'Hedda' Movie Ending Explained: Is Hedda Dead Or Alive?

Hedda’s ending is an open and somewhat confusing one. But to understand that one last scene in the lake, one must look inward, in this case, into the rest of the film to figure out what’s really going on in this woman’s head. Hedda is a film mainly about jealousy and lust. It’s one that focuses on what was lost rather than what’s been found instead. Our protagonist is a petty woman who longs only for power and control. She gets called “bastard daughter” often throughout the run time, specifically by Brack, a man who truly knows her and hopes to control her: the mastermind who wreaks havoc. But Hedda is not a woman easily debilitated. She finds herself most excited when she sees others fail, but especially when they’re her “friends” or ex-lovers. But let’s further understand this in the breakdown of the ending.

Spoiler Alert

The main question that comes to mind while watching this film is “Are Hedda’s choices arbitrary?” To be honest, some of them may seem that way, but in reality, this is the life Hedda’s been dreaming of all her life. While she’s grown up in wealth, judging by what Brack calls her, she’s never truly been loved. All she knows is wealth, and it’s the most important thing to her, which, fair enough, is also probably why she left Eileen in the first place. Eileen calls her a coward because, after the ex-lovers split, Hedda got married to a basic White man, and Eileen became an academic, wanting to join the only two women professors at the university. Given the status of Hedda’s wealth, it appears the man she’s married, George Tesman, isn’t at all worth her while. Apart from obviously being a man, whom Hedda could never love in the way he wants her to, he also seems to be unambitious and something of a coward himself. 

George and Hedda’s relationship seems at best to be that of a master and a dog. Hedda’s strong and powerful, making all the decisions for the household, even pushing him into debt by living in this stunning massive house, which is just too big for two people. Hedda’s a person who wants to be looked at; she’s eager and lively, and it appears the light in her has died, and we only see some sparks in her eyes when she manipulates the people she calls friends through the party, until we see the light blaze bright when she dances all by herself in the middle of the party. Clearly, these two people aren’t meant for each other, but she still thinks she can be satisfied if she can have the wealth and status that her ex-lover lost out on. 

In a classic case of “Do I want her or do I want to be her,” Hedda struggles with the fact that Eileen is eyeing the same job her husband is supposed to get, and that she’ll likely get it too. So she sets off to ruin her life, slowly and steadily, by making it seem almost like everything Eileen has gone through since she stepped into the party was her own fault. Eileen asks Hedda somewhere in the latter half of the film, “Why did you make me drink?” and the latter talks about how she wanted her to open up and be herself, and while this isn’t far from the truth, she knows that Eileen will immediately self-destruct with a drink in her hand. And that is exactly what happens. Eileen loosens up; she makes a fool of herself in front of the men who are meant to respect her, and to top it all off, she’s dropped her bag somewhere, which means she lost her manuscript. This book, the manuscript that she’s lost, is all that she’s been talking about since she arrived, because it’s clearly her life’s work, and her new lover, Thea, worked on it with her. But Eileen’s got it bad there, too, because Thea’s only with her for her name. Thea just wants her name to go on the book besides Eileen’s, so she’s immortalized. Thea’s no better than Hedda; it’s just that their manipulative tactics are different. Hedda’s ways are more in your face, while Thea hides behind her anxieties and makes it seem like nothing is her doing, but in truth, her mistrust of Eileen is exactly what should’ve made the latter realize what she was really after. 

When it comes to why Hedda burnt the manuscript, the simple answer is that she wants her husband to get the job, and she’ll do whatever it takes. But it could also be read as sheer jealousy from Hedda’s point of view. Eileen is everything she ever wanted to be but was too much of a coward to act on. Eileen’s book is about sexuality, and clearly, Hedda and she found themselves in each other. The ultimate act of betrayal here is that Hedda lets Eileen believe that she’s at fault for losing the manuscript, even forcing her to try to kill herself. This happens accidentally, leaving Eileen with a bullet in the stomach, while Hedda is left by herself in the control of Brack. If Eileen doesn’t get the job, George will end up financially stable enough to keep the dream home, the wealth that is the only thing that Hedda thinks can make her happy. 

Judge Richard Brack is a man who keeps showing up like a shadow through the film. He’s almost like a nightmare that keeps haunting Hedda. The man believes he controls Hedda because he arranged for the loans that George needed for the house. However, Hedda does not bow down to anybody. Despite the threat of Brack, who may have been an ex-lover, Hedda is certain she can still be the master of this party, this situation. However, in the final scene of the film, Brack, who is determined to get sexual favors from Hedda, even being jealous when he hears her and George together earlier, decides to coerce her into giving him what he wants by exposing her as a murderer. 

Brack knows it was Hedda who pushed Eileen to take the gun and feel the pressure to want to kill herself. Now that she’s near dead, Brack threatens to tell everybody that it was Hedda who gave Eileen the gun, even if she didn’t pull the trigger herself. He narrates the story in such a way that it would for sure ruin Hedda if word got out. So Hedda decides to pull a gun on him, no more appreciative of his help, now ready to be the one in control for real. I guess this is her not being a coward any longer. However, she misses, and he chases her out onto the field, choking her to the floor, telling her that he’s the one who controls her, until George and Thea call out to them. This is when Hedda’s able to escape, but it also leaves Brack reflecting on himself. Brack is a male judge; there’s honestly nothing else he needs to control, but still, he wants to force Hedda into doing what he wants. It’s truly disturbing to see. 

In Hedda’s ending, the titular protagonist has given up because her husband has decided to help Thea rewrite Eileen’s book so it can still be published. I suppose this is George’s guilt doing the work, or it could also be the desperation with which he actually wanted to read it. To be fair, the man is pretty honest and looks like he wouldn’t hurt a fly. Even though this is something he knows will disappoint Hedda, he chooses to help Thea, because he wants to do what’s right. Guess it’s something Hedda could’ve never seen coming. Is this the ultimate betrayal? It appears as if Eileen and George would’ve gotten along, so maybe that’s something we can imagine for the future of the Gabler household. I say Gabler, because clearly it’ll be Hedda taking the lead anyway. At least it would mean the large house could feel a little less empty, and maybe, just maybe, George would be okay to be joined by Eileen and Thea. I feel like this is the best-case scenario here, but do share your thoughts. 

Now, when it comes to the final scene of the film, it may seem like Hedda has given up and decided to take her own life because she’d rather be dead than humiliated until her husband and Thea scream out to her that Eileen is still alive. I guess it was always Eileen who injected life into Hedda, not the other way around, and the screen lingers on Hedda inside the river, with stones in her jacket to drown her. However, in the last second she smiles at the camera, making us realize we’ve been the fool once again, falling for her trickery. I suppose we can imagine Brack will never be as respected after Hedda walks out of the river and returns home dignified. With Eileen alive, his threats are useless, giving Hedda the upper hand. The smile is probably because she’s been saved, but she’s also regained the energy to become a master manipulator yet again. This time, no longer a coward. On the other hand, one could imagine Hedda died, and she’s just smiling in relief that Eileen managed to live, almost as if she beat her in death too. That is the kind of woman she is, but I like the previous theory more. Did you feel like Hedda died at the end of the film? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below.