a part of her that remains

Camille Paglia on the connections between Hillary Clinton and Hedda Gabler:

Like Nora Helmer in Ibsen's earlier play, A Doll's House, Hedda is trapped in a bourgeois marriage, but she lacks Nora's maternal instinct and spirit of fun. The play is significantly called Hedda Gabler rather than Hedda Tesman, her married name. Like Hillary Rodham, whose initial refusal to take her husband's last name may have cost governor Bill Clinton voter support in his first re-election campaign in conservative Arkansas, Hedda identifies with her military father, General Gabler. There is a part of her that remains, like the warrior goddess Athena, ever-virgin.

Similarly, Hillary's hard-edged militancy (disguised by cheery smiles and pastel hues) certainly comes from her father, a U.S. Navy drill instructor during the Second World War who was punitively harsh on his two sons. The first-born Hillary, with her vaulting ambition, became his true son.

The symbol of Hedda Gabler's yearning for masculine power is her favourite possession, a set of fine pistols inherited from her late father. One of the funniest and most unnerving moments in the play is when, standing in the French doors, she takes target practice in the garden and nearly wings a strolling judge.

But without latitude for authority in the world, Hedda's intelligence and energy turn destructive. Unable to love, she is disconnected from ordinary satisfactions. She plays with others' lives, a malicious manipulation that brings disaster.