From The Student Room

TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Theatre Studies > Hedda Gabler - Brack Essay

---

How would you wish your audience to respond to the role of Judge Brack? Explain how you would perform the role to achieve your aims.

PLAN

1. Introduction - aims, style, genre, social context. Edition of play.
2. Brack’s entrance and first interaction with Hedda – different when people are around. Bringing the bad news.
3. Brack’s Act Two scene – with Hedda. Beginning of it, and then the discussion on the sofa.
4. Act Three – fighting for it with every power etc.
5. Act Four – exchange.
6. Brack in the last scene.

Pace, pause, pitch, projection, emphasis, tone, intonation, diction. Gesture, posture, facial expression, body language, use of space, movement, gait, eye contact.

Essay

When performing the role of Judge Brack (referencing the Metheun Student edition), I would aim for the audience to respond to Brack with mistrust and then also disgust at different points in the play, as well as ensuring that they are aware of the shifts in power between Hedda and the Judge. I would achieve this, both physically and vocally, in Brack’s entrance in Act One, his exchanges with Hedda in Acts Two and Three and then his moments of complete power over Hedda in Acts Four and Five. These aims would be achieved through highly naturalistic action (aided by a naturalistic set, of the Victorian drawing room on a Proscenium Arch stage), to conform to Ibsen’s intended style of this naturalistic tragedy. The revulsion that the audience would feel towards Brack because of these aims would heighten the sense of tragedy at the end of the play, because they would see how Hedda felt trapped, with no choice left to her, especially as the social context of the time dictated that she could not leave her husband and escape literally without risk of great scandal, which the audience comes to know is one of Hedda’s greatest fears.

In Brack’s entrance in Act One, I would want to create mistrust and dislike for him immediately. When Brack enters from the hall (the more neutral stage entrance throughout the play), I would walk with an upright posture (my back straight, my chin parallel to the floor), very slowly entering, to ensure that all eyes are on me as I come through the door. This would show the audience that Brack likes to have power, while the strong posture shows the audience that he believes implicitly in his own strength of manipulation, creating dislike for his character. I would clear my throat as I entered and reach my hand up to touch my monocle (“He has a monocle in one eye”) – this gesture would draw the audience’s attention to it, hinting that I have something to hide, that this outward appearance is very much a façade. When Brack speaks to Hedda, at the end of his scene with her and George, I would use vocal qualities to hint already at Brack’s ulterior motives; when I said “Mrs Tesman”, my voice would have a low pitch and an expressive, amused tone, with the intonation moving up at the end of the word “Tesman”, with a pause between the two words and emphasis on the “Tesman”. This would illustrate to the audience that he finds it very interesting that she is married to George, and, indeed, almost amusing; this is reinforced later in the play, but it would be subtle at this point, because of the presence of George, and so, for the moment, just plant seeds of doubt in the mind of the audience. This emphasis on her name would also ensure that there is a contrast in his much more informal mode of address when Brack is alone with Hedda.

In Act Two, in Brack and Hedda’s exchange where he begins his insinuations, I would make Brack’s ulterior motives more evident, creating more mistrust for him from the audience, but I would also show that Hedda still holds the balance of power at this point. I would illustrate this especially when they begin to use the metaphor of the railway carriage. Hedda would have been sitting on the sofa at DSR (“Hedda sits on the corner of the sofa”), and I on a chair pulled up close to it until this point, but when I said the line, “Why not jump out and stretch your legs a little?” – with a very slow pace and low projection to show the audience that he means Hedda to understand the subtext of what he says –, I would slowly rise, walk around her, my eyes fixed on her face, and sit myself down on the sofa. My movement would be graceful, reminding the audience of my aristocratic background, but my gait would be almost too smooth – my back would be very straight, my chin tilted slightly up in the air – making Brack seem too ingratiating, and so creating mistrust. This would be reinforced because I would lean back into the cushions with my facial expression relaxed (a small smile playing on my lips, my eyebrows raised ever so slightly), and, very gently, remove my monocle slightly from my eye, and look through it at Hedda. This would disgust the audience, because of Brack’s arrogance and proprietorial air, and so Hedda’s response would be welcome to them, and show that, at this point, she still has the power. As she said to me, shortly, with conviction, “I’m not the jumping sort”, I would sit up straighter, and enclose my body language a little more, by bringing both my hands onto my knees. This would show the audience that Brack has accepted her rebuke, illustrating where the power lies at the moment, but I would still maintain a strong eye contact with Hedda, who would try to avoid my eye, in order to show that Brack will not give up, and so the audience’s sense of mistrust would be heightened.

