Hedda Ending Explained: What Does Hedda’s Smile Signify?

The Prime Video period drama film ‘Hedda’ tells a fascinating story about a chaotic estate party in 1950s London that takes a catastrophic turn by the time dawn breaks. The titular character is the party’s hostess and the invisible puppeteer, who manipulates the various swings that the night takes. However, she’s left off-kilter when Eileen Lovborg, celebrated academic with a dicey reputation and Hedda Tesman’s possible ex-lover, walks through the estate.

Worse yet, she seems to be up for the same professorship that the newlywed wife’s husband, George Tesman, is under consideration for. Consequently, between reconciling with a past heartbreak and attempting to engineer the conditions to secure her tedious husband’s future career, Hedda schemes and conspires using nothing but her charm and wit. Nonetheless, even as the puzzle pieces fall into place, one unpredictable whim or another threatens to drive the woman to her own doom. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Hedda Plot Synopsis

Hours before the Tesmans’ grand estate party, meant to introduce the newlyweds to society, Hedda runs around the house, ensuring everything is in place. Once a phone call comes through from a mysterious woman called Eileen, the hostess finds herself in high spirits, eager to meet the other woman again. Although the mansion is bathed in opulence, the air around the couple remains tense. As it turns out, George Tesman has only been able to afford this place on a loan, which he hopes to repay through his new job as a professor. Therefore, he’s perpetually worried about impressing Professor Greenwood, the deciding factor in his future employment, who will be attending the soiree. His wife, though, attempts to be supportive but remains visibly weary of his worries.

Soon enough, the guests begin arriving, including one unexpected Thea Clifton, Hedda’s former schoolmate, who isn’t on the guest list. Rather than the party itself, Thea has arrived in search of Eileen, sporting great concern for the academic woman. As the hostess helps the young woman change into appropriate formalwear, she learns about her apparent professional and personal relationship with the female professor. Not only has Thea left her husband for her lover, but she also helps her with her writing, and the duo is even planning to publish their next piece of work under both their names. Furthermore, it seems Greenwood is also considering Eileen for the same professorship that George is eyeing.

This piece of information remains crucial since everyone, including the Tesmans, knows that there’s no real competition and that George has already lost the position even before it’s announced. Initially, it seems Hedda is a little interested in this facet of the night, since she soon sneaks off with Judge Brack, half-heartedly canoodling with him in dark corners and subtly interrogating him about Thea’s lover. Her priorities seem to shift further once Eileen finally arrives at the party. Soon afterward, a few stolen moments in a hedge maze reveal that the two women apparently had an affair before General Gabler’s daughter inevitably settled down with George. The professor harbors some bitter feelings about the entire thing, but claims to have now moved on with Thea.

After this interaction, Hedda returns to her hostess duties, charming her guests and effortlessly influencing their actions to shape the night into a very specific production. Therefore, no one even notices as she drives a wedge between Thea and Eileen and compels the latter to break her sobriety, only to then steal her manuscript. Once the professor realizes her life’s work is missing, she spirals out of control, further tarnishing her relationship and reputation. In the end, when Eileen is at her lowest, Hedda ends up giving her General Gabler’s beloved gun, encouraging her suicidal ideations. Although a shot is fired, the circumstances around it escape even the hostess’ imagination, setting her up for an unpredictable fallout.

Hedda Ending: Why Does Hedda Smile? Will She Drown Herself?

As the story nears its climax, the narrative takes a sharp turn, employing the morning after the party to contrast the debauchery of the night before. One key event serves to cement this change: the altercation that ended in Eileen getting shot. Earlier, as the party had begun to dwindle down, the professor remained in tatters, torn up over everything she had lost over the course of the night. Her romance with Thea is possibly ruined, her book is missing, and without it, she can no longer hope to save her career from her decaying reputation as an unpleasant drunk. Therefore, she remains quite certain that all that awaits her in the future now is certain doom. In turn, Hedda procures a gun for her former lover, giving her an opportunity to end her life on her terms.

