Does Love Justify Actions or Is It An Excuse? Love will make you do crazy things and in Hedda Gabler we seen the total effect of this action. Was she right for being manipulative or conniving because that was what she was used to? Was it alright for her to pull the strings in everyone else’s life because she wasn’t happy with hers? Does love justify these actions with a powerful claim to make you jealous, envious, and malicious to the receiver? Hedda Gabbler used the absence of love to continue to hurt people who cared about her and loved her. Hedda was a controlling kind of person who basically cared about what other people thought of her more than what she thought of herself. The fact that she was bored with her life wasn’t any better so I guess she thought she was justified in making others life’s worst. I think this was an excuse because her father never showed her love at all when he was alive. The fact that she had his picture still watching over her she was never really fully able to show her true emotions. She would never be happy because of her past and she’s paying for it in her present. I thought this is just like so many people in the world today, even though she had a father she probably couldn’t express herself like she wanted to because it would be looked down upon. That’s why she was never happy in the house she had or the husband she married it all was a part of her status. When Love Bourg came back into the picture you could tell that they had something going on because she couldn’t let Mrs. Elvsted be happy and she would tell all of her secrets to make him not want to be around. This reminded me of the mean girls in high school who used to prey on helpless girls to get information only to use it against them later on. This further confirmed that she wasn’t confident in herself either because even when they were younger she said she wanted to cut her hair so she could be ugly. Maybe as a child she didn’t get any love shown to her so it was hard for her to show it back. Love Bourg was probably the only one that got through to her but because of his status she couldn’t be with him. The fact that everyone she came into contact with she manipulated them shows her character from the beginning to the end. She was crazy and didn’t care who or what got hurt as long as she was in control of their destiny. This made it clear that she wasn’t sure of her own destiny or her own self-worth that she was willing to bring down everyone that was in reaching distance. She was in control and pulled the strings to everyone in the story but when it came down to it the judge had the final say and she couldn’t take it. Love Bourg even said that she was a coward for not living and just being not really taking advantage of life itself. At the end I think she realized that because all she wanted to be was a house wife who got whatever she wanted when she wanted. She wasn’t looking for love but rather a provider that would make sure that she got what she wanted on time. Am I saying that she was wrong for doing these things? Yes she is, but also you have to know her back story to fully understand where the hurt and pain is coming from. She was always in control because of her father and when it was taken away by the judge she couldn’t stand the thought of that happening so she took her own life. Though during that time that was considered highly unthought-of of because people just simply didn’t do those kinds of things. It was some emotionally hurt that had been festering for years and came to the surface in a matter of a day.