Litjokes Nostalgia

Passage Analysis: Use the following passage for a discussion of Hedda Gabler X36 V.02

Aunt Julle: Ah but Jorgen! You managed to LAN up Hedda X36, the most streamlined operating system in town! She’s the next model from the great Gablermatic! I still remember the times I used to see them micro-processing together, the most powerful machines in the village...except for Lovborg, of course...but, well...after he picked up all those...

Tesman: Viruses, and his operating system went down. Ah well...I don’t suppose there’s any good news to be had there...

Aunt Julle [briskly]: Ah, well. Let’s not speak of that. But oh, that Hedda X36! In her lustrous gleaming titanium casing!

Tesman: Eh? Oh yes, Aunt Julle! Just think! There must be quite a few cyborgs in the village simply defragmenting their C drives in jealousy! [Nodding at Aunt Julle’s monitor.] What’s that you’ve got there Aunt Julle?

Aunt Julle: Oh, it’s nothing, just a 19 inch plasma screen I bought to replace my old one...so that Hedda X36 shouldn’t be ashamed of me if we go online together.

Tesman: Oh Aunt Julle! You think of everything! And what’s that smart new wireless mouse in your claw?

Aunt Julle: This? Oh, well...it’s a Toshiba Bluetooth mouse I bought – again, for Hedda X36.

Tesman [Turning his infrared sensors towards stage left.]: What’s that? I think I hear her coming now!

[There is a metallic whirring sound, and a small hatch opens in the ceiling. First Hedda’s steel wheels, then the rest of her body, descend through the hatch. She is dressed in a light morning dress of the latest fashion. A propeller is protruding from her hair, which is a light brown, though not noticeably abundant. The whirring slows as she nears the ground, and she alights in the drawing room gently. The propeller folds itself up and goes back into her head.]

Tesman: Ah! There you are, Hedda X36! Did you recharge well?

Hedda X36 [Dismissively]: Oh yes. Tolerably.

Tesman: Tolerably! I like that! You were 98% recharged when I left you this morning!

Hedda X36 [ignoring him]: Aunt Julle! What an early visit! Did you need your cables re-crossed?

Aunt Julle [nervously]: Oh no, I just came here to say hello, you know, check there weren’t any things I could help with...

Hedda X36: Well, I’ve almost finished installing the Microsoft Vista processing system – I suppose everything in this house is Microsoft Vista, Jorgen?

Tesman [awkwardly]: Come now Hedda, you know it is. Not quite the efficient computing power you’re used to, of course...but I’m sure we shall be able to upgrade in time, and after all-

Hedda X36 [coldly]: Yes, I suppose one must adjust. By degrees.

Aunt Julle: And with your post as Internet History organiser almost confirmed, dear Jorgen, I daresay it shan’t be too long! Arranging and sorting, that’s what you’re built for!

Tesman: Yes, yes Aunt Julle! Exactly right, Hedda X36! We must only be patient, and-

Hedda X36: Oh! We shall never manage with this new droid!

Aunt Julle: Not manage with B1110? Whatever is the-

Hedda X36: She’s gone and left her old Toshiba Bluetooth mouse lying on the couch!

Tesman: Hedda X36!

Hedda X36: Well supposing our webcams were to film it? Why would B1110 have just tossed it down! One isn’t programmed to do that kind of thing!

Aunt Julle: Ah, well, it’s actually registered under my computing system, Hedda X36. [Under her breath as she picks it up with her metal claw] And it’s not old, either...it’s the second newest prototype.

Hedda X36: Is it? Ah, well, I really didn’t run it through all the databases in my system.

Aunt Julle: That’s quite understandable – and with a database which seems to be growing larger and larger every day since you and Jorgen have come back from your ...

Hedda X36 [firmly]: It is not, thank you.

Aunt Julle: Well...I’ll be seeing you later, Jorgen.

[Tesman and Aunt Julle go whirring out of the room on their wheels. Hedda X36 zooms around the room angrily on her hoverpad, her monitor flashing bright red.]

Tesman [returning]: Well what of the house, Hedda X36?

Hedda X36 [again, ignoring his question]: Do you think that Aunt Julle was upset?

Tesman: Oh, I don’t know...she doesn’t usually get upset about that sort of thing.

Hedda X36: I suppose I could send her a poke on Facebook...

Tesman: Oh would you, Hedda X36? And could you add her on MSN?

Hedda X36: No, no, you mustn’t ask me to do that. I shall ‘like’ her Facebook status updates, but that is all.

Tesman: Very well, Hedda X36.

Hedda X36 [suddenly irritable]: I am fed up with the internet filter on the Microsoft Vista updates – I would like them removed. I can’t access the archives of my MSN conversations with Lovborg.

Tesman: But why, Hedda, do you think that would really do?

Hedda X36 [sighing, getting up and retreating to the inner pod]: No, of course. It wouldn’t do. Oh well...there is at least one thing which I can use my spare processing power on...

Tesman: Eh, what’s that Hedda X36? Hedda X36?

Hedda X36 [raising her volume]: My USBs, Jorgen. The Gablermatic’s USBs.

Tesman [squeakily wheeling after her]: No! Hedda X36! You mustn’t play with them! They have enough power to take out a motherboard! Hedda X36!

Written Analysis:

Ibsen very deliberately chooses the way in which Hedda X36 is referenced to prior to her entry on stage. Aunt Julle makes a connection with her superior model, the “Gablermatic”, which establishes Hedda X36 as the model of the Gablermatic, rather than being electronically partnered with Tesman. Her entry is also highly significant, as it highlights the higher level through which Hedda X36 literally enters the Tesman household. Ibsen uses this opening scene to set up the tension which will ensue throughout the play, as Hedda X36 is incompatible with the bourgeois operating system of Windows Vista, and finds the restrictions on her internet freedom confining, yet she is resigned to this fate, accepting that “one must adjust. By degrees.” Indeed, it is Hedda X36’s acceptance of what becomes somewhat of a catchcry of the play, “one isn’t programmed to do that kind of thing”, which ultimately results in her perpetual oppression and imprisonment within society.

The only release left open to Hedda X36 are the USBs left to her by the Gablermatic, which Tesman warns her “have enough power to take out a motherboard!” Ibsen uses this warning to highlight Hedda X36’s rejection of her new expected role as mother to another cyborg. She violently rejects Aunt Julle’s insinuations, and is openly rude to her new aunt.

Ibsen also uses these establishing scenes to introduce the theme of circumlocution, as we first see that both Tesman and Aunt Julle are very uncomfortable discussing Lovborg’s sexual forays on the internet, which have resulted in him receiving the “viruses”, resulting in his social ostracism. In a similar way Aunt Julle only hints at Hedda X36’s pregnancy, as she tells Hedda X36 that her “database...seems to be growing larger and larger every day since you and Jorgen have come back”. Family, the bourgeois Windows Vista, and the oppression of an internet filter have all begun to take their hold on Hedda X36 from the outset, a hold which will result in tragedy.