While Hedda expects Eileen to pull the trigger somewhere far from the Tesman house to satisfy some romantic notion within her, the professor makes her attempt in a secluded part of the estate. Nonetheless, she fails to actually complete the job. However, as she’s walking out of the house, a petty argument with her friend David turns into a tussle, which ultimately results in a shot being fired. Eileen is on the receiving end of the bullet. Afterward, chaos erupts, and an ambulance is called, as well as the police. The detectives conduct interviews in an attempt to learn whose gun had been used for the violent altercation. Unfortunately for Hedda, only one person, outside of herself and Eileen, is privy to that information: Judge Brack, who picked it up from the scene of the crime.

Later, once he corners the woman in the house, he attempts to pressure her into having sex with him in exchange for him keeping her secret. Nonetheless, it becomes evident soon that Hedda does not appreciate his advances. Even so, as the woman fights back and attempts to run from him, Brack continues pursuing her. Although things get violent outside of the house, the Judge fails in his sordid attempts, spooked away by the sound of Thea and George looking for the latter’s wife. However, instead of returning to the house’s safety, the Gabler-turned-Tesman does something unexpected. She runs off to the nearby lake, filling her dress with stones, and walks into the water in a clear attempt to drown herself. The reasons behind Hedda’s sudden suicidal intention are many.

Even though everything that led up to Eileen’s death had been an orchestrated effort, it’s possible that the former lover feels guilty when actually faced with the reality of her actions. Nonetheless, more likely it’s just the fact that in the aftermath of Eileen’s death, multiple people around Hedda have operated in ways she couldn’t have predicted, but more importantly, can’t stomach. Where Hedda had imagined her husband’s career would take off in the absence of his primary competitor, George seems more invested in reconstructing Eileen and Thea’s book, even if it is to the detriment of his own professorship. In doing so, he prioritizes his own desire over his wife’s ambitions, setting her aside. Additionally, the nature of Eileen’s accident has invited legal attention, putting Hedda in a precarious position.

Worse yet, Brack holds the power to make or break the woman’s future, and he’s all the more eager to abuse this position. Therefore, for the first time ever, someone else holds power over Hedda, thereby putting her in a vulnerable position. Since this reality is unimaginable to the woman, she seeks to end her life on her own terms. Yet, as she’s walking into the lake, she overhears George and Thea, as they’re trying to alert her that Eileen hasn’t succumbed to the bullet wound. This news makes Hedda smile, even as she remains half-drowned in the lakewater. This striking image of the woman willingly submerging herself in her death while smiling creates an ambiguous image, concluding the story on an open-ended note.

Does Eileen Die?

Unlike Hedda’s fate, the story attempts to provide a clearer answer about Eileen and her otherwise sealed demise. In the film’s period setting, the female professor whose homosexuality is an open secret among the academic society presents an intriguing picture. In many ways, she’s a foil and an unfortunate parallel to the protagonist. Both women are stuck in a male-dominated world, where their experiences, motivations, and desires are shaped, or at least influenced, by the patriarchal society around them. Even though their lives look drastically different, they have arrived at a similar spot: one of dissatisfaction and unhappiness.

Hedda, who has been surrounded by a luxurious lifestyle and high society her entire life, can’t afford to risk everything for a romance like Thea has. Instead, Hedda has to resort to an unhappy marriage with an unremarkable, ambitionless man, whose adoration is the only thing that can be relied upon. Inversely, Eileen uses her exceptional intelligence to elbow her way into the boys’ club of the academic world, conversing and arguing with the best of them. She refuses to hide the most scandalous aspects of herself and still maintains her reputation. Even so, there’s no denying that she has to constantly deal with her fellow academics’ prejudices and disrespect to keep her seat at the table.

