedda: I’m going to shoot you sir!
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Act 3
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Hedda: And what are you going to do, then?
Lövborg: Nothing. Just put an end to it all. The sooner the better.
Hedda: Ejlert Lövborg…listen to me…. Couldn’t you let it happen… beautifully?
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Act 4
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Hedda: He was shot in the breast?
Brack: Yes…as I said.
Hedda: Not in the temple?
Brack: In the breast, Mrs. Tesman.
Hedda: Well…the breast is good, too.
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It’s a liberation to know that an act of spontaneous courage is yet possible in this world. An act that has something of unconditional beauty.
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Everything I touch seems destined to turn into something mean and farcical.
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Hedda: And so I am in your power, Mr. Brack. From now on I am at your mercy.
Brack: Dearest Hedda…believe me…I shall not abuse the position.
Hedda: In your power, all the same. Subject to your will and your demands. No longer free! No! That’s a thought that I’ll never endure! Never.
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General Gabler’s Pistols Symbol Timeline in Hedda Gabler
The timeline below shows where the symbol General Gabler’s Pistols appears in Hedda Gabler. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
...woman might be—but Thea only knows that the woman threatened to shoot Ejlert with a pistol when they parted. She thinks it must be a red-haired singer here in town (later...
(full context)
...one thing to pass the time with. Tesman ecstatically asks what it is. General Gabler’s pistols, Hedda responds coldly, and exits. Tesman rushes to the doorway and, shouting, begs her not...
(full context)
Act 2
...dressed to receive visitors, stands alone in the room by the glass door, loading a pistol.
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...approaching the Tesmans’ villa from the back, through the garden. She greets him, raises her pistol, takes aim, and playfully announces that she is going to shoot him. Judge Brack shouts...
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...become a reality. Lövborg reminds her that she threatened to shoot him with her father’s pistols then—she didn’t do so only because she was afraid of a scandal. “You’re a coward,”...
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Act 3
...around through the back way. Hedda reminds him that she conducts target practice with her pistols in the back, but Brack retorts, laughing, that nobody would shoot their own tame rooster....
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...come back—but before he does, she has a memento for him: one of General Gabler’s pistols. She tells him to use it, beautifully. Lövborg thanks her and exits.
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Act 4
...into something…farcical,” she says. Brack has one final piece of news: he says that the pistol Lövborg died by must have been stolen.
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...whole pile to the left of the inner room (this object is presumably Hedda’s remaining pistol). Tesman and Thea then sit and resume their work.
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Hedda and Judge Brack whisperingly resume their conversation about the pistol that Lövborg died by. Brack knows the pistol to be one of Hedda’s, which means...
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No one will know who owns the pistol, Judge Brack goes on to say, if he himself holds his tongue. Hedda understands at...
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...then heard from the inner room. Everyone jumps to their feet—Hedda is playing with those pistols again, says Tesman. He pulls the curtain aside and runs in, followed by Thea. They...
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