After Brack’s return in Act Three the next morning, I would want to create more disgust with Brack this time, because he is being even more overt. Firstly, this would be done when he illustrates his jealousy of Eilert Loevborg; when I said the line, “Of course”, after Hedda asks if it will come to court. My diction would be clear, with the consonants sharp but the vowels elongated so that the word “course” is drawn out, while my facial expression would show my jealousy of Eilert (which was already suggested earlier in the play through Brack’s reluctance to leave them alone together); I would fix my eyes on her face, raise my eyebrows, and leave a long silence as I watch her reaction before continuing – Brack is making it clear here that he is interested to see if his comments about Eilert Loevborg are upsetting her. This would create disgust, because it shows that this man has no shame, and would be confirmed a moment later. As Ibsen directs, “she sits on the left of the table…”, we would sit at the table DSC, because this strong stage area would show the audience that this is an exchange of some import. When I said, with great intensity, with the emphasis on the word “shall”, “And I shall fight for it”, I would lean forwards – having moved my chair closer to Hedda’s earlier – and look her directly in the eye. My hand would come up onto the table and press down into its surface, showing the audience Brack’s determination and provoke disgust at his behaviour. I would then pause for a long moment of three seconds before leaning slowly back into my chair, looking directly out into the audience, but preserving the illusion of the Fourth Wall, so that when I raised my eyebrows slightly as I said, quietly, with less intensity, but with just as clear diction, “with every weapon at my disposal”, they would see clearly Brack’s motives and feel revulsion for his character because of them.

In Act Four, I would want to heighten the sense of repulsion for Brack, as well as show the audience that he is now the one with the power over Hedda. When I said “Well, luckily, there’s no danger as long as I hold my tongue”, I would have been sitting down DSC, with Hedda standing DSR, but I would rise and walk over to her quite quickly as I said “luckily” – this would contrast with the Judge’s customary slow pace and show the audience that he is really enjoying this sense of power. However, I would then slow down again once more and stand next to her. I would then raise my right hand to her face and trace it along the line of her chin, smiling suggestively at her as I said “hold my tongue” in a stage whisper, with a low pitch, before letting my eyes wander down over her neck and then over her whole body. This would create complete disgust for the audience because Brack’s lecherous games are no longer harmless; he is using blackmail to force his attentions on Hedda, and he is doing it in so self-satisfied a manner. My stance would be strong at this point, with my legs shoulder-width apart, while my posture would also be entirely upright once more, showing the audience that the balance of power has shifted; it is now completely in Brack’s hands.

In the final moments of the play, to show Brack’s belief in his power and his despicable nature, I would be sitting in the armchair by the stove, with my arms stretched leisurely out beside me, my legs spread slightly and my posture relaxed (no tension in the shoulders and completely reclining in the chair). As I said “I’ll be delighted”, with a very slow pace, and a long pause after “be”, drawing out the vowels in the word, leaving the audience in no doubt that Brack is revelling in his power over Hedda. I would smile very suggestively as though to myself, but facing the Fourth Wall so that the audience get the full effect of this. All of this would heighten the sense of revulsion that the audience feel and remind them that Brack believes entirely that he has complete power over Hedda. However, the final shift in power comes at the end, and I would want the audience to feel a little triumph on Hedda’s behalf because she has so completely ruined Brack’s schemes. I would do this by showing Brack’s complete shock at the end. When Tesman says “She’s shot herself!”, I would sit bolt upright, both hands gripping the arms of the chair so tightly that my knuckles would show white. My facial expression would display immense shock – my mouth would be slack and slightly open, with my eyes wide and a slight frown creasing my brow. Then, when I said the final, famous line of the play, my pace would be slower even than usual, and I would stammer over the words: “B…b…but Good God!”. Then I would pause for a further few seconds before saying, so quietly that I seem to be saying it to myself, trying to make sense of what has happened, “People don’t do such things”. My hands would still be gripping the armchair, as though Brack is depending on it to hold him up; this gesture would illustrate the confusion and shock Brack is experiencing. This would show the audience that he has lost his power over Hedda so quickly, and create contrast with the self-satisfied Brack of moments before, therefore achieving my aim of making the audience understand the power shifts between the two of them. It would also create disgust for his character because Brack was a huge part of driving Hedda to such a tragic end and yet he has the audacity to be shocked and appalled by her death.

The audience responses of mistrust and disgust towards Judge Brack would highlight the tragedy of Hedda Gabler because they would be able to sympathise more with her final, terrible action, as they would see how intolerable it would be to be under the power of such a man.

Comments

This essay is aimed at AQA A Level theatre studies.

Originally written by {Clarabell} on TSR Forums.