Hedda

Hedda sabotages Eileen because she still has romantic feelings for her former lover. When Eileen arrives with Thea and reveals she has moved on, Hedda's jealousy intensifies. Additionally, Eileen is competing with George for the same professorship, making her a threat to Hedda's plan to secure her husband's academic future.

Hedda steals the manuscript to destroy Eileen's professional advantage in the professorship race. By burning it, she eliminates the one thing that could secure Eileen the position over George. The manuscript is the only copy of Eileen's groundbreaking work on sexuality, making its destruction a devastating professional and personal blow.

Earlier, the manuscript is introduced as the sole copy that could redefine their academic field, making it the perfect weapon.

Hedda offers Eileen General Gabler's pistol to implicitly encourage her to commit suicide. After systematically destroying Eileen's career, relationship, and reputation, Hedda manipulates her into a state of despair. The pistol represents the final act of cruelty in Hedda's campaign of psychological destruction.

Hedda flees to the estate lake after Judge Brack assaults her and threatens to expose her crimes. She fills her pockets with stones and walks into the water, apparently preparing to drown herself. However, when she learns Eileen has survived the shooting, she pauses and smiles enigmatically, leaving her ultimate fate ambiguous.

The opening flashback shows Hedda nearly drowning in the same lake, establishing water as a recurring motif tied to her desperation.

Hedda fabricates a pregnancy to prevent George from stopping her when she burns the manuscript. When George discovers her burning Eileen's work, he moves to intervene, but the claimed pregnancy overwhelms him emotionally and makes him complacent. This manipulative lie further demonstrates Hedda's willingness to use anyone for her purposes.

Judge Brack confronts Hedda with the missing pistol and threatens to expose her role in Eileen's destruction to the police unless she submits to his control. He has witnessed enough of her manipulations throughout the evening to know her true nature. His threat represents the consequences of Hedda's actions closing in on her.

Eileen, devastated by the loss of her manuscript and her broken relationship with Thea, wanders the house in a daze. During an altercation with a friend named David, the gun that Hedda had given her accidentally discharges, shooting Eileen in the stomach. The shooting is portrayed as accidental rather than intentional suicide.

Hedda gave Eileen the pistol earlier, implying she should use it on herself, creating the tragic irony of the accidental discharge.

Thea ends her relationship with Eileen after Hedda orchestrates a scheme to get Eileen drunk and publicly humiliates her. When Eileen becomes intoxicated and disheveled, Hedda steals the manuscript and lets Eileen believe she lost it in the lake. This public unraveling, combined with Hedda's manipulation of Thea's fears, causes Thea to break up with Eileen.

Hedda exploits Thea's insecurities by pressuring a sober Eileen into drinking, setting up the public humiliation that drives Thea away.

The opening flashback shows Hedda nearly drowning in the estate lake twenty-four hours before the main events. She is saved only when Eileen calls to confirm her party attendance. This near-death moment reveals Hedda's desperation and foreshadows her eventual return to the water at the film's end, creating a circular structure tied to her emotional state.

This event directly leads to Hedda's decision to attend the party, setting all subsequent events in motion.

Hedda smiles enigmatically when she learns Eileen survived the shooting. The smile is deliberately ambiguous, it could represent relief that her victim lived, ironic satisfaction at surviving herself, or perhaps contempt that Eileen didn't succeed in suicide. This ending mirrors Ibsen's original play, leaving Hedda's moral reckoning unresolved.

Eileen is George's rival for the same academic position, and her forthcoming publication on sexuality gives her a significant advantage in the competition. This professional rivalry adds another layer to the tension at the party, as Hedda must protect George's chances while dealing with her personal feelings for Eileen.

Hedda refuses to submit to Judge Brack's control even when threatened with exposure to the police. Instead of complying, she fires the remaining bullets at him, deliberately missing. This act of defiance shows Hedda's refusal to be controlled by anyone, even as her situation becomes increasingly desperate.