In this regard, Eileen’s intelligence and genuinely brilliant work remain the sharpest weapon in her arsenal. Even when she allows herself to slip out of her sobriety and make a fool of herself in her drunken state, she can rely on her upcoming manuscript to compensate for her dishonorable actions. Therefore, once the reality sets in that her manuscript is gone, the professor sees no way out of the situation. In the end, even though she can’t bring herself to carry out her suicide attempt, her decision to keep hold of Hedda’s gun contributes to the accident, which leaves her near-fatally injured. Still, as the ending reveals, Elieen manages to pull out of the deep end and survives.

Was Hedda Really Pregnant?

After Hedda supplies Eileen with a gun, she sets out to burn the latter’s manuscript that she had expertly stolen during the partygoers’ earlier foray into late-night, lakeside swimming. However, while she’s feeding the pages to the fireplace, George ends up locating her in the locked room. Initially, he’s startled to find what his wife is up to. As an academic himself, he has recently found himself invested in Eileen’s work. Therefore, he’s horrified to see Hedda burning the book without a second thought. Even so, he allows his morals to bend when his wife tells him she’s only ruining Eileen’s future to make his career.

George is torn between believing whether his wife is interested in his career for his sake or her own material desires. Although Hedda assures him her motivations are due to the former, she also admits that their family, which is about to grow, can certainly use the funds. Although this is a happy moment for the couple, one can’t help but question how much truth is behind the woman’s words. As evidenced by her actions throughout the story, Hedda has no qualms about lying to anyone, least of all George, about her desires, motivations, or any other aspect of reality.

Additionally, Hedda has also shared her steadfast desire not to become a mother, insisting it simply wasn’t a job for her. Therefore, it’s entirely possible that the woman lied to her husband in an attempt to further earn his trust in the moment. Either way, the narrative purposefully keeps the details of her possible pregnancy ambiguous. Consequently, the climactic scene of Hedda’s suicide gains another layer of nuance, showcasing her willingness to end her life with no regard to her potential pregnancy. This directly aligns with Hedda’s numerous other characteristics that intentionally blur her period-typical ties to social perceptions of femininity and morality.

Why Does Hedda Burn Eileen’s Book? Why Does She Give Her the Gun?

One of the defining aspects of Hedda’s character stems from the riveting ambiguity surrounding her actions and her motivations. Initially, it seems like the woman, trapped in a loveless marriage, might be one half of a star-crossed love story with Eileen. Nonetheless, it soon becomes evident that even though the General’s daughter is indeed trapped in the marriage, it isn’t without her own input. Prior to committing herself to matrimony, Hedda entertained a wild and passionate romance with Eileen. Although the details of their tryst are untold, the implication remains that the former has chosen to end their relationship.

Hedda was unwilling to give up the social liberties that come with playing into the patriarchy and heteronormativism. Therefore, unlike Thea, she never agreed to run away with her lover and instead chose to tie herself to a respectable, if boring, man. Now, Hedda finds herself in a tedious marriage, one that is even failing to provide her with the benefits she had sought out in the first place. George’s lack of ambition and drive directly results in dwindling finances for the couple. Thus, even though he has somehow managed to secure the estate for his wife, he can’t truly hold on to it.

For the same reason, it’s incredibly important for him to land the professorship, which Greenwood is otherwise inclined to bestow upon Eileen. Consequently, Hedda finds herself with another choice to make. If she wants to bolster her husband’s career, she must ruin her lover’s favorable chances of landing the job. As such, her book becomes the most obvious target since it’s the single representative of everything the female professor has to offer to the academic world. Without the manuscript and in light of a recently sullied reputation, Eileen would fall from grace, opening up the perfect spot for George.

Alternatively, there’s another, more emotionally-driven explanation for Hedda’s actions. In many ways, the book, co-written by Eileen and Thea, is a symbol of the relationship between the two women. Thea proposes a direct contrast to Hedda, in that she is willing to leave her life os social acceptance and luxury behind for the chance of building something great with her lover. Thus, the relationship with Eileen, and, subsequently, the book, becomes a signifier of her romantic spirit as well as her ambitious drive. Ultimately, by destroying Eileen’s book, Hedda is carrying out a twisted revenge fantasy of a scorned ex-lover.

Read More: Is Hedda Based on a True